Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse-Chapter 219: I Am Scared of Losing You

[Suggested song for this Chapter – Selfless, The Strokes]

"He’s a fucking degenerate!" Alton hissed, as he held Delphi’s hair for her while she was sick.

She climbed out of the swag and swayed on her hands and knees, letting the sharp rocks that dug into her palms and her knees, bring her back to the present moment and out of her own head.

Miro came trotting over and dropped his head down to her level, looking into her face.

"I’m okay Miro," she panted, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

When she had brushed her teeth, she climbed back into the swag with Alton, who had shifted it across to the other side of the fire. She could feel that his whole body was stiff with anger, his jaw tightly clenched.

"I’m sorry, Alton," she said hopelessly. "I fought as hard as I could, but I wasn’t good enough."

She really did feel like such a failure for allowing herself to be abused and humiliated like that. She felt like she was both a failure, and somehow also to blame...

"That’s a ridiculous thing to say!" said Alton fiercely. "How could one small woman be strong enough to resist the Emperor and his guards?"

"He brought in four female guards to take me down. They were all six feet tall. I held them back for as long as I could," a sob escaped her again. "I even broke one of their noses. But he just replaced her with another huge woman, until they all packed on me and managed to pin me down... 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

I did think about killing myself or fighting them to the death, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it," her lips trembled as more tears threatened. "Not while there was still a chance I could help the Rebellion from inside the Palace," she pleaded, begging him to understand her shameful decision to live through such dishonour.

"Don’t say that Delphi!" he roared. "You are never to give up your life willingly! Never! do you hear me girl? There’s nothing we can’t solve while you’re still alive," he grunted, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I’m sorry, baby," he said, stroking her hair. "I didn’t mean to yell at you."

"It’s okay," she whispered. "I know it’s just because you care about me. I didn’t realise how hard it would be to relive the memories of what happened. I thought living through them was the hard bit..."

"Don’t worry, baby. I’ll be here to help you every step of the way. And killing the bastard will be the best cure for those lingering memories. Revenge is sweet, as they say..."

"Amen to that," she whispered.

They lay in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.

Alton wanted to know everything, but he was very reluctant to put her through any more pain, especially after witnessing her reaction earlier when she’d told him that the bastard had touched her.

Delphi had a burning question for Alton, but she didn’t know if she could handle the answer.

They both spoke at the same moment.

"I’ll..." said Delphi.

"Tell me..." said Alton.

"You go first," Alton said.

"I...I’ll understand if you don’t want to marry me anymore, Alton," she said haltingly. "Now that I’ve been touched by another man..." she sounded achingly sad.

"Sweetheart," he said passionately, "I will be the luckiest man on this planet if I can marry you, you crazy girl. Nothing will change that. Not you crying in front of me and showing me that you’re vulnerable like everyone else on the planet, not if you’re injured, physically or mentally, and most certainly not because some grotty bastard captured you and laid his hands on you.

That’s why marriage is for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. There are no ’outs’ in those words, Delphi. And I’ll never leave you. Not in this lifetime. Just try and get rid of me, you’ll see."

"But we’re not married yet, Alton," she needed to say these words, to give him a chance to have a normal life with a sweet, innocent, happy girl, who hadn’t been sullied... like she had.

"You can start afresh with someone else," she offered him this chance to be free of her, though the thought of him with someone else made her feel sick to her stomach again. "A girl who hasn’t been dirtied by another man," she whispered.

"Hah!" he laughed, incredulous.

"You think I could ever be with someone else after meeting you? You’ve destroyed me for anyone else, little girl. That much was clear to me after the first time I met you outside that jewellery store.

And you are the opposite of dirtied by a man. You are the cleanest, most pure soul I’ve ever met. Don’t be concerned, beautiful," he pulled her tight against his chest and stroked her cheek, looking into her eyes.

"Nothing, and I mean nothing, can tarnish the light inside you. It is perfect and beautiful, and it emanates from you in everything you say and do.

The Emperor might have tried to smear his grubby fingerprints on you, but I’d wager my life that he had already realised you are a star burning so brightly that it was going to take a lot more than the grot he had in his arsenal to extinguish it."

"Thank you, Alton," she said, her voice cracking.

"For what?"

"For everything."

"I didn’t do anything. You did everything yourself. You handed yourself in to save people, and you got yourself out of that hell hole. I just created the opportunity for you. You’re the one who grabbed it with two hands. You took two sticks and a piece of string, and you built the bloody Taj Mahal, girl. How many people did you have to disable to escape that medical exam?"

"The two techs. Then the four female guards."

"The six foot tall guards?"

She nodded.

"And how did you manage that?"

"I scissor kicked the doctor, then I jump double side kicked the tech before I choked her out, then I gathered up all of the medical implements I could lay my hands on. I slammed the door into one guard and knocked her down, smashed the next one’s nose with a speculum, then I threw needles into the eyes of each of the other three guards."

She didn’t mention the gratuitous jab in the butt with a needle she’d given the guard whose nose she had broken. That litany of violence seemed like quite enough without him needing to hear she had dealt out one final injury just for her own satisfaction...

Alton shook his head in amazement, his lips curved up in an involuntary smile.

"There’s no doubt about you, babygirl, you’re one of a kind that’s for sure. You. Are. Amazing! I am so lucky to have you," his voice was raw.

"Don’t waste another minute on that piece of garbage I’m ashamed to be related to," he said fiercely.

He turned, and without asking, pressed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply, passionately, slowly, telling her with his actions how much he loved her and had missed her with every inch of his being.

He pulled back just enough to whisper into her ear.

"It’s me who should be asking you if you’ll still have me after what I just let you go through. I failed you, babygirl, not the other way around. It’s all my fault. Forgive me?"

"There’s nothing to forgive. All you did was rescue me from an impossible situation."

He rested his forehead on hers.

"You have no idea the agony I’ve been through waiting for you. You just about broke me girl. I’m not scared of anything... but I am scared of losing you..."

He threaded his fingers through hers and pressed his lips to Delphi’s, not intending to stop until she drifted to sleep in his arms.