Queen of Rosewood Forest (On Hold)

Chapter 49

"Are you really okay?" I ask Eben as we walk to his house. He nods as he keeps a light pressure on the lower part of my back.

"I promise, I'm okay," he smiles gently. "But thank you for checking. Here we are."

I look away from him and see that Eben's house is a lot like Neven's on the outside. One thing that I notice though is that instead of white, it's a light brown color, and the shutters are dark green. He leads me inside and I see that the halls are decorated with paintings of different portraits and scenes of forests and fields. Eben and I walk toward a bathroom and he opens a medical kit.

I take it from him and he leans against the counter while I start cleaning up the cut. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt," I admit sadly.

"It was an accident, Evette," Eben says softly. "I know Aaden didn't mean it and he is probably feeling like crap about it too. Knowing him, he's beating himself up about it. I promise it's nothing to worry about, though. We've hurt each other a lot worse than this before."

"I don't know if I like knowing that," I frown as I apply some ointment to the cut before bandaging it up. "I don't like the idea of you hurting each other."

"We always talk it out after," he says truthfully, "most of the time it was just us losing control a little while we were learning." He looks at me and smiles attempting to ease my discomfort. "We've never purposefully turned our powers on one another."

"Okay," I sigh as I shut the medical kit and start to clean things up.

"Hey," he says as he catches my elbow. "Are you okay?"

I think about it for a minute then sigh, "Neven looked really hurt about everything."

"I'm not surprised," Eben says as he averts his gaze.

"I know him and I have had our issues but..."

"It's not about that," he chuckles nervously.

I frown in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it. I don't think it's really my place to say."

"So he hates me...," I nod as I push some hair behind my ear, "got it."

"No," he shakes his head, "Not at all."

"Then what is it?" I push slightly, "I don't want to risk hurting him again."

"Evette," he sighs softly as he gently grips my elbow to keep me from walking away, "its nothing to worry about. It's just something we all discussed a while ago and it's proving to be more difficult than we thought. I promise though that he doesn't hate you."

I think back to the fight earlier and what I heard. As the reality of the situation dawns on me I drop the cloth in my hand. "Oh... I never thought that..."

"We'd all fall in love with the same girl?" he smirks then shrugs, "Us either to be honest."

"Wait a minute..." I look up at him in shock, my eyes widen as I try to register what he just said, "All of you?"

"I get the impression I've said too much," he murmurs. We both stand frozen for a minute, each trying to process everything.

"I never realized... I'm so sorry–"

"Don't be," he shook his head, "We decided ages ago that none of us would push too much on the subject. We all know your past and we wouldn't want to jeopardize any healing for you so we all chose to let you decide if and when you wanted to be with one of us."

"I...I..." I stutter as my mind races with everything, "I don't know..."

"And that is okay," Eben nods, "I promise. Come, let's just get you to your room so you can sit down, you're starting to shake."

"Okay," I murmur as I let him lead me out of the bathroom. 

He opens the door and moves me over to the bed. Once I sit down he leaves me alone but makes sure the door is left slightly open. I take a deep breath, clench my hands then unclench them before moving over to the window. How could all of them like me? How could they be okay with that? What shocks me the most is the fact that my stomach churns and my heart hurts at the thought of picking one of them and hurting the other three. How can I face all of them knowing this?