Unexpected Love

Chapter 45

Julia woke up suddenly, her heart rate going incredibly fast and the pain in her leg burning. She hadn't told Alma about the cut she had gotten from Barron's knife. She completely forgot about it and Alma was so focused on caring for her other injuries, she didn't think it was too important to mention.

The younger woman felt her head pounding, an extreme chill running through her and she shivered slightly. Julia rolled over to see Almas back was facing her way, not paying mind to the fact she was sleeping and wrapped her arms around her waist, Alma tensing and waking up with a slight groan when she realized it was her.

"Julia, what is it?" Alma says, a bit irritated and her voice was laced with sleep. "Let me sleep please."

She pulled away and Julia tried to say something but she was half delirious from the fever and Alma rolled over to face her, her eyes still shut. The younger woman reached out and took the older woman's hand, satisfied with how cold it was and rested it against her cheek. The ymbryne woke up suddenly, feeling how warm her skin was against her palm.

"Darling, you're running a fever." She says, looking over her worried as she brushed her hair back, noticing the woman's teeth slightly chattered when she spoke and her voice was weak. She felt guilty for snapping at her when she wasn't feeling well.

"It's cold in here." Julia whispers, her eyes shut as she leaned against Almas hand, searching for the warmth.

"Did you eat anything that made you sick? Maybe you caught a virus." Alma says softly, thinking out loud as she pressed her free hand against the woman's other cheek and then the side of her neck, Julia shivering slightly when she did.

"I'm sorry." Julia says quietly, Alma almost didn't catch what she said.

"For what?" She questions, confused as to why she was apologizing.

"I'm sorry." She repeats, her breathing a bit labored and the older woman sat up, growing concerned.

"Sorry for what, Jules?" Alma asks, wiping away a stray tear that fell from her eye.

"The blood. Blood on the bedsheets." She says in barely a whisper. "I'm sorry." Alma grew extremely confused and instead of responding, moved over to turn on the lamp on her nightstand. The ymbryne then flipped over the covers, a gasp leaving her mouth when she seen the patch of red on the woman's pant leg, the bed sheets having small patches of blood on them as well.

"Julia, what happened?" Alma stresses, immediately getting out of bed and rushing to her side. She made the mistake of immediately trying to move her pants down to check, too worried to even process what she was doing until Julia caught her wrist.

"Darling, I need to see." Alma says, a slight beg in her tone which wasn't normal for her. Julia recognized it too despite her fever daze and after a moment, let go of her and Alma carefully moved her pants down. The younger woman grimaced slightly when the fabric clung to the cut for a moment, Alma being careful when removing it and seeing it was infected.

Her fever was from an infection.

"You have an infection." Alma whispers, more so to herself before she looked at the woman. "Julia, why didn't you tell me?"

"Please don't yell at me." She whispers, her vision fixated on the wall.

"Jules, this is an infection- why didn't you tell me you got cut? This isn't good!" Alma says, emphasizing her words and a bit upset the woman didn't tell her. Though a part of her was mad at herself for not noticing, especially at the beach.

The ymbryne went to tuck the woman's hair back when Julia flinched, blocking her head with her hand and Alma recoiled her own.

"Please don't hit me, I'm sorry, I really am, I'm sorry." Julia says, a small sob at the end of her words and Alma felt her heart break, both from the worry and the sound.