Chapter 663: Their Role In This

Orion didn’t speak.

But his silence wasn’t empty. He was thinking and piecing things together.

Sophia held his gaze, and then finally, Orion spoke quietly.

"Was Noctis in that book?"

Sophia nodded. "Yes. And... he wasn’t bound to you at first, Orion."

Orion didn’t react immediately.

But something in his expression changed. He exhaled once as his lips pulled into a smile that was devoid of any humour.

"Let me guess... he was bound to Dolion?" he asked her.

Sophia nodded.

Orion let out a slow breath and released her fingers gently, like he needed space to think more clearly.

"I suspected it," he said at last, voice quieter now. "But I wasn’t certain."

His gaze dropped briefly, unfocused for a moment.

Noctis made his presence known to Orion as if he wanted to say something, but he kept quiet, like he wasn’t very certain he should speak.

Orion didn’t acknowledge him, not yet. Instead, he ran a hand down his face and leaned slightly back.

"I may need to speak with the goddess," he said finally.

Sophia’s gaze sharpened slightly at that.

"Are you annoyed?" she asked him.

Orion glanced at her immediately.

"Not really," he said simply. "I mean, I am annoyed, yes, but not about the fact that Noctis was bound to someone else before me, even if it’s Dolion himself."

Sophia studied him carefully.

Orion continued before she could speak again.

"That’s not what bothers me."

His voice stayed calm.

But there was something steadier underneath it now.

"I’m more annoyed that you didn’t get time to rest before all of this landed on you at once."

Sophia blinked at that.

Orion exhaled through his nose lightly.

"You go from barely recovering," he added, "to carrying information that could shift everything we thought we understood."

His gaze sharpened slightly.

"That’s what I don’t like. The goddess could have waited until you felt better about everything instead of just dumping everything on you. It was like she thought, ’oh, since you remember everything, why don’t I just dump more burden on you?’"

He sighed and then spoke again.

"Why didn’t she come to me? I was right here. It would have been better if it was me she came to first... maybe."

Sophia didn’t respond immediately. She was quiet for a while.

"Perhaps," she began, "it’s exactly because of that she came to me?"

"Shorty, that makes no sense," Orion told her.

"I don’t know," Sophia said to him. "I’m just trying to come up with a reason why she came to me first and not you. And I honestly don’t know."

Orion just smiled at that. "I wasn’t asking you per se," he told her. "I was just speaking out loud."

He sighed again and then tilted his head slightly.

"Apart from the goddess though," he continued, "I will have to speak with Noctis. Because now it makes sense."

A faint tension moved through the air.

"There are things he couldn’t tell me," Orion said. "Things he was restricted from saying."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"The gag order," he added quietly. "It wasn’t just a limitation. It was enforced silence. And now that I know what I know, I’m certain it was the goddess at work."

His gaze lifted slightly.

"And I suspect, if Noctis was bound before me," he continued, "then this wasn’t random. I suspect she gave him to me because of who my ancestor is."

Silence followed that.

But not an empty one.

Orion’s eyes darkened slightly in thought.

"But I need more," he added. "I need to know exactly what happened."

His gaze returned to her fully now.

"This doesn’t just happen," he said. "Wolves don’t break bonds like that and then get reassigned into something like this without reason."

Sophia hesitated slightly.

Then asked softly,

"...is that all?"

Orion blinked once.

Then let out a small breath that almost resembled a chuckle.

"That’s all for now," he said.

And then, without warning, he reached for her again.

He pulled her gently into his arms, like he was anchoring both of them at once.

Sophia relaxed into his hold, and Orion pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"You’re thinking too much about how I was supposed to react," he said quietly.

Sophia exhaled faintly against him.

"I thought you’d be angry," she admitted.

Orion huffed softly, almost amused.

"And you hesitated because of that?"

She didn’t answer immediately.

Which was answer enough.

Orion tightened his hold slightly.

"It doesn’t matter," he said. "There’s nothing there worth anger. And not at you."

Sophia’s grip on him loosened slightly.

After a moment, she pulled back just enough to look at him again.

"You said you also have information about our mark?" he asked her.

She nodded. "There’s a reason it’s different," she said. "There was an illustration in the book, of two people."

Orion’s gaze sharpened slightly.

"It was of Selene and Dolion."

The room seemed to shift again at the mention of those names together.

Sophia continued.

"They both had marks on their backs," she said. "The same kind we both have."

Orion didn’t speak.

"And Selene told me something too," Sophia added. "That I... represent her."

Orion’s brows tightened slightly and then he spoke softly.

"And maybe I represent Dolion."

Sophia nodded. "I suspect so."

"And perhaps this is Selene’s fucked-up way of rewriting history, is it not?" Orion asked her.

Her fingers tightened faintly.

"Yes. Everything is tied to them," she continued. "We are to rewrite history and make things right... that’s what I think."

Orion was quiet again.

Then, unexpectedly, he let out a low chuckle.

Sophia blinked.

He shook his head slightly.

"The goddess," he muttered. "Really is something."

"She sends you to fix what she broke, claiming you are her representation," he said slowly. "And still had the nerve to tell you we weren’t even supposed to exist when, from what we now know, I’m supposed to help you rewrite history?"

His lips curved faintly again.

"Quite the lovely goddess we have, right?"