Crumbling resolve

Crumbling resolve
Aribella POV

“I need air,” I choked out, stumbling towards the door that Mael just left through.
Even without him commanding the space, it felt smaller…. Suffocating even. Dust particles clung to the oxygen, and every breath felt like my lungs couldn’t get enough air.
“Aribella,” Rhory called out just before I ripped the doors open. Kaelar’s golden eyes locked on mine, slowly widening when he saw whatever emotions were etched in my expression, but in a horrible twist of fate, Johnston stood beside Emrys, having a hushed conversation.
“Is there trouble in paradise?” Johnston chuckled, his dark eyes dancing with something sinister.
My resolve was crumbling by the second, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could handle. At this point, accepting the whip again would be favorable to finding out that Stephan was here… in Sacaris and searching for me. I’d accept that punishment in place of knowing that everything I tried to build here wasn’t about to come crashing down at my feet.
“Aribella….” Emrys’s voice broke through my haze, concern weaved in his tone.
My eyes had been trained on the crimson carpets, worn down from years of foot traffic, but at the sound of his voice, I snapped out of it, forcing my face upward. The scars on my back flared as I stared into Johnston’s eyes, “No trouble,” my voice sounded foreign, monotone.
I plastered on a fake smile, “What gave you that impression, sir?”
Johnston’s grin widened, “The tears streaming down your face, Miss Voss.”
My cheeks heated in an instant as a lead weight dropped into the pit of my stomach.
“Ka… Mr. Itsuki,” I nearly slipped up in my moment of embarrassment. “Could you please escort me to my room? I’m not feeling so great.”
He pushed off the wall with a nod but Johnston cleared his throat, drawing our attention back to him, “Mr. Lowell can escort you. Mr. Itsuki is needed elsewhere.”
I stole a glance at Kaelar, noticing his eyes had hardened, but Rhys pushed off the wall with the nod of his head.
I didn’t like this. Not one bit. Every cell in my body was screaming that today was the turning point. A moment that this Kingdom wasn’t going to be able to come back from.
Why can’t I think about that god forsaken story? Did any of this happen or did my changing the past create an entirely different future?
In the story, I never made it past the halfway point. My life only spanned across a few dozen pages, snuffed out by Mael before I could make an impression.
But that wasn’t really me… That was Aribella. She wanted to live a life of luxury. A life within the walls of this castle. Peyton told me the story about her desire to lay back and have grapes fed to her like some kind of royal goddess…. But that was never my wish.
My wish was simply to live… That was it. I wanted to live and be free.
This new scenario, where all of my secrets have been exposed, doesn’t feel like living. This feels like I’m back to walking on eggshells. This feels like the ground I’m walking on his crumbling, and I should run if I have any chance at making it out of her alive.
But if I leave, that puts me right in Stephan’s clutches. I won’t have the protection of these gates keeping him away from me.
“Ari,” Rhys’s hands moved to my shoulders, and I looked up from the crimson-colored carpet, realizing that we were standing back in front of my door. “You’re shaking.”
“You heard everything,” I whispered, bottom lip trembling. My vision blurred once more as tears gathered along my lash line. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Let’s get you inside,” his eyes softened, and I knew beneath that mask, a soft smile pulled at his lips.
“You know we won’t allow that monster to lay a hand on you, right?” Rhys whispered as soon as the door shut.
“You don’t understand,” my voice trembled. “Stephan will stop at nothing. Do you want to know why he killed me?” Our eyes locked as my lips pulled between my teeth, “I helped a customer at my job….” A sob ripped from my throat. “I was working at a grocery store, and a male customer asked for help finding a product. He was watching me at my work. I was just doing my job….” The tears I’d been holding back began to fall. “I was only doing my job, Rhys.”
Rhys wrapped his arms around me, tugging me close to his chest. A gloved hand held my head tight against him, “You’re not there anymore, Ari,” he whispered. “You’re not alone.”
“But he’s one of you now,” I choked on the words as they clawed their way from my throat. It was something I hadn’t even taken a moment to consider, but something that changed everything.
When he was just a man, he was dangerous, but a vampire? I don’t even want to consider the capabilities he has.
“Which means that if he ever tries to hurt you, we’ll know exactly what to do,” Rhys gave me another tight squeeze before bringing his hands to my shoulders and slowly putting distance between us. “Look at me.”
I didn’t want to. This was me at my most vulnerable. Weak, covered in tears and snot, and so utterly hopeless that I knew with every fiber of my being that it would show in my eyes.
Leather grazed my jaw with a gentle grip. Everything about Rhys was gentle, and I found myself unable to deny him even a glance in this moment.
“Good girl,” he whispered, his eyes crinkling softly with a smile beneath the mask. “Trust me when I tell you that I would lay my life down to keep you safe. Same with Reo. Kaelar,” a soft chuckle bubbled from his throat, “I pray the world never has to see his wrath when it comes to you. There is nothing he wouldn’t do, including burn this Kingdom to the ground, to ensure your safety.”