Atonement

NERO’S POV

The guards stared at me like they were doing something wrong and they felt guilty for it. While I walked freely to the cell myself, they refused against my wishes to lock me up. Instead the door was left open.

I sat in the cell with my back leaning against the bar. While my eyes glued to the wall Athena was chained to, I couldn’t help but recall the words I said to her. How broken she looked when I told her the cost of stealing the heirloom, and how she was a lowly thief.

I was an idiot.

Right then I struggled with knowing she was there yet I had let my mouth dig an even deeper hole for myself. How she must have felt alone with no one to talk to or even confide in when I did things to her. Sure, my mother stood in as hers but that couldn’t have been the same with having hers.

I’ll never make you feel like you’re alone in this world again, Athena. That I promise.

I was making a lot of promises, but I was determined to keep them. This time I was going to keep them even if it