Reborn (Sequel to Wilting Roses)

Haunting Dreams

~Chapter Five~

~Dathan~

She moaned in her sleep. The candle light complimented her features as she nestled into the crook of my neck. A sigh escaped my lips as I pushed away to gather my clothing. She sat up, alarm in her eyes as she wrapped the sheets to cover her nudity.

"Leaving so soon?" She asked.

"I need to be home, my father is coming for a visit and as much as I loathe the idea I must see to it that the family business is secured. Or rather our fortune. If we want to marry and have a family...I must negotiate." I said. I felt anger flood my veins as I looked to her beautiful features. She had golden blond hair, eyes as crystal as the ice in the winter with the light hint of blue.

There was a frown on her lips as she slid from underneath the covers to hold me close. "I wish you wouldn't, I wish you could just go against your fathers wishes gather our fortune and elope." She muttered as she placed gentle kisses on my lips.

"Camille, you and I know well that will not do. My fortune only begins to grow. We cannot pass a proposition like this even if it means we must wait to marry." I insisted.

"This is unfair!" She complained, pushing away from me.

I shook my head and got dressed. When the contract came to its end and all was said and done she would thank me for it.

It was the fretful alarm that woke me from my sleep. My eyes grew weary as I pushed out of bed. The sun was slowly rising in the horizon, the first ray's of lights peering into my bed room. After Aria had finally made contact with her family, an entire uproar had escalated. They were determined to find whoever had hurt her and left her to die in the middle of the road. Fear seeped into me as I realized they would stop at nothing to find me. I felt treacherous to act like the kind and helping hand.

If my father found out what I had done, he would make certain to have me bruied alive. However, I could not run from Aria. The more I acted suspicious the more she would start to think and realize I was the one to bring harm over her. So I would have to keep a close eye on her recovery and her investigation.

Slapping a hand over the ringing alarm I finally stretched and walked into the restroom to freshen up. It was unbelivable to know that this room, this restroom had belonged to my great grandfather, Dathan. He slep, studied, and even died in this room. It should have made me feel odd, but it brought a rather calming effect over me to know I had inheritened their estate after so many years. Repairs had been made of course. Pumbling had been installed, electricity, and even some of the aged wood had been replaced. Nevertheless, my family and I had tried to keep it in it's original form. It was the most valubale jewel we possessed.

The back yard held the immense and grand garden, and in the center the fountain he had given his wife. Something in me twisted to think of my grand mother and those thought's led to Aria. I was troubled and confused. There was something going on beyond my understanding. I hadn't dreamt of Camille for nearly five years.

Reserach on my grand father's past revealed the scary details of a romance between a Lady Camille Hazel and he. Long ago he had pledged to marry her only to have the proposition fall out of hand. I wasn't certain of the details, my female cousins knew the story better than any man in our family. They still gathered every year to hear the love story that had inspired the great white fountain in my own back yard.

The tale was but a month away from being told once again. The ladies gathered in the large garden and held a feast to celebrate our grand mother's brithday every year. After the riot died down, they would settle around the fountain where the tale would be told. I was determined to listen to it for the first time.