Cold As Ice

Chapter 19

"The power of the mating bond will take getting used to," he went on as he began to walk towards her from the corner of the room where he'd been sitting in a leather, wing-backed chair. Allie tried to quiet the sobs building in her lungs.

"Aro was taken away on... business." There was a bite to the word as Marcus came to stand above her, offering her a hand up from the floor. A kind gesture, but it left Allie with a chill as his eyes looked even more vacant up close. She accepted, placing her hand in his. The shocking sensation of his cold, stone-hard skin reminded her of Carlisle, and the recollection threatened to unleash a new wave of grief.

"He asked me to look in on you while he's away." When Allie was finally level with Marcus, she noticed that he held a large, black bathrobe in his other hand. He nodded to her as if in encouragement. She took it from him, wrapping it around her body as quickly as she could, flushing with embarrassment and swatting at the tears on her cheeks. Intriguingly, Marcus' eyes never left her face; even the image of a naked human woman didn't seem to arouse any sort of reaction from him.

Except you're not human, Allie reminded herself. You're a syren.

The conversation with Carlisle - her Carlisle, my god where was he? - about what being a syren actually meant had been left woefully unfinished. Allie found herself in a familiarly exhausted state, her mind reeling as she struggled to keep her feet in reality and not slip into a bleak and disoriented confusion. The details of all she'd learned in the last few weeks felt like shards of glass embedded on the inside of her skull.

"You must have questions."

Allie's eyes flickered up to Marcus, still standing in front of her impassively. She wasn't sure she wanted him to answer any of her questions, wasn't sure if she could take asking anything else.

"I can't remember much... it's all foggy, distant... how long have I been here?"

The corner of Marcus' mouth quirked up at the edge. He gestured towards one of the walls of windows. Two seats sat opposite each other, a small table between them laden with bowls of fresh fruit and a carafe of water. Allie hadn't noticed the table before, and she hadn't noticed the hungry growl of her stomach. Grateful, albeit a little unnerved by her companion, she plodded over to the table. Grief always left her famished. A few dying sobs slipped out of her lips as she considered the array of fruit in front of her before settling on a banana. Out of instinct, she gave Marcus a loaded glance and gestured towards the fruit. She had the distinct impression that Aro had left this food for her, and that it was her duty to invite others to partake.

To her surprise, Marcus gave her a wry smile. "I'm on a rather particular diet, I'm afraid," he drawled in reply. Allie huffed at the joke, cringing internally at her own forgetfulness. Blood, you idiot, she chastised herself internally. Not bananas.

"You've been here four days," Marcus commented in response to her earlier question, his voice regaining its bored and serious tone as he turned away from her. He clasped his hands behind his back, looking aimlessly out of one of the windows. The glass was thick and warped, each pane speckled with small bubbles and imperfections. Allie thought she remembered Aro explaining that he'd commissioned these windows almost six hundred years ago.

"Four days?" Allie clarified, ripping the peel from the banana. She hardly had enough time in her memory to account for one day, but four? It seemed impossible, and it scared her. What didn't she remember?

Marcus nodded without turning back to her.

"Mates frequently lose time when the bond is fresh. More pronounced amongst your kind, I'm afraid, although it certainly has its own... unique impacts on us."