Chapter 13 Aeri
My head feels as though someone took a bat to it, like any moment it might split open, and my brain will fall onto the bed beside me. Honestly, that might help relieve some of the pressure.
They keep telling me to relax and try to get some sleep, but the fact that I have no idea who they are or where I am isn’t something that exactly puts me at ease.
“Here, drink this; it might help.” The guy to my left says, and I crack my eye open to find him offering me a glass of what appears to be water.
It’s only now that I realize how dry my throat is.
How long have I been asleep?
“A few days.” The guy on my right says, making me wonder if I asked aloud.
There’s no way, not with the way my throat is feeling. Even if I’d tried, I’m almost positive nothing would have come out.
“It’s written all over your face,” he says as if that explains everything. It doesn’t, not even a little bit, because if he knows me well enough to be able to read a question on my face alone, then he should seem at least mildly familiar.
Right?
Neither of them does, well, except for the fact that I’m pretty sure the guy on my left was the one who broke into my house. Which does nothing to help my current state of panic.
“Do I know you?” I force the question out even though my throat feels like someone rubbed it raw with sandpaper. The one guy still holds out the glass of water, but no matter how good it sounds, I can’t bring myself to take it.
Who knows what he did to it?
I watch as his face falls, and I’m not sure if it’s because of me or something else, but some part of me hopes I'm not to blame. Even with his horns and weird glowing pink eyes, he’s kinda cute.
Wait, what!?
“Um, yeah, we were friends. Don’t you remember?” The guy to my right says, and I take a good look at him for the first time.
He has long silver hair that's braided back out of his face. His eyes are the color of honey, and the horns coming from his head make the other guys look tiny.
Horns…
That’s not normal.
Even with the way my head is pounding, I know there’s something that just isn’t adding up, but I can’t put my finger on it. All I know for sure is I want to go home, to my own bed, with my husband.
“Do you know Rome?”
Any warmth in their expressions disappears at the mention of his name. The silver-haired guy's eyes harden, and when I look to my left, I see the same is true for the guy still offering me a glass of water.
“I’m Bast, and that’s Talian and…” he trails off, finally lowering the glass of water back to the table beside the bed I’m currently occupying. “Yeah, we’ve known Rome a long time.”
His admission settles something in me, though I can’t quite understand why he looks like someone just kicked his puppy.
“Is he here? Where is here? Have we met before? Sorry, I’m really terrible with names and faces.” The words come out in a rush as I attempt to figure out what's going on, but all talking does is make my head hurt worse.
“He’s not here, but we needed to get you somewhere safe…”
Even with my eyes pressed closed, fighting back tears, I don’t miss the fact that Talian still didn’t say where we are.
I sit back, pressing my back against the headboard and pulling my knees up to rest my head on, attempting to hide from the low light.
“Can I get you anything?” The guy on my left, Bast, asks, but I can’t bring myself to answer as the pain continues to increase.
Would it be in poor taste if I asked him to knock me out?
“Aeri?” Talian’s voice is full of concern, and I chance peeking at him.
I glance up and…
I think I do know him.
I remember…
Shit, what was it?
It’s as if the memory is right there, but I can’t grasp it. Just out of reach.
“Talian?”
I don’t know what I want to say, but all I manage is his name before I groan and have to hide away again.
“I fucking hate this,” Bast curses from beside me, and I grunt my agreement because this sucks.
“No, she looked at me differently for a second there. Aeri, do you remember me?” I can hear the hope in Talian's voice.
I don’t want to upset him, but I also don’t want to lie to him.
“Yes, and no. You're familiar, but it’s like my memories aren’t there one hundred percent. I can’t…”
“Fuck.” Bast growls, and I hear him move out of his seat, his footsteps getting farther away before they come closer again. “He might not be able to get to her physically, but we need to find a way to break his hold on her mind.”
They're talking about me; it’s beyond obvious, yet all I can do is listen, unable to make myself speak because I know it will only make this pain worse.
Not to mention, it doesn’t seem as if they know much themselves.
Listening seems to be my best bet at trying to put the pieces of this fucked-up puzzle together.
Who has a hold on me?
Before I can think too much about it, the pain in my head hits a crescendo, and I can’t hold back the tears that leak from my eyes.
“Shit, Aeri, are you okay?” I hear them both move closer before Talian lays a hand on my arm, and everything goes blissfully black.
I awake with a start, unsure what woke me but grateful for it all the same. I’d been relieved to meet the darkness earlier, but all I found was more pain, questions I can’t seem to figure out the answer to, and a deep longing for Rome.
Despite how unrested I feel, I find that the pain in my head isn’t as severe this time, and I almost cry in relief.
Blinking open my eyes, I slowly test to ensure it stays that way.
The room is exactly the same dark stone walls and floor, with candles on every surface, and the chandelier that hangs from the ceiling, which I can just make out past the top of my bed.
My very large bed with a heavy red blanket and matching pillows that are so soft I feel like I’m lying on a cloud.
Everything I can see that isn’t dark stone is instead dark wood: the bed frame, the bedside table, the bench at the end of the bed, and the dresser that sits below a window on the far right wall.
A fire burns in the fireplace across the room, casting a glow around the room, making it seem cozy despite the fact that I have no idea where I am.
The two men from earlier are gone, and for a moment I think I’m alone. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, though. Should I make a run for it or wait for them to come back? I wasn’t lying when I said they seemed familiar, but I still can’t seem to put my finger on it.
“Go back to sleep, little mortal.” The deep, gruff voice startles me, and I dart my eyes toward the far corner where it sounded like it came from.
It’s dark; the fire isn’t doing enough to give me a clear picture of him, but again I feel that tingle of awareness the same way I did with the other two.
The longer I look, the more my eyes adjust, and with every new thing I see, my body heats.
Why would I react like this to a stranger?
“You were at the shop!” I say, unable to stop myself, because if I look past the horns and wings, I’m positive he’s the guy who came in and later disappeared.
In the low light, his hair looks black, but I remember it being a deep green, and I bet if he walked into the low light, that’s what it would be.
It’s hard to forget someone who looks like he does, even if he has a resting bitch face like I’ve never seen before.
“Sleep,” he says again, and I hear his annoyance loud and clear.
Well, that makes two of us, I guess.
Instead of listening, I throw back the blankets and jump out of bed…before almost eating shit.
My legs give out, but before I can hit the floor, a hand grips my arm, yanking me back up and dropping me on the edge of the bed.
I’m both shocked and not when I look up and find the man from the corner. It’s just us in the room after all.
How had he gotten to me so fast?
“I said go to sleep,” he hisses, and with him this close, I can, in fact, see the green of his hair, the point of his ears, and his fangs.
He stares down at me, a scowl on his face, his lips pulled down in a frown, but even still, the green of his eyes draws me in like I'm under a spell, unable to look away.
“Kai…”
He drops his hold on me like I burned him, taking a step back, but he doesn’t look away as his eyes narrow.
Memories push to the surface, fast and hard, making my vision blur and my head pound, but I can’t look away from the pull of his eyes holding me captive. He might not be touching me anymore, but I remember when he did, and I want him to again.
I fight against the pain in my head, but eventually it wins, and I sag forward, dropping my head into my hands to try to stop the world from spinning so damn fast.
Fuck.
“Aerilyn.”
God, if there’s one thing I should have remembered, it's what an asshole Kai is. He doesn’t seem to care one bit that my head is about to split in half as he commands my attention.
I force my head up to meet his gaze through my lashes, and damn it, he shouldn’t be allowed to look like that with an attitude like his.
My nose is running, probably from the chill in the room, and I reach up to swipe it away. I don’t need to give him another thing to be an ass about after all.
His eyes widen, and he quickly grips my wrist, pulling my hand away from my face. He looks down, then back at my face, his brows drawn together.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him to fuck off, but when I see the bright red smear on the back of my hand, I understand his look of confusion, or maybe it’s concern?
“Stay here, I’ll get Asta,” Kai says, and his voice is gentle just like it had been that night he came to my room. He’d been damn near a different person, someone whose company I didn’t actually mind.
He hesitates as if waiting for my response, but I can’t make words come. Even if I somehow managed, he wouldn’t like what I have to say anyway, because where the hell else am I going to go?
I give him a stiff nod and thank the universe that he accepts it, only to instantly regret it when he releases my wrist and moves toward the door. He glances back as he pulls the door open before tearing his eyes away and all but running from the room with inhuman speed.
The door falls closed as if in slow motion compared to how fast Kai moved. The click of the door falling back into place sounds like a bomb in my head, and my knees hit the ground hard, but I can’t feel the pain I know is there as my head throbs.
I grip my head, hoping, if nothing else, to hold it together, but as the pain continues to get worse, I can’t help but wonder if it would be better to let the pain have its way, to give in and let go.
Tears well up and roll down my face at an alarming rate, but I ignore them. I couldn’t stop them even if I tried, and it’s the least of my concerns. My nose is still running, though now I know it’s more than just the sniffles from a dark, dreary room.
I gasp and fight to breathe through the pain and blood pouring from my nose, but every breath is harder than the last.
I just want it to stop.
“You belong to me.” Rome’s voice rings out in my mind, and I don’t know if it’s a memory or if he’s here, but it’s all too much.
“No! No, no, no.” I squeeze my eyes shut, digging my fingers into my hair.
“Aeri?!” I hear someone call my name, but I can’t make myself open my eyes.
“Fuck, she’s bleeding.” Someone tries to brush my hand away, and I flinch from the contact. “And freezing.”
Their voice is familiar, and despite the fear that’s pumping through me, their touch didn’t actually hurt the way I thought it would.
“R-Rome,” I call out, trying and failing to explain what’s happening. I can’t get enough air, can’t unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth.
A low growl fills the room, as if someone let a wild animal in here, but whatever it is, I don’t care. At this point, it can eat me. I’m already in my own personal hell, and Rome won’t be letting me free anytime soon.
Panic chokes me, and I let it, welcoming the darkness if it means keeping him away.