Aurelia Black

Chapter 24 The Aftermath

It was around 6:30 in the morning and Ethan was still on the hospital bed with his wife tightly attached to his front. His one hand was under his head to support his weight while the other roamed freely over his wife's hair. He loved her hair. Albeit, he loved every part of her. He had spent many mornings similarly perched on the bed and caressing her hair while she slept peacefully.

He was still reeling back from yesterday's events. His mind was trying to process it all. Lia had woked up screaming, 'Not him, not him'. Now what she had seen was completely unknown. But all he could guess was it was a man/ boy being hurted by someone. The identity of the attacker and the victim was unknown. It could be him, her brothers, his brother, Ced or maybe someone else. His head had started aching with all these morbid thoughts. Releasing a deep breath, he buried his face in the crook of neck of his wife and took in her calming scent. She made him terrified. She had always kept him on his toes but what happened yesterday had spooked him to his core. It was the first time he had seen such destruction, such pain on her face. Even when she cried for her eldest brother , she could maintain her composure. But what he saw yesterday was complete madness. She had lost her senses. Ethan would do everything in his power to never have a repeat of this .

It was now time for him to get up from such intimate position since Poppy could come back at any time now. Gingerly, without disturbing his wife, he crept out of the narrow bed and stretched his body. Taking a chair next to his wife he sat down.

A few minutes later Poppy did come to their side. She checked Aurelia's vitals and finally declared her to be fit. It was just a matter of her waking up now. Since it was a weekend today Ethan was relieved to know that she could easily rest for the whole day too without getting much unwanted attraction from the school. Also he thanked his stars for the weekend since both Cedric and Lyra were going to wake up late today and would hopefully not know about this whole trouble.

Half an hour later he felt Aurelia fidgeting and muttering under her breathe. Bending towards her, Ethan caressed her hair and started waking her in a gentle voice, " Lia.... Love, wake up darling. Lia... Its morning now.. Get up , my love... Yes... open your eyes now Lia ".
Poppy smiled to herself looking at such a sweet moment between the two. The man hadn't left his wife's side for a second since last night.

Soon Aurelia opened her eyes and the first thing she noticed was her husband's beautiful but worried face close to her. Caressing his face lovingly she tried to speak only leading to coughs. Ethan quickly made her sit on the bed and started rubbing her back. Poppy bought forward a glass of water for her once her coughing fit ended. While drinking the water carefully, Aurelia finally noticed her surrounding. They weren't in their room like she had assumed. The last thing she remembered was sleeping with Ethan on their bed after their nightly activities. How and why they ended up in the infirmary and why her throat felt like it was raw and scratchy was totally lost to her. Keeping down the glass she turned to her husband who looked like hell now that she saw his exhaustion and worried expressions.

"Wha... aa... what.. what happened Ethan? We are here. Why?", she asked barely getting the words out.

Taking her hands in his own Ethan gave them a squeeze and replied, " You had a nightmare yesterday. You woke up screaming and crying. I... I tried to bring you out of the dream.. I... I bloody.... ", closing and again opening his eyes, he continued, " You fainted soon.. Even in unconscious state you were shivering like a leaf.. I bought you here then. Poppy gave you a sleeping potion and finally you relaxed and drifted of to sleep. Love you gave me a heart attack yesterday. I... ", saying this he just bought her into his arms and tightly hugged her. He was so relieved to have her awake and better now.
Giving a chaste kiss on the top of her head he pulled her back cupped her face and asked, " Now tell me how are you feeling? And don't you dare to lie. ".