How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Fifteen: Acceptance

"Tia." Alaric continues to hug me as my mind raced to catch up. "How are you feeling? Is your wound alright?" He finally lets me go, but I was still in the circle of his arms while he studied my face.

"I-i'm alright!" I respond as I managed to slip out of his arms and tried to create some space between us. "I'm mostly healed."

"Mostly healed?" Alaric crowds me causing me to fall backwards into a chair. "How long were you here?"

"Ten days." I smiled weakly at him, unaccustomed to the look on his face.

"Ten days." He repeats, finally giving me some space and sitting down across from me. "It's been only that long for you?"

"I was asleep for about three days then spent another few days in bed." I swung my legs off the arm of the chair and sat up properly. "I actually stayed a little longer then I wanted. But I was able to come home since I'm not in as bad of a state." 

Alaric stares wordlessly at my injured side causing me to squirm a little at the attention. 

"I'm fine. Really." I reassured him quickly as the air in the room became awkward. "So what have you been up to?" I internally cringe at my words as they left; I already knew what had happened.

Alaric looks up at me in silence for a few heartbeats before finally giving me a response. "Tia, there's something that I haven't told you..."

The next few minutes he explains his past up to the point of where we had met but paused as I stood up.

I could hear him talking to me, but I was struggling to control myself. When my sister wrote that book that I now live in; I knew that he had a rough childhood, but listening to him telling me about brutal torture by the hands of demons and humans, betrayal by supposed 'trusted' adults, nearly starving to death multiple times, and loosing faith in everything with an impassive face was: too much for me.

A large lump formed in my throat as my eyes started to sting while I tried to collect myself; not noticing Alaric standing behind me. He reaches around and hugs me to his chest as his chin rests on my head. I bite my lip as I swallowed the lump back down, not trusting myself to speak yet.

Alaric's warmth relaxed me which caused a small part of me to struggle with understanding why he was comforting me when he was the one who went through all that. I waited until the lump had completely disappeared before I spoke.

"I'm sorry." I was apologizing not just for his past that my sister had written, but for not asking about it sooner. I never asked him about why I had found him that day, hunted by a demon, never asked about the severe malnourishment and clear neglect he had gone through- I had avoided all of it. I was trying to make a clear line between us, him as the male lead and me as an passive observer.

I had been living with the mindset that I didn't really belong here- even though I had lived as Celestia for 163 years. My previous life was what gave me the mindset that this world is just a novel which caused me to feel like I was just watching; not actively participating. But I now wasn't alone like my years as a company employee. I have friends and even some who I call family, I was more connected in this world then my last one.

I guess what I was unwilling to allow myself to accept that this was now my reality; as much as I miss my sister and parents, I know that there is no place for me anymore there. I need to stop running away.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Tia." Alaric rotates me to face him as he cradles my face in his hands.  "You allowed me to heal. You took care of me when no one else did and became my family."

He lightly kisses a small tear that had escaped and rests his forehead against mine.

"You are my family. You saved me."

"I could of had bad intentions you know. Free labor." I couldn't help but chuckle at his words.

"Regardless of your original intentions; you gave me a home." Alaric finally lets go of me as we went back to our chairs. "I intend on repaying you for that."

"You don't have to repay me Alaric." I sighed and shook my head. "What happened after Quinn took me to the 'Land of the Witches'."

I had brushed over his remark not realizing that Alaric was completely serious and already set in motion his plans.