The Lonely God

42.

-HIM-

As soon as her eyes flutter shut, a roar escapes past my lips. I mindlink Haestus to tell Cylindrus, my health and welfare minister, to send me his finest healer. Rey becomes restless inside me while I am eaten away by guilt and shame as I see the blood drain out of her body.

I examine her wound before ripping my clock off and holding it tightly against her wound. Still, her blood manages to flow out. It's staining my hands now, promising to haunt me later.

She tried to claw my mark out.

This shows her desperation to get away from me and the amount of hatred she reserves for me. She chose to hurt herself because of me. She has been bottling up so much hate for me that now, it has started to consume her. It's affecting her. I have been working hard to keep others from hurting her but I never expected that she will consider hurting herself. I am accountable for this! Had I not marked her, she'd have been safe and sound today.

The pool of her red blood is deeper than the sea of guilt inside me. It's the deepest shade I've ever seen. It's darker than my past. It reminds me of all the lives I took. My hands are stained with the blood of my own people but I don't want my mate's blood to be among them.

In the next moment, the door to my room blows open before Cylindrus and his team of healers rush inside. They start to work on her while she lays in my arms, unconscious.

I'll never forgive myself...

~
-HER-

A painful groan escapes my lips when I feel hot, searing pain climb up my neck. My ears are ringing. I can hear a distant sound but I can't quite figure it out. My heart starts to palpitate in my chest as the sound becomes clearer and clearer.

It's the cries of the infant, screaming for its mother. It pinches at my heart. The shrill and high cry. It's so disturbing and haunting. I could feel my chest heaving up and down as I struggle to breathe.

As another wave of pain washes over my neck, my hand flies up to rub the area. Another hand beats me to it and clutches my wrist before I could even touch my neck. A frown spreads across my face as the pain continues to devour me. But, as soon as I feel the sparks, a wave of tranquility washes over me. I sigh in relief before my eyes flutter open.

I am instantly met with his brooding silver eyes, looking down at me. They look so uncannily familiar to Luna's. Suddenly, this thought pops up in my mind- what if that was Arles? Since Arles is said to be the first ever creation of Luna then... it must be him.

Something must have crossed my expression because he grows tense as his eyes searches mine, asking me if I am alright without speaking any word. I let out a shaky breath as my mind starts to race and think of all the possibilities of that newborn being Arles. He does have some familiar features of Luna- his eyes being the most strikingly familiar...

"Nefret," He breathes. His deep, masculine voice sounds musical as he says my name. I stare at him in horror while I try to free my hands from his hold.

"Neffie, please," The desperation with which he begged me made my heart flutter. My eyes bulge out of their sockets as I stare in utter bewilderment at him. What has taken over him lately?

Suddenly, something clicks inside me as I growl at him, "I'll choke you with my whip if you call me that again," I snatch my hands away and sit up.

"What's wrong with that name, Neffie?" He asks me the next moment. The tension seems to have left him for the moment. I growl at him again as I try to move to the other side of the bed.