102.

-HER-

I was bewildered as they laughed. I was curious as to why Nefret was in our room all of a sudden.

“What happened?” I asked them while blinking my eyes as if it would help my brain to work better. I sat there awkwardly until their laughing hysteria ended.

“That was a good one,” Nefret muttered as she wiped her tears from laughing and telling Celeste, “I look too young to be a grandma,” The way she pouted, it reminded me of Avyanna from last night. I still had no clue what they were talking about.

I felt like an idiot while sitting there and watching them act like that. It drove away all my drowsiness all of a sudden.

“I… what did the results say?” I asked Celeste. I remembered that before I fell asleep, she went out to get the results from the healer.

“She told you,” Celeste smiled, “She’s going to become grandmother,”

“But why are you two laughing?”

“It’s you who’s going to making her a grandmother,” Celeste explained to me with a blank look when I still didn’t get it. I stared at them in bewilderment for a moment before the realization came crashing down on me.

Instead of a smile lighting up my face, tears were rolling down my eyes in the next moment. Celeste sat beside me and threw her arms around me to hug me while I felt Nefret run her hand over my head.

“Do you think we should tell Ares?” Celeste asked while I buried my face in the crook of her neck and let my tears out.

“It would be useless. Ezekyle wouldn’t send him back so quick,” Nefret answered and I felt Celeste sigh. “It’s okay, Arsinoe. We are here! And it’s only six months,” she tried to comfort me but it wasn’t working. I was still sad and internally pissed that they had to send him away. Although I really couldn’t do much except to wait for him to come back.

“Are we going to tell everyone now?” Celeste asked.

“Of course not,” Nefret answered, “We have to wait for a few weeks before coming out with that news. Things could always go wrong,”

“You don’t have to go to training from tomorrow,” Celeste told me next.

“I am fine as long as you don’t choke me too much,” I sniffed on her shoulder.

“It’s better to be careful than to be sorry,” Nefret commented. “You should rest for a couple of days. I’ll excuse you,” She told me before leaving.

“Do you want to rest? I apologize for waking you up earlier. It’s that we got too excited,” She told me as she dropped her arms from around me and let me lay down in the bed. I was still tired but I wasn’t really that sleepy.

“No, that’s alright,” I told her, “Do you have somewhere else to be right now?” I asked her.

“Not really,” She told me as she leaned against the headboard of the bed. “I am really happy for you, Arsinoe. I just wish Ares and others were here. Ares would have been happier,” She told me.

“Yeah… It sucks not having him around,” I grumbled.

“You don’t have to worry about his absence. I will be around you until he’s back,” She told me. I smiled at her knowing that it would be a good lot of time to get to know her better. She was slowly starting to give me opportunities to get closer to her.

It somewhat made me feel better at the moment.

“Thanks,” I smiled at her before the room was drenched into silence. I looked at her to find her deep in her thoughts.

“So, I don’t have to go to the training tomorrow, right?” I asked her. She nodded. I stared at her for a couple more moments before I asked her, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure!” She replied as she laid down on the bed beside me. Her eyes remained glued to the ceiling though.

“Can you tell me more about Ezekyle?” I asked her. A moment of silence followed before she asked me back, “Why do you want to know about him?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged, “I am just curious as to why someone would reject their mate,”

“I don’t think he rejected me… at least, as far as I remember,” She spoke.

“Then what?”

“He simply said that he doesn’t want a mate. That’s all,” She told me, “And Lycans chose their mates. So even if he wanted a mate, his Lycan would choose one. I don’t know why Inanna went on to pair us. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Also, I am a wolf and he’s a lycan. We are very different from each other,”

“I still remember my time in the prison with you,” I told her after a brief pause, “I will never forget it,” I told her while turning towards her. She had her hands resting on her abdomen while her eyes remained glued to the ceiling.

“That was a year ago,” She told me, “I have realized a lot of things since then. He may or may not want me but I don’t want to be with him either. He is the worst person to be mated to across all realms. He doesn’t respect women and well, his past, present and future are painted with blood and terror. I don’t want to be associated with anything like that,”

I let her words sink into me before I questioned her next, “Still, there must be some reason you were paired with him. Have you ever tried to find that out?”

“I am not really interested,” she muttered.

“Are you angry?”

“Yes, on Inanna for causing such a mess in my life,” She replied.

“What do you plan to do? Are you going to be alone?” I asked her.

“I don’t know,” She shrugged, “But I am not going to be alone. Pax is there. He always will be. He has always been there for me,”

“Do you think there might be any chances of you two coming together in the future?” I asked her.

“No,” she answered stiffly, a bit too stiffly.