Shrouded Hearts

Chapter sixteen

A sudden noise pulled Aria from her night of tossing and turning and restless sleep; a low murmur growing with each passing second. The sound of loud talking and boots against sticks reached her ears, causing her heart to hammer in her chest. Gathering up her courage, she moved towards the door, pulling it open just in time to see a group of figures emerging from the treeline.

Their uniform spoke volumes—Camp Adams soldiers.

Her heart clenched in terror as she bolted back inside, slamming the door shut behind her. She had to warn the others; they were out of time. The battle they'd been preparing for was upon them.

As she moved to alert the others, the door creaked open behind her, halting her in her tracks. That's when she smelled it—notes of earth and wood. Her breath hitched as she slowly turned around and was met by Leo's familiar dark gaze. He looked different; leaner and more hardened than before.

His dark brown eyes met hers and for a moment Aria could see something flicker in them—fear? Regret? But just as quickly as it came, it disappeared behind his usual facade.

"Leo," she breathed, ignoring the way her voice trembled. His gaze bored into hers, yet he remained silent. A million questions swirled around in her mind—why was he here? What did he want? Why would he bring a barrage of the enemies to her safe house? But she bit them back, settling for an accusing glare.

Aria swallowed, her voice continuing to tremble as she asked, "you came back?"

Leo offered her a small nod, his face grim. "Yes," he said, his voice like gravel. "And I brought reinforcements."

She glanced out of the back door behind him at the soldiers he'd brought back—rough-looking and war-torn individuals who looked ready to fight.

She looked back at him. She wanted to be angry, to yell and scream at him for deserting them when they needed him the most. But as she looked at his battered and bruised body, all she could feel was a strange sense of relief—he was alive.

Dragging him deeper within the house with much effort, she focused on tending to his wounds instead of demanding answers. She didn't want to hear his reasons or excuses. He had made his choice; he had decided to abandon them when they needed him most. And Aria wasn't about to let him regain control over matters so easily.

While she tended to his cuts she could feel Leo's gaze on her. It itched at her skin, an invisible caress that gnawed at her consciousness. The man was a conundrum—a magnetic force that drew her in and simultaneously pushed her away. She wasn't sure if she should be grateful that he was back or despise him even more for leaving them in the first place.

She patted an open wound and his jaw clenched but still he made no sound. In this moment she wanted him to apologize, to explain why he did what he did. To beg her to forgive him. But instead she just sighed, as much as she hated to admit it, she had missed him.

But things had changed—they had changed—and she wasn't ready to forgive or forget just yet.

She picked herself off the ground she was kneeling on and found herself in the bathroom, the bloodied rag thrown into the sink while her hands clenched the bathroom sink with unshed tears stinging her eyes and an uneasy knot in her stomach.

She stared at her reflection in the cracked mirror, a frown tugging at her lips. Months had passed since she had last seen this man, and she had been ready to forget him entirely. Yet here he was, once again complicating her life. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against the cool porcelain of the sink as she tried to steady her breathing. Her gaze flicked back up to the mirror, her cheeks now flushed with color as she steeled herself to leave the bathroom.