Chapter 209\u00a0<\/p>\n
That tuvaks rong thing inside me I move toward him vienly, carefully, like I\u2019m appicaching Maneding wild that holi\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m close enough, he opens his arme. I hesitate for fost a second before stepping into them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The hug is gentle at first. Both of us are tente, waiting for something terrible to happen. But nothing does. io per servo, skin. Just my brother\u2019s arms around me and the familiar smell of his cologne.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After a few seconds, I relax against him. He feels warm and solid and safe. Like home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018See?\u2018 he murmurs into my hair. \u201cYou\u2019re not a monster. You\u2019re just Athena.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
ty ander\u00a0<\/p>\n
We stay like that for a long time. Long enough for some of the fear to drain out of me. Long enough for me to remember what it feels like to be bold by\u00a0<\/p>\n
someone who loves me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we finally pull apart, my eyes are wet but I\u2019m not actively crying anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll try,\u201d I say, \u2018I\u2019ll try to heal him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all anyone can ask.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But even as I say it, I\u2019m already planning. If this doesn\u2019t work, if I kill Tristan instead of saving him, then I\u2019m leaving. I\u2019m getting as far away from here as possible so I can\u2019t hurt anyone else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t live in a world where Tristan is dead because of me. I won\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We walk back into the room together. Tristan looks up when we enter, and I can see the question in his eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ll do it,\u201d I say quietly. \u201cI\u2019ll try to heal you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The relief on his face is obvious. Sarah lets out a breath she\u2019s been holding. Derek nods like this was always the plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d Tristan asks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow,\u201d I say. \u201cI need time to prepare. To get my head right.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay. Tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rest of the conversation passes in a blur. Derek talks about finding the right kind of knife. Sarah mentions setting up a clean space. Orion discusses\u00a0<\/p>\n
timing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stop listening after a while. All I can think about is that in twenty four hours, I\u2019m either going to save the person I love most or I\u2019m going to kill him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When everyone finally starts heading to bed, Tristan hangs back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you okay?\u201d he asks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I almost laugh. Am I okay? No, I\u2019m not okay. I\u2019m about as far from okay as a person can get.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u0646\u0627\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
R\u00a0<\/p>\n
11:05 Mon, Jan 12 @r D\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 209\u00a0<\/p>\n
We should sleep in the same bed tonight, I say instead of answering his question\u00a0<\/p>\n
He looks surprised but doesn\u2019t question it. Okay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
What I don\u2019t tell him is that I want one last night with him. Just in case tomorrow doesn\u2019t go the way we hope,\u00a0<\/p>\n
What I also don\u2019t tell him is that I\u2019m not planning to be there in the morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We go to bed early. Tristan falls asleep quickly, but I lie awake staring at the ceiling for hours. Listening to him breathe. Memorizing the sound,\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m sure he\u2019s deep asleep, I slip out of bed as quietly as I can. I get dressed in the dark and grab the small bag I packed earlier while he was in the\u00a0<\/p>\n
shower.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t take much. Just some clothes that Sarah had gotten for me, and the money I\u2019ve been saving. Enough to get far away from here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I write him a letter explaining why I\u2019m leaving, but I don\u2019t leave it where he\u2019ll find it right away. I hide it under the duvet, where he won\u2019t look until\u00a0<\/p>\n
after I\u2019m gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The house is quiet as I make my way downstairs. Everyone\u2019s asleep. No one will know I\u2019m gone until morning, and by then I\u2019ll be long gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I slip out the back door and walk quickly toward the street. My heart is pounding but I feel oddly calm. This is the right thing to do. This is the only way to keep everyone safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But as I reach the street, I stop dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan is standing there waiting for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s fully dressed and he\u2019s got his arms crossed over his chest. He doesn\u2019t look surprised to see me. He doesn\u2019t look angry either. He just looks tired.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing somewhere?\u201d he asks quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 209 Chapter 209\u00a0 That tuvaks rong thing inside me I move toward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}