Soul Ties

Chapter 42: The End of An Era

I run into Ogmellos' arms. The hardness of his chest nearly knocks the breath out of me but I don't care. I also don't care when I see everyone stare at me and look back at Scorpius with question in their eyes. I especially don't care when Scorpius finally approaches everyone and crosses his arms in front of himself, watching me.

I bury my face into Ogmellos' bare chest, feeling the comfort of his arms wrapped around my shoulders. We stand like that, everyone watching and waiting until we release each other. I step back and see Ogmellos is already smiling, his eyes glistening.

"Corai," he says almost breathlessly. "I'm surprised to see him still standing," he whispers to me while eyeing Scorpius.

I snort. "For now." Ogmellos knocks my shoulder with his knuckles.

"That's my girl."

"Have you decided to come with us?" I ask, hopeful. My hope is dashed away when I see the smile fall from Ogmellos' face. He shakes his head and my chest caves in thinking about leaving him behind.

"You have to go on your own." He grabs my shoulders and kneels in front of me, his forehead placed against mine. I close my eyes and fight back the feeling of despair that's consuming me. "I promised you I'd find you. Remember?"

I nod against him, but I don't want to accept it. I don't want to leave him and I especially don't want to be alone with Scorpius flying through the galaxy with no escape on the ship. I can't help feeling small.

"Okay," I say, even though it's not. Ogmellos stands and faces the others, turning me to face them as well. I keep my shoulder touching him, trying to get as much of Ogmellos as I can before this is it. But the contact feels sad and does nothing to comfort me. Slowly, I ease myself off of him.

Scorpius clenches his fists, open and close. Open, close. He flexes his fingers and I notice the tightness of his jaw. His eyes are burning too, reminding me of the rage I'd felt when I trashed the room. It makes me smug to see him so upset. Even if it's from this friendship I have with Ogmellos and nothing more, I'm relishing in watching him squirm.

However, the smugness is replaced with a bit of shame noticing the tenseness of everyone else around me. Caelum stands near the ship, his shoulders slumped forward and his brows pulled tightly together. Another male, who I assume is the captain, stands awkwardly by both of them, his eyes moving back and forth between me and Scorpius, and then Caleum and Ogmellos.

I know how this must seem and I shouldn't care because Ogmellos and I are just friends. But the way everyone looks makes me uncomfortable, almost like I should be ashamed of myself. I sidestep away from Ogmellos, putting a little distance between us, but he moves with me. It's like he's reading my mind. It makes me adore him more.

"I apologize," Ogmellos voices to Caelum. "For everything."

It takes everyone by surprise. Everyone except me. Caelum's jaw drops, his eyes holding onto Ogmellos. You can see how stunned he is even without him saying anything. And then his cold demeanor towards Ogmellos is back, his mouth closing as he twists his body to Scorpius.

Caelum places a firm hand on his sons shoulder, gripping it for a while until he lets go and walks off. He doesn't look at Ogmellos as he walks towards us, most likely heading back to the house or maybe to the forest to hunt. But when he reaches me he hesitates for only a moment.

"Good luck, guppy," he address me and continues on. I swivel my head to say something, but he's already broken out into a jog. He's too far for me to call him and I doubt I'd know what to say anyway. We never got to really speak nor did I get the chance to ask him all the things I wanted to. Though his last words sounded like an apology to me and that was enough for now.