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.
saving me. I was sure I was only still
to mention how he‘d carried me
horrible realisation, I remembered then that Cai had
okay?”
changed to one of concern
but after a day he was able to walk around again. I‘ve instructed for him to take
to
Chapter Eighteet
‘day‘? How
been unconscious for three days
I couldn‘t believe it had been so long already. Time really was uncertain when
need to discuss,” she said. “I‘ve been trying hard to come up with other explanations for it but I‘m at a loss.
so serious that
“...What is it?”
your body…
have hit the floor, then I‘m sure it would
that possible? I haven‘t even been close to
no, not that sort of
hear her say that. I was way too young to be going around with a mate‘s marko n me. Not only
to have been marked on your back… with a
And, internally, I cringed.
me choose my own
mother was telling me was true, then it would appear the Goddess had now marked me
what
knew what it meant, of course. She was asking me because it was virtually unheard of and wouldn‘t expect a fourteen year old to 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
life was about to
you know why you were
her voice and 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 trying to figure out what this meant for
telling her my story either. I wanted things to be normal between us. I wanted her to care for me in the same way she had in the past. If she knew I was actually twenty–four, would she
bit the inside of my cheek and shrugged my shoulder, not knowing
at the reaction but, thankfully, didn‘t push the topic any
requested your presence as soon as possible to urgently discuss the attack,” she said. “You‘ve physically healed fine, but I was worried about your mental state given the coma
I want to meet with him? Not particularly. But I knew it
Chapter Eighteen
eventually. I felt completely fine other than the shock and stress that came from
meet with him,” I
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