Chapter 203: CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND THREE

Walking out of the tarmac and towards the car I'd gotten arranged on my way here, I realized that for the first time in a while, I was afraid.

She was not the type of woman to be wooed or cajoled into doing something she didn't want to do. Force was out of the question, and I realized she'd completely cleaned me of my manipulation techniques.

So I'll have to be real with her, pour out my heart, and hope she still wants it.

That scared me more than I cared to admit because Aria chose to leave, that time frame was too short for her to need convincing and I've never been as hurt as I felt with that realization.

My father didn't need to do much, according to Kora; he simply offered, and she jumped on his offer, throwing away everything we'd built.

I should be angry, I should be livid but something held that at bay. I can say for sure that I know her; Kaiden and I have discovered that we're never going to be remotely happy without her in our lives, so I'd studied her enough intending to do everything it takes to make her happy. But since she woke up from Hades’ doorstep, she'd been anything but happy.

I was prepared to beg and grovel for the longest time for taking away her choice about being permanently tethered to me but she told me it was fine.

‘What if it isn't?’ Kaiden wondered in my head, but I shook my head, probably looking like a madman to Octavio, who was driving.

I refused to believe that it was still an issue because that would mean that it was way bigger than I thought it was and I wouldn't be able to solve it.

It had to be something else, something solvable, something I could find a solution to because what else was I supposed to do about the marking? It's literally permanent and undoable.

I had no clue why she was so detached from me all this while, and that was why I wasn't angry. I must have done something so terrible that she didn't want to forgive me yet and my father took advantage of that, giving her a deal.

If only he knew who exactly she was dealing with.

We were getting closer to where she was staying and I found myself a bit jittery.

I still didn't know what to say to her, I just wanted her back in my arms where she belonged.

We drove past her late father's gates, and it was crowded with reporters who were looking for an explanation for the ice sculpture in the center of the compound with a horrified man screaming endlessly without ever getting heard.

“Damn!” Octavio exclaimed in awe.

“I know right,” I replied with a sigh.

“She must have been very, very angry,” he replied, as though trying to make it seem less terrifying.

That amount of power in her almost human form wasn't a walk in the park.

Becoming a demi wasn't something you simply just came across on a Sunday morning.

Whoever gets that cursed miracle is usually prepared for it, and Aria is anything but prepared for the ice in her veins, and I'm to be blamed for that, squarely.

I'd spent the last few weeks in a haze, unable to accomplish anything and making excuses for everything.

Even Kaiden is pissed at me for not letting him out on Damon because I was just in an ice state, like that sculpture.

“Wait,” I called to Octavio, “turn around.”

“Okay. Is it a good idea to let them see you though? That's quite a lot of press people.”

“I don't want them to see me,” I replied as we got closer to the compound. “Stop here,” I told him, the car far enough that no one would know we were interested in whatever was going on there but close enough for what I needed to do.

I placed my hand flat on the glass and began thawing the ice from the inside out.

It was more difficult than I thought it'd be and probably a terrible idea considering I was low on energy, but I can't imagine Aria following me back here and getting faced with this image of her father, dead at her hands. I'm not human but I understand Aria; guilt would eat her alive for sure.

“It's that strong?” Octavio asked me, noticing my struggle.

I was literally sweating a lot from my concentration.

But at least I was making progress and smoke began pouring out of the man's ears from the heat I was pouring into his body.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around to see Octavio, his eyes closed as he transferred his energy to mine, that bottle of hell permanently in us becoming useful at the right moment.

“Thank you,” I whispered, grateful for his presence in my life before turning around to continue, my energy refreshed.

As the reporters began to finally notice the odd scene happening before them, I realized why my father was terrified of Aria's power.

Something of this magnitude over a few years of pain was definitely scary.

If he hurt anyone important to her one century from now, he's definitely going to be in trouble. Also, with her attachment to this plane, his plans of taking over here are temporarily on hold; she won't sit by and watch it happen.

So, of course, he's taking her away and occupying her mind with mundane, unimportant things.

Then it occurred to me what I would say to her when we met.

I'll tell her the truth; all of it.

I finally was able to thaw the man to a reasonable extent, a few minutes of sunlight and he'll be out for his family to bury him.

That'll teach anyone else to not mess with my woman.

“That was…. A whole lot,” Octavio gasped, breathing hard from the spiritual exercise we'd just performed.

“Yep. She's more powerful than I thought and we need to get her out of here before my father finds a way to actually kill her.”

“I doubt he'll be able to. He would have killed you a long time ago and not for lack of trying,” he replied, and I could feel the resentment for my father flare up in him.

In Lucifer's presence, Octavio was a docile lamb, scared and terrified. But out here, where he could say what he felt, he saw him for what he actually was and detested him for every pain he'd inflicted on me.

Anyways, with that out of the way, he pressed the accelerator, taking us to the beautiful duplex that she now owned due to my father's ‘generosity.’

Slowly, I got out of the car, stilling my nerves to avoid making a mess of myself.

‘It's just Aria; she's not gonna bite,’ I told myself, trying to get that confidence into my body.

‘Waste of time, just get in there!’ Kaiden retorted, feeling restless all of a sudden.

When I got inside the house, there was nobody in the sitting room, hence our ignored knocks.

But nothing prepared me for the moans I heard from the room upstairs.

Aria and another man.

My blood burned like a fiery furnace.

My eyes saw red, and I can't even remember how I got there, but I broke the door of her room, anger controlling even my very breath.

The light turned on, casting a warm glow on a shocked Aria.

"Alaric? What are you doing here?"