escondida

Chapter 20

I stare at the smashed glass on the floor.

What just happened.

I shake my head, trying to kick myself away from tipsy town and back to sober city.

I lean down and start to pick up the pieces of Archyn's glass, hissing when one of the pieces slices into my palm.

It's quiet now that Archyn just left. Of course it was silent when he was here, when we were... hugging. Gosh is it bad that I want to do it again.

But of course it can't happen again. It was just a moment of weakness - for the both of us.

I walk over to the bin and throw away the glass chunks that were now covered in dark red. I walk over to the sink and run my hands under the water then start to look through the cupboards for paper towel or anything else to staunch the bleeding.

I leave blood on the handles I open but there's no point cleaning it yet, it'll just get bloodier.

Suddenly there's a crash behind me and I spin around to see Archyn slumped over on the ground.

I rush over to him and bend down on my knees in front of him.

"What's wrong?" I ask worriedly, I've never seen him like this.

Well of course I've only known him for like two days but that's not the point.

He looks up at me and despite there being no tears in his eyes, he looks so upset.

"She mated with someone else Kaia. She mated with Jason." He whispers and I gasp.

"She mated with him? Like marked?" I ask shocked.

"She had his mark on her neck." He says and my heart breaks at the crack in his voice.

"But wait, shouldn't you be in unimaginable pain right now then?" From different people at the Light Fae Palace, I hear them say that if you marked someone other than your mate you'd be in excruciating pain.

"Yeah." He says, his voice croaky.

"But you're not?" I ask him as I bring my hands up to cup his cheeks.

"I'm not." He pauses and it's silent for a few moments, "Kaia, why am I not in pain?"

His eyes come up to meet mine and for the first time, his eyes are gold with black spots, not the opposite like they usually are. I'll ask him about that later, they'll go after asking him about his wings.

"I don't know." I answer truthfully but then a thought comes to mind, "Well actually. What if she wasn't really your mate?"

I know it's a long shot but it's really the only thing I can think of.

"Tell me, what did you feel when you saw her and figured it out?" I ask him and his head looks down at his hands.

"I felt nothing. Like she was just some other marked girl. It didn't feel as though she were my mate that was just marked by another, by my cousin."

I nod my head and he continues, "Kaia, do you really think she wasn't my mate?" He asks and his gold eyes meet mine.

"I don't know Archyn." I tell him and he looks back at his hands, well I guess it was my hands.

"What happened to your hands?" He demands as he grabs them in his, bringing them closer to his face.

"I'm fine." I tell him as I try to take them out of his grip but he doesn't budge, "The glass cut me while I was cleaning it up."

His eyes meet mine and they're wide, "Kaia why did you clean broken glass up, we have maids for that, they get paid to do it." He looks down to my hands again, the blood starting to drip onto his, "You hurt yourself." He says as he seems to come to some sort of realisation.