A Dance Of Crowns & Thrones | Book I

Chapter 138 | November 25th | Garden Of Bones

Timeline - November 25th | ( 6 Days later)

"You need to choose!" Madison's scream sliced through the chaos, abruptly cutting Eko off. Her attention snapped to Madison, who pointed in the distance. "Me or him!" Madison's words hung heavily in the air. "Me or him!" The ultimatum was like a cruel twist of the knife.

"Don't," Eko pleaded, her voice trembling, "don't, please, don't." The anguish in her eyes mirrored the torment in her heart as the unbearable choice loomed before her.

***** ****

Eko awoke, sweat pouring from her brow, it was just a dream, the choice that was inflicted by Madison was still just a dream . She breathed out as the surroundings of Matthew's bedroom filtered into her mind.

She had moved off the bed, sitting on the edge, as she collected her thoughts from the recurrent nightmare. She brought her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly before she rested her head on them.

Madison's words reverberated at the edge of her thoughts every time she sought to close her eyes, gradually diminishing as the days unfolded. However, nights presented a different challenge. She found herself unable to escape the same ultimatum and the intense pain within her heart.

It relentlessly haunted her dreams, and if she had chosen to stay with Madison, she feared that she would have lost Matthew instead—burying him instead of losing her cousin. In the wake of such nightmares, she would snap awake to find him peacefully asleep beside her. After catching her breath, she would turn into his arms, seeking solace and burying herself in him. It was the only way that she could force her world to disappear, to make the haunting thoughts stop. 

Everyone claimed to understand why it hurt her, but she felt they didn't truly grasp the depth of it. She was the reason Madison was dead—she put one life in front of the other, choosing love over family. Madison had begged, fought, screamed, and berated her to leave. She didn't want to be in this world, yet she made her stay. She was the sole person responsible for her cousin's death, the last part of her family left in this world.

Tears continued to well up as she pulled her knees closer to her chest. Eko realized she would have to live with that choice for the rest of her life, knowing the consequences her decisions had forced upon someone she loved dearly.

At that moment, someone else she loved with her entire heart came into view—the man whose voice had been muffled on the balcony adjoining the bedroom. Eko watched as he paced back and forth on the balcony, wearing a rumpled white collared shirt with several buttons undone. The conversation he engaged in seemed intense, evident from his animated gestures and the occasional frustrated run of his hand through his hair.

She noticed a brief pause on the balcony, as if caught in a heated exchange, followed by a wave of his hand towards the sky. He resumed pacing and eventually headed back towards the office, disappearing from the bedroom view.

Perhaps he was in conversation with one of their friends or speaking with the Allegiant board. She was aware, however, that the rest of the group had been tirelessly exploring various districts and planets, pursuing any leads they could find and trying to pinpoint the location of their enemy.

During the past six days, they had all been in and out, but he had been by her side at odd hours for as long as he could. She was grateful that when he did leave, one of the girls stayed behind to keep her company.

On those days, she pottered between the bedroom and the office, and the girls nine times out of ten brought food with them. She had a sneaky suspicion that it had mainly been on her boyfriend's instruction in ensuring that she was eating.

Eko, however, couldn't complain and was genuinely grateful for the man because he truly wanted to take care of her. It was abundantly clear to her that over the past few days, he had gone above and beyond anything she could have imagined him doing for her.

Matthew often reassured her during the darkest part of the night, when she couldn't sleep, that he understood how grief worked. He somehow managed her own grief easily when she confronted her fears, allowing her to wallow in her self-pity for as long as she needed.

Most of the time, he ended their conversations by telling her that there was no time limit when it came to grieving and that she would find her way out of it. Importantly, he promised that he would be there every step of the way.

She smiled softly, appreciating that he kept that promise. Her eyes reached up to find the man entering back into the bedroom to be with her.

He didn't say much besides placing the device on the bedside. She felt him around her when he pulled her body into his own and moved them down to the bed. Eko's head was placed on his chest, and when settled against the duvet covers, he began to caress her hair.

The lull of silence only lasted so long when Eko's questioning began, "Who was that?"

"No one," he whispered, lying.

"Seriously, I want to know. I need to get back to whatever reality looks like."

Matthew exhaled, moving his head to get comfortable on the pillow, "They're just meetings that I've been putting off. Between everything, it looks like I'll need to be gone for the week, backlog and all."

Eyebrows furrowed, she had been so lost in her world that she hadn't processed where time had actually gone.

Eko lifted her head, turning to the man as she propped herself up.

"Sorry."

"Don't do that," he snapped at the way she began those words to him, "don't you dare apologize because I chose to be here with you, to mend you. You come first, Eko, and you needed me here. So don't apologize, because I sure won't."

She smiled softly at the man, "I love you, so much, do you know that?" and for the first time in days, she felt warmth fill her heart.

Matthew stared at her for longer than she expected him to, some swirling thoughts in his mind before he brought his hand forward, tucking a hair behind her ear.

"There's that smile I've missed," the smirk of a comment surprised her, and he leaned forward, kissing her softly, "I'll get you through this, Eko. I promise you."

"I know you will," her voice hushed against his lips, sky blue flickering up to his own steel, "you are relentless."

"I am," he cocked that smile that she adored, "for the things I love in this world. Again, I won't apologize for that."

"I don't want you to apologize, ever. It's one of the things I love about you," she trailed her fingers over his cheeks, taking in every curvature of his face.

"Are you going to be okay while I'm gone for the week?"

Eko nodded, "no, yes? I don't know. I think I'll just pick up some classes to keep my head distracted and get back to reality. I think I need to just, get out of bed, not eat ice cream all day and move my ass."

Ah, there was her humor.

"Well, before you think about leaving this bed," he suggested in a seductive tone. Eko felt his lips against hers, and she surrendered to the moment. It was like he told her at the beginning of it all, there was  suffering in life, and there are defeats.

No one can avoid them.

Not even a warrior can with all their powers, and maybe just maybe, its better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for their dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what they were fighting for.