[dedicated to Celeste who has always been so loyal (banner credit) ]
CHAPTER TWELVE
"Genevieve, get up," a masculine voice entered my head, the fogginess that clouded my mind parted slowly, "we have to go." My mind gradually cleared and I looked up suddenly aware that my body felt clammy and I felt very hot. I opened my eyes and as I adjusted my eyes to the little amount of dim light that filtered through the dense, tall trees I was momentarily confused as to where I was. Then all of it came crashing down in an instant and I sat up straight, the sleeping bag sliding off my torso as I looked to the source of the voice.
My eyes met Alastair who was squatting next to me, I presumed that his hand on my shoulder was only there to shake me awake. Once I had opened my eyes and I was fully aware of my surroundings, I asked as I rubbed the sleep off my eyes after letting out a tired yawn, "what time is it?"
"Almost six," he replied, his silvery voice laced with a bit of an edge, after he had glanced at his wrist. Was he wearing that yesterday? How had I not noticed him wearing a watch before? Assuming that he had put on the watch that he stored somewhere in that duffel bag of his, I got out of the sleeping bag and looked around me.
"It's still dark," I commented, before I turned my attention back to the sleeping bag and started rolling it up.
"It's best if we go now," he said, standing up and dusting his backside before he peered over my shoulder and in the direction ahead of us. His face looked serious and while I was so used to that serious expression of his, this expression seemed slightly different. It held a look of urgency, impatience and anxiousness to it and I couldn't tell why until he said, "Anything could be waking up in a few hours. I should have woken you up earlier."
"Alastair?" I called out as he began to take a few steps forward, walking past me. He heard me yet he kept moving forward, his hand tightly secured around the strap of the duffel bag that was thrown over his shoulder. I quickly tucked the sleeping bag under my right arm and walked faster to catch up with him. Once I fell into step with him I placed my hand on his elbow and brought him to a halt, my skin slightly tingling at the mere skin contact. I removed my hand immediately and asked, "Alastair, did you sleep at all last night?"
"Of course not," he said as he spared me a cryptic gaze, his eyes heavily guarded like he had already found out how I read his emotions so well, before he turned and continued the trail he was pursuing.
I almost let out a defeated sigh before I walked faster to catch up with him again and once I fell into step with him again, I placed my hand on his elbow and I didn't bother removing his elbow from my grip, no matter how insanely weird my stomach and body was reacting to just a simple touch, because I knew that he would keep walking on without looking at me which would made it easier for him not to be outwardly honest.
"Why didn't you sleep?" I asked and I couldn't stop the concern from seeping into my voice. His face looked weary and there weren't exactly bags under his eyes - contrary to popular belief, those don't appear overnight - but I could see the tiredness that whirled around in the swirl of grey when he cast me a brief glance before looking away instantly.
"It is my job to protect you," he replied after a moment of hesitance.
"I wasn't aware I needed a guardian. Well, at least not at someone's expense."
"I can easily catch up on sleep. I don't need much of it anyway."
"Alastair," I began.
"Look," he snapped, his grey eyes whirling with annoyance. He was beginning to get agitated at my concern. "We stayed by the border because dangerous creatures lurk around in the night so it was safer for you. They go back to their hideouts to sleep or rest when the time of dawn is close. Dangerous monsters hide before dawn but other dangerous monster seek after dawn. The likeliness of us getting attacked last night weren't that high but I had to be on my guard because it was my duty. And now, we're wasting time talking about sleep which isn't the most important matter right now and who knows what creatures can come out after dawn."
My eyes had widened at Alastair's rant. I had never known him to be the one to snap. A part of me wanted to blame his quick ability to be agitated on the fact that he didn't get any sleep last night but I knew that Alastair was slightly scared. I saw how a tendril of fright and fear seized the swirl of grey in his eyes. I was wrong about what I had thought about two nights ago. Alastair did care for me in the way that I yearned to but he couldn't say so because he knew that if he did then nothing would hold us back, even the rules that seemed extremely ridiculous to me.
"Okay," I said evenly, "let's get walking then."
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"Alastair," I said in a slightly throaty voice, "can we take a break? A few minutes only. I'm exhausted." It had been almost a little over two hours since we have been walking non-stop and the ache that had begun to form after an hour was becoming worse by the minute. My calves grew tighter and my thighs grew more weak, pain filling into me easily. I was out of breath, my mind was slightly whirling and my throat was parched.
I needed a moment to catch my breath and regain my strength.
"Come on, Genevieve," Alastair said, stopping in his tracks and turning around to see me hunched over with my hands on my knees. His hardened features softened the slightest bit at my ragged appearance. "There's an hour left. We'll get to Deidrif soon and you can get rest there-"
"Are we not in Deidrif already?"
"No, not really. We're in the Forbidden Forest but if we hurry the rest of the way, we'll be at the Kingdom in an hours time."
Alastair Ignacio was worried and slightly paranoid. That much I could tell. His hand wouldn't stay in one place. They would keep adjusting the duffel bag on his shoulder, run a hand down his face frustratingly or drum on his thigh as he walked on, casting frantic glances here and there. I still couldn't understand why he was so worked up. Yes, I understood the fact that he was concerned about our - my, to be specific - safety but nothing had attacked us. He said there were dangerous creatures lurking in this forest and it was well past dawn already and I hadn't spotted any creature.
"You're being paranoid," I began but he wouldn't let me finish what I was about to say.
"I am not! Now let's get walking-"
"Yes, you are!" I exclaimed, straightening and arching my back in attempt to get rid of the tension that had built up in my upper back. "Look, I'm exhausted, okay? Can we just take a five minute break? Is five minutes too much to ask?" I asked, desperation lacing my voice. I wasn't quite desperate but I wanted to rest, even if it was five minutes, and conjuring up desperation seemed like my only way out.
He looked at me for a few seconds, torn between my needs and his, before he finally gave in and blew out a defeated sigh, running a frustrated hand through his face. He walked towards me and slung the duffel bag off his shoulder before he dumped it on the foot of a nearby tree. "Alright, five minutes," he said and I couldn't stop my lips from breaking out into a wide satisfied grin before I walked forward to the tree that Alastair stood by and plopped myself on the ground, leaning against the rough bark and tilting my head backwards so that my head rested on the trunk of the tree.
"Thank you," I breathed out, closing my eyes and letting my body recover from the excruciating long walk.
"There's a bush over there," Alastair said jerking his thumb in the direction of the bushes when I opened my green eyes, the light that was no longer dim and filtered through the tall, dense trees bounced off Alastair's slightly dark skin. "I'm going to see if any of those bushes have berries and if they're poisonous or not."
"Well, if this is the Forbidden Forest isn't it obvious that the berries would be poisonous?" I questioned, looking up at Alastair who was hovering above me, a shadow cast across his face.
"Most likely," he replied curtly before he gave me his back and walked ahead towards the berry bushes. I watched his retreating figure, the way his t-shirt fit snuggly against him to reveal the vague outlines of his back muscles that I found myself thinking about how it would feel like to skim my hand over his back muscles, that slightly dark skin-
I shook my head immediately, cursing myself for thinking such a ridiculous thought. I was attracted to Alastair and I had made it abundantly clear that I wanted something from him, that I didn't care of these rules in Deidrif and it wasn't because I was not accustomed to Deidrif's rules but because they were stupid. But Alastair had rejected me because he was modest enough to follow and respect the rules of Deidrif. Thinking about him was ridiculous because I knew that nothing could ever come of it so I just wasting time.
I felt something tug on my leg and I looked down to see a puppy. It's fur was white - so white that it resembled snow. It had dark eyes and when I looked to the puppy that looked absolutely helpless, I felt instantly drawn to it, this feeling to take care of it and keep it safe took over me and I reached out for it. When my hand rested on it, stroking the magnificent looking puppy, it's eyes began to glow, the black instantly turning red and the next thing I knew I was clutching my leg and letting out a shrill scream that shattered the stillness of the forest and burned through my throat.
My eyes were stinging, a searing pain ripped through my calf and when I looked down to my leg I saw through my blurry eyes that there was blood. It covered my entire calf, the crimson, dark liquid pouring out from the four long gashes across my calf. I closed my eyes shut, clutching the area beneath my knee tightly as my lips trembled and I tried my best not to cry but in a matter of seconds the sob that had lodged itself in my throat was out in the open and the tears kept coming down, the searing pain growing all the more worse and torturous.
Panic and fear had seized me completely and I vaguely made out Alastair screaming and yelling and my entire focus was on my bleeding calf but I could distantly hear him yelling, his voice deep and grave, "Immobi Partrea Hocsinnum. Immobi Partrea Hocsinnum" - then with more force and conviction -"Immobi Partrea Hocsinnum!"
Out of nowhere, I heard a shuffling noise before a ripping noise resonated as if something was being torn apart and then a hand was gripping my hand, the one that was enveloped beneath my knee as I tried to grit down my sobs and the aching pain. "This is going to hurt a little," I heard Alastair say, his voice tingling my ear which told me that he was close to my body but I was terrified to open my eyes. Before I had time to rasp out a reply, I screamed yet again, a less agonising scream tearing through my chest and my fingers instinctively inched to my calf and instead of my hand coming in contact with skin, or the material of my jean, it came in contact with a soft, cotton material and my eyes shot open almost instantly and I saw that one of Alastair's t-shirts was ripped apart and wrapped around my leg so tight that the pain seized me for a millisecond before it slowly began to fade, the stinging feeling still ever so present.
I rested my head back on the trunk of the tree and let out a wobbly sigh, a cry escaping my lips before I asked quite breathlessly like I had just run a marathon, "What the hell just happened?"
"Open your eyes," Alastair said and the way he said those words struck a memory cord as I remembered, before my nightmares began to change, that the man inside my nightmares - Alastair - had asked me to look at the destruction that had hailed down on the land as many soldiers laid upon the infertile, blood stained ground, unmoving and lifeless.
I bit down the panic that had instantly lit up inside of me and opened my eyes like he had asked. Alastair was looking at me, his eyes frantic and concerned, angry and furious, panicked and saddened. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his hand clasped firmly on my ankle. "Do you think you can move?"
"I'm feeling a little light headed and nauseous but I think I'm okay. I'm not sure if I can move my leg but if you can help me up maybe I can give it a try?"
He nodded, his dark hair falling over his worried grey eyes and as the wrinkles appeared on his forehead I wondered whether it was as bad as it seemed. Before he could offer me his hand, I cast my gaze away from him and sought out the innocent little puppy that I was certain was beside me. Instead my eyes met a dog with deep black fur, it's red eyes wide open, it's tail sharp and long like a bee sting, and a scaly round mane sort of thing framing it's head.
"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed when I saw the creature and immediately winced when the pain shot up my leg at the hard contact it made with the ground.
"You're in no shape to travel," I heard a voice from behind me and I whipped my head around from staring at the wild scary looking creature and my eyes met a pair of grey ones, and slowly the panic that had begun to build within me at the sight of the beast that lay beside me on the other side began to quell.
The only thoughts that whirled around in my head was that we had to get out of the Forbidden Forest and fast because what the creature had done to me had already rendered me helpless and I wasn't all that certain as I was in the beginning that I could last all the way if we had to encounter another creature.
My head was spinning and my body felt tired, exhausted and weak. Yet I was determined to prove him wrong. I could make it to the Kingdom. I needed to if I wanted help with my calf. Even though the tightly wrapped t-shirt around my calf quelled the pain I knew that it needed treatment right away otherwise it would start to swell and cause blood to clot in the area but unfortunately I didn't have the medical attention I needed so I attempted to stand up, grasping onto Alastair's forearms without warning and feeling his muscles clench beneath my touch.
"Whoa," I heard him mutter as his arm came around my waist to support me as I tried to stand up.
Putting all my weight onto him, I managed to stand up and when I gained my footing I looked up to him, still leaning into him for support, and said, a smile making it's way to my dry lips, "I am in perfect shape to travel."
I moved backwards, putting more force on my foot that did not belong to the injured leg and felt Alastair's arms slipping away from me, the silvery movement sent chilling waves down my spine as his hands slipped from my arms, his touch making me feel a little lighter.
"Are you sure because you-"
Alastair didn't get to finish his question because the instant I let go of him and fully placed my weight on the foot that did not belong to the injured leg, my head spun uncontrollably, my eyesight began growing blurry, my head began to pound painfully and pain shot up my body making me feel the weakness in my knees and more prominently in my left leg.
And then I blacked out.
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The loud pounding in my head never ceased. It grew louder and more painful. My lids felt heavy as if there was a heavy force applied on it that willed me to keep my eyes shut. Feeling weak and maybe a little lazy I laid still, the softness of whatever I was sleeping on comforted me and made me feel more at home than I've felt in what seemed to be a long time.
I began to hear voices and when all my focus was returned back to me I could make out exactly what the voices were saying.
"Could you not have been more careful?" asked someone, his voice deep, sharp and full of venom. I hadn't heard his voice before yet the way he spoke made me want to tremble if I were to be the person who he had directed that question at. "I entrusted this task to you, Alastair, and I expected her back unscratched. You brought her back unconscious, almost dead and wounded. That was not how I pictured meeting my daughter."
A few seconds of hesitant silence fleeted by before I heard a very familiar voice, silvery yet firm, "I know, sire. I made sure the creature suffered the wrath I was sure you would have given it. I apologise for putting the Princess in harm's way and not protecting her."
Alastair. I couldn't ever mistaken his voice for another and I was most certain that he was the one apologising. He sounded so formal, not in the way I was accustomed to him speaking and I didn't know whether the other man heard it or not but I detected the slight tremor as he spoke, like he was afraid of what consequences his irresponsible actions had that he would have to bear.
Instantly I knew who the other man was. Ronan. I was certain that they were talking about me and he had just called me his daughter so I was almost certain that the unfamiliar voice belonged to Ronan, my heartless father.
There was a tired sigh before the other man, Ronan, whose voice I had never heard but whose face I had seen through a picture that my mother had shown me years ago, spoke up. I didn't remember his face much and he most likely looked different now but it had been years since I've seen my father, through a picture, and the image of him that was imprinted in the depths of my mind had grown hazy with time.
"I'm sorry, Alastair," I heard him say, my eyes were still shut. I had all the ability to open my eyes now but I was afraid that if I opened my eyes Ronan would then take that as a welcome sign to talk to me. I hadn't met him before and having him stand in the same room as I, breathe the same oxygen as I, made me a little nervous and well, of course, angry. "It's just, she's so... I don't even know what to say. I should be thanking you for making her reach safety in time."
"That's alright, sire, I understand that you must have been worried and angered of the state that the Lockteer left Genevieve in," Alastair replied smoothly and I couldn't help but notice how his voice was filled with less tension as it often was around me, how practiced and formal he sounded. He hadn't ever spoke with me in this manner and while I wasn't jealous of that, it made me wonder if Ronan was such a fearful man or not that Alastair's voice seemed so guarded, firm and stern.
"You're always so understanding, Alastair. There isn't a better man to care for the wellbeing of my daughter. I think it's best if I let her rest. I have court matters to attend to in the meantime," Ronan said and after a pause he added, "maybe you could stay with her for some time? You're the only one she knows around here and I think it's best if she awakes to familiarity instead of strangeness?"
"Of course, sire," Alastair replied instantly. There was a shuffling noise and then when I was certain that I heard the sound of a door shutting close, I opened my eyes with a slight struggle and peeked at my surrounding through my heavy lids.
I was in a huge bed, golden yellow-like drapes over me. The room was quite extravagant with wooden furniture, polished and shiny. There lay a rectangular shaped table a few metres away from the bed that I was laying in, six chairs around table. As I looked about the room and drank in the vastness and beauty of it I felt slightly dazed. I hadn't ever seen such a lovely room with my own naked eyes before and as I cast my gaze across the room I felt stunned and perhaps a little astonished.
My eyes landed on Alastair who stood by a large, open window and he was staring out of it. He looked older than he usually did and it struck me now that I didn't know how old he was. He looked just a few years older than me but as he stared somberly out the window, a tired expression gracing his face, he looked much older. He looked tensed, the muscles vaguely outlined by his t-shirt and his posture said it all; he was tired and exhausted.
"Do you always call Ronan sire?" I asked, cracking the silence that had glossed over.
Alastair's head snapped towards me in an instant, his expression transformed from tired to surprised. The surprised expression didn't last long before his expression returned to its trademark serious one and he made his way towards me, his strides quick and fast. When he was at my side he lowered himself onto the bed and looked down at me, his the swirl of grey in his alluring grey eyes whirled with concern and care.
"You heard us?" he asked, his voice soft and low.
"It was kind of hard not to," I said as I watched Alastair and saw slight embarrassment. If I hadn't known Alastair as much as I did now then I wouldn't notice his embarrassment because Alastair didn't like to show any emotion. I wasn't sure if he knew that I could read all his emotions through the swirl of grey in his eyes but maybe it was best that he didn't know otherwise he might try to guard his eyes all the time. "He was very angry at you."
"Yeah," he grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "That was my fault."
"You're really going to blame what happened to me on you? Shouldn't I be thanking you for saving me?" I quirked a brow to which he sighed and looked down.
"Yes, but, I should have kept my eyes on you. It was my duty to keep you safe and I put you in direct harms way-"
"Alastair-"
"I shouldn't have gone to the berry bush. I could do without food for a while but you were resting and I didn't think it would cause much harm but it did and I should have-"
"Alastair-"
"I should have stayed with you and I could have prevented that Lockteer from harming you-"
"Will you shut up?"
At this Alastair's eyes shot up to me, nervousness swimming in the swirl of grey. "Your father had every right to be angry with me," he said, his voice soft, low and apologetic.
I sighed before readjusting myself on the bed, wincing slightly at the pain that tingled my calf. I did not want to talk about my father at that moment so instead I said, "is Lockteer the name of the creature that attacked me?"
"Yes," he replied, "it's not quite as dangerous as any of the other creatures that venture the Forbidden Forest but it's claws have venom that take effect after a few minutes. It would explain why you passed out after you stood up. It doesn't kill instantly. But if the wound is not treated then the victim eventually dies in a few days time."
I was silent after the small revelation. This creature that had attacked me in the Forbidden Forest was not quite as dangerous as the other creatures that inhabited the Forbidden Forest. This fact injected a sense of fear in me. What sort of other creatures were out there? How could they possibly be more dangerous than the one I had encountered with Alastair?
"This is all crazy," I whispered at last looking back to Alastair with a smile to my lips that I knew he saw that the smile that I plastered across my lips didn't quite reach my eyes.
"Well, you're a Princess now. This might take some time to get used to," he said, a hesitant smile making its way to his lips and I felt myself smiling in return because I knew that Alastair was only offering that smile to me as a form of encouragement.
"I don't really feel like a Princess," I sighed and before Alastair could say anything to dampen the mood even more, I asked with a mischievous twinkle in my green, livid eyes, "if I am a Princess will you be calling me, your Royal Highness?"
Amusement flickered through his eyes and the smile he offered to me grew more genuine. I felt my heart tugging at the silvery movement of his lips and my stomach was doing these weird samoursaluts but strangely enough it didn't ache. It made me feel good and I didn't mind one bit the effect that his smile had over me. If his smile made me feel like this I shouldn't be worried, should I?
"If you want me to, your Royal Highness" he replied, the smile still lingering on his slightly purple tinted lips, amusement dancing lovingly in his alluring grey eyes.
"If you don't call anyone else that then, maybe, I don't quite mind," I said as I slid my hand towards his and placed it on top of his, feeling his skin made my heart began to beat fast and double its pace as I watched his alluring grey eyes grow darker when he hinted the suggestive tone in my statement.
"Genevieve," he began, looking away and beginning to pull away.
I sighed defeatedly because I knew what he was going to say. Unwillingly I pulled back, sliding my hand off his and slumping back into the pillow and soaking myself in the comfort the softness of the pillow provided. "Yeah, I know," I said before he could say anything. Then hesitantly, unsure if I was crossing into uncharted territory, territory that should be left untouched, I tentatively asked as I fiddled with my fingers, "there's nothing wrong with being attracted to someone else. There's nothing immoral or punishable about that. Ronan doesn't have to know..." I trailed off as I felt myself getting hot in the face. I was always the one to take the initiative about the attraction that I knew Alastair felt just as strongly as I did and maybe at the beginning it all started off as attraction but now it seemed like there was something more, something that just wasn't attraction. And I knew he felt it too.
"Ronan wouldn't approve of it. He'd see me dead or banish me from Deidrif and I'll have to seek refuge in another Kingdom likely," Alastair said and when my eyebrows furrowed inquisitively at this he added, "Deidrif isn't the only place that is unlike the mortal world. There are other Kingdoms across the world and like Deidrif they are all hidden by enchantments."
"You mean to say," I began, a little flummoxed, "that Earth is basically two worlds, universes, together?"
Gosh, this was just getting crazier by the minute. He smiled briefly at my shocked state. "That's one way to put it."
Silence made itself at home in my new room, the very room that I was certain would take more than just a few days to get used to, and my head spinned with all the recent news about Deidrif, my heritage and the world that I belonged to.
Alastair chose to break the silence. He shifted and the silky sheets moved underneath him making a slight crinkling noise before he said, "I'm sure Ronan would want to see you."
"And I'm sure you know that I don't want to see that bastard." The reply was out of my mouth in an instant, the words slipping off my tongue but I didn't regret them one bit because that was just how I felt for Ronan, my father. I hated him for how he left my mother and I. I was angry at him because if he had been there through my childhood then I could have grown up with a father. And Alastair had told me the reasons why Ronan couldn't stay with us but that didn't stop the hate and anger from burning deep within me.
"Genevieve, you're going to have to see him-"
"I know," I said, sighing for the upteenth time. "But I just don't want to see him today. I'll see him tomorrow, I promise, but can I just have today free. It's been a crazy two weeks." I smiled when I added the last bit.
Alastair nodded, his lips giving way to a small smile. "This is how crazy the rest of your life will be," he added, raising a brow as if to prove a point.
"Ugh," I groaned dramatically, "and here I thought things would get less crazy."
I heard Alastair chuckle and my eyes immediately shifted to him. I caught the sight of him as the light chuckle left those inviting lips of his. "You're going to have to keep up with the craziness, Princess." My heart warmed when he said this and I found myself trying to bite down a smile. "What?" he asked as he looked at me uncertainly, "why are you smiling like some sort of serial killer?"
"Nothing," I said almost immediately then let loose of my bottom lip from my teeth's grip and smiled wide at him, unable to keep it in. "It's just, it's nice to see you like this."
His eyebrows shot up in surprise before the serious expression that I had become so accustomed to, that I knew now he wore it as a mask, took its place on his face. "I'll tell Ronan that you'll meet him tomorrow. I should let you rest-"
Before Alastair could get up or say anything else, I grabbed his hand and tugged him forward so he was a little closer to me but not so close that I could feel his body heat or anything, but close enough so I could hold his hand and feel his pulse on his wrist that had quickened when I draped my fingers over his wrist. "I'm not feeling that sleepy right now," I said, "stay for a while?" When silence and the nervousness that swirled in his eyes was my answer, I added, "just for an hour or so?"
"Okay, Princess," he said and I didn't make an attempt to move my hand away from his and he didn't attempt to move away from me either and I took this as a good indication. The serious expression was still on his face and I wanted him to lose it because I knew it was just a mask and surely he must have known this by now, shouldn't he?
"You know, the whole Princess thing is irritating but I'm kind of growing on it," I teased, cracking a smile.
"Well, you are the Princess of Deidrif."
"Princess of Deidrif," I mused out loud quite dramatically, "it already sounds exhausting." I watched Alastair's expression and saw the serious expression that I wished he would drop permanently slip away as his lips tipped upwards into a small smile but I didn't care that the smile he sent my way was small. Those sort of smiles were the best. They were genuine and sincere and heartwarming.
And my heart sure did warm up at that dazzling smile that hung off those beautiful, inviting slightly purple tinted lips of his.
A/N:
awww that was cute, aye? this is the part in Wicked Chase that i begin to really ship Alastair and Gen. anyway, that was an exciting chapter! and a thrilling one, i hope.
so i'm running out of stock chapters. that means if i have about 3-4 stock chapters left then updates will be less frequent and instead of being once a week it will be once in two week. let's just hope it doesn't come down to that. it's april 1st, and yes it's april fools day (lol), but it's also day 1 for nano! wish me luck lovelies and hopefully i can write about 2-3 chapters or even more! i'll be busy :(
question: what are your thoughts on Ronan? just remember that this is how Gen views Ronan and it's in her point of view so almost every thought of hers will be biased.
next update: april 8th/9th.
until next time,