Untouched ✔

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Untouched

All Rights Reserved

© 2015 Luna Black

~*~

“Oh,” Ariel responded lamely, playing with her fingers idly. She sighed, looking up at the ceiling and then closed her eyes when Hades’ began to burn against the side of her cheek. She could feel his stare piercing through her skin and it was making her extremely uncomfortable. “What?”

He shrugged, straightening his back and said, “I do not know…you just…you’re glowing.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s what everyone says to pregnant women.”

“No,” he shook his head, “you’re face; it looks more relaxed than when it was when I came in.” His eyes grazed every inch of her face for a couple of silent moments and he concluded, “You are content.”

“About as content as a turkey after Thanksgiving Day,” she muttered.

Hades frowned, shaking his head at her strange comparison and bit his bottom lip to keep from speaking what his heart desired to say. He didn’t like knowing that she didn’t want to give him her heart, but he also knew what her reasoning was. He had hurt her and he would torture himself over it for all his life.

“Can you leave?” She whispered, suddenly feeling extremely drained as she turned on her side, snuggling closer to the pillow.

“Ariel,” he began, his voice soft and pleading.

Ariel shook her head, shutting her eyes tighter and whispered, “Hades, no; please just go. I want to be left alone I need to process all of this. Because no matter how much I want to stay away from you and your crazy family, it seems that my destiny is to be part of that crazy family.”

He sighed, running his fingers through his black hair and said, “Why don’t you just let me speak?”

She was quiet for a couple of minutes, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood and looked at the heart monitor on her side. “Because,” she whispered, “I’m scared that you’ll convince me to love you again.”

Hades nodded, swallowing back his words and said, “Was it that bad to be in love with me?”

“It wasn’t…” she trailed off, “until you started doubting me.”

“Ariel-”

“-Hades, please,” she enunciated each word, “just let me think. Can you give me that? Let me sort my thoughts out and try to figure out what’s happening to me.”

He gritted his teeth, his jaw visibly clenching and he nodded, releasing a loud blow of air. “I’m sorry for what I did,” he whispered, sincerity dripping from each word he spoke, “and if you can ever forgive me…well I’ll be here.”

“You know,” she snorted, feeling angry with herself as she turned back to look at him, “I’m surprised you’re not questioning whether this baby is yours or not. Do you remember what you told me when you cancelled the wedding? You told me that I was going to be like Persephone and sleep with other men because of that one time I sought for Ares’ companionship. You judged me for one mistake and now you want me to take you back like nothing happened. I can’t simply forget how you made me feel Hades! You had my heart in your hands and you shattered it like it was worthless.”

“Please,” he spoke softly, his eyes never wavering from hers, “stop; I don’t need-”

“-yes you do!” She interrupted him, her heart rate increasing significantly, “You need to know why I feel this way! You keep wanting me to forgive you and all this shit, but have you stopped to think of how that made me feel? You didn’t trust me enough; you didn’t think my love for you was enough because of the stupid curse. What if that was the test? What if you demonstrating that even though the curse wasn’t broken you still loved me was the test? Then you failed it, Hades. You gave up when things seemed too difficult and I can’t have that. I don’t want that. I don’t need that. If I am going to have this baby, which I am, I can’t bring him up that way. I need to know that his father will be there through thick and thin. That even if I seem to lose my mind, you’ll be there because I need stability. I just can’t-”