Chapter 230\u00a0<\/p>\n
Athena\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tears came then and I couldn\u2019t stop them. Everything from the past few days, the fear and the pain and the overwhelming love these people had for me, it all came pouring out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned to Orion first and wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in his shoulder. He held me tight and I felt him trembling\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I whispered. \u201cFor everything, for never giving up on me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNever,\u201d he said against my hair. \u201cI would never give up on you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I pulled back, Tristan was right there waiting. I walked into his arms and let him hold me while I cried into his chest. His\u00a0<\/p>\n
hands moved through my hair and he whispered that everything was going to be okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got me a motorcycle,\u201d I said, my voice muffled against him. Though I had one before but it didn\u2019t make it any less special.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI got you freedom,\u201d he said. \u201cThe motorcycle is just how you get there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laughed through my tears and looked up at him. His eyes met mine and I saw everything there, the love and the pride and something deeper that made my breath catch. I couldn\u2019t look away even though my vision was blurred with tears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you too,\u201d he replied, and the way he was looking at me made heat spread through my chest and down into my stomach. He kissed my forehead softly and I felt the warmth of his lips linger even after he pulled back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Someone cleared their throat behind us and I reluctantly tore my gaze away from Tristan to see Derek holding a small wrapped box.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI got you something else too,\u201d he said,.holding it out. \u201cIt\u2019s not as flashy as a motorcycle or a car but I thought you might find it\u00a0<\/p>\n
useful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took the box and unwrapped it carefully. Inside was a small silver bracelet with a single charm attached. The charm had a symbol engraved on it that I didn\u2019t recognize at first, but when I looked closer I realized it was a simplified version of the healing symbol from the ancient texts he\u2019d been studying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a reminder,\u201d Derek explained, his voice uncertain. \u201cOf what you\u2019re capable of now, of the good you can do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I put the bracelet on immediately and held up my wrist to look at it. The silver caught the light and the charm sparkled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s perfect,\u201d I told him. \u201cThank you, Derek.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:02 Wed, Jan 14 d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 230\u00a0<\/p>\n
He nodded with a small smile and stepped back into the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when I noticed more people had arrived. Leah was there with some of the other women from the training grounds, all of them smiling and waving at me. Klara stood near the back with her arms crossed but her expression was warm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to come,\u201d Leah said, walking over to hug me. \u201cWe heard what happened and we wanted to make sure you knew how proud\u00a0<\/p>\n
we are of you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew Tristan and Orion had probably told them what they felt they should know without revealing everything that actually\u00a0<\/p>\n
happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou fought,\u201d one of the other women said. \u201cYou faced something terrifying and you won.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I said with a smile, wondering exactly what they\u2019d been told.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could all learn from that,\u201d another added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hugged each of them in turn, overwhelmed by their support. These were women I\u2019d only known for a short time, women I\u2019d trained with and laughed with, but they\u2019d shown up for me anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiara approached last, her expression more reserved but genuine. \u201cI brought cookies,\u201d she said, holding up a container. \u201cI figured if we\u2019re celebrating we should have good food.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I said, smiling at her. \u201cThat\u2019s really thoughtful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t mention it,\u201d she said, but she was smiling too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone moved inside to eat and celebrate and the apartment filled with voices and laughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sat on the couch with Tristan beside me and every time I looked at him I found him already looking at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 230 Chapter 230\u00a0 Athena\u00a0 The tears came then and I couldn\u2019t stop […]<\/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-26387","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\/26387","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=26387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}