Captive Of The Count

89

Amara's pov

There was happiness before me because of the festival but only terror filled my heart as I rubbed my fingers against my chest trying to be rid of the terrible feeling lodged in me which was caused by the nightmares I had recently.

Orian's PTSD had gotten worse these days, after finding him on the day he had sneaked off claiming he was alright. He had frequent nightmares and flashbacks that had him ending up in terrible states which resulted in him shying away from me most of the time.

I felt like a failure in these moments, At first mating with him hadn't improved his scars or health which he badly wanted gone. The curse was still somewhat effective and my doing my best in trying to help him in matters related to trauma hadn't done much.

I reached my hand up to my neck, my fingers clutching at the necklace I wore now which was a gift from Penelope, Akanther's widow and just then, she just then she looked in my direction smiling at me and waving for me to come over. I returned the smile but remained where I was as I needed time to think things through.

The attack in the bathroom, the feeling of being watched, the crows, the harmful insects, and Orian's wounds coming off as fresh. I couldn't shake off the superstitious feelings of something else being behind it that I had especially with how worse his trauma episodes have gotten.

And worse still, I dreamt about the woman that I met at the fair, she said everything she had said before in the dream before vanishing into thin air and when I woke up it was like it wasn't just a dream, it felt like it had happened in reality.

The worst dream I had was minutes ago when I had dosed off slightly due to fatigue.

In the dream, there was blood and death amongst us, and in the middle of all these, I lay in the snow marred with blood cradling a dead Orian in my hands and whispering for him to wake up.

I blinked severally as moisture began to gather in my eyes as I remembered every piece of the dream and how terrified I was and just then Orian looked up at me from far away making our gazes meet, he was surrounded by the kids from the orphanage and he gave me a small smile which I managed to return while I tried to conceal my emotions so he wouldn't guess that anything was wrong.

The smile he gave me tore at my heart knowing that I had dreamt of him dead minutes ago and I couldn't shake off the bad feelings I had.

We had the event outside the castle grounds on the expanse of clear fields with tents put up containing various activities and lights hung in the air for illumination, it truly was a good sight.

I could see the adults laughing and the children running around, everyone was having a good time and people were still trooping in, it looked more populated than our coronation.

My gaze went to the side where the elders converged and I gave them a slight nod in acknowledgment which they all returned except one and it was Hector.

He didn't look like he was in good shape and his hand, he had a hook for one of his hands now.

I wondered what the hell had happened to him throughout not seeing him.

A chill ran down my spine at the thought of Orian having something to do with it but I shook it off and redirected my gaze elsewhere not wanting to dwell on the probability of Orian harming a family member by dismembering because of me.

Everything was peaceful now, with the other leaders gone, Octavia being on our side and the murders still unsolved. We would have been at total peace if it wasn't for the recent reoccurrence of unfortunate events.