Ashes of Love and War - TodoMomo

||Chapter 20 ~ Part 1||

Shouto shut the door to the room and walked down the dark hallway. His skin tingled. Yaoyorozu's silky hair sliding through his fingertips and the sweet smell of the strands lingered in Shouto's memory.

He reached up and pressed his hand over his mouth. That had been close.

Too close.

The sight of Yaoyorozu dressed in a man's chiton and a dark red cape had almost been too much for him to bear. It had taken all Shouto's willpower to come up with a half-baked excuse that allowed him to escape.

Yaoyorozu was just too cute.

Even out of sight, Shouto felt a craving swell in his chest, urging him to return to her side. He ignored the temptation. Shouto knew he couldn't go back to the room. Not yet. Not when he could still picture the way Yaoyorozu's dark eyes had fluttered closed as he moved closer, her head tilting back as if she wanted to be kissed...

Fuck.

Shouto stopped in the middle of the hallway. Closing his eyes, he curled his fingers into a tight fist and pressed his hand to the center of his forehead. Drawing in a steadying breath, he tried to collect himself.

After the last time he had stolen a kiss from Yaoyorozu on Aretias, Shouto had promised himself he would keep his distance. Unless Yaoyorozu showed a clear indication of being open to his advances, Shouto had sworn to not approach her. Otherwise, he was no better than his old man.

His fingers tightened until his nails dug into his palm. The problem (as usual) was Kaminari's arrow.

Although a god, Kaminari's magic wasn't subtle. His magic was like electricity — unrefined and lurid. Shouto could always tell when the magic was activated. It was as if lightning crackled through his veins, filling him with an intense urge to keep Yaoyorozu for himself.

The mad desires would crash down upon Shouto, overwhelming him in their ferocity. But at least Shouto would know when he was being controlled by the magic, but now -

Shouto didn't know.

Sometime over the last two months, the magic had changed. The curse had shifted and transformed his feelings into something subtle and a lot more real, as if they were his own. Except that was crazy.

What kind of man could tell a woman's mood with just a glance? And who would feel the overwhelming need to do whatever it took to make another person smile, even if it was against their own self-interest?

Opening his eyes, Shouto dropped his hand from the center of his forehead. Slowly uncurling his fingers, he stared down at his open palm. Small indents cut into his hand from where his nails had dug into his flesh.

Shouto wasn't so naive as to think all his feelings for Yaoyorozu were caused by Kaminari's arrow. He realized, on some level, that even without the curse, he would be attracted to Yaoyorozu. She was smart. Vibrant. Strong. But the idea that these intense feelings of wanting to love and be loved by her might be his own felt like a betrayal to everything Shouto was.

He was dispassionate. Decisive. Unyielding. A perfect soldier.

And soldiers shouldn't fall in love.

Romance and affection were the emotions for bards and philosophers to ponder and sing about, not something for a warrior. Nevertheless, Shouto couldn't get rid of a nagging voice in the back of his mind. What if these feelings were truly his?

Shouto's throat tightened, and he dropped his hand to run along Endeavor's red hilt. But the prickling feeling of unease crawling across his skin didn't fade. Shouto's fingers twitched.