"Hoh, such bold words," Alex replied, his trademark teasing smile sticking to his lips. "Aren't you worried that I might misinterpret what you said?"
"Why would you—Oh." Freya's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "I didn't an it like that!"
Alex burst into laughter. "I know, I know, just joking," he said between chuckles.
"I didn't an it like that, but…" Freya paused, a playful smile tugging at her lips. "I'm not necessarily against it."
Now it was Alex's turn to be caught off guard, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. He hadn't expected that kind of reply. A mont later, though, he let out a hearty chuckle. "You know, you're very different in public compared to when we’re alone. It's kinda cute."
"Well, you’re different from others," Freya replied, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
"How so?"
"Well, I like you," she said matter-of-factly, not an ounce of hesitation in her voice.
For the second ti in just a few seconds, Alex found himself montarily stunned.
He already knew it, of course—Freya was always straightforward. But still, hearing her say it so casually, without the slightest hint of embarrassnt, caught him off guard. Then again, he should have expected it. She was the type to speak her mind, no matter what, even if it ant confessing her feelings outright.
For a split second, he felt sothing close to embarrassnt creep up on him. Only for a split second, though.
Quite frankly, he liked Freya’s character. 'I'm sure she would get along just fine with Lilia,' he mused. Externally, though, he shifted from his seat, moving to sit just a few inches from the matriarch. "Good thing I like you as well then," he said, closing the gap between them even further.
"Is that so?"
"Of course." Alex nodded, leaning in until he was close enough to feel her warm breath against his skin—and for her to feel his.
The final gap between them vanished. He was re inches from tasting her lips once more when he suddenly felt her delicate hand press against his chest, stopping him in his tracks.
She didn't push him away forcefully, but the intent was clear.
Alex stared at her, his face a canvas of confusion. He couldn’t understand why Freya was pushing him away. This was by no ans the first nor the second ti they would be kissing, and all the signs—be it her confessing that she liked him or the expectant expression on her face seconds ago—pointed to them sharing another intimate mont. So why stop him at the last second?
'Is it that she thinks we are moving too fast?' Alex wondered. It was true that their relationship was moving really fast; they had only t two days ago, after all. So maybe Freya wanted to take things slowly.
Freya, reading his thoughts from his expression, shook her head. "It’s not that I think we’re moving too fast… Err, well, we are moving too fast, but that’s not the reason I stopped you."
"Why then?" Alex raised a brow.
Freya took a deep breath and put a little distance between them. "As I said before, I like you. In fact, those words don’t even begin to explain what I feel whenever I see you or when I’m near you. Even now, I’m struggling with myself not to jump at you."
She chuckled softly, shaking her head at the absurdity of it all. Never in her life had she imagined saying such things to any man.
Her expression turned serious once more. "If things between us are to progress further—and I do want them to—then you should know sothing about before that happens. Sothing that might very well push you away from ."
Alex looked over at Freya, a hint of a smile appearing on his face. Despite wanting to be serious and composed, he found it almost amusing that Freya thought there could actually be sothing she could say that would make him change his mind about having her as one of his won. As he had just told her, he also had feelings for her—in fact, he had felt them from the very mont he saw her. From his point of view, there was no turning back anymore.
Freya smiled sadly and shook her head. "I’m serious. What I’m about to show you… it might make you want to stay away from ."
Alex wanted to dismiss her concerns outright, but seeing the solemnity in her eyes, he simply nodded, his expression growing serious.
Freya took a deep breath, but for a long mont, she didn’t move, lost in thought. Alex didn’t rush her—he just waited.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she let out a slow exhale. Then, with a resolute expression, she raised her left hand and placed it over the forearm of her right arm.
Click
A sharp click echoed through the room the mont Freya pressed her fingers against her forearm. Alex's brow furrowed in confusion. There was nothing visibly attached to her arm, so where had that sound co from?
His answer ca soon enough. As he watched, Freya pulled her left hand away, and in her palm lay a golden bracelet—one he had never noticed before.
Before he even had ti to wonder about the bracelet’s significance, a series of transformations unfolded before his eyes, each one more startling than the last.
The first and most imdiate change was to the aura surrounding Freya. Up until this mont, Alex had assud she was a normal human. She had shown no signs of possessing any sort of power. There had been no fluctuations in mana around her, no subtle hints that she was anything other than what she appeared to be.
But now? That assumption was being shattered.
The air around her grew heavy, charged with an unseen force. Her aura surged and condensed, rapidly stabilizing at peak Level 1. While this wasn’t an overwhelmingly high level, the sheer density of her energy was astonishing. It wasn’t just her power increasing though—it felt as if her very presence had beco sothing else entirely.
Yet, despite the imnse shift in her aura, it wasn’t what held Alex’s attention the most.
It was her face.
The mont she removed the golden bracelet, sothing changed—not drastically, not in a way that altered her features, but sothing new appeared.
A tattoo.
Black as ink, it ford a pattern of burning flas across her left cheek, standing in stark contrast to her fair skin.
It was srizing.
If anything, Alex thought, it enhanced her already striking beauty. The fiery design made her look like one of Earth’s mythical Nordic warriors—fierce, untad, and hot as hell.
But the longer he stared at the tattoo, the more an unsettling feeling crept up his spine.
At that mont, a mory surfaced in Alex’s mind. He had seen this tattoo before. No, not this exact one, but sothing eerily similar—one that had evoked the sa unsettling feeling creeping up his spine now.
Alex's eyes suddenly narrowed, his pupils constricted into pinholes as he recognized that tattoo and what it ant for Freya that have such a tattoo.
"A God's mark..." Alex muttered, his voice low and his gaze dark.
Freya let out a quiet sigh before nodding. "Yes," she admitted, her tone carrying both resignation and defiance. "I have been marked by a god."
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