Amaranthine

Chapter Twenty-Two

 © Copyright 2011
All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

Acquiescence: (ak-wee-es-uhns)

an agreement or consent by silence without objection

 

When I woke up his arms still held me protectively.  His face was frozen in the same distant and tortured expression as before, but when he noticed my eyes were open, he softened.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” 

How was I feeling?

Horrible.

Terrified.

Depressed.

Devastated.

Uncertain.

Unraveled.

Mortal.

I was going to die. I was already dying. How was I supposed to absorb all of this? How was I supposed to feel about it?

My whole world had just been sent into a tailspin, a whirlwind of confusion and fear of the unknown. Nothing was certain and only one thing was real.

I still loved him.

The truth was terrifying, but I didn’t need to be in this alone. I wasn’t. He was here and he was nothing to be scared of. Death comes for all of us eventually, doesn’t he? I guess this is what happens when he falls in love with you.

“I’m okay.” That wasn't exactly true but I couldn’t be sure what exactly I was. “You?” I shifted my body so my head lay in his lap and I could look up at him.

Orion shrugged. “Things could be better, could be worse.”

“What do we do now?” I searched for some kind of solution, some miracle.  By all accounts Orion could do anything, so why couldn’t he produce a miracle? 

He traced the outline of my face with his finger. “Unfortunately, because of me, you’re going to be forced to make a choice, one that was never supposed to be yours to make. I thought I was doing the right thing by giving it to you, but now I’m not so sure.”

“What choice?”

“You need to decide if you are going to come with me or not. You can stay and fight for your life. For your Dad. That’s probably what you should do.” His eyes welled with tears, like mine, only his contained so much more sadness within them. Like each tear held a sorrowful story of its own. His lip trembled as I was forced to watch my strength, my rock begin to crumble.

I remembered my Dad at my bedside, looking gaunt and broken. It was an impossible decision to make. I couldn’t choose between Orion and my dad.

Not now.

Not ever.

The more consideration I gave it, the thicker the blanket of anxiety became. “I can’t choose, Orion. How could you expect me to choose?”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “You can think about it for a while. I can hold him off for a while.”

“What? Hold who off?” I knew exactly who he meant, but was petrified to acknowledge it. He didn’t answer and instead sat there in silence. My voice dripped with panic. “Hold who off, Orion?”

“Damien. He’s my natural enemy, and you gave him a front row ticket to view your soul. Now he wants it as badly as I do. He’d do anything to hurt me, and you are clearly the easiest way for him to do that.” He put his head in his hands. “I’m so sorry.”