He didn't retire to the men's shared room for the night like the other Elementals; Geryon stayed in the dining area drinking ale as he mulled over Aeris. The guilt at forcing her to reveal her secret ate at him. Geryon owed her an apology—he had overreacted.

Memories of another's words flashing through her silver eyes—words she feared hearing from them, too—nearly shattered his soul. Aeris tried to glare at him at one point, but the anger was hollow; she was embarrassed at showing them her flaw. Geryon would've preferred hatred instead of her humiliation ripping his heart into shreds.

But he deserved her placing blame on him. Tired of her still mourning Heela's death, which affected the rest of the group, he wanted to shake some sense into her to straighten up. And then announcing that she wasn't going through the Storming Plains burned the rest of his already simmering fuse. He had read the entire situation wrong.

He had grabbed her arm and felt nothing—no warmth of blood pulsing through her veins. It caught him off guard. When she threatened him, desperation overpowered the anger in her eyes. Geryon should've stopped there. The fear on her face was enough of a warning that he had gone too far. But no, his anger had to be let out. Unfortunately, it had been on Aeris.

Damn temper, he cursed as he took another sip of ale. It had never gotten him anywhere, unlike what the Suns had always prophesied—he didn't see how it could possibly be a virtue for him.

Geryon remained seated, mulling over the best way to approach Aeris to apologize. He had never thought about someone enough to worry about their feelings. Even when his tankard of ale had run out, he still sat brooding, thinking of a scenario one second and throwing it out the next. After half an hour passed with him unable to think of something, he got up to head for the room.

The receptionist bid him a good night's rest when he passed; he only grunted a thanks. Guilt and his mind conjuring up images of Aeris' ordeal wouldn't let him sleep.

Occupied by trying to think of a plan, he walked down the vacant hallway with closed doors leading to sleeping occupants—not paying attention—when the sound of an opening door caught his attention. He looked up just as a flash of white and light blue fabric slipped into a room at the end of the hallway and the door shut.

Aeris. The colors of her dress didn't give her away; the clearing of the air did: a slight breeze had appeared. He hadn't reached the section containing group rooms, so she didn't go into the women's room.

This was his chance to apologize—she was alone; no one could witness him humbling himself or to gape at his first try at confessing feelings. Geryon stopped in front of the closed door and considered knocking instead of barging in.

Oh, he could picture it as clear as footage on a hologram. He would knock, she would ask who it was, he'd answer, and she would throw a sword through the door, impaling him.

No knocking. I'll slip in, but stay close to the exit just in case she turns on me. He took a steadying breath, opened the door, and slipped into the dimly lit room.

It was the inn's small library. Bookcases and shelves laden with books lined the walls and tables sat at the base of them. Lit candles flickered in a breeze—he knew who produced it—but the tall windows opposite him provided most of the sight with lightning flashes.

His eyes landed on the dark silhouette watching the lightning play in the sky. Aeris stiffened, knowing who had entered from probably feeling his eternal heat. As planned, Geryon stood with his back against the door to assess the situation.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Give me a second to get my head out of my ass," he replied lightly, hoping to soothe the tension in the air before she snapped his neck.

She scoffed. "I would think it's too far up your ass to reach it."

Geryon clenched a hand to control his temper. I deserve that. "You may be right, but I want to apologize for my behavior." He winced as it came out of his mouth—admitting an apology hurt.

Aeris gave a dry, humorless laugh. "Didn't think your ego would allow you to say such a thing." He winced at the venom in her voice.

"Yet" —Air turned and glared at him— "I don't think it's sincere."

He pushed himself away from the door and bravely moved toward her. "I am sincere, Aeris. I am truly sorry. My anger got a hold of me and I lost myself. I wasn't thinking."

"You got that right."

"What can I say to make you believe me?" His voice heated from the irritation boiling within him. Damn it, I'm trying! Can't she see how hard it is to admit I did wrong?

Her eyes narrowed. "First of all, you can stop with the act of being soft and timid. Then you can tell me what I did to make you angry with me."

"Fine," Geryon snarled. "I was tired of your exceeding mourning and cry for pity." He raised a hand to stop her when she began to interrupt. "Don't. You want me to tell you so I am." Her pretty mouth snapped back down into an angry line. "Then when you declared that you weren't going into the Plains pushed me over the edge, for I thought you were being a diva." He loomed over her, his frustration from earlier slipping into his voice.

Geryon released a breath and stepped back as he softened his voice. "I should have recognized the fear in your eyes as you thought of the Plains. Then the same fear when I grabbed your arm and the pleading in your eyes for me to drop it. But my anger got the best of me and I wanted to leave you exposed."

He huffed as he looked past her out the windows. "Like I said before, I wasn't thinking, and I'm sorry. Truly sorry."

Not a single noise came from Aeris. He shifted his gaze to find her silver eyes locked on his face and quivering slightly as thoughts raced through her head.

Another bright flash of lightning lit up the entire room before Geryon cleared his throat out of uneasiness. Admitting his thoughts and leaving himself bare for others to see was new, and extremely discomforting. "Well?"

She blinked a few times. "Well, what?"

"Was that sincere enough? Do you believe me now?"

She cleared her throat as her eyes dropped to the floor. "I... believe so. It wasn't easy for you to say you were sorry, was it?"

He shifted his weight. "No. No, it wasn't. I don't do it very often and I... don't have experience doing so."

A faint smile brushed her lips. "I could tell.

"I just don't understand something," Aeris began as she looked back up.

Panic crept in. "I'm sorry if I said something wrong."

The brief smile appeared again. "No. No. It wasn't something you said. What I'm confused about is the why. Why did you apologize to me? You just said so yourself that you don't apologize much, so why did you owe me one? What was different about me?"

Geryon was at a loss for words. Well, he knew what to say, but he just didn't know how to say it: admit another hard subject that he felt drawn to her. He had... feelings for her. It about crushed him when she looked so dejected. He hated what he did, and he wished she hadn't experienced the pain when she lost her arm and leg. Sorry for the bitter sting of rejection for her robotic limbs and the fear making her hold that secret. All of it stemmed from him not wanting to hurt her; he cared about her feelings, not just his.

As he struggled for an answer, a bright flash of lightning filled the room along with a loud crack and boom from striking the ground; the floor vibrated from the rumbling. They both jumped hard, but Aeris jerked away from the window, clutching her left arm.

On impulse, Geryon reached for her, but she darted around his reach. "Sorry," she said as she hurried toward the door.

"Aeris, wait!" He spun around to catch her right arm.

Electricity shocked them on contact, but neither tried to pull away. They just remained frozen where they stood. Aeris turned to look at Geryon's hand clutched around her forearm—at the skin-on-skin contact.

Her pulse sputtered, then pounded under his hand. Hot desire rushed into him at the thought of how close they were. He wanted nothing but to kiss her perfect lips.

"You told me to stop being timid around you," he said before yanking her to him. Aeris collided into him and, with her right arm trapped in his grasp, she couldn't escape. "It ends here."

He leaned down and their lips met. Nothing could have prepared them for their reactions.

Instead of the soft kiss Geryon expected, it exploded in fiery desire, just like the start of the lightning violently clashing over the Plains. The air around them fizzling with reduced static electricity burst in a hot clash. Geryon's fingers intertwined into her blonde hair like he had dreamed of doing. Aeris' free hand clutched against his neck as their kisses became deeper, fiercer, hungrier.

Aeris bumped into something; Geryon wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back, needing to feel every inch of her pressed against him. Her fingers brushed the exposed skin beside his armored chest plate and arm guard as she gripped the chest guard to hold him even closer. The simplest touch of her left a trail of fire on his skin.

A deafening boom, Aeris jolting in reaction and gasping in pain, split them apart. Electricity buzzed and popped around them. Somehow, a bolt of lightning broke through the energy shield over the inn to strike it. Geryon held her, trying to protect her from the electricity crawling down the ceiling like fingers.

The storm continued to rage violently outside.

"I think we're causing that," Geryon said as he let go of her; she did the same. With some space between them, the air cooled and the angry storm slackened.

They both panted; Aeris was pressed against a table, which she ended up sitting on. His clutching her hair had disrupted the smoothness.

Geryon itched to brush it out for her, but the Storming Plains rumbled in warning. He motioned at her hair. "Your hair..."

Aeris took the hint and combed through it with her fingers. Neither said anything as she fixed her hair.

"Sorry... again."

She looked at him. "For what?"

"For nearly devouring you."

She kept his gaze. "You think I am?"

Geryon could only look at her. She chuckled. "I've never been kissed—desired—like that before." Aeris smiled. "I'm not sorry. I knew there was something between us."

He chuckled with her. "You too?"

"And I didn't know what to do about it either."

"Was this okay?"

She laughed again. "I couldn't have imagined it any other way."

An eyebrow rose. "Because you're Air and I'm Fire, so you expected it to be—"

"Wild," Aeris finished; they shared the laugh. "Our elements do give fuel to each other."

"As we just experienced." Another loud crack split the easy atmosphere, and both looked. "I think we best go."

She nodded. "If anyone saw you come in here, they might think you're dead and will come looking." She looked at him at the end.

"I would give more of a fight than you think." Geryon wanted to test how far he could go. He didn't even get close to kissing her before the warning rumbles began. "I don't like that."

Aeris chuckled. "Me neither, but perhaps we shouldn't push it, or we might destroy the inn."

"Then until we're out of our lands. Tomorrow can't come quick enough."

She shared his smile—the desire in her eyes said that she felt the same too. "Tomorrow, then." Aeris hopped off the table but hesitated before leaving, her eyes drifting down to his lips. He wanted to kiss her or just to hold her again, too. A crack of lightning snapped her back to attention.

"Goodnight, Geryon." She moved for the door—careful to stay away from him—and disappeared through it.

"Goodnight, Aeris." He grinned. Well, that went better than I'd expected.