Trapped in Guilt!!

**Nora’s POV**

“No” I screamed as I pushed Rorik away from me. I saw a dark shadow emanating from him as it went into the dark wilderness.

Rorik was as shocked as me as he jolted out from the trance or whatever fog he was in. He looked at me quite confused and fazed, as if he didn’t remember anything. His first instinct was to cover me with whatever piece of cloth his arms could grab. I was in tears, not clearly understanding what did just happened. Never in my life have I ever felt so lost. Being ashamed or embarrassed was quite an understatement for me as I felt I should die. I wanted this life to be sucked out of me. It felt as if I had lost my self-respect. The emotions of guilt overtook me, and I started scratching my arms to harm myself.

“Nora! Stop it! What are you doing? Don’t hurt yourself. Just calm down. We will talk about it afterwards. Get dressed,” He said, handing me my clothes, but I stood there unnerved, not responding as if I had lost every damn thing in my damn life.

“Nora! Please,” Rorik tried to shrug me, but seeing me unresponsive, he took the matter into his hands of getting me dressed.

“I don’t remember anything. I was guarding the cave. How did we both even turn up here?” He asked me in anticipation of some answers while looking around the surroundings.

“Nora, Please speak. I know this was not you. It’s Rebekah. She is doing all this—no need to blame yourself. We will sort this thing out. Don’t stress over it; it’s not good in your condition,” He tried to calm me down, pestered me to at least speak something.

“Damn it! Will you say something?” He shouted as he thought this might be the way to dash me out in reality.

“This was not Rebekah. It was me. Are you even listening? It was me. I knew what I was doing. It’s all my mistake. I lost my control. I am bad. No, I am the worst. I should die,” I started blurting out unreasonable stuff.

“No, Nora, please calm down. Control yourself,” He replied.

“I couldn’t control myself. You are innocent in this. It’s only my fault. I lost it. I lost everything. I cheated on Ronin,” I responded as the river of tears flooded my face. I buried my hands on my face sobbing incessantly.

“It’s okay. Just sleep over it. Nobody has to know anything. Don’t say a word. I will manage,” He replied as he helped me on my feet. He covered me with a blanket. And we headed back to the caves as dawn already embarked above the green canopy of trees.

“I don’t want to go. How will I even face him?” I cried.

“We have no other option. Sooner or later, we will have to face it. Try to stay calm in front of everyone; we three can sort out this later,” Rorik clutched my shoulders by assuring me that everything would be okay.

“Nora, where the hell was you? I was so much worried” Ronin rushed towards me as soon as he saw me and scooped me in a tight embrace.

“Rorik! Where were you guys? Don’t leave like this. It can be risky,” Ronin said to Rorik.

“What happened to your face? You look pale. Is it morning sickness?” Meghan asked, caressing my cheek and putting her arm on my forehead as if to check the temperature.

“Yes, actually, she was not feeling well, so we just thought of taking a short walk. We didn’t go far away,” Rorik spoke.

“Again, nightmares?” Meghan asked as if she already knew all of my emotions. She is gifted to sense out if something is wrong with me.

“Yes”, I muttered.

“Come, let’s go inside. Eat something you will feel good.”

I sat down on the cave floor as Meghan handed me a few cookies. I ate them quietly, ignoring Sypha, who was sneering at me as if she would eat me alive.

“You want to say something?” I finally asked her if that would stop her bloody glares at me.

“I was curious about your dream of Ornith,” she asked.

“Well, I guess it’s not much interesting,” I tried to shrug her away.

“Still, care to share a few highlights?” she winced.

I didn’t wish to entertain her, but Meghan was also looking intently at me as if trying to read something.

“Okay, so I guess it was after Ornith and I came to the Land of Azra. From our talks, it seemed like I was scared of someone; someone was hunting me down. Ornith wanted to protect me from that someone,” I trailed off saying this as my mind diverted back towards that dream.

“Seriously, you were running away from this place, and some fools landed you right here in the den of the lion”, Meghan taunted, she didn’t look at Sypha, but her words were pointed at her.

“Did Ornith was known as dark Prince?” I asked, looking particularly at no one, but I knew from whom I would get the answer.

“No, I didn’t hear of this name. Ornith was called Serpent Prince, Serpent God, the three-headed Orynx, etc. but never heard of this, and he was fair-skinned, so this name doesn’t make any sense. But why do you ask?” Ronin spoke.

“No, nothing. I was just over imagining things,” I preferred to remain silent as this conversation can go in the wrong way, and I didn’t want Ronin to know anything about Rorik and me in front of everyone. Of course, he deserves to know but not now.

“Okay, but then what?” Sypha muttered, giving me a sneaky glance.

“Then we fucked. Do you still want details?” I snapped, ignoring the wide grazes of others. Meghan winked at me as she already knew a few details about my previous dreams with Ornith.

“If he fucked you so often, then why did he kill you? Didn’t you satisfy him in bed? Or let me think, Yes …that can be…He caught you in bed with Dasan or, even worse, his brother Ozarius,” Sypha gnarled as if accusing me as her eyes pierced sharply through me.

“No ways I was not involved in any this kind of relation with Dasan or Ozarius. They both were my friends,” I replied, showing fake confidence as even I didn’t know if I had any such relations with them.

“Oh really, and how can you be so sure?” Sypha busted through as if she knew something which I didn’t know. I had to learn this, so I decided to keep this conversation to crack her up.

“I had no such dreams or visions”, I spoke.

“Yes, Rebekah was really smart. She only makes you see such dreams and visions where you are a damsel in distress, an innocent and naïve girl, and everybody else is bad.”

“I am not getting what you are trying to say, and even if I slept with them, Ornith should not have any problem as he was in multiple relations”, I replied.

“Did you hear it, Ronin, your idol doesn’t mind if his girlfriend sleeps with his brother or some damn warlock, so I guess the same goes for you?”

“Shut up, Sypha. Are you trying to accuse Nora?” Meghan snapped at her.

“I am only saying what my mom told me”, Sypha replied, shouting back at her.

“What did your mother even know?” I stood up and moved towards Sypha.

“My mom knew you as Rebekah, your sister and all the shady things you were doing by manipulating Ornith. You are the badass villain of this whole story, not Ornith or anyone, and he just did the right thing by killing you.” She gutted all these things in one breath, sounding unbelievable.

“You and your mom both are lying,” I said, pointing at her.

“Oh really, that we will know soon enough, but before that care to explain these”, She snapped as she snatched away the blanket off my body, exposing the bite-marks over my neck and collarbone. I was still in shock as she continued speaking, “Who did this? Did Ronin get naughty with you…Or maybe Ornith climbed out of your dreams…Or your so-called friend and my other bro Rorik?” she growled, pointing her graze towards Rorik.