Chapter Eighteen
I woke up to the feeling of someone lightly shaking my shoulder.
I wanted to protest against the touch, refuse to open my eyes, but the shaking was insistent.
“Aria?” a voice called to me.
It was familiar and warm. It sounded like home.
I managed to open my eyes a bit, fighting against the bright artificial light that assaulted me as I did so. But after several seconds of adjusting, I managed to make out the face of my mother.
“Aria?” she called again.
“I‘m alive…?” I said, my throat dry and sore.
She quickly brought some water to my lips and I began to sip on it, enjoying the refreshing feeling that came with it.
“How are you feeling?” she asked as she began to look over my body, making several notes in a chart by the bed.
How was I feeling? I was sure I had died again. I was in the Abyss, I saw the memory. It was just like how i t had felt last time.
…So, how was I feeling?
I felt confused by the entire situation right now.
“I should be dead,” I replied.
She instantly turned to look at me, a little shocked by my blunt response.
“Don‘t say such an awful thing,” my mother said, her eyes full of concern. “You‘ve fully recovered, there‘s n o need to say something like that.”
Did this mean I was never in the Abyss? Had it just been a nightmare the entire time?
My mother looked like she wanted to say something else, but she was debating internally.
“You know…as a doctor, I‘m happy to see that you‘ve healed so well, but…as a mother, I want to scold you for stupidly running into danger like you did. What were you thinking, Aria?”
| already realised it was dumb the second I came face–to–face with the sandy wolf. She didn‘t really need t o scold me further. On the other hand though, if I hadn‘t been there then there was a good chance Cai would have died fighting off all four wolves, or Myra would have been killed.
me. I was sure I was
not to mention how he‘d
with a horrible realisation, I remembered then that Cai had been seriously
okay?”
one of
he was able to walk around
to hear he was going to be
Chapter Eighteet
you say ‘day‘? How long have I been
been unconscious for
uncertain when inside the Abyss. Even if it was only
discuss,” she said. “I‘ve been trying hard to come up with other explanations for it but I‘m at a loss. The
be so serious that it
“...What is it?”
something on your body… It looks like
then I‘m sure it would have. What
that possible? I haven‘t
not that sort of marking,” she
relieved to hear her say that. I was way too young to be going around with a mate‘s marko n me. Not only that, but sure Aleric
have been marked on your
And, internally, I cringed.
wanted to curse the Goddess. So much for letting me choose my own fate. She seemed to
had now marked me as her own. Any plans to run
you know what that means,
know. No one had seen the Goddess‘ mark in over a millennium and even then, the accounts were iffy at best. I learnt about it very vaguely during my Luna studies and knew the ramifications it held. However,
nodded my head at her. My life was about to
why you were
couldn‘t imagine what she must have gone through finding this out. All the ranked members and elders would be pressuring my parents for information whilst
her my story either. I wanted things to be normal between us.
and shrugged my shoulder, not
but, thankfully, didn‘t push
possible to urgently discuss the attack,” she said. “You‘ve physically healed fine, but
about it for a few moments. Did I want to meet with him? Not
Chapter Eighteen
do eventually. I felt completely fine other than the shock
with him,”
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