Chapter 32

Chapter 32
Gabriel PoV

Rhea was happy to see the library and even happier to learn that she could read whatever she liked, I felt like it was a scene straight from a fairytale, though it’s been a while since I heard anyone quote something as simple as a romance. The people around me tend to concentrate on violence, not peace and love. They have no need for romance, our kind takes what we want and we never apologise for it, though I’m starting to think like maybe I should. I’ve done an injustice to a beautiful soul, and I should be held accountable for it.

But on the other hand, I couldn’t imagine ever going a day without the light she brings to my life with her presence. I want to be around her, not because I own her, but because she is beautiful, inside and out. She’s also incredibly adorable when she’s angry, and that’s quite often.

It’s been a couple of centuries since I met someone like her, she has the strength of a thousand men, and the mental fortitude of someone much older than myself.

If I ever manage to have children with her, they would be smart and brave, strong and yet kind. I would want them to be just like her.

“This is amazing.” She squeals, spinning around in a circle.

I wish I could capture this moment forever in my mind, I’ve never wanted one of those cellphones the mortals make more in my life than I do in this moment. It would be full of pictures and videos of her. Just her.

“Are you happy Rhea?” I ask, cautiously taking a step towards her.

She turns to me, her smile brighter than the midday sun. “I am, very happy.” She says, “I was hoping for something like this, but I could never have imagined it would feel this way.”

I’ve taken away her freedom, locked her away from the world, anyone would think her light would dim, even a little bit. But it hasn’t, and I don’t think that it ever will.

She was born to make my life better.

I don’t think I could go on without her.

“What else do you want?” I ask her, moving to sit in the armchair by the fire. “Tell me what you desire.”

She looks from me to the window and back again, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. “I want to go outside.” She tells me with a defeated sigh, “I want to feel my wolf and I want to shift and run amongst the trees.”

Rhea thinks I would never give her this.

She believes she will forever be trapped within these walls, her only purpose to pump out as many children as I want.

What she doesn’t realise is that she is to become my wife, my equal in every meaning of the word. I would give her anything her heart desires if it will make her stay, anything at all.

“If that is what you desire, then I shall make it done.” I say, keeping my tone ice cold.

She shakes her head, looking smaller than before somehow. “that’s ok, I know I’m a prisoner here, I’m not going to ask for the moon, I can read happily by the fire.”

This time, I shake my head. “I told you to tell me what you wanted because I wanted to know, I want to make you happier here Rhea, one small step at a time until you earn my complete trust.”

She looks at me, really looks at me, as though gazing directly into my soul searching for something. Perhaps she was trying to understand why I was doing this, she doesn’t realise how much I want to find a way to her heart.

I don’t care if I have to play dirty, I will make her love me. One day.

“You will let me go outside?” She asks hesitantly, her eyes going impossibly wide. “Like for real?”

“I will let you go outside.” I say, rising to my feet. “But only by my side until I can fully trust you.”

She bounces on the balls of her feet, nodding before I could even finish my sentence, “ok, ok.” She says, wishing for the door.

“Rhea wait.” I call after her, trying not to laugh. “You can’t go outside in just your nightgown; it’s the middle of winter.”

Rhea stops by the door, looking down at herself before a blush rises on her cheeks, and it takes my breath away. She is beautiful. So painfully so.

“You’re right.” She laughs, embarrassed, “I’d catch my death of cold.” She takes a step away from the door, “can it be today? If I hurry to get changed?”

I smile, what feels like the first real smile I have shown in over a millennium. “Yes, Rhea.” I say, “you can go outside if you hurry, but not for long. I have some business I have to deal with.”

Rhea’s smile returns, “I don’t need long, I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” I chuckle.

Rhea is the sort of girl that wants to spend every moment she can outside, even when the weather is as bad as today. She doesn’t care how cold it is, only how clear the sky is.

I’d never given much thought to how I would spent my life with her once I actually got her within my grasp, watching her grow from afar was a strange thing. Especially knowing that she would come to me one day.

She has come to give me something I never expected, something I never understood until now. Love. A true, deep feeling in the centre of my chest that I cannot control. It’s a wonderful, terrifying feeling.

A feeling I never thought would come to me, not in all my years in this planet.

But it has come to me, and now, I don’t think I could ever be without it. I don’t think I want to be without it.