Looked at her like a prayer

Looked at her like a prayer
I’m talking of this chapter:
No?
Dali’s head snapped up. Standing there, in the middle of the room, was Chase, and he was staring at her. There was something about his expression, something about the way he was looking at her she could not point out.
She could not understand what was beneath his gaze, but it was, in its own form, similar to what guilt looked like.
That was how she had been staring at her reflection for two years now. And he was looking at her that way.
“What do you mean by no, Chase?” Alexa asked.
Chase nodded his head, peeling his gaze from Dali. “I meant what I said, no.” He repeated. “Perhaps what had happened with Scarlet Village, or at the Healers’ Pack, was as a result of the spell, but what happened with Dali was a hundred percent me.”
Celyn scoffed.
“So we should praise you for not tucking that under the spell?”
“It doesn’t make me any different, Celyn. But if I want to put in effort into being a better person, I shouldn’t build that on lies.” His eyes were filled with honesty and redemption. It appeared that he genuinely was after forgiveness.
Dali nodded her head. “So you admit that how you treated me was something you wanted to do? You were not compelled, not forced, not coaxed to do it, it was exactly what you wanted to do?”
Chase froze. His eyes had been on Celyn; hearing her voice now, his heartbeat rose. He slowly turned around, his head down, his courage unable to surface.
He slowly lifted his eyes before he nodded his head. “Yes, Dali. I hated that I was mated to you. I thought you were weak, I thought you were stupid. I was still grieving my wife, I was not willing to love. To be suddenly mated to someone was a bit too much for me mentally, and so I resorted to treating you badly.”
Dali’s eyes slowly turned red, recalling the suffering she had gone through because of him. “Fine, Chase.” She rose to her feet. “It has been known to everyone now that you were under a spell and killing the healers was never something you wanted to do. So now, you’re forgiven. Is that fine?”
Her gaze turned to Alexa. “Is there something else for us to know?”
Alexa nodded her head. “The spell on him is almost like a bottle filled with water. The more it’s being used, it empties out. For example, she started first with Scarlet Village, and then the water reduces. And all the time she controlled him, the water reduces.”
“And when we were at Rakmoon,” Kiara rose to her feet, “he was controlled by her, and I think that was what dried the water out.”
“So the spell has been broken?” Diedre inquired.
It was Marisol’s time to answer, and she shook her head. “Following their illustration, the only way to break the spell is to destroy the bottle.”
Dali’s gaze darted to Chase only to find him already staring at her. Watching her intently like she was the most interesting thing in the room. That look of intrigue, laced with remorse. “Is that possible?” Dali asked.
Marisol nodded her head. “It is, but it’s not going to be easy, and he will need to want to be cured for it to actually work.”
“I want to,” he said. His deep voice cold like the ocean breeze, descending into the room—it caused a ripple in the tension.
His eyes strayed not from Dali. Awestruck by her presence, he stared at her like a prayer.
It was the feeling all over again, the one where it was hard for her to glance at a certain someone due to the terrifying, pressing fear of what she would encounter.
At first, it was Marcus. She feared meeting his eyes because she knew what awaited her.
Love.
Then it was Celyn. It was petrification, the indisputable certainty that what would welcome her was anger and hate.
Now, it was Chase.
However, she was unsure what would stare back at her.
Remorse?
Pain?
Guilt?
Or realization?
Realization was what she prayed not to meet. Then again, she never met his gaze. She kept her eyes fixed on Marisol, choosing not to get pressured by curiosity.
“Seeing as he wants to desperately earn your forgiveness, I’m certain that he would be willing to get cured.” She stepped away from the table and chair and then briskly walked out of the room.
Chase watched her leave, his eyes glued on her. It was challenging to toss the image of the woman in his head away. The Dali he knew was dead. Buried. Gone.
The woman now was a stranger. One whose courage, power, leadership stirred his gut. One whose forgiveness he longed for.
He was willing to do anything to earn it.
“Seeing as you want to gain the forgiveness of the healers, you have a few things you need to do,” Celyn spoke up. “First off, your wolves need a place to stay. They slept in the clinic last night and that cannot go on for a month. You need to build a place for them to stay. I don’t know if you’re looking at a building or individual houses, that’s up to you. So that’s your first step.” She smiled at him. “You’re welcome.” She turned around and walked away.
The leaders all left one after the other, leaving Kiara and Chase in the room alone.
Chase sighed. “That’s a good step, isn’t it?”
Kiara chuckled. “Yes, I’ll show you the place where you can get the wood needed, and I’ll help you if you need me to.”
Chase nodded his head. “I’ll have the wolves and Damon help me. I just need to get food for them.”
Kiara shook her head, waving her hand. “Tonight, there’s a full moon. Normally, the healers sit outside and have some drinks and eat meat. Today, let’s focus first on getting the wood and the space where the houses will be built.”
Chase nodded his head. “That’s good,” he said.
Silence descended the room.
He recalled when they were back at Rakmoon; there was a realization that dawned on him.
As he heard Kiara stepping away from her table, he called her name out. She stopped and turned to him.
“Is something up?”
Chase had his head lowered, his heart racing. “Kiara,” he called her name again, this time softer, almost a whisper.
Standing there, she could already tell what his next words would be.
“Chase… I know.”
“Just let me say it.” He exhaled slowly. “I need to say it, Kiara.”
She sealed her lips shut.
“You were one of the healers I ever respected. Talented and great,” he started. “Regardless if it was the spell behind it, they were my claws, it was my anger, it was my face you saw.”
Kiara drew a sharp breath.
“I’m sorry.” He finally lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot and glossy, filled with tears not falling.
“I’m so sorry.”
Kiara slowly nodded her head. “I didn’t need you to say that, but thank you.” She crossed the distance between them. “Thank you for saying sorry.”
The distance between them vanished as she pulled him into a hug.