EYES OF FIRE AND ICE

Chapter Sixty-One

11 days later
The day before the Trials

It's been four days since Valen woke up.

After shadows invaded Valen's home, Alia awakened to find hand-made splints wrapped around her wrist and knee, joints shoved back into place and bound by sticks and green vines. The entire living room was repaired, void of any evidence of the night before. Pain still bloomed inside her, but it was much more manageable than before. Her torn skin healed whilst she slept, leaving faint scars in remembrance. She wondered why Darkness had helped her, but a glance towards Valen silenced her thoughts.

He was still bound.

Limping through the home, Alia managed to slide a pillow underneath Valen's head, watching sourly as the golden restraints gave way to her intervention. His duvet soon followed, but it didn't feel to be enough. She returned to Valen's bedroom and tried to latch onto the mattress with one hand, but it continued to slip from her grasp with every tug. So she returned to the living room and opted to shift Valen's position every few hours to prevent painful sores from forming.

The rays abided by Alia's movements, loosening enough for her to roll her mate onto his side. Spiteful curses spat out of her, aimed towards whatever this entity was.

Every hour she touched Valen's skin, checking on him as a few tears slipped from her eyes. She can't let a Heat arise again, especially not when he's unconscious and unable to relieve it.

Gamma accepted her mind-linked request to place food, clothes and necessities in the forest every few days. She thought to feed Valen but then decided against it, worried he'd choke the moment food slid down his throat.

She barely left the house during the time he was unconscious, joints healed and stents removed.

But she did go into the forest's edge, needing to use a tree to train on. For forty minutes at a time, she'd punch and kick the tree, bark fragments splintering off with every hit. Training with a sparring partner was out of the question, and leaving to go to the training centre was an impossibility. So she decided to train her movements and strength instead, hoping her strategic skill was good enough to make her do well in the Trials.

Once her bones healed, she grabbed the mattress and slid it underneath Valen's body. She'd been sleeping next to him on the wooden floors every night, and continued to do so on the mattress as her soul was unable to be away from him for long. She could feel herself dwindling away, drained and alone. The pain she inflicted on herself every time she trained using the trees was an attempt to distract her mind, even going as far as breaking her bleeding fingers through the force of each punch. They healed after the tenth hour or so, so she resorted to practising her kicks whilst she waited.

On the seventh day, Alia awoke to find Valen missing from the mattress. She could barely catch her breath before a blade was in her hand and she was running outside to find him. Fears of a God getting their hands on him rattled through her chest, blackening her eyes and elongating her canines as she snarled. His scent trailed through the forest, directing her to a small clearing where the warm sun was visible through an opening in the canopy.

Valen sat in the long grass, looking forward with his arms loosely wrapped around his knees. His skin glowed underneath the sun's rays, illuminating him in an ethereal light that took Alia's breath away. She dropped to her knees beside him, hand reaching for his face. But when she touched him, he didn't look at her. He didn't move, blink, or even acknowledge her presence. It was as if she wasn't even there.

She gently called his name, pleading for him to look at her, see her, but his face was blank, unmoving. His white hair had returned to black, eyes white and unreadable. She dropped her hand to her lap, despair filling her chest. Her heart felt like it was collapsing in on itself, distressed by the clear effects the rays had on her mate.

Alia cried the entire way back to his home, black eyes glaring at the sky as she demanded the Gods fix whatever they did to him. They didn't answer.

Every day he'd stay out there, unmoving and... lifeless. She'd visit him every hour, silent as she sat beside him. Then she'd run a gentle hand through his hair and leave. She carried a container of food with her at times throughout the day, placing it beside him with some cutlery. When she returned the next hour, she'd take the empty container and take it back with her, pleased he'd been able to eat at all.

But it felt like her soul was breaking as the days passed. She was missing a part of herself, and she'd find herself crying in Valen's bed. His mattress, duvet and pillow were back in his room, but she slept alone. A Heat wasn't triggered after the first night or any following night, but it didn't make her feel any better.

Training and visiting Valen is all she's been able to do. She mind-linked Gamma after Valen awoke, but he still wasn't able to do anything. The packages of necessities stopped coming as Gamma was incessant about the danger Valen posed whilst being outside. She didn't fight it. Instead, she slipped out of his mind and continued with her training.

Now, as she lies in Valen's bed with sunlight peaking through the edges of his drawn curtains, Alia stares up at the ceiling with an empty stare. She doesn't have the energy to feel anything other than nothing, and it's the only way she can stop herself from breaking apart into an unfixable mess.

Alia sighs and sits up, wiping away her tears as she readies herself for today's repetitive events.

Valen stands in the doorway.

Heart lurching in her chest, Alia's eyes widen as she grabs onto the duvet. Her eyes sting as more tears begin to fall.

He smells of the forest.

Alia flinches when he moves forward, eyes zeroed in on her and only her. Her skin warms as he nears, soul yearning for his presence. The duvet is curled away from her, exposing her bare legs and the t-shirt that's covered in his scent. He kneels on the bed, leaning down and persuading her to lie on her back.

Her hands are held against her chest, eyes wide and mouth dry. She can't deny the growing flame of desire that swims inside of her, or the unrelenting need to have him hold her.

Valen adjusts himself, slipping between her legs and lowering his head to her abdomen. A deep exhale leaves him when he lies down, arms snaking underneath her hips to keep himself close.

Alia bites her trembling lip and wraps her legs around his back. She runs a hand through his hair, other hand caressing the back of his neck whilst she holds him. The warmth of his skin is enough to keep her soul sated, and she'll offer her entire body to him if that's what he needs to heal.

An hour passes and Alia wonders if he's fallen asleep, but then the first few tears begin to slide down his cheeks, absorbed by the shirt she wears. His arms tighten further around her, causing her brows to furrow with worry as she caresses his skin. Then his arms and shoulders begin to shake with his sobs, breaking Alia's heart to pieces.

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Also how have I wrote 61 chapters???