Chapter 126: ¹²⁶: Who dared!

Athena’s Pov:

"No, Damian, nobody said anything to me!" I said quickly, my tone coming out a little more alarmed than I intended. The moment I heard myself, I realised I had let my emotions slip.

I immediately lowered my gaze, pretending to be interested in the bottle resting in my hands. "I mean..." I swallowed, trying to compose myself. "That’s just what I was thinking."

I let out a small sigh before finally looking back at him. "Let’s not discuss this right now. We can talk to Mother Elena and see what she suggests." I said the possibility running already in my mind.

Perhaps she would understand what I was trying to say. Maybe, if I explained everything to her, she would agree that it would be better for me to stay at my previous place.

Because I know she also wants to keep Damian safe and him being near me would not be Ideal for that. Also now I understood that Damian wasn’t going to simply let me break Luna Selene’s orders again. And honestly, I didn’t want to put him in that position either.

Damian, however, didn’t say anything. He simply kept looking at me. There was something unreadable in his expression now, as though he were turning my words over in his mind and trying to decide whether he believed me.

I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Thankfully, before the silence could become any more uncomfortable, the door opened. I turned my head towards it to look who it was and mother Elena walked inside, carrying several things in her arms.

"Oh, you’re awake already?" she said with a warm smile when she noticed me.

Her eyes then moved towards Damian. "And when did you arrive here?" She said, her voice sounding surprised as if she did not expect to see Damian here at all.

"I just came here." Damian immediately stepped forward, taking some of the things from her hands before she could object and placing them carefully on a nearby table.

Mother Elena watched the things for a moment before turning her attention back to him. "And why are you here?"

"I came to pick Athena up. I had told her this morning that I would come here after my training is over." He glanced towards me. "Didn’t she tell you?"

Mother Elena’s attention immediately shifted to me. She moved towards me and took my hand gently, as she always did whenever she wanted to check my condition.

I watched her fingers move over my wrist while she concentrated, her expression becoming slightly more serious as she assessed me before answering Damian "She didn’t say that."

My eyes moved between the two of them. "We were busy with the treatment, so I never got the chance," I quickly explained, not wanting either of them to think I had deliberately hidden it.

Mother Elena looked at me for a moment before her usual gentle smile returned. "It’s okay if you forgot, Athena." She gave my hand a reassuring squeeze before placing it carefully back onto my lap. "And it is a good thing that Damian is here to drop you back. Right now, you need to make sure you take extra care of yourself. Your wounds are really critical, they need little to no exertion on them."

She then turned towards Damian, her expression becoming noticeably stricter. "And you make sure you don’t pull any stunts while you’re on the way. Drop her home safely."

She pointed a warning finger at him. "Otherwise, I won’t spare you this time."

Damian glanced at me. For a second, I thought he would simply agree and let the matter go.

Instead, his expression changed. The warmth that had been present in his eyes only moments ago disappeared, replaced by something much more serious.

"Before you came here," he said, looking directly at Mother Elena, "she was telling me that she doesn’t want to live in our house anymore."

My heart immediately sank. Damian continued before I could stop him.

"She said we should just let her live at her earlier place."

I stared at him in disbelief. Damian! My lips parted, but no words came out. I hadn’t expected him to tell her so directly. I stared at Damian in shock not knowing what to say...Goddess!

I had wanted to tell Mother Elena about this myself, but not like this, so suddenly. What if she thought I wasn’t grateful for everything they had done for me? What if she thought I was rejecting their kindness after they had taken me in, treated my wounds, and cared for me like family?

I quickly turned towards Mother Elena, panic creeping into my voice. "Mother Elena, it isn’t like that!"

I shot Damian a brief glare before turning back to her.

"It is just that..." I hesitated, my fingers nervously twisting together in my lap. "I think it is inappropriate for an outsider like me to stay in Luna’s house. You know what I mean, right?"

Mother Elena studied my face. Her kind eyes narrowed slightly, not with anger but with concern, as though she were trying to understand what I wasn’t saying.

"Honey," she said softly, moving closer to the bed before taking my hand in both of hers, "are you saying this because of those girls this morning?"

My heart immediately skipped. I quickly shook my head. "No, Mother Elena. Not because of that!"

My answer came far too quickly. I could feel my heartbeat speeding up rapidly every second.This was exactly what I had been trying to avoid.

Those girls’ words had affected me, yes, but I didn’t want Mother Elena worrying about it. She had already done more than enough for me. The last thing I wanted was to add another problem to her list.

"What girls are you talking about, Mom?" Damian’s voice suddenly cut through the room making me freeze for a second.

He had moved closer to my bed, and his expression had completely changed. The carefree warmth he usually carried was nowhere to be seen.

His voice, already serious, had turned noticeably colder. "What girls?"

I could feel the tension rising immediately. "There was nothing like that!" I blurted out, trying to steer the conversation away from the subject. In no way did I like the way thso conversation was going towards, I had just wanted to convince them to let me keep living at my earlier place to avoid the unnecessary problems but now it seemed that this was going to cause even more problems.

But Mother Elena didn’t let me escape that easily. She squeezed my hand gently before lifting her other hand to caress my hair. "Athena, if this really is because of those girls, then listen to me."

Her voice remained soft, but there was a firmness underneath it now. "You don’t have to worry yourself over some useless gossip. You know who you are. You know what kind of person you are. You should never allow someone else’s careless words to decide how you see yourself."

I lowered my eyes. Her words touched something deep inside me as always.

Mother Elena gently cupped my cheek, making me look back at her. "And besides, even if that isn’t the reason and you simply don’t want to live with us, that still can’t happen."

"It’s Mother’s order," she continued, giving me a small, almost apologetic smile. "You can’t live anywhere else unless she says so."

I looked down again, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. Of course...I knew I couldn’t simply ignore another one of Luna Selene’s orders.

I had already broken one of them. I had only hoped that I could stay away from their home so I wouldn’t cause any more unnecessary trouble for them.

But now it seemed that wasn’t going to be possible.

"Mom, now that you’ve put some sense into her..." Damian’s voice made me look up. He was standing beside the bed with his arms folded across his chest, his jaw slightly clenched. "Will you please tell me which girls you were talking about and what happened this morning?"

Mother Elena glanced at him. Damian’s gaze shifted towards me. There was something almost intimidating in his expression now.

Unknowingly I felt that there was something about his gaze that made me worried about what he was thinking, it was almost as if just his gaze had turned the room colder.

"Because if neither of you tells me," he continued, his voice dropping lower, "I can find out myself."

I swallowed, not liking the vibe he was giving out right now. He looked like he was too angry over this topic, it was almost as if he wnated to just sprint out of the room to find those girls and do something that I wound never want.

He took another step closer...his gaze turning even more colder. "And if that happens..." He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I can’t guarantee what I’ll do."