"See me.... clearly?"
But then his eyes lose life, and I gasp as I reach forward to steady his swaying figure. My frozen fingers go even colder when I realize he's fallen unconscious.
"V!"
But the voice that shouts his name isn't mine, and my eyes grow wide in surprise when a man with ashen silver hair appears from the far side of the forest.
Head Park Jimin.
"How did—"
"Lyr! Jungkook! Right here!"
Not even moments pass after his call, two familiar figures show up breathless from behind the tangle of trees. The relief that crashes through me when I see them is unbelievable— and tears sting my eyes when I see who it is.
"Leah! You okay?"
Lyr reaches me first, her eyes worried as she wipes off the red on my face. Trying to push down my tears, I nod and point to Taehyung.
He's completely unconscious now, his figure slack against Master Jungkook's back. There's faint red shading the side of his cheek, pulling at his lips.
"He'll be fine." Lyr says soothingly, trying to help me up from the snow. "Taehyung won't die from something like that. Didn't you see him at the last Arena Battle?"
"How did you know...?"
"Little girl." She smiles, and I immediately think of the small girl— her basket now smashed in half in the snow.
"W-Wait."
I can feel her surprised gaze on me when I slowly break from her grip and pick up the broken basket with numb hands. I'm thankful she doesn't say anything, but someone else does.
"You... can't fix it, you know."
"Hyung, stop talking." Master scolds, his eyes lingering on the blood still dripping from his shoulder. "You're just going to hurt yourself even more."
"It hurts already." He mumbles, and guilt pulls at my heart. It was true that if it hadn't been for me, he wouldn't have blood pouring out of himself, neither would he have to be supported by Master.
"I'm taking you to your Palace, hyung."
"Hold on."
__________________________
Only when the blood flow stops and color slowly fills his cheeks does Head Jimin and Master Jungkook leave, with Lyr practically having to shove them off of Taehyung's bedside.
"Gosh, he's not ever going to get up if you two lean over him like that." Lyr hisses, giving me a warm smile and a wave as she finally kicks them out the door— claiming they were doing more harm than good.
When the door closes behind them, his eyes instantly blink open.
"Were you pretending?" I say in disbelief as his eyes flicker over to the door. "Do you know how much Master Jungkook and—"
"Stop."
"Why are you calling him Master?" He says, eyes fixing on me like it could tear my soul in half. "You carry my Mark."
"I'm— I'm just used to that, okay?" I defend under his gaze, so sharp it makes me fidget. "Besides, it's hard to call your Master by name. And weird."
"You're doing it again." He says sharply, and I shrug helplessly. "Why did you go out in the snow all by yourself? Don't you know there are wolves every winter? What if you met a bear? Both of us would be dead."
"Well, if you would've been nice enough to come out of your room once in a while and—"
Then I realize I'm saying my thoughts out loud, and close my lips quickly when his eyes narrow.
"What I mean— I'm sorry."
"That's why you went out? In the snow, at winter?" He whispers, his eyes flat and fixed on my face. "Because you were lonely?"
Anger starts to tingle through my skin, and I can feel my cheeks warm with heat as I look at him straight in the eye.
"Well, what do you want? If it wasn't for me, it would've been a five-year old. Maybe Master was right. You need to get rid of some people in here."
I don't miss the look of annoyance that flashes past his face as he hears me say Master, but then they soon fade into surprise when he realizes what I've said.
"W-What are you talking about? Arell?"
"Arell?"
"The five year old." He says impatiently, actual concern shadowing his face. "What do you mean?"
"Some lady apparently told her to go get berries, and told her no food if she didn't." I explain, partly surprised at how he knew her name. There seemed to be so many people in this Palace.
"What are you doing?" I exclaim when he suddenly gets to his feet shakily, his usually calm features twisted with rage. "She's in my room right now! Lyr took her there."
"I can't believe this." He growls, ignoring me completely and his voice narrowed to an edge as he walks briskly toward the door. "And after I gave that woman a second chance."
"Yah!" I finally shout when he nearly hits himself on the doorway. "Get back down on this damn bed right now!"
He looks shocked.
And I don't blame him, because I am too.
"I'm just— I'm telling you that she's safe right now. You can do whatever you want with that woman later, but look at yourself first." I stress, my back against the door. "You're bleeding again, and you're supposed to be a healer."
He's still giving me that blank look.
"Anyways, that's just what I'm saying." I say quickly, almost stumbling on my own words as I make my way out of the room. "I'm going to go take care of Arell now, so just saying don't worry too much about her."
"Don't forget to take care of yourself." I add shortly, rushing around the white room to grab an armful of bandages and bottles that I'm hoping are some kinds of disinfectant.
And he's still giving me that look.
After placing each of them on the nightstand next to his bed so he wouldn't have to move, I hurry out of the room so I wouldn't have to feel the intensity of his eyes on me a second longer.
__________________________
"Wow, I'm really going to kick that woman out." I growl under my breath when the small girl chews quickly, her legs crossed on my bed. "Eat slowly— you're going to choke. I'll get you more food if you want."
"Thank you so much." She says, shaking her head politely as she holds a sandwich between her two small hands. I rest my face on my hand, leaning down on the bed with my body stretched out as I look at her with a small smile.
She kind of looks like Taehyung, if you didn't count the stunning hazel hair.
Then I hear the door creak open, and look over in surprise to see Taehyung with his arms crossed and a tiny pull of a smile on the corner of his lips.
I gape.
He's wearing a loose white shirt now, with tight bandages peeking out on the edges of his sleeves. And I see something I've never seen before.
Tattoos.
There are tattoos covering the entire expanse of his lower arms, a tangle of black and intricate patterns carved into the white of his skin. And don't ask me how I didn't even notice the dark vine of black ink climbing up on the side of his pale neck.
"H-Hi?"
"Hey." He says deeply, and I swallow when he sits at the side of my bed. As if he'd taken medicine or something like that, there's no more sway in his step, eyes now a clear shade.
"Master!"
"She's gone now." He tells me as he wraps a protective arm around Arell's small figure, his eyes fixed on me.
Then the door suddenly bursts open, and I flinch in surprise as one of the servant girls barge into my room. Taehyung's eyes go wide, and my own narrow in confusion as he almost— struggles, to focus on the girl's face.
His gaze roams for a second before it lands on her.
"M-Master Taehyung?" She gasps in surprise, her features clearly shocked as she backs out of the door she'd flung open. I frown— I was going to have to buy a lock or something with the way they always came in like this.
"I-I was just looking for—"
"Leave."
I shoot him a surprised look at the venom that drips from his voice, instantly thinking he could've been just a bit more nicer to her. She looked like she was about to burst into tears.
When she quickly shuts the door, he turns to me with his face tight.
"You don't keep your doors locked?"
"I forgot." I reply nonchalantly, and this time he's the one who gives me a hard look when I suddenly lean back on the mattress.
"What did you mean?"
"What?"
"That you could see me— or something like that." I say, genuinely curious. "You can't see?"
"I can." He sighs, and I can't help that my eyes keep drawing to his tattooed skin. It was just so surprising all of a sudden. "Their faces. That's the only thing I can't see."
"And it should've been that way."
"You can see me, though?" I exclaim as he looks at me flatly, his dark hair contrasting his white shirt. "Why?"
"How am I supposed to know." He says frustratingly, his eyes flickering to my face again. "I've never seen a girl's face before."
"You can't see Arell?" I ask, and he nods. "Then what about Master—"
The word slips out of my lips, and I wince inwardly at the poisonous look on his features. Breaking a twelve-year old habit was going to be harder than I thought.
"You see this?" He says darkly, his large hand pressing over my collarbone. The wings glow a dim silver, the color of moonlit night. "This is my Mark. You're mine."
"And you're still acting like you belong to someone else."
My heart begins to race.
"I-It's going to take some time." I say quickly, trying to give him warning gazed toward Arell, who's watching us with widened eyes. "I can't help it. I just forget."
He gives me a look.
"Then how many Marks will it take for you to remember?"