Celaena - The Lost Princess

22. Unexpected confession

Liarah's POV

"You are not serious right? I'm not going back. How dare you tell me to leave this city? Who do you think you are?" Rhea glares at me throws her hands in the air like my request was the most absurd thing there is in this world.

She is pacing while ranting why she shouldn't leave the city and has been going on since last 2 hours. Any more my ears will bleed from her loud complaints.

"ReeRee why don't you understand, it's not safe for you here that's why I'm requesting you to go back, it's not that I don't want you here"

"I just came here so I won't miss you anymore and you are asking me to leave" starts ranting again.

I can feel the small headache forming, dropping my head to the table I bang my fist on it. She closes her mouth as soon as she feels my anger. This anger it's not towards her. This anger I feel is on myself. Even after so many losses I've had, I still haven't learnt to not let my gaurd down. Everytime I let myself enjoy something in life people around me gets hurt.

Sensing my self-loathing session, she sits next to me and pulls me towards her shoulder. I take long breath of her fresh lavender smell which soothes some of my nerves. It makes me realise she is here with me not in some locked classroom with monsters or not in an abandoned building with greedy leaches. But this embrace of comfort I don't deserve it. I failed to keep her safe. She got hurt under my watch.

"Stop with all that self-hatred. I can feel it roll off you like hot lava. It wasn't your fault or mine" she says rubbing my back "I'm fine now and will always be happy if you are with me so please don't ask me to leave" she whispers the last line.

I lift my head from her shoulder to stare at her warm brown eyes "I can't let you stay here ReeRee, not after what happened"

"Nothing happened, I'm fine now. You saved me" her words are barely audible like she herself doubts her words. That's all I needed to know that I truly failed to protect her.

My head drops automatically shame fills me ten times more. She takes my head in her hands lifting it "I don't doubt that you would ever fail to protect me, it's just because that one incident, you are sending away makes me feel not want to acknowledge what happened that day"

"This is just not one incident Rhea, this thing, it keep on happening in my life and the people around me suffer. Sure this might not be something directly because of me but in the end, you did join this college for me"

I remember seeing her helpless with clothes torn and crying for help, this makes me furious yet desperate to keep her away from harm "do you know how helpless I felt when I couldn't hear you? Do you know how scared I felt when I saw them all over you? Do you know how badly I wanted to rip their throat out and watch them bleed out? Do you how badly I wanted to see them struggle for breath?"

Pulling her close to me, whispering I tell her what I fear the most "this was a wake-up call Rhea, all bad people very very bad people are hunting me and I would die before they get to you. So please don't make this harder than it has to be. I have lost everything I once held dear. You are the only one left in my life that I cherish the most"

Hugging her tightly, resting my cheeks on her head "Please Rhea, if not for you, please do it for me, if not I'll have to call your brother"

She visibly fliches and glares at me "No you wouldn't"

I narrow my eyes challenging her "try me"

She glares at me not backing down and I return one of my own. Her resolve crumbles and she sighs accepting defeat "Fine I'll leave, but only for you not because you bought brother into this"