There is a knock on the door. I've only been sitting at my desk for a short time, but it's long enough for me to think about everything that's happened since Novalie returned.
I asked Neven to come meet me early this morning. I wanted to talk about what she revealed to me last night. We can say that as news, we couldn't do worse. This worries me a lot, although I didn't show it to her yesterday.
She came to find me in the middle of the night. I felt her presence when she opened the door to her room. I hesitated to put her in this room after she fell asleep in the crook of my neck. I thought it was for the best after I rescued her from that idiot Asher.
He wanted to keep her prisoner, I was convinced of it from the start. I planned to attack the Shadow Clan the night I discovered Novalie. After a reconnaissance tour of the perimeter, I told my troops to hide in a small clearing nearby. We had searched thoroughly for a weakness in the mansion's security, but we found nothing.
On the way back, flying over the forest, I saw her running along the river. Before I could get to her, Asher appeared out of nowhere. Before he saw me, I landed in the forest to hide from him. It wasn't the right time for a fight. As I moved towards the river I found Novalie, hidden behind a tree.
Asher stood on the bank of the river with his gang of demons. They were chasing her. The anger I felt when I thought about Asher trying to forcefully keep her with him still tastes bitter in the back of my mouth. There was no way he wouldn't find her before me.
My body was ready to fight this rival, but I couldn't abandon Novalie when several demons were looking for her. The need to protect her took over any confrontation. I quickly approached her since Asher was about to discover her hiding place.
I feared she would scream when I put my hand over her mouth to silence her, or that she would push me away when I pulled her hot body against my chest. I looked into her emerald eyes, and I saw relief there. I was upset when I found out that she was in danger again. She had found him in secret before, despite my repeated warnings against this monster. My anger threatened to explode, but I held it back once again.
Without waiting, I pulled her along behind me through the forest to the clearing as quickly as possible. She followed me without protesting for once, but Asher's voice came through. He threatened to come get her and made her jump and become anxious. I almost flinched and lashed out at him for daring to threaten and scare her. I reasoned that it was better to get her to safety before doing anything like that.
Not yet knowing how to fly, I quickly dragged her into the moonless sky as the members of my clan. She snuggled up against my shoulder and even placed a kiss on my neck. This gesture took me by surprise, but what surprised me the most was when she called me "baby." At that moment, I knew her memories had returned to her. I don't know how many times during the trip I had to thank heaven for that.
When I heard my bedroom door open and without hesitation she crawled into bed I was more than certain: She felt our connection and she needed me. Unfortunately, she moved to the other end of the bed. I was exhausted from this whole situation between us and there was no way I would leave her that far from me. I lifted her small body up to me, placed it on my chest and wrapped my arms around her to make her comfortable. There's no way I'm letting her go now. My heart was beating without feeling pain for the first time in weeks.
Then she started to cry. I have no reason for such feelings when she should have felt safe with me by her side. Then she told me about her dream. I was in shock and I still am. What if this is the missing piece of the puzzle? What if Asher had done something to her? Just thinking about it makes me angry.
Sitting at my desk, a new knock on the door helps me wake up from my torpor.
"Come in, Nev!" I said to him, getting up to greet him.
He comes in and looks at me questioningly, probably not understanding my eagerness and my request to come and meet me so early in the morning.
"Hey boss! You've never been so early," he teases me, but I can't return his smile, too worried about the situation.
Seeing my look and my tormented face, he takes a seat on a sofa and I join him.
"Is it that bad?" he said to me, suddenly more serious.
"Nev, I have some news you won't like. It concerns Novalie and I think it may have something to do with the artifacts we've been looking for a long time." I began without delay.
I recite the story Novale told me earlier almost word for word. Maybe Nev will understand what happened to her at the time. After my story, he seems as angry as I'm that Asher attacked her.
"I don't understand," he begins after a moment of reflection. It doesn't make any sense. If he wanted to possess her like you described in the dream, then why make artifacts?" he said while thinking loudly.
"I have the same question as you. I..."
I stop because Novalie enters the room. She looks furious, because her brow is furrowed and her gaze is glaring at Nev and me.
"You didn't dare start without me. I believe I can help you best. Besides, it concerns me and I want to know what he did to me," she said, approaching.
"You're right," I said, indicating the place beside me with my hand.
"Nova, calm down, we've just started," says my friend, rolling his eyes at her reaction.
"What's an artifact?" she asks, settling next to me on the sofa.
Neven looks at me, asking my permission to answer her. I nod to him, yes. I don't want to hide anything from her anymore. I want her to know the whole truth about our research, about the artifacts and our attempts to recover them.
"Let's start initially," I suggest to Neven, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her close.
I want to feel her body against mine, because I have missed her terribly since her long absence. One hundred and seventeen years, to be exact.
"Something happened in your previous life that we can't understand, but we do know that Asher created artefacts that controlled you.
He stops for a moment to give Nova time to assimilate the information. I feel her tense slightly then relax as I hold her tighter against me.
"Wait...you're telling me Asher has items that can control me?"
Novalie tries to control the tone of her voice, but I'm not fooled. She's scared and I don't like her feeling like that. I gently caress her shoulder with my fingers to calm her down. I have to tell her everything I know, and I know it will only make the fear she already feels worse. I sigh and add:
'He destroyed you last time because he controlled you.' You also took longer than usual before being reborn." I said, looking at her, my eyes filled with sadness.
She jumps, then freezes as if in a trance.
"Nova, baby...is everything okay?" I asked her, suddenly worried that the shock would be too much for her.
YOU ARE READING
Burned
Paranormale**They say love can create or destroy everything** Novalie is a young woman who is currently going through a bad time. She has to juggle the return of her childhood nightmares and now her fiancé leaves her a few weeks before the wedding. She therefo...
