He backhands her, causing her head to turn to the side from the impact, then he turns his gaze to me. I don’t know what he expected to change in her, but whatever it is, doesn’t show up. “I told you not to stick your prick inside her. I told you not to even touch her! You’ll pay dearly for disobeying me.”
I hold up both of my hands in front of me as he approaches.Oh,nowthey decide to listen to me.“I swear, Uncle, I never touched her. Her virtue is still intact.”
“If that is true, then there wouldn’t be a bond between the two of you. She wouldn’t be alive right now. Somehow, she’s still being fed enough magic to keep her from fully perishing and the only possible way for that to happen is if she has a bond with her mate, which is you!” His voice rises in pitch with each word spewing from his mouth, along with spittle being sprayed in my face.
I lose focus of the world around me. He just... he just said she isn’t dead. But how? I long to reach for her body to see for myself, my fingers twitch to complete the action, but Silas is inches from my face now, yelling more words I just don’t possess the capacity to comprehend at this moment. Cecily isn’t dead. There’s a chance I can fix this.
My eyes focus on her face. All I want is to soothe her aches and pains until she wakes up. I should clean her up, make sure she doesn’t awaken covered in blood. A new dress, maybe... She should never know anyone has seen her intimately without her permission. I’m in full planning mode so I never see the blow coming toward me, knocking me out cold.
∞∞∞
A pounding is reverberating throughout my skull, sharp knife-like pain stabbing me over and over in the same spot. I let out a groan as I lift my hand to the source of pain. There’s a lump under my hair and confusion blooms into a bigger knot than the bump on my head. Heat radiates from the spot, which is a huge contrast to the freezing prickles stabbing my cheek. The eerie sensation comes from the sticky substance holding the side of my face hostage to the ice-cold stone beneath me.
Blinking my eyes open, all I see is a puddle of blood. Am I bleeding? Where did all of this come from? I move to sit, but the pain in my head causes me to suck in a sharp breath as I fight off the urge to expel my stomach contents. What’s going on? I usually heal much faster than what’s occurring right now. I feel weak, as if I’ve been drained of my energy source.
I examine my surroundings the best I can, finding it difficult with my vision fading in and out of focus. Not thinking things through, I shake my head to get my eyes to focus. I shouldn’t have done that. Nausea rolls through my stomach once again, with the flair of increased pain. I lean over and place my elbows on my knees, then my head in my hands.
After several breaths, I feel as if the pain is under control again. I peel one eye open and it focuses on the floor in front of me, so I open the other. I’m okay, I’ll figure this out. Without moving my head, I scan my view around the room, and my focus again lands on the blood. That must be the wetness on my cheek. It’s a thick, congealed puddle, so it’s not fresh.
I follow the trail of blood and see a bowl on its side, the interior coated with blood. This must be the cause of the puddle. But where did it come from? The lump on my head isn’t wet with blood. The side of my face that was laying in it feels completely fine. I scrutinize the rest of my body, searching for an injury, but finding nothing.
That’s when I see her, and I’m smacked in the face with image after horrific image of what happened last night. From the moment I dropped my mate off at her chambers, to the moment where I was knocked out, flash before my eyes. I miss the bliss of moments ago where the only pain plaguing me was the pounding in my head, now it’s spread to encompass my heart and soul as well.
Hope spreads from my soul when I recall Silas’ words about her not being dead. Could it be possible? I crawl forward until I’m by her side. Reaching my shaking hands up, I cup her cheeks, and observe her neck has indeed healed from the slice I gave her. All that remains from the wound is the blood that mars her perfect skin.
Her chest is once again rising and falling, and this time, I don’t even try to hold back the sobs overwhelming me. My head drops to her chest so I can listen to the beating of her heart. It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard, aside from maybe the sound of her voice. No, in this moment, this is my favorite sound. I’ll never pass up the opportunity to hear her beating heart.
My tears soak the front of her dress, before I find the composure to lift my head and try to wake her. The trails of tears left behind begin to dry as I gaze upon her beauty. I can’t help myself from leaning forward and brushing my lips against hers. I teased her endlessly by withholding my kisses, and now I can’t help but smother her with them.
I place one on her lips, then kiss a line from her cheek over to her ear. From there I trail kisses all the way around her face and leave one last press of my lips on the tip of her nose. She must be a sound sleeper to not awake with all of my attention on her face. I grab either side of her head and rub my thumbs on her cheeks. “Cecily, love. Wake up, my darling. We need to get out of here.”
She doesn’t move, and I’m starting to grow concerned. Why won’t she wake up? I bring my hands down to her shoulders and shake them. “Cecily, wake up. Darling, open your eyes! Please open your eyes!” I can feel the panic in my voice as it rises in pitch, finally ending in me yelling out my pleas for her to wake up.
Maybe she just needs time to recoup her magic. Silas did say he drained everything but her connection to it. Didn’t he say something about her being able to pull some of it from our bond? I know we didn’t complete the mate bond, but I’m willing to bet we formed a bond when she opened her mind to me. That must be the only reason why his plans didn’t go the way he wanted them to.
How can I help her recoup some of her magic stores? I know there must be a way to replenish what’s been lost faster than just absorbing it from nature. I wish I could connect with her mind right now. I just know she has the answers we both need. This isn’t the first time I’ve found myself loathing him, and I know it’s far from the last. This time it’s for the lie he’s fed me my whole life, saying my magic was stolen from me when I was a child. He’s withheld training and sharing knowledge about the power inside of me. An issue to be solved at a later time.
I have no way of knowing what Silas is up to right now, nor how long he’ll be gone. It’s essential I take advantage of his absence immediately though, and escape with Cecily to a safe location while I can. I won’t allow her to be hurt any longer due to my mistakes.
I lift her body in my arms and immediately miss the sound of her giggle and the feel of her arms wrapping around my neck like she has in all the past times I’ve held her. With quick strides, I reach the other side of the room. Hopefully, in Silas’ mania, he didn’t think of locking the door. Or just assumed he still has full control of the situation.
I shake off the phantom feeling of losing all control over my body. If I concentrate on it, I can still detect his control over me, thankfully though, without him having given me any orders, I’m once again in command over my own actions. It’ll all come down to avoiding him as we make our escape. I reach the door leading out of Silas’ spell room, which doubles as a torture chamber. Why am I only now questioning all the instances he’s had others down here?
I wish I could take her guards with us right now. I know she would appreciate me putting them to rest, but my priority needs to stay focused on her. Maybe once she’s in a safe place, I can come back for them... and for answers. Silas needs to pay for what he’s done, so a heaping serving of retribution sounds good, too.
Should I wait for her to join me in the retribution? Probably. But first, she needs to wake up. I find the door to be unlocked. Silas has always underestimated me, but that has always played to my benefit. Never more than it has now, though. I exit the room, prepared to find guards outside the door, but again I find Silas has become lax compared to what I would’ve done in his situation.
Making quick work of exiting the castle, I find my hidden tunnel and find my way under the wall to exit on the other side, covering my tracks as I go. I pause a moment to think through where the best place would be to hide her. Our first adventure comes to mind instantly, and I know where I’ll take her.
The farther I am from the castle, the more energy I gain. I find it odd that my energy would increase the farther away I get, although it’s possible I’m able to gather magical energy at an increased rate, due to the amount of plant life around me. I shift Cecily’s weight in my arms and make my way through the woods as quickly as I can.
I’ve decided to take Cecily to the hillside where we spent our first day away from here. It’s always felt like a safe place. A sense of peace spreads over me whenever I’m there, and right now I want nothing more than for her to feel that as well. Even if she isn’t awake at the moment, maybe the sensation can make its way into her dreams.
The trip out to the hill where I watch the Blackfoot Indians is vastly different from the last time I made my way here. Thoughts of how I was teasing my mate over not allowing her to hold my hand, almost brings a laugh past my lips. I peer down onto her face. “I wish you would wake up, my Darling. Things just aren’t the same without your bright personality to make me smile. Also, I’ve really become accustomed to showing you affection, and it’s too weird kissing you when you’re asleep like this.”
It’s only been a few hours since I woke up in a puddle of her blood, and several before that when the unthinkable happened, but I can’t describe how greatly excruciatingly the absence of Cecily’s presence is impacting my life. I miss her so much. The pain plaguing me when I first thought she was dead felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside-out. Like I was being clawed apart into a million different pieces that could never be put back together again.
Just before I found out she didn’t die, I was feeling numb inside. The deadening sensation was centered around my soul, preventing me from being able to feel much of anything. In those few moments, I was losing my memories of how much joy Cecily brought to my life from the moment I started to open up and give her a chance. If I had actually lost all feelings surrounding our relationship, it would’ve compounded on the tragedy already ripping my world apart. And just when I was finally starting to put my life in order.
