Välikirja: The Wyvern's Pact

Chapter Eighteen - A Night I Could Never Forget

A new update because I just met that 50K word count in NaNoWriMo! ♥ The chapter title has a double meaning! (One for the story. One for my night. This night.)

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Chapter Eighteen - A Night I Could Never Forget

          My days passed by like a decaying body, slow yet painful. Day and night, I was in bed bawling my eyes out. I still couldn't believe she was already dead. One moment, she was speaking, then the next, she was not. Surprisingly, Chaucer wasn't here to comfort me. Perhaps it was Aiden's doing, knowing nothing, not even Chaucer, could console me.

          I didn't leave my room because there was nowhere else to go. Now that Safia was gone, there was no one to visit in the dungeon. It was a shame, she didn't even make it to her new room. It was regrettable that the last moments of her life were spent locked inside a cell, alone with rats, spiders and cockroaches. But, at least, I had been able to spend time with her before she died. I didn't know what I'd do if I came down there one day and found out that she had already died without anyone knowing, that I didn't even get to bid her goodbye or, at least, hearing her voice one last time before she was gone.

          Surprisingly, Chaucer wasn't here to comfort me. Perhaps it was Aiden's doing, knowing nothing, not even Chaucer, could console me.

          Speaking of Aiden, he had asked me what I wanted. He said that he was going out to look for supplies, and that he wanted to give me something when he came back. Though I knew he wouldn't be buying it, but stealing it instead, I asked him for one thing that I had missed from my life even before I met Safia. What I asked for was a set of materials for embroidery.

          Knock. Knock. Knock.

          "The door's open," I croaked, eyes too sore to be opened and nose too swollen to breathe properly.

          The door creaked open, and in came Aiden. His boots clucked towards me, then I felt a part of the bed sink.

          As I sat on my bed with my back against the headboard, the blanket over my body, I inhaled deeply and forced my eyes open. He was sitting beside me, staring at my face with eyes laced with...concern. I blinked my eyes repeatedly, yet I still saw the same expression.

          "Here," he rasped, eyes still trained on mine.

          Sniffling, I accepted the gift and gave him my thanks.

          When he still didn't leave my room, I decided to talk to him about the future that awaited us. I had figured that the only thing that would keep Safia's death from being in vain was to do our best to follow through what had been planned. We were to stop the magisters from killing innocent people who posed a threat to them. We were to put an end to this wicked desire for the monopoly of power.

          "Aiden," I called, sniffling as I moved closer to him.

          He crawled towards me and sat beside me on my bed, my legs tucked underneath the plain, white blanket. "What is it?"

          "The only ones left on our side is the two of us. Once they realize this, they're going to hasten the process so they can get rid of us as soon as possible."

          He cocked a brow. "So?"

          "'So?'" I yelled, unable to believe what he just said. How could he think so pettily of this situation? "So we're going to die! We're going to fail!" We couldn't let that happen.

          "What? You think I'm not aware that they're already out looking for us and hastening the search?" He scoffed, shaking his head. "No. I've been hunting those witches to get information from them. I'll destroy Aethelgard before the magisters get close to my castle."