ROSES 🌺
💞 FOR
💘RACHEL
🌺
🌺 Episode_38
🌺
Five days later and things were still the same.
We still made love every night, but aside from that, we were so distant from each other, even when he was holding me in his arms, I didn’t really feel like he was here. So many times a day I would catch him staring blankly into the distance, his face looking pained, and his eyes hollow. He still hadn’t come around to telling me what had happened while he was away, and I didn’t push the matter. He’d asked for time, and seeing the pain he was in, even when he was trying to not show it, made me not push the matter.
He’d had one closed meeting with Pedro, where I as-sume he filled him in on the battle, and Pedro filled him in on all of the things that had been happening here, aside from my little incident in the libr@ry. I knew it was best, even before he c@m£ back this way, that we keep that a secret. Calvin was sure to overreact, and the man had been dealt with alre-ady, so there was no nee-d stressing him further over something that was in the past.
After Calvin had fallen asleep on the day of his and Pedro’s meeting, I had of course gone to drill Pedro for information, with no such luck. All Pedro would tell me was that the threat had ended, and that I nee-ded to give Calvin some space to process and get his head back on straight. There was still a tentative lockdown going, but it wasn’t nearly as strict as it had been before, and food supply was no longer an issue, so the humans were able to go back to where they were, or leave if they wished.
I had given Tessa and Greer the option to stay in the suite instead of returning to their rooms on level 1, and they had accepted. I was totally fine with it until Lexton also decided she wanted to stay with them, for the added protec-tion she claimed, but I couldn’t help wondering if it was because Calvin was back now and there was a chance for her to run into him since she’s just across the hall now.
I jumped as Calvin began to thrash around in the be-d beside me, screaming loudly. “Calvin!” I called to him, gr-abbing his shoulders and trying to steady him. “Wake up, Calvin!” I shouted and his eyes popped open, jet black at first, then slowly shading back to blue as he sighed, his breathing slowing down.
“I’m sorry, Rachel.” He whispered just like he has every time he wakes up from his night terrors, which have been every single night since he returned.
I propped myself on my elbow and stared down at his trouble expression. “plea-se don’t apologize to me anymore.” I told him.
“Especially if you aren’t going to tell me why.”
He turned his head slightly to look at my face, his expression softening. “I promise I will.”
“You’ve been saying that for-.”
“I know.” He cut me off, bringing his hand up to my face.
“Rachel, I know.” He repeated. “I just nee-d som-.”
“Time.” I finished for him this time. “I know.” I sighed. “That’s what I’m trying to say, though.” I explained. “You keep apologizing to me, dozens of times a day, and you won’t tell me why. I just don’t un-derstand, is all.”
He ran his thumb across my bo-ttoml!pand then pu-ll-ed my face down to him to k!ssme. “I know this is…difficult, but I promise, I’m working things out, ok?” He asked and I nodded, laying my head down on his che-st. He brushed my hair off of my face and his f!ngersleft cool trails on my skin. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I told him, and he mumbled something, like he started to say it, but then decided not to. “What?” I asked sleepily.
“Nothing.” He whispered back.
I closed my eyes, trying to relax again, but fearing that this is how it would be with us from now on. I was on the edge of consciousness when I heard his voice again, so soft I wasn’t sure if it was real, or if I’d imagined it in a dream. “You wouldn’t if you knew…I’m sorry.
💞💞💞➖➖💞💞➖💞💞➖💞💞➖💞💞➖💞💞💞
📰📰📰📰📰📰
🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽
When I opened my eyes I was alone in my be-d, but when I looked around, I realized it wasn’t my be-d at all, it was Calvin’s mother’s. I pu-ll-ed back the blankets, confused and walked towards the door, but I st©pped when I saw King Gordo come in. “Hello, beautiful.” He said happily, looking at me. “How did you sleep?” He asked. I stared at him, even more confused, and then a woman’s voice c@m£ out of me that wasn’t my own. “I sle-pt well, thank you.” She said and Gordo smiled, coming to hold me in his arms. I tried to pu-ll away, but my b©dy wasn’t responding. It was like I was just tra-pped inside of this b©dy. “I am such a lucky man.” Gordo said, ti-ght£ñing his grip. “Meet me in the dining hall in an hour?” He asked, and my head nodded. “Of course, my darling.” The woman’s voice replied, and Gordo left the room. My b©dy ran to the dresser on the other side of the room and pu-ll-ed out a piece of paper, a pen, and a small dagger. With the pen I wrote three rushed words, ‘I’m sorry, Calvin,’ then I gr@bb£d the dagger and ran out of the room, the wooden door slamming behind me. Suddenly my mind was filled with a memory, one that looked familiar even to me. There was a young, beautiful girl, with long dark curls and a single dimple in her left cheek that looked like the woman I’d danced with in the garden in my vampire blood induced dreams. It was Calvin’s mother, and she was sitting in a window, but not just any window. A window from the eldest girl’s be-droom at Drighten. She stared out over the hills, a sad feeling overcoming me. My vision flashed back to the pres£nt, still running down a hallway until suddenly there was a man in the corridor in front of me. “Miss, what are you doing?” He asked with wi-de eyes as my b©dy raised the dagger. “No!” He screamed as the knife was plunged into the side of my n£¢k, and my b©dy fell to the floor. I was finally free of the b©dy and I seemed to float above, looking down on Calvin’s mother’s b©dy in the corridor as the man stood with his black eyes over her b©dy for merely a second before b!tt!g into her n£¢k, and draining her of her blood. Suddenly, I was back in my room with Fern. She smiled at me, “His mother was a florist before she c@m£ here to be with the king.” She told me, then she was gone and I was in Calvin’s be-droom, him standing in front of me, a frustrated look on his face. “She c@m£ from a feeder school. Just like you.” He’d said. Then everything went black. “Whispers….whispers…lies…” Fern’s eerie voice echoed throu-gh the darkness
🌺🌺🌺__________🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺_________🌺🌺🌺🌺____
I sh0t up in be-d, gr-abbing my che-st trying to slow the beating of my erratic heart. My whole b©dy was shaking and I jumped again when the be-droom door opened, the lights coming on. “Are you okay?” Pedro asked, looking at me like I was insane. “I can hear your heart beating out here.” He said as he closed the door behind him and c@m£ to sit on the edge of the be-d.
I took a few de-ep breaths. “I’m ok.” I said, a little uncertain of how true that was. “I had a nightmare.” I explained breathlessly.
“About what?” Pedro asked gently.
I studied his handsome face, his soft eyes looking worried about me. “Nothing.” I whispered, shaking my head. “It was just a stupid dream.”
“Alright.” He said, standing. “If you’re sure you’re ok, I’ve got some things to tend to.” He told me. I’ve noticed lately that Pedro has been avoiding me. I thought it was because he thought I would keep asking him for information, but now I wasn’t sure.
“Pedro!” I called before he got to the door. “Do you think that my dreams with Fern and the whispers could have been about something else?” I asked him, gaging his reaction carefully.
His eyes wi-de-ned slightly, and it looked like he had st©pped breathing for a moment. “Um, I don’t think so.” He said, lingering at the door. “You were right about the rebel uprising, so I feel pretty certain that’s what it pertained to.” He added. “Why do you ask?” He said nonchalantly, raising his brows slightly.
I tried to keep my expression light, even though on the inside I was feeling a little pissed. I felt like it was pretty obvious that he was hiding something, or at least knew something more than he was willing to say. “No reason.” I smiled, then changed the subject, watching his face carefully again. “I was going to ask you,” I said. “I want to get some more paintings in here from Calvin’s mother’s room.” I explained. “She has such beautiful pictures of flowers and gardens, you know?” I asked, fishing for a certain response.
“I’ll get someone to do that for you.” He said unaffected.
I chewed myl-ip. I nee-d to give a little more of a push. “She must have really loved flowers to have so many paintings of them, they are literally everywhere in there.” I smiled, stretching my arms over my head and pretending to yawn.
“Yes, I’ve been in there before.” He told me. “She, uh, used to be florist, so she really did enjoy working with flowers and such.” He said quic-kly, then turned. “Anyway, I will talk to you later.” He added as he reached for the door, but it swung open and Calvin walked in.
“Oh, good, you’re up.” He smiled at me. “I just went to get you something to eat.” He told me, motioning his head to the tray in his hands. He looked over at Pedro and they exchanged a strange glance before Pedro ducked out of the room.
“Yum.” I said sniffing the air and pushing my blankets away to follow Calvin to the table. “I’m starving.”
“Aren’t you always?” He chuckled, and despite everything, I was happy to see him smiling again. He sat down in the chair and gr@bb£d my wrist, lifting my hand to his mouth as he planted a soft k!sson it, then he pu-ll-ed me to sit in his l@p at the table.
“You seem to be in a better mood today.” I commented and he leaned into my n£¢k, k!ss!ngme again, while I ate some of my toast.
“I want to be.” He said against my skin. “I promised to try to get things back to normal, and I meant it.” He told me as he pu-ll-ed my hair all to one side and trailed more k!sses down my n£¢k and across the t©p of my shoulder.
I giggled when his slightly scruffy chin tickled my skin and he pu-ll-ed me ti-ghter to him. “How am I supposed to eat with you doing that?” I asked him.
He chuckled lightly again, and my heart sang at the sound of it. “I’ll behave.” He said seriously. “Eat your food, you’ll nee-d your energy for what I have planned.”
I turned quic-kly to look at him. “What plans?”
He win-ked and pointed back at my food. “Eat.” He prompted and I turned to scoop up a forkful of eggs. “I know things have been off, and I know I have apologized alre-ady, but I still feel like I owe you the ro-mantic reunion we didn’t have.” His eyes started to look just a little troubled. “So much happened out there, and it really…it messed with me, Rachel.” He said softly. “You were
what got me throu-gh it, knowing I nee-ded to come home to you.”
He smiled again, looking more like himself than I’d seen him in a long time. “You deserve more than a muddy romp in the garden.” He laughed and I joined in at the memory. “I love you, and I am starting today to just box the past away, and move forward with my beautiful bride at my side.”
“I’m excited.” I told him honestly. “Although, I don’t know how you can t©p that ‘muddy romp’, as you put it.” I giggled. “Because that was pretty amazing.”
I jumped and squealed as his f!ngersdug into my sides, tickling me. “Ah, yes, it was.” He smiled and I jumped out of the chair to catch my breath and he stood too. “I can do better, though.” He promised. “Finish eating, then Maria will come get you re-ady.” He told me. “I’ve got to go make an appearance and a statement, so I’ll see you in about an hour.”
I gr@bb£d his hand to st©p him from walking away. “Shouldn’t I be there if you’re going to be addressing the people about everything?” I asked.
He lifted a hand to my face. “You’re so sweet to want to be there, but it will really just be a very minimal thing. Besides,” He smiled again. “You’ve done enough of my work for me while I was gone, now it’s time for you to relax.”
I knew arguing it any further wouldn’t work, so I dropped his hand and he k!$$£d me quic-kly before leaving. I turned around, looking up at his mother’s painting again, an uneasy feeling sinking into the bo-ttomof my gut. I knew in my heart something wasn’t right, but at the same time, having Calvin back and seeing that he really is trying to fix things, makes me almost not even want to know what it is. Ignorance is bliss, right? I asked myself, but I also knew I wasn’t the type of person to just let it go.
I will find out what the new whispers are.
Story_Continues
âž–âž–âž–âž–âž–
♥♥♥♥♥♥