Firefox

Chapter 12

Though he was disappointed that Chloe hadn’t accepted him yet, Sparrow admired that fact, too. The more he thought about what he had expected from his goddess, the more he realized it wouldn’t have been right had she just agreed with everything he’d said.

Gaia was headstrong, independent, and capable. Of course she wasn’t going to take his word for anything. Not even after he’d shown his true self to her and had let her see his power.

His goddess had to make decisions in her own time, and Sparrow would accept that. He was confident that if he merely gave her that time, she would come to realize the truth and happily welcome him into her arms as her consort.

He did hope it didn’t take much longer, because two nights of sleeping with her body pressed against his had been hard enough. Much more of this and he might lose his mind. It was so difficult to hold her and do nothing more when his entire body ached to be one with hers.

But he was hers, no matter what. If he had to hold her while she slept every night for many more days, then that’s what’s Sparrow would do.

She hadn’t been gone more than an hour or so when he started wondering how he might best please her while they remained here. He was working out how to go about this when he realized something was very wrong.

They hadn’t consummated their joining yet, but they bonded. And wave after wave of fear, disgust, and despair begin crashing into Sparrow through the bond they already had with each other. He didn’t know what had happened to cause his goddess to feel this way, but it didn’t matter. Sparrow closed his eyes and reached out for her, and in a matter of moments he stood before her in a tiny stall that smelled of bleach and flowers.

Chloe sat on the closed toilet lid, her feet up and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her forehead rested on her knees while she sobbed quietly.

“Gaia?”

Chloe shouted and flinched, her head snapping up. “What the—how did you get in here? Did…did you follow me to work?”

Through all her shocked, angry questions, the tears didn’t stop.

“I felt your pain, and so I came to help you.” Sparrow cupped her cheeks with his hands, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. “What is wrong?”

Chloe shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, another sob escaping her throat. “It doesn’t matter. But I have to gather up my things and leave, right away. I’m going to have to change my name again, find a new job, new friends…no, no friends this time, that might be how he found me to start with. I can’t trust anybody next time.”

She let go of her legs and stood, forcing Sparrow to step sideways to give her room in the cramped space. “I can’t be here right now. I have to go home and—”

“Wait. Gaia, first you need to calm down.”

“Do not tell me to calm down! I’ve been calm for a while, and it was a mistake. I lulled myself into a false sense of safety, but I was being an idiot. He found me, and he’s coming, and—”

“Another person has threatened you? But you have nothing to fear with me by your side. There’s no need for you to go anywhere, but home with me.”

Chloe rubbed her hands over her face and leaned against the wall. “Sparrow, you don’t understand. I was married to this man. He’s not going to stop no matter where I go. I won’t be safe anywhere, but the faster I get out of here now, the faster I can find some other place and buy myself time until he finds me again.”

Sparrow sighed. “After all I’ve shown you, you still don’t believe I can protect you?”

“I don’t think it’s your place to protect me. Norman is my problem, not yours.”

Sparrow laughed then, and Chloe looked at him as if a tree might have sprouted out of his forehead.

“You are so stubborn,” he said. “I don’t know why I expected anything else. But I assure you, Gaia, your problems are my problems. Will you allow me to show you something I think will change your mind?”

“No one has ever protected me from Norman or anything else in my life. And I’m running out of time.”

Sparrow touched her face gently. “Five minutes to convince you, Chloe. Surely you can spare five minutes?”

And he felt her assent before she sighed and said, “Okay, five minutes,” so by the time she’d spoken, they were already gone from the bathroom stall and standing next to a brook.

“But I can’t spare more than—” Chloe gasped, then leaned first left and then right as if she couldn’t get her balance. She reached for Sparrow to right herself, though he held her arms firmly. She spun her head side to side to take in her new surroundings.

“What the…” She took a few unsteady breaths. “Is this…am I hallucinating? Is this all in my head, like a dream?”

Sparrow took her hand and led her on the path next to the brook, then helped her step over it. They walked a few more steps until the brook widened into a stream. “No. This is not a dream.”

Chloe looked around her wide-eyed, clinging tight to Sparrow’s hand. “H-how did we get here?”