Dulled 30

Chapter 30 

threatening to erupt inside him. “Don’t do this,” he muttered, his voice rough “I’m not that man 

anymore.” 

“I don’t want that man,” she replied coldly. “I want the man I used to know. 

Ares’s fingers curled into a fist around the cane, his knuckles white. He had no answer for her. 

The truth was too painful, too much of a reminder of his failings. But Selene wasn’t going to let 

him off the hook that easily. She was pushing him, prodding at the wounds he had so carefully 

concealed, until they bled once more. 

“You’re still that man,” she said softly, her voice tinged with sorrow. “You just hide behind a 

mask, pretending to be someone else.” 

Her words hit him like a punch to the gut. The mask he wore, the cold exterior he had built up to 

protect himself from the world… It was all starting to crack. And with it, the truth was slipping 

through. 

Ares’s grip tightened on his cane, his breath ragged. He didn’t know how to fight this. Didn’t 

know how to fight the woman who had once been his everything. The woman he had lost, and 

the woman who had come back, not to save him, but to destroy him. 

He turned back to face her, his eyes dark with an emotion he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in 

years. “I’m not the man you remember,” he growled, though the words sounded hollow, even to 

him. 

Selene’s eyes narrowed, studying him. For a moment, there was nothing but the silence 

between them, thick and heavy with everything they had left unsaid. And then, without another 

word, she turned and walked out of the room, her steps echoing in the quiet. 

Ares stood there, alone in the room, his heart beating erratically, the weight of her words sinking 

into him like a stone. He had never wanted to face the truth, but now it was unavoidable, Selene 

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Chapter 30 

had seen right through him, and for the first time in years, he was terrified of what that meant 

The night was thick with a kind of oppressive silence that seemed to hang over the room. The 

dim glow of the city lights outside cast shadows that stretched across the floor, playing tricks on 

The eyes. Ares Callowy sat by the window once more, his fingers drumming on the arm of his 

chair, restless, agitated. He could still feel the weight of Selene’s words pressing down on him. 

her words that had cut through his defenses and exposed something raw beneath the surface. 

You’re still that man… 

He couldn’t shake the feeling that she had seen right through him, that she knew him better than 

be knew himself. Worse, she had started to chip away at the walls he had so carefully built 

around his heart. Ares had fought to keep his distance, to keep her at arm’s length, but now she 

was closer than ever before, and it terrified him. 

The sound of a door opening broke his spiraling thoughts. A soft, purposeful step followed. Ares 

didn’t need to look up to know who it was. He could feel her presence, like a shadow moving in 

the room, filling the space with her energy. 

Selene. 

She moved quietly, with an elegance that seemed to command the room without effort. He could 

hear the rustle of her dress, the soft whisper of fabric brushing against her skin, and the faint 

scent of jasmine that seemed to linger in the air after she passed. 

She stopped just behind him, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. The tension hung thick 

in the room, a pressure neither was willing to release. Ares could feel her gaze on the back of 

his neck, burning with something unreadable. Something dangerous. 

“What do you want, Selene?” His voice was low, clipped, though he didn’t turn to face her. He 

couldn’t. Not yet.