Chapter 47

Desire opened her heavy eyelids to light. She closed her eyes as it penetrated, almost blinding her, before she opened it again. She looked around her and realized she was back in Sylvester’s suite. A lint was wrapped around her hand and her head hurt really bad.

She sat up on the bed and that was when the door suddenly opened.

“I thought the healer doesn’t have the right to get hurt” Ying walked in, leaning on a stick to support his movement with a cup of water, teasing her.

He placed the water beside her and sat as she took the cup and drank the water.

“I’ve been changing that water from time to time. It’s like I knew you'd be thirsty by the time you wake up”

“What happened to me, Ying?” Desire asked as her last memory was unclear

“You don’t remember the soldier who attacked you” Ying asked and at that point, the memory of all that happened came rushing back to her.

The soldier had thrown a dagger at her before she could reach the door leading back into the main building.

“It turned out that he was a Barbarian and not a soldier. The dagger hit your arm but you lost too much blood before others could get through to you. You’ve been sleeping for three days, Desire”

Three days! She had slept for that long with everything going on around them.

A gunshot was heard very close to the mansion and more followed.

“We’re still at war” She asked and Ying nodded.

“But now it is getting closer to our gate. It seems our mansion is the only place they hadn’t attacked yet and now it’ll be their priority”

“Should we be scared for our lives? Or maybe get ready to leave this place” Ying chuckled at Desire’s words.

“You do not know how much this place means to Sylvester. He will protect it with his life. Trust him to do that. He’s in the process of looking for the guns his grandfather bought years back with other soldiers. The sooner they find it, the earlier they’ll go beyond this wall” Ying explained.

As Ying mentioned Sylvester’s name, the memory of their last encounter came to Desire, they’ve had a big fight about what Desire was unaware of. Even though she thought he would’ve told her if she did anything wrong, he still went on to hurt her with the intention of killing her.

She wanted to hate him but she knew her heart had gone too far from that.

“What happened, Desire? Ever since you woke up, you haven’t asked of Sylvester”

“He’s no more someone I can ask about. Everything ended a long time ago. He wouldn’t even want to see me” Desire replied bitterly.

If everything had ended between them, then why is Sylvester always coming back to the room every night to sleep beside her and also during daybreak to check up on her despite how busy he was.

The tears he had cried on the second night when she didn’t wake up. The look on his face when he saw so much blood, the anger in his eyes as he slayed the Barbarian to death. Their relationship was far from over.

“What happened to the barbarians?” Desire asked

“Only two of them were barbarians. The one you refused to treat was truly already dead and the other one was killed by Sylvester after he threw that dagger at you” Ying explained.

Suddenly remembering Kim Chui, Desire felt really sad as a tear dropped from her eye.

“I need to tell you something important, Ying,” Desire called, and by the look on her face, Ying already knew what she was about to say.

“I know Desire. Sylvester already told me. She’s dead, right?” She nodded knowing there was still doubt in his heart as well as her heart.

They both wished Kim Chui would walk through the door and hugged them both. She was a good friend, a true lover and a girl who wished for the peace to reign in her land.

“How are you feeling, Ying?”

“Sad, angry, useless, confused but still hopeful. I wished I had gone back for her, I wished I’d been fast enough to secure her freedom. I wish I’d done better for her” Ying lamented Desire could feel just how much pain he was going through. She feels useless too, thinking only about herself and not her friend. She burst into tears, and Ying had to limp over to the bed to hug her tight. He promised her that everything would be fine, even though he was promising this to himself as well.

“Is she awake?” Cassandra opened the door slightly and asked.

Ying pulled away from Desire and let her in. The young girl ran through the room to jump on Desire and hug her tight.

“I was so scared. I thought you were going to leave me by dying alone” Desire laughed at her words.

“I’m not going to die and leave you alone with Fei. I’ll always be here, my love” She kissed her forehead and hugged her tight.

“Most of our soldiers have recovered and we have more people in the mansion now. Most of their women help in the kitchen while some men and women train with the healer soldiers. I want to train too but Chang keep on sending me back, that evil man”

She rolled her eyes at the mention of her brother’s name, making Desire smile.

Cassandra kept on talking about everything that had happened within those three days. Desire trusted Cassandra with all the information.

“I’ve also made a new friend. Her name is Leah, she’s my age and also very beautiful. Would you love to meet her now?” Cassandra asked

“No! She won’t be seeing anyone, she needs to rest, okay?” Ying replied firmly and Cassandra glared at him.

“He’s too evil, even more than Chang” she whispered into Desire's ear before turning to glare at him. “I’ll be back Desire” She stuck her tongue out at Ying before running out of the door.

“She’s crazy for her age” Ying commented.

“And smart too” Desire replied.

Sylvester walked through the door after Cassandra collided into him at the end of the stairs and informed him that she had woken up before running off to tell others. He was glad that she finally woke up.

“I see you’re awake.” Ying stood up and walked out of the door with his stick so as to give them their well-deserved privacy.

“I’ll soon leave your suite, my lord” Desire replied.

“This isn’t a matter of what or where you are, Desire. I need to speak to you about something”

“I do not wish to speak with you about anything, my lord” Desire looked everywhere except at him.

“I’ll be leaving tomorrow with my men. We found the guns and I’ve begun training them on how to use them. We will not wait for the barbarians to get here before going out to meet them and send them out of our town”

“I do not care if you stay or leave. You’ve made it clear that you want nothing to do with me anymore” Desire lied.

“Some of the soldiers would be brought back here if they get wounded”

“I said I do not care” She raised her voice.

“I promise not to be one of those that’ll be brought back” Sylvester stubbornly continued.

“It’s not my business even if you die” Desire spat, taking him aback. He knew she was lying. He could see the tears in her eyes.

He moved closer to the bed, tried holding her by the hand but she quickly removed her hand and folded it against her chest despite the pain.

“Desire, no matter what, stay safe, please” Desire glared at him. He had no right to wish her safety.

He suddenly grabbed her and smashed his lips on hers, taking her by surprise and kissing the hell out of her.

He placed his forehead on hers and whispered, “I love you” before walking out of the door, leaving Desire to become a crying mess.