Chapter 58: Chapter 59: Trauma discussions are always better with food
Theo pointed at me immediately from where he sat upright on the bed, looking deeply and personally offended by the mere suggestion that any of us had dared question his priorities.
"They made us run laps after surviving literal death," he said dramatically, gesturing with both hands for emphasis. "Of course I collapsed. My stomach gave up before the rest of me did. It was a protest. A full-body rebellion."
Kaden burst into another loud, genuine laugh that filled the room, while Lyra let out a long, tired breath that sounded halfway between overwhelming relief and lingering disbelief.
I just stared at Theo for a long moment, processing everything, before slowly shaking my head.
"You know," I muttered, a tired smile tugging at my lips, "for one beautiful, terrifying second, I genuinely thought you were dying."
Theo blinked at me with exaggerated innocence. "I was."
"You were hungry."
"Exactly. Same thing."
The tension in the room loosened slightly after that.
Not fully.
Never fully.
I didn’t think any of us would truly recover from Morvalis that quickly, not after the Blood Ants, not after watching Ivy collapse and die right in front of us, and certainly not after the horrifying realization that an entire academy full of people had apparently been expecting, and quietly hoping, for me to be the one who didn’t make it back.
But Theo’s dramatic fake-death-by-starvation had cracked something in the suffocating heaviness that had been hanging over all of us like a dark cloud. Just enough to let us breathe again. Just enough to remind us we were still here.
Kaden dropped heavily into the chair near the window with a deep groan, stretching his long legs out in front of him. "If I die because this academy refuses to feed us properly, I’m haunting every single Arbiter here for the rest of eternity. I’ll make it my life’s mission... well, afterlife’s mission."
"You’d probably annoy them into resurrecting you just to make you shut up," Lyra murmured tiredly, though a faint smile touched her lips.
"I’d love that too," Theo admitted with surprising seriousness. "I’d make it worth their while too."
I snorted despite myself.
Small.
Brief.
But real.
And somehow that tiny moment of shared laughter felt strangely important after everything we had endured. Like quiet proof that we hadn’t completely broken yet. That some small, stubborn part of us was still capable of finding light in the darkness.
Elion leaned lazily against the wall beside my bed, arms crossed loosely over his chest as he watched me with that familiar quiet amusement dancing in his eyes. Thorne stood farther away near the door, silent as always, though I kept catching his intense gaze drifting toward me when he thought I wouldn’t notice.
Which was irritating.
Mostly because I noticed every single time.
Then Theo suddenly sat up straighter on the bed, eyes bright with renewed purpose.
"Okay seriously," he announced to the room. "If nobody feeds me within the next five minutes, I’m going back to the field and dying properly this time. I want it to be dramatic. Maybe with tears."
"You’re so dramatic already," Lyra muttered, rolling her eyes fondly.
"I’m starving," Theo corrected with deep, theatrical offense. "There’s a difference."
Honestly?
Same.
Now that the adrenaline from the punishment run and the shock of Theo’s collapse was finally wearing off, my own stomach felt painfully hollow. We had survived on strange, unnaturally sweet fruits and pure survival instinct for what felt like centuries. Real food suddenly seemed like the greatest luxury imaginable.
Kaden groaned loudly. "Can this academy at least spare some food for the Purgers they almost killed?"
"They definitely have food," Elion said calmly from his spot against the wall. "The real question is whether they’ll willingly give it to us."
"Then we steal it," Theo replied immediately, already swinging his legs off the bed with surprising energy.
I blinked at him.
"You recovered from your dramatic collapse surprisingly fast."
"Food motivates me," he said with a shrug, as if that explained everything.
That... honestly explained a lot about Theo as a person.
In the end, none of us had enough remaining energy to argue against the plan.
Theo and Kaden disappeared for several long minutes while Lyra practically threatened them not to start any fights with the kitchen staff. Naturally, they returned later looking suspiciously victorious, and carrying an impressive amount of food.
"Should we even ask how they got all that?" Lyra asked cautiously, eyeing the stolen feast with a mix of hunger and worry.
"No," I answered immediately. "Absolutely not."
I preferred peace.
And plausible deniability.
Within minutes, the entire room was filled with the warm, comforting smell of fresh bread, roasted meat, hearty soup, and something sweet I was too exhausted to properly identify. The aroma wrapped around us like a much-needed embrace.
Nobody spoke much at first.
We just ate.
Like starving people who had finally remembered that food existed and tasted like hope.
Theo looked moments away from actual tears after his first few bites.
"I almost died today," he whispered emotionally while holding up a piece of warm bread like a sacred artifact. "And now I’ve found meaning again."
Kaden snorted into his soup. "Your soulmate is food."
"That’s the healthiest relationship in this room," Theo replied without missing a beat.
For a while, things almost felt normal.
Not completely.
I could still remember the exact moment Ivy collapsed. I could still hear the faint scuttling of Blood Ants in the back of my mind. I could still feel that horrible crawling sensation beneath my skin every time my thoughts drifted too close to that night.
But sitting here while everyone ate, argued quietly, and lovingly insulted Theo’s unhealthy emotional attachment to food...
It felt strangely comforting.
Like maybe, just maybe, we had survived enough to still be living being afterward.
A sudden knock interrupted the fragile calm.
Three quick, sharp taps against the door.
Everyone looked up instantly.
The reaction was immediate and telling.
Tension.
Suspicion.
Hyper-alertness.
"I’ll get it," Theo said immediately, still holding a half-eaten drumstick in one hand.
"You literally collapsed not long ago," I reminded him.
"And yet I rise again," he declared dramatically.
"That sounds concerningly undead."
Theo ignored me completely and walked toward the door anyway.
The second he opened it....
"Nyx!"
Liora practically threw herself into the room and directly at me.
I barely had enough time to stand before she wrapped both arms around me in a fierce, desperate hug.
"I missed you!" she exclaimed loudly, her voice thick with genuine relief.
I blinked in surprise before hugging her back just as tightly.
Warm.
Safe.
Familiar.
And suddenly I realized how badly I had needed exactly this.
Not flirting.
Not tension.
Not survival instincts.
Just simple, uncomplicated comfort from someone who truly cared whether I lived or died.
"I missed you too," I muttered softly into her shoulder.
Liora pulled back slightly, immediately grabbing my shoulders as her sharp eyes scanned my face with anxious care.
"You look horrible."
"Thank you," I said dryly.
"No, seriously, you look like Morvalis chewed you up and spat you back out."
"That’s because it basically did."
Theo immediately pointed toward the pile of food with generous hospitality.
"Sit down first," he said. "Trauma discussions are always better with food."
Liora blinked before slowly sitting down beside me on the bed.
"...Why does it smell this good in here?"
"Because we almost died," Kaden answered simply, tearing into another piece of meat.
"That somehow explains nothing." Liora said
"It explains everything," Theo corrected while shoving more bread into his mouth.
And honestly?
That was probably the most peaceful and warm our room had felt since we first entered Altheris.
Temporary.
Fragile.
But real.
But then I knew we were probably going to get in serious trouble for stealing food from the kitchen.
That problem, however, could wait until I was done eating.
