The Rise of Venus

Adoring the Lion

Song: songs to listen while thinking of someone playlist by playlist for everyone

Five days later and we were no closer to finding the last three artifacts no matter how hard we tried. After taking away the book from Reign and the ring from Sky, things settled down for a little bit. I revealed my dream to everyone the day after our first night in Pride's cottage. They seemed to have understood the fact that they shouldn't be anywhere near those things. Even so, I could see them starting to crack as the fruitless days ticked on by.

For me, it was easier since I had Leo and his soft touches to keep me grounded. I didn't seek out where Pride hid the dagger anymore. Pride kept himself busy with magick and Flora so much that he didn't care too much for the Blade of War. The long silver sword remained hidden in my closet, undisturbed, since I placed it there.

Before being hidden away, Pride was the one chosen to use the dagger and reveal its information. My soul hungered for it when I saw him with the dagger and the blue mist of knowledge swirling around his large hand. But, unfortunately, the stolen information wasn't helpful in finding the remaining artifacts.

On the bright side, Pride did learn some things about magick that we could use to our advantage. He'd taken over the kitchen with his herbs and bubbling cauldrons preparing for the worst. He somehow even found a way to place a nasty curse on a feather.

A fucking feather!

It was impressive to say the very least.

Sighing, I rubbed my eyes and leaned into Leo's warm chest. He was sitting behind me, leafing through one of the history books from the library. With Pride busy studying and perfecting his magick, that left the five of us to search for clues.

Leo was an extremely slow reader so he was still only halfway through his first book. I'd read three books about magickal history with none of them mentioning the Eight Orbs. I hated to say it, but I felt pretty useless in this situation. I couldn't read as fast as Reign, who'd already worked his way through 25 of what had to be a little over 300 books. Nor could I protect us with magick like Pride could.

I did my best analyzing situations and breaking things down to discover information. The only problem was, there was no new information for me to devour. I was, essentially, useless.

"Stop it," Leo murmured against my shoulder. His lips brushed over my goosebumps risen skin before tucking his chin into the crook of my neck. I glanced over my shoulder to see his eyes still roaming over the brown pages of delicate cursive.

"Stop what?"

"When you're tense you sigh a lot," he replied. "You get stiff, rigid, like a tree."

Leo's heavy arm settled around my stomach and he pulled me flush against his body. I melted into his warm embrace as he drew mindless designs over my stomach. The barrier of one of his many shirts lessened the contact but I relished it nonetheless. Leo really liked "drawing" on my skin absentmindedly. It was quickly becoming one of my favorite things to experience.

"I can't help it." The longer the days dragged on, the more our journey began to feel like a Sisyphean quest. I couldn't see much light at the end of the tunnel no matter how hard I tried. "I feel like I'm not doing enough-"

"Don't even." Leo dropped his book instantly, fixing his intense stare on me. "You're the one that keeps us going when we're too tired to move with your gift. You're the one that figured out unity, not hope, was lost when the Gods had their falling out. You're the one that's been going above and beyond to keep us all together-"

"When I had the dagger-"

"One slip up doesn't diminish all the other great work you've done," Leo argued. His dark brows became knitted and I knew he was confused. Leo may have had trouble talking about himself. But his face and body language were often an open book. If one paid enough attention, it was easy to tell what he was trying to say without him actually saying it.