Happy Chaos

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

AINSLEY

I WAKE UP WITH a groan. My entire body felt sore but yet still well rested. It was probably some of the best nights of sleep I've ever had, at least up until the previous night came crashes down, causing me to basically lurch out of the bed onto the floor.

The only reason why I didn't was because Saka had caught my shirt. All I could think about was the knife pressed across Viviana's neck.

All I could think about was the way the light left her eyes and the blood poured out of her neck.

I started to get dizzy and it was then I realized I had stopped breathing and my vision was blurry.

I felt someone pull me close and begin to stroke my hair. They were saying something but the ringing in my ears was deafening. From the tingling wherever their hands touched me I knew it was one of my mates— Saka.

I felt other people move around the bed and Saka turned me around in her arms so that my back was pressed against her front. Then, I felt two hands grip my face and tingles shot through my body.

My vision clears and the ringing in my ears starts to cease when I see Viviana in front of me.

"Am I dead?" I whisper.

"No, Sunflower, you are very much alive," Saka says.

"But Viv is——"

"She's alive, yes." With that, I lunge at Viv and throw my arms around her. I squeeze her as if she'll disappear at any moment now and she hugs me back just as tight.

I pull back a little bit and whisper "But how? I saw you die."

"I don't know exactly how but Lux brought me back," she says "I don't remember too much from before I died, or while I was dead. I do remember how your food had been drugged but I don't remember who did it. If I had even known to begin with. I also remember the conversation we had, too." Viviana gives me a sad look "I'm sorry about everything that happened."

I open my mouth to say something but I hear Lucy's voice cut through the air. She had just come out of the bathroom and her hair was wet "I don't ever want to hear you apologize for something that's completely out of your control. Nothing that happened was any of your fault and honestly, there was nothing you could really do."

"But I should've known someone else was in the library. I should've tested the food and I should've had my guard up."

"There will be a lot of things we think we should've done in our lives. Sure, it would have been a good idea to have done all those things, but that doesn't mean you could have prevented what happened. If someone wanted to kill you they would've done everything they could to get the task done. Who knows, they could have ambushed you when you were on the way back to your room. They could've attacked you while you were sleeping. If they hadn't done it in the library, who knows when we would have found you. And honestly, if Saka and I hadn't shown up when we did and you hadn't been found until hours after you died, I don't think you'd be here alive in front of us right now. I don't want to sound disgusting, but you would've already started to decay."

"But aren't you mad at me? Because Ainsley could've gotten hurt, she could've died."

"No, I'm not mad at you."