CHAPTER 63: STAY WITH ME

(Amaia)

I hardly reach my room and enter when the blinding pain in my chest begins again. The pain of betrayal by one of my mates.

It’s Alnilam again. The bond I share with him is flooded with desire and lust.

But I was just in his office. The way he stared at me still had tingles dancing in my stomach and now he is fucking Jamina.

The room is empty. Kacir is most probably with Alnitak in the infirmary.

Clutching my chest, which seems to be impaled by an iron rod, I slump on my bed. I don’t want to scream loudly so I grab the sheet off my bed and stuff it into my mouth and bury my face into the pillow.

Hoping. Wishing. Silently Screaming.

For him to stop and the pain to subside.

My legs curl up against my chest as the red-hot burning spreads and spreads to all my limbs.

Please! Make it stop but it just increases in intensity.

Closing my eyes I let the tears slide out. Zille’s presence I feel on my shoulder and then he gently rubs his beak on my cheek, where the tears are sliding down.

The ferocity with which my bones ache makes my teeth chatter.

Woundedly, he screeches, again and again, as if feeling the same agony I am feeling.

I want to console him but I have no words. I can’t speak, my throat is clogged from all the screaming and emotional turmoil I am going through.

The thought of just returning to Huradis and fucking killing him begins in my mind. The damned curse is playing its tricks. There is more going on in his kingdom than what meets the eye and one day I will unveil all his secrets too.

I can’t live like this, there has to be a way to convince Alnilam or Jamina to look into his conduct. What he has been doing to women. How can they just ignore and let him continue?

Zille snuggles with me, sliding between my shaking arms which hug my chest. A glimmer of peace I find with his presence.

I don’t even know when pain subsides and I drift into a semi-unconscious state–a state between sleep and unconsciousness.

My brain and body are trying to protect whatever sanity is left within me.

"Amaia!" Kacir shakes me awake and my eyes slowly open. They feel so heavy as if I have hung weights underneath them. My body aches, every joint, every muscle, every bone in my body still hurts.

"I am not feeling well, Kacir. I want to sleep in today," I lamely tell him, noticing how he has covered me with a blanket and even taken off my shoes.

Thankfully it’s the weekend and I don’t have to attend the sessions. Although this weekend is the game trials. Those who want to participate in games need to try out and be sorted accordingly.

"Are you alright?" He asks, staring deeply and concernedly at me.

"Just tired from yesterday’s fight. I need to rest." I don’t want to worry him, he has plenty of his own shit going on.

"I can bring you some breakfast. What do you need?"

"Nothing, you should go. I know you have chess trials," I offer him a weak smile, and his concerns deepen on his face. I know he is not buying my shit but he doesn’t push.

"If you need to talk I am always here, you know that." I nod at his words. He covers me with the blanket again.

"Zille is sleeping with you, I was afraid he might get smothered, but he didn’t want to sleep in his house. He has gotten so attached to you," Kacir points out and I stare down where he is curled up near my bent legs.

"Yeah! He wished to sleep near me." I stroke his sleepy head.

"I have filled up his food dish and water dish too, so whenever he wakes up he can eat."

"Thank you!" Not all is lost, I am so grateful to have Kacir by my side.

"Come for trials if you feel like it. By the way, you were exceptional yesterday." Kacir slowly smiles at me. "Even twins were all praises for you."

A brief relief washes my aching heart.

"Thanks! How is Alnitak?"

"He had a few injuries, but TJ said he will be discharged this morning, so will Filana, but Ramian has deep injuries. Both of you did a number on him," Kacir says seriously but there is no remorse.

"Fight is a fight. I tried not to inflict deep injuries."

Kacir nods before retreating and closing the door behind him. I just curl into myself again, letting the pain wash over me. With each passing day, it’s becoming an integral part of me.

Closing my eyes, I just lay there unable to move. Zille wakes up, pecks my cheek before flying away. He needs to eat and fly a bit. I am not even sure when I fell asleep again.

Alnitak’s earthy foresty tones woke me up. His presence I feel although I can’t see him because of the blanket.

"Amaia!" He gently calls me out and I remove the blanket with an aching heart. He is leaning against the table with his buffed arms crossed on his chest. Clad in black training trousers which snugly sit against his toned thighs and a black tank top which hugs his torso, he is perfection to ogle at. Red ribbons adorn his biceps.

Deep emotions cling to the gold orbs of his.

Slowly unpeeling himself from the table, he prances towards me, only to hover above me.

Every instinct in my body wants to jump out of the bed and cling to him. To cry my heart out to him and tell him of my sufferings. But I just stare at him with watery eyes.

"Why have you been crying? Did Alnilam give you a hard time last night?" He questions, bringing his hand down and placing it on my cheek.

The pleasure and calmness his touch brings overpowers every trace of pain in my body and thigh.

"Alnitak!" I painfully whisper his name and the large ball in his throat bobs up and down.

"Stay with me, please. I need you."