The Choices That are Made (Book Three of Hidden Secret Trilogy)

Chapter Seven

Later I awake in my bed in Kristillier's mansion and I see him tending to my wounds. The smallest smile touched my lips, watching him. Kristillier looked up from his work and met my eyes.

"You're awake," he said, his green eyes lighting up.

"How long was I out?" I asked. Kristillier set down the wet washcloth and sat near my side on the bed.

"You were out for about four hours, I was beginning to think that you'd never wake," he said.

"Well I'm awake now," I said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"Yes, you are," he said softly. He leaned down and kissed me gently, his hand stroked my cheek. I sighed softly and felt almost sad when he pulled away. He went back to tending to my wounds before wrapping them in gauze. "There, that'll do," he said patting my good leg.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he answered and left the room. My thoughts trailed back to Liam and Jacob. I felt a small amount of loss towards them. I wondered if Jacob still loved me, or if he was like Liam, secluded.

 I knew at this moment that I had to go back, but something in me was preventing me from deciding to leave Kristillier.

I would go back soon. I stayed in bed for a few more hours. The pain had stopped in my wounds and I tried putting weight on my bad leg. It didn't hurt like it had and I decided that I could walk on it. I left the room and headed downstairs to find Kristillier gazing at the fire he'd lit in the grand fireplace.

"Hey," I said softly, approaching him. He turned and worry filled his eyes.

"What are you doing? You shouldn't be walking on your injured leg, you could worsen it," he said coming to me. I rested my head against his chest as he held me.

"Liam was at the marketplace," I suddenly said. I felt Kristillier go rigid.

"What did he want?" he asked tensely.

"He wanted me to come back home to him and Jacob," I answered. I heard him roughly sigh. "I told him no. I didn't even tell him where I was," I continued. Kristillier's hand lifted my chin up with his fingers so I could look him in the eyes.

"You can show him your transformation once I change you," he said with a tight smile. I smiled and bit my lower lip to stop the smile. Kristillier leaned in and his lips met mine. My hands slid up to his shoulders and wrapped around his neck as he took me against a wall.

His kisses were better than Liam and Jacob's kisses. They burned and made me want more. His lips trailed down to my neck and I turned my head to allow him better access.

He gently nipped at my skin and I sighed with excitement as my hands knotted themselves into his hair. His lips traveled lower and his teeth nipped again at my skin, causing me to break out in goosebumps. The urge for him to turn me, I knew was great as well as uncontrollable.

"You can do it Kristillier, I want to be yours. Make me yours," I whispered to him.

"I want to love, but the time is not ready. I just want to enjoy you right now," his voice was laced with hunger for me and I shivered. My eyes met his face and his green eyes glowed like a cat's in the light of the fire. I forced myself to pout, to make myself vulnerable to him. "Oh, don't pout love, the time will come soon," he said, running a finger down my cheek. I gave him puppy dog eyes to no avail. "You're adorable, but it won't make me change you, not yet anyways," he said. 

I pressed my back against the wall and played with the buttons on his shirt. His hand caught my fingers to stop them and he chuckled softly.

"Kris please..." I pleaded.

"Anna...you're not going to change my mind," he said. He leaned in again and his lips seared mine. I gave in and kissed him back, my hands curling up on his chest. His kiss was soft and gentle as his hands cupped my face. He finally pulled away and planted a soft kiss on my forehead. "You should rest some more. I don't want your injuries flaring up," he said, leading me from the wall to the big stairs.

I started up them and got to the top when I turned and saw that Kristillier had left, so I quietly crept back down the stairs. I had a strange feeling that something was off, so my curiosity got the better of me. I snuck across the floor quickly and headed toward the chamber door leading down to the prisoner cells.

I reached the door and slowly turned the door knob careful not to make a sound, in case Kristillier was still lurking around somewhere. I opened the door and slipped in, closing it behind me. I started down the stairs and found the cells were exactly like they'd always been. 

Looking at the cells brought back so many pained memories of what Erebus had done to my friends and Liam and Jacob. I walked down the hall to the door that held the cell of where Liam had been when Erebus put him there.

I tried the door only to find it locked. I tried several times to really see if it was locked, and it was. A sudden odd smell hit my nose. It smelled like ashes almost, or something like that.

I turned around and found that back by the stairs was a new door that I never saw had been there before. I walked back down towards the door, finding that the smell grew stronger as I got nearer.

I reached the door and placed my hand on the cool metal knob. I turned it and with luck, the door was unlocked. I opened the door and saw it was like a smaller secret room. I went in and shut the door behind me.

The smell of ashes had disappeared and I got the urge to explore this room. I stepped further in and saw that there were a lot of what looked like spell books. I came around a corner and saw what looked like three open caskets.

I got the feeling that someone or something was watching me, so I turned around thinking I'd find Kristillier standing by the door, but there was nothing. A soft whisper of someone saying my name reached my ears.

"Hello?" I called softly. Nothing. This room was really giving me bad vibes and I turned to leave when the whisper came again. "Anna..." I stopped and faced the caskets again. Why were they open? I looked at each casket, and saw each of them was different.

The first one was a black casket with silver wrapped around it on the outside as decoration. The middle casket was white, with dark red roses wrapped around the outside of the casket.

The last one was a pure black and wrapped in what looked like feathers, which were also black. I realized that they were raven feathers. A chill ran down my spine as I slowly crept towards the open caskets, getting ready to run if I had to. 

I got closer and closer to the caskets and stopped. My feet were planted to the floor as I stared horrified of what was in front of my own eyes. In the first casket laid Sebastian. His hands placed over his chest nicely. In the second casket was Anya, my doppelganger. 

Her hair splayed about the white pillow. In the last casket laid Erebus. His handsome pale face was at peace. This was too much for me as I let out a scream.