Bloody Moon (Halifax Series III)

Chapter 58

"What did I do?"

Castro narrowed his eyes at her, his anger evident. "Why did you not tell us you were in danger?"

Nagbaba siya ng tingin lalo nan g makita niyang sinamaan rin siya ng tingin ni Daniel. Hawthorn on the other hand just sat there and gave her a playful wink.

"We thought you were in Eerieland studying." Matigas na tugon ni Castro and she winced. "Tapos malalaman na lang namin sa ibang tao that you're in the brink of death."

"You could have told us that someone wants you dead so we could have hunt for them and killed them ourselves." Daniel hissed in annoyance but he did not stop feeding her.

"And to top it all, ilang buwan naka pa lang nagtatago sa kanila. Hindi mo man lang sinabi samin." Dagdag ng pinsan niya na hindi na mahitsura ang mukha sa galit. But unlike her other cousin Sin, none of them exploded, thank the goddess for that. Fortunately, none of them were breathing fire at the moment.

Nang hindi siya sumagot, Daniel stopped feeding her and he gave her his best big brother glare which made her swallow hard. Daniel rarely used his age against them, heck sa lahat ng pinsan niya, ito ang pinakahindi strict. Kabaliktaran ito ni Sin. Kaya naman kapag ginagamit nito ang galit nito, natatakot talaga sila ni Maya na siyang pinsan rin niya.

"Aira." May babalang tugon ni Daniel.

Ilang beses pa siyang napalunok lang bago nakasagot. She opened her mouth but she closed it then she opened it again.

"I don't.... want to burden you." Agad nag-iba ang ekspresyon ng mukha ni Daniel kakasimula pa lang niya sa sasabihin. "You already have so many responsibilities. The Kingdom, Han and Roll's situation. Even Rose's. Tapos kakatapos lang ng digmaan sa Kaharian ni Sin, nasundan naman ng gulo sa Kaharian mo. Then you also have Nikolai to worry about. Ayaw ko lang dagdagan ang problema ninyo. And I thought... well I thought I can solve it on my own without bothering you. I thought it would be easy..." Pahina ng pahina ang boses niya hanggang sa naging bulong na lang ang huling salita.

It was the truth. She did not want to bother them. They have been through too much already. She was just scared that if she asked for their help, baka puntiryahin ng mga mangkukulam ang Bastione. She was afraid that if that happens, then the people there will blame her for whatever lose will happen then they might forbid her to go back and she might not see her counsins again. She can't have that so she tried to solve it all on her own. And when Night offered to help, she thought its strategical to accept his help, its like hitting two birds with one stone.

"That's bullshit." Daniel raised his voice kaya napatalon siya. "Aira, we are family." He said it while staring straight into her eyes. "It will never be a burden for us to help you just like we know you will always help us too. So for you to hold back something like this felt like a betrayal." Nag-iwas siya ng tingin dahil ramdam niya ang nagbabadya niyang mga luha.

"You did not trust us enough to protect you. Did you honestly thought we will just sit around while you're running for your life? Did you not understand that we protect our own?"

A tear fell from her eyes and she quickly wiped it away. But then another one fell then another one hanggang sa hindi na niya napigilan ang sarili at napahikbi siya.

Daniel held her chin then he lift it up and made her looked at him. "Bakit hindi ka humingi ng tulong Aira?"

Daniel truly knew her well because he knew she was hiding something.

"And don't lie this time."

She tried to calm down but more tears just kept on falling.

"I..." She sniffed. Then she sobbed. "I was scared... I did not t-tell you because I did not want you to start a w-war for me. I don't want people to die under your c-command especially if I knew they don't want to d-die for me. I just..."