35-1

Alina Gasping in deep breaths, I woke up with a start. I felt like my lungs were on fire, and my body felt even worse. It felt like I have been running for hours. Now, everything hurt to the point that I saw black spots cloud my vision. No! Closing my eyes, I let the pain wash over with teeth gritting strength. It took a long time to subside, but I didn't give in to unconsciousness. I moaned in pain as my body cramped, and my hands flew to my chest to makes sure my rib cage was whole. It still was. I was having a nightmare. It had to be. There was no way Erick would try to hurt me. It had to be a nightmare. I felt the pulse of the mating bond in my head and felt relief flood me from the inside. Erick was near me. He had to be. I opened my eyes again, blinking rapidly, only to find everything extremely hazy. I panicked. Flailing my hands around, I tried to get a grasp of where I was. They said that when one sense fails you, the others get stronger, but it wasn't so in my case. All of my senses seemed to have been dulled. My hands hit something hard. Was that wood? That something was knocked down from a higher place, a table perhaps, and hit the marble floor to burst into a thousand pieces. The sound shattered the stillness and seemed to echo all around me. It was too loud to comprehend. I pressed my hands to my ear and screamed. The door swung open as I was still panicking, and someone strode in, rushing to my bedside. "Who is it? Who's there?" My voice came out raspy and incomprehensible. "Alina, it's me, Erick." He lowered his volume when I hissed, covering my ears with my hands again. "Is your vision black or hazy?" "Hazy." I gasped. "Let me touch your face." I reached up with one hand and found Erick's. He guided me to his face, and all I felt was warm skin with slight stubble, not flesh and blood. Relieved but uncertain with my vision still cloudy, I drew my hand back and touched my chest again. Reassured, I reached out with my arms again, and he engulfed me in a hug, holding me close to his chest as the dark chocolate of his scent washed over me in a calming wave. "Are you alright? Athena just told me that your heartbeat went off the charts. Were you having a nightmare? Are you in pain?" he asked as he held my face in his hands. "Yes." I cupped his cheeks. "I was having a nightmare, and my body feels like it's about to explode." Erick shifted his hands to run them up and down my arm comfortingly. "I'm sorry, Alina. I wasn't here with you. Was it bad?" I nodded. "I saw you. I was having a panic attack, and you were trying to comfort me... but then it wasn't you anymore, and you were trying to kill me." Erick's eyes hardened, and his skin went taut over his cheekbones. "I'll never hurt you,Alina. You know that, right?" "I know." I closed my eyes, laying my head down on his chest and wrapping my arms around him. "Did you interrogate Emiel?" "Yes," he replied, his hands tightening around me in a fraction of a second. "Did you hurt him?" I raised my head even though my vision was still impaired. "No, but he seemed worried about you. He even asked me if you are okay." He snorted. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he was genuine. But I do know better, and I know that he's got some ulterior motive behind everything he does." "But what if he really was genuine?" I asked. "I've told you this before, the person who tried to hurt me that night... it wasn't Emiel. It was someone else. Even you couldn't stop yourself when Emiel used his compulsion on you. You can only imagine how hard it must be for him." I knew I struck a chord, but I had to make him understand that Emiel wasn't the enemy. He was just another victim. "I know what you're trying to do, Alina, and it isn't working. Emiel and I have never been brothers, and we have never seen eye to eye. The connection we should've had as twins was severed as soon as he was taken in by Marcellus's descendants." "You've never been allowed to be brothers, Erick, and only you can change that!" I continued even as Erick shook his head in denial, "Can you imagine the amount of pain those women had gone through when they had to hand over their own children to someone else without even seeing their face and then being subjected to their hatred for the rest of their lives! Your own mother has to deal with that wretched misery, and for what, a stupid prophecy? What if it's our child next, Erick? Will you give up one so that a bloody stupid prophecy can be fulfilled? Will it not hurt at all to give up a part of you to the enemy and have them sow the seeds of resentment on its little mind for the sake of a prophecy? I know I won't be able to stand that!" I looked into his eyes, my vision returning bit by bit with sudden clarity, but I couldn't see understanding or compassion. I knew that my words didn't get through to him. Was it really impossible to make him see Emiel as his brother? "What you're saying is true, but I'll never forget how he made me hurt you, and I'll never forgive him for that. How can you forget all the times he's tried to kill you? The cliff?Your apartment? Do you not remember any of that?" His voice was no longer calm but fuelled by withheld anger. "I do Erick, but he was—" "Possessed?" He laughed humourlessly. "Guess what, Alina. Even when I was compelled, I fought through it. If I hadn't, you might very well have been dead." The silence that followed his words was deadly, and I didn't have anything to retaliate back with. But I knew we were missing large chunks of reality from the whole narrative... and I intended to find out. I had to make Erick see the truth. "Prince Erick." A knock sounded from the door at that instant. "Yes," he answered and turned to face the door. "Master Aaron is here to see the princess," the voice, probably a guard, replied to Erick. "I'll be right there," he said and turned to face me. "This discussion is over, Alina. Get some rest. I'll go speak to Aaron." "But Erick—" He didn't listen. He just got off the bed and headed out the door, leaving me speechless. "I thought you promised never to hurt me..." I whispered to the empty room. Yeah, this hurt. Having him just walk away from me hurt a bloody lot, especially when he was hell bent on ignoring his bond to Emiel and in continuing their rivalry. I needed to do something. If Erick wouldn't listen to reason... then it would have to be Emiel. "Ken!" I yelled, praying that he wasn't with Erick at this point and that Erick might have left him behind to watch over me. Thankfully, he poked his head into the room a second later. "You called, Alina?" Erick "Aaron, what brings you here?" I asked upon reaching the living area of the castle. Several ornate chairs were placed in a semi-circle around the fireplace, all made of mahogany. Like all the other rooms of the palace, this room too had several paintings hanging from the walls as well as beautifully crafted tapestries. Several vases were scattered at different corners of the room, holding flowers freshly cut from the palace gardens. "Good afternoon, Your Highness!" Aaron stood from a chair and bowed his head before standing straight up and looking me in the eye. "I'm here to visit my great granddaughter. Is she well?" "Yes," I told him, making a conscious decision of telling Aaron the truth. He was her family, after all. He deserved to know the truth. So I told him about everything; about the possessions, about the bite marks on Alina's neck, about her transition, and about the part where she wanted me to see the good in Emiel when I knew there wasn't any. Aaron didn't say anything for the longest time. He just sat there unblinking, looking at the table in front of us. Finally, he sighed and ran his hands down his face. "I want to take her with me."