Chapter XXI
"Ashia?" The sound of my name being softly whispered began to bring me out of the haze I had been pulled into and I struggled to open my eyes and gather my bearings. Where was I? What had happened? Where was Aron? "Wakeup Ashia."
It was blurry for a moment as my eyes tried to adjust. They hurt and I had an awful headache that made me feel dizzy. The rest of my body felt pain free which I was thankful for, the pain I had gone through with Clara had been terrible. Just the memories of what I had gone through made my head hurt even more and I raised my hand to hold it, my gaze focusing on Aron who sat beside my bed, looking at me earnestly.
"Aron," I croaked out.
"Oh Ashia," he said quietly. His face looked strained and he looked pale – paler than usual. He looked like he had hardly slept and he was nowhere near the crisp looking vampire that would march the grand halls of his home.
"It's o-over right?" I whispered timidly. "S-she's gone?"
"As gone as she can be," he said quietly. "I don't expect her to stay away for long, not after what I did to her mate. I expect another attempt will be taken with your life. I refuse to let that happen, you'll forgive me my love, if I station a permanent set of guards with you?"
"Oh – o-okay...A-Aron our honeymoon-"
"Was ruined," he said flatly. "I will never forgive myself for leaving you alone-"
"This wasn't your fault," I said quietly as I reached out for his hand. "You wouldn't h-have expected it."
"But I should have," he told me firmly. "I've acted like Clara was never going to be a problem again. I should have known she would be waiting for the right time to strike. I know she will again but this time we will both be ready."
"Both?" I asked.
"As I've said you will have guards, but I want you – I want you to try and harness your magic. It's your only defense love...I don't believe you are capable of physically restraining somebody."
That was true.
My magic was still a mystery to me mostly...I needed help. If I had Willa...that would be very helpful. Our magic was similar it just seemed to run on a different level.
"Ashia," Aron's voice sounded grave and he looked at me with heavy eyes. "When you feel ready to tell me what happened...when Clara had you...I'm here. I want you to know you can tell me. My beautiful bride. I will spend the rest of our lives making this ordeal up to you."
I sat up straighter, trying to ignore the pain in my head as I held onto his hand. "You don't have to make it up to me," I said softly. "Your sister – sh-she's insane b-but this wasn't your fault."
"I have made it worse for us though," he sighed heavily. "Killing her wolf mate was hasty, I admit. She deserved it, but she will want vengeance. That is what I have to make up to you; I have put you in incredible danger." A wave of dizziness came over me and I put my hand to my head, leaning back into the pillows. "Sleep some more, my beloved."
-
"Ashia, would you please wakeup?" A voice whined in my ear. "Alana and I are quite bored just sitting here, doing nothing while you rest your pretty little head – oh what's that? I see her eyes flickering. She's waking up! I know he told us to let her sleep, but I am not sitting here, staring at my nails for the next two hours."
"We should really let her rest Josie..." Alana's voice sounded unsure. "You saw the injuries she came home with."
"They were healed," Josie huffed. "She has no injuries left. This sleeping nonsense is getting tiresome."
"She probably didn't get much sleep, you know, being tortured and all." Alana was beginning to sound frustrated.
"Fine," Josie grumbled. "We'll let her sleep and you and I can sit here, dying of boredom. How does that sound?"
"I'm awake," I croaked, eager to save Alana from Josie's tirade.
"See, she's awake!" Josie beamed at me, although I could tell deep behind that big smile there was worry. A lot of it. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired," I said quietly. "Where is Aron?"
"He had some work to attend to," Alana murmured. "Since everything that happened...there's been a lot of paperwork. Talon's hardly been home."
"You must have been so scared," Alana murmured. "I would have been. Willa tried to come back but her uh, her mate has basically confined her to their home...due to her disappearing act."
"Willa's going to love that," I mumbled. I could just picture her throwing things and losing it with her mate. I wondered how long she'd let him think he had the power until she actually used her powers. It would be a fun little game for her. "I should get in contact with her."
"She knows you're alive and well," Josie patted my arm. "That's the main thing. Now, this goes against the wishes of your beloved husband, but it's my opinion you should get back into regular life as fast as possible. Back to school – and really making an effort this time and starting your life here. Lying in bed will do you no good, or your marriage for that matter."
"She's allowed a small period to settle down again Josie," Alana scolded. "She's only been home for two days; she's gone through a traumatic event."
"I'm just saying-"
"Sh," I hushed them. "Thank you both for your concern, but I will decide when I am ready to join the real world again. As for school, Alana you can help me study and keep up while I am home?"
"Of course," she told me with a smile.
"Good," I mumbled softly. "I need some time to...I just need time Josie. Rushing back out there...it's not going to help me at all. Or Aron. I need to stay where he knows I am safe for a while."
She nodded solemnly. "It's just what I would do, I'm terrible like that."
"Have my parents made contact?" I asked softly. My mother would have been in hysterics at the news and I'm sure it hadn't been easy on my father. All they needed to know was that I was safe and well – for now. I still had the worry of Aron's sister alive and at large with the loss of her mate weighing heavily upon her.
I could understand Aron's unease at the situation and had to admit it was a pretty bad decision he had made, to further enrage his already angry sibling.
"They know you're safe and well," Alana murmured. "We kept the more uh, stressful details from them, they don't know to the full extent what you went through. Your injuries were self-explanatory...we definitely didn't let them know in too much detail what happened."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "That's good...my mother doesn't need to hear any of that."
"How about we get you out of bed, bathe you and have a nice dinner with your soulmate tonight?" Josie asked me. "It would do both of you some good to be with each other for the evening."
I nodded at Josie. "That sounds nice. A warm bath would be lovely."
"I'll get it ready!" Alana said quickly as she dashed into the adjoining bathroom.
I slowly began to get out of bed, enjoying the size of the full moon tonight as it glittered outside my balcony. It was a relief to be safe at home and out of harm's way, but there was always going to be the tension, the underlying issue of when Clara would make her move.
Would she torture us and make us wait a hundred years?
Would she strike tomorrow?
I knew that if this loose end bothered me, then it would definitely bother Aron. He would have a grand plan, it was Aron after all, and he wasn't going to let my life be in jeopardy. I just wondered what it was exactly he intended on doing and when.
Maybe I should go back to living life normally. Maybe it would lure Clara out and even wound her pride if I acted as if she was no longer a threat...
By the time I managed to settle down in the hot bath water, my mind was aching and my stomach was tied up in knots with all my unanswered questions and 'what if' scenarios. I didn't like the turn my life had taken recently and I hoped it was sorted soon, but Aron was right. I needed to learn my magic and be ready to defend myself.
Clara would be nothing against me then.
A/N
Hi all! Sorry for the slow update – I have recently been finalising Mine for publishing and I'm excited to announce its eBook release will be in November! It will definitely be out on paperback but most likely not until December. Now that I have my time back again I can focus on my online stories.
Looking over this one has me cringing so bad. I started it in 2014!! It's such a rough draft, but I know you all love it so I'll keep writing it for you guys. I have no intention of ending it anytime soon; I just want to keep it going for a little while.
I hope you all manage to read the new version of Mine once it is published. I am so beyond excited for it!!
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