Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Rhea
A tight tension blankets the air, and I immediately sense it when the woman looks at Aron. I quickly find myself back away at the scene folding before me. There’s a woman, waiting for him, here, for him. I don’t have to think twice about what’s going on. I know. And it doesn’t bother me even though it was meant to.
But things are different now.
Aron and I are no longer mates. I’m here because he saved me from death, for whatever reasons he may have.
It’s clear that he knows that too–that there’s no bond between us any longer.
Aron steps away from me and approaches the woman seated. I take another step back, considering leaving the room and leaving them to be. Perhaps that would be the best idea.
“You didn’t leave?” he asks her.
She shakes her head, “You didn’t tell me to leave.”
“But Kovas did, didn’t he?”
“Well, it wasn’t you. I thought maybe you needed some more time with yourself, and then we could-”
“It’s fine,” He cuts her off before she can say more. For a moment there I wonder what more she wants to say. “Just go down, see Marcella, and she’ll send you with Marco to your home. Okay?”
She sways, “But—”
“That’s all.”
She doesn’t get to say much after that. I think she wants to, but she doesn’t. She nods and stands up, and at the same time, I catch a full view of her, what she’s wearing, the way she moves, and her face. When she crosses past me, I step to the side and let her. Her strong perfume fills the space around me.
She’s breathtaking. No doubt about it. While I, I’m not. At all.
Then, it’s just the two of us in the room.
Silence crawls over the atmosphere.
I glance at Aron, who doesn’t seem very pleased, even if he doesn’t explicitly say it. The fact that he doesn’t say anything about it makes me walk further away and wait, waiting to be told to leave, too. Because surely, that’s the only thing he can possibly do. Tell me to go. But he doesn’t.
“Is–is she your girlfriend?” I ask him a moment later when the silence is too much to bear.
“No, no, she isn’t.”
“Oh, okay.”
He looks at me with something lingering in his eyes, but it’s long gone before I even grasp it.
“I intended on sleeping with her earlier-”
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“You don’t have to tell me,” I cut him off and say, unable to hide the embarrassment in my voice. “It’s fine. I understand.” I take a step away before swallowing and then staring at him again.
He raises his brow at me, “What do you understand?” There’s it again–that deep voice, the shift in his tone that makes me want to shrink with fear before him.
I look at him but not his eyes, “I understand that–you’re with other women. That there’s nothing between us. I—I get it.”
Then, a flash of darkness lurks in his face as he comes near me. I swallow again, even though my mouth is as dry as the summer sand of the desert. I take a small step back.
23
“I think you should probably get some rest for now,” Aron says abruptly. His lips are pressed thin, and his pupils dilate in the dark, lightless room.
I quickly nod a few times before turning around and leaving the room. The door closes behind me, and it takes me a moment to find the room that is mine. I only caught a glimpse of it when Aron showed me, and from that glimpse alone, I found it.
I enter inside by myself.
It’s afternoon now, but inside the room, it’s fairly dark except for when I draw the curtains open, letting the light in. I close the door of the room and try to settle here. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do now.
Rest? That my mind won’t let me.
I feel a little uneasy being alone, inside a place I’m unfamiliar with. It’s fine. I’ll get through it, and I’ll become accustomed to it, I tell myself. I have to. There’s nothing else for me.
I look around the empty walls. A bookshelf. A fireplace and a window with the garden view–with more of the pines. The room’s a lot bigger than the one I had back home. And it’s so much cleaner, too. Even the air smells fresh.
It’s welcoming. Comforting.
But I’m not comfortable.
Not yet, at least.
I take my jacket off and place it on the side of a table by the window. I already feel warm enough now. I don’t need the jacket anymore.
Lying in silence, alone, I decide to empty my mind of all these thoughts and just rest. And once again, it doesn’t happen. Every time my head touches the soft pillow, my thoughts drift, returning to the pack, my home, my packhouse, the cellar I was kept in, Catelyn, Alpha Elias, Aron…
And Aron.
Oh, Aron.
There’s some guilt there. Guilt I really want to get off my shoulders. Perhaps I can now. Now that I’m here. Perhaps there’s finally an opportunity to set things right.
By three, I feel someone approaching the door, and then there’s a knock that quickly forces me off the bed. I rise up and run to the door to open it for whoever it is.
“My, I thought you’d be asleep by now. Aren’t you tired?” Marcella asks me, standing by the door frame.
I shake my head, “I can’t sleep, really.”
“Are you hungry?”
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Chapter 47
“A little.” I nod at that. There’s some hunger inside me that finally surfaces. I haven’t eaten for over a day now.
“Well, come along. I’ll make something for you in the kitchen, and maybe after that, you’ll get tired and get some rest.”
I follow her out of the room without another thought and into the kitchen I’ve now become familiar with. I often find myself working in the kitchen, but this time, I’m just sitting and watching Marcella as she prepares a sandwich for me.
“Rhea, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sorry, I should’ve told you my name.”
you like “It’s fine. I got to know it last night.” She gives me a small smile and narrows her eyes to the vegetables. “How did your room? I know it’s a little too dark for a girl to sleep in, but the way this house was designed, dark things tend to fit in better.”
“It’s fine,” I nod and then add, “It’s beautiful.”
“You think so?” She gives a cheerful chuckle, pleased, and nods. “It’s been a very long time since Aron brought someone here.”
“But there was a woman here–earlier.” It comes out of me like a reflex, like I’ve said it before even thinking about it.
“Oh, Valerie-” So that’s her name. “You won’t see much of her. And she doesn’t stay here. She just comes, sometimes, and leaves after a couple of hours have passed.”
“She doesn’t stay?”
“No, dear,” Marcella gives her head a shake. “She’s a–you may call–a lady of the night. Aron is fond of her—” She pauses again and looks at me with wide eyes as if she has said something wrong. “Was fond of her. Not much anymore. I didn’t see her for months until today.”
Once she stops, she places a sandwich before me and then moves to the side. I take a quick bite of it and keep silent for the remaining time I’m here. There’s no one else here, no staff, no wolves, no anything, which is fine with me.
I finish up my sandwich and place the plates into the sink while wondering if I should just clean them at the same time.
Maybe I should.
I open the tap water, but before I can do anything, a voice booms behind me.
“Get out of the kitchen, Rhea.”
AD
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