Come Love A Stranger

Thirty five

Mariah was shocked at what she just heard and involuntarily, her eyes tear up and her heart started constricting in an uncontrollable pain, her body started shaking and she started imagining things that was unfathomable to her. Alador had been lost in pain at the remembrance of that faithful night he had held her in his arms after the Hackeries have done their own and left and he remembered how he had felt the liquid in his hand and stared at where he was holding her below her buttocks to see the blood stain.

He had been remembering how deeply he had wailed and the immeasurable pain he had to go through after when he noticed the changes of image in his thought and the sharp pain in his heart and it took him only a second to know who was responsible for it. He glanced down at Mariah immediately to see that she was lost in pain and sorrow and he cursed himself for telling her that, he had sworn never to let her know of it and he didn't know when he even told her about it.

He wrapped his arms around her more tightly and hugged her, burying her in his arms and placing his head on top hers, "hush now, my dear, t's all in the past. A pain you do not remember should not hurt you so and I am so sorry for telling you."

"No, you should tell me, I deserve to know," she moaned out and soon started sobbing.

"I am sorry, I could not protect the both of you, I am so sorry, Mariah."

"No, it is not your fault, it is Ilayas, he killed him, he called the Hackeries."

"I am sorry, please forgive me my dear," he whispered, shutting his eyes tightly and blocking away the memory from his mind, he need to be strong for the both of them. Sighing, he asked, "do you not want to hear our story anymore?" he tried to smile, to liven her up.

He heard her sniffle and waited patiently for her answer, hoping she would agree for him to tell her, "I am so sorry, Alador," She surprised him by saying.

He frowned and raised his head to look at her but her eyes were closed, "Mariah," he whispered, caressing her face with his thumb, "why do you apologize?"

Mariah smiled painfully, "here I was, living so comfortably, unaware of the past and just because you told me, I started to cry, whereas you? You had to live with the pain, you saw it happen, you wallowed in misery alone, and every day you live with the memory, knowing that something so precious had been taken away from you and you are still here apologizing to me," she shook her head, "no, I am sorry that you had to go through it alone, that I was not there to console you like you are doing to me now, that I was not by your side to help you live through it. I am so sorry that you had to go through the pain, all alone."

Alador smiled and closed his eyes, trying not to remember those days, that pain, that misery, even though her words were pulling at his wall but he refused to let it fall for her sake, he did not want to make her see his pain, to let her know of how miserable it was for he fears she could never handle it. He did not only lose his child that night, he lost his mate for the fifth time and the pain was unexplainable and he was still surprised he survived through it all but he knew that it was the knowledge she would come back to him that put him through and just when he was recovering was when Ilayas had come with his option of putting a spell on her.

"I was not alone," he whispered and opened his eyes to gaze into her big green eyes that he had loved from the very first day he set his eyes on her, "I had Sheila."

Mariah smiled through her tears with her eyes still closed, "she knows how to be a good companion right?"

"Aye," he replied, tracing her cheek with his fingertips.

"How did you own her?"

"It was you," he responded making her open her eyes in shock, "aye," he chuckled, "I had appeared to you that afternoon and you had been so excited to see me and then you told me that there is something you want to show me and you led me to the back of your cottage where she was hidden. At first glance I knew she was no ordinary fox, I am the animal guardian after all and she is a rare fox that was only bred in the god's land. Although I wondered how she came to be there and knew I had to take her back but seeing how happy she made you, I could not bear to take her away from you so I let you have her and I did told you where she was from and it made you love her more," then he smiled so brightly that she was amazed and wondered what was so amusing to him, "you had admitted to me at some point that what made you love her the most was how her fur color reminds you of my hair," he grinned at her.

Mariah blushed immediately, realizing that it was also the reason she took her in that day she saw her in the garden. "Who named her?"

"You did."

"And I named her Sheila as well?" she asked and he nodded, making her frown, "how come I gave her the same name again?"

"She told you."

"She told me?"

"Aye. Sheila can communicate through thoughts, she would talk to you and you would think it was your conscience that told you to do that and she understands when she is being spoken to as well, t's what makes her special, or what makes her kind special. They are like the gods of the fox, there is more of her in my kingdom but sadly, Sheila's mother had died after given birth to her and it was why she was at the back of your cottage. The Celestine foxes are known to go far away from home to bear children, her mother had chosen the human world to do that and had died after birth when she went to hunt for her young one."

"That is so sad."

"Aye, but you had become her mother immediately you saw her, t's why she is so fond of you, likewise I," he smiled.

"I love her," Mariah stated.

"I know."

They both remained silent and after a while, they sighed at the same time, "I am so sorry, Alador, I..."

"Do not be," he interrupted, "t's not your fault and believe me when I say that you would make a lovely mother, I had seen it, Mariah, not in one lifetime but in six and I am seeing it already in this one."

Mariah smiled and buried herself deeper in his arms, "tell me about when we first met."

"T's late, Mariah, should you not rest a little before your handmaiden's get here?"

"I will sleep, but tell me something, what are my names in the previous times?"

Alador smiled then, "Mariah."

"No, I mean, my names in previous lifetimes and also the one I bear the first time we met."

"I know and t's Mariah," he tucked her hair behind her ear and seeing her confused expression, he elaborated, "your name have always been Mariah."