Forbidden (A Luke Castellan Love Story)

Chapter 74

WARNING!! MAJOR FEELS  AHEAD!!!

_________________________________________________________________

Artemis’ POV

            Silently, I jumped onto the roof in one leap like a cat and stood behind my daughter who was sitting on the roof picking at the shingles. I smiled at her, but then shook it off my face, reminding myself that I needed to stay distant and unloving towards her. My heart ached at the thought of leaving my daughter alone to herself with the knowledge that I hated her. Once again, I shook it off and clasped my hands behind my back slowly walking towards her.

            “You know…” I mused out loud, making Averill jump and turn to me, her expression panicked. “You really shouldn’t be out so late at night.”
            Most people would not have seen my face as it was so dark, but Averill inherited my eyes and my excellent vision in the dark so she knew exactly who I was. Her eyes narrowed at me, recognizing me from her claiming. She turned quickly away from me, back to what she was looking at before.

            “You shouldn’t be sneaking up behind people.” She told me, her voice as hard as a stone column on one of my temples.

            Upon hearing the tone in her voice and hearting me, her words made me raise my eyebrows, in surprise. Not from her being angry at me, I expected that, but she was speaking to me in Greek. 

While Averill was in my care, I taught her to speak Greek. Both William and I knew Greek fluently so her first language was Greek, then later English.  She was a very bright child to have been able to speak all two languages fluently before she was even 5. Though, Hera did give Averill a bright mind as well as Athena with her gift.

            I shook my head and continued speaking, this time in Greek to see how long she could continue. Walking forwards I spoke, my hands clasped behind my back as I walked closer towards her. “How often do you do this?” I frowned when I stood beside her and she scooted away from me.

            “Every night.” She muttered, keeping her gaze on the roof below our feet, her finger tracing patterns on the dark surface.

            “Do you do anything while you are out here?” I asked looking out into the night, shifting my gaze down to her at the last word.

            Once again she spoke in Greek. “Think, get away from everyone, look at the stars, stuff like that.” Averill answered, her voice soft.

            I could not help the smile that tugged at my lips upon hearing her words. At night, I would take Averill outside to star gaze and take her outside in the night air when she needed to calm down. To find out that even now, with that memory gone, she still did it intentionally as if to recreate the memory made a warm feeling go throughout me.

            Averill seemed frustrated and ran her hands through her hair, another thing that I realized she intentionally did to recreate the feel of my hands as I had always ran my hands through her hair to calm her down . Only later did I realize she did that often when she was frustrated, angry, upset or confused to recreate the loving memory though she did not know why she did it. I also realized later that Averill always had her hair in a braid, just as I had always put it in when she was younger.