Page 58 of Treasured Secrets
The conviction and protectiveness in his tone made my heart flutter. It was the perfect moment. As horrible as I looked, it was still perfect. I was about to tell him I loved him, when suddenly we were at the house. The yard was littered with vehicles.
"What's going on? Is it Aster?" Now I was really worried.
"I'm not sure."
He jumped out and had my door open before I even got my hand on the handle. He scooped me up, carrying me and my battered body. He had no idea how painful this was. His grip was too tight, but I couldn't tell him.
"I can walk."
"No, it's the least I can do for leaving you alone." His eyes were almost in tears from his unwarranted guilt.
I took a deep breath and spoke through the pain. "Quit blaming yourself. This wasn't your fault at all. I'll be fine."
Chris met us at the door. He had a look of sheer terror that instantly turned to fury. "Damn!" Then he turned to Tallis with his fists clenched. "I'll go back with you, right now."
I put my hand up quickly in front of Chris to stop him. "Tallis already handled it. They'll feel worse than I do when they come to." I stopped for a second to fight of a burning stab of pain from my knees. "I don't want to talk about this. I want to know what's going on with Aster."
His face changed. So many emotions gathered in his eyes at once that I couldn't tell what was going on.
I was ready to panic, when he said, "We're having a baby."
I could hear the shock and worry in my tone. "What? Is the baby okay? What happened? Aster was on the ground."
"Yeah, having a magical baby introduce itself can apparently knock you off your feet. Aster didn't know what was going on. She's pretty worried about you though. I told her not to worry. I never imagined… What kind of mortals do this to a girl? I never even knew animals like that existed."
They kept fussing over me instead of worrying about Aster. I was almost terrified to see what I looked like. I could feel my ribs trying to dislodge.
"I'm fine. I promise," I lied. "Why is everyone here?"
"It's customary to call the heads of the families in on the first night of awareness - to get their blessings. They wish the baby a safe journey and prepare the body for the carrying of a magical child."
"Oh."
I knew he was excited, but I could also tell he felt conflicted about being happy after seeing how I looked. I felt like I was taking away from the moment. I didn't want anyone else to see me.
Aster needed everyone to focus on her. I looked at Tallis and spoke quietly. "Will you take me outside?" I took a breath, still fighting off the searing pain that seemed to be spreading by the minute, then I looked at Chris. "Chris, will you send Anesta out when she gets a chance?"
His eyes were so burdened as he spoke with absolute guilt. "Yeah no problem, Aria, and again, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm fine." Sharp pains kept coming from my side where I had been kicked. I certainly didn't want Chris or Tallis feeling worse, so I didn't tell Tallis that the way he was holding me was torture.
He gently placed me on the swing of the front porch. He sat beside of me and carefully placed my head in his lap. He began gently stroking my hair, while letting his free hand rest gently on my stomach. It was peaceful, minus the pain of course. I reached up to touch his face. It was soft and gentle, like him. I pulled his hand from my stomach up to my lips and kissed it. He smiled and finally looked down at me.
"So on a scale of one to ten, how incredibly tempting am I right now?" I joked. He shook his head, amused, but said nothing. I wasn't giving up that easily. "Too soon?"
That got a snicker out of him. I smiled up at him and he flashed a small grin at me. I knew my voice still carried waves of pain in it. "At least I got something out of you besides sadness."
A ruffled breath blew out of his tightened lips.
"You don't know how hard it is for me to know that I could have prevented this." His eyes were riddled with guilt he didn't deserve to feel.
"I'm fine. You did prevent it from being worse. If you hadn't shown up, then I really would have been in a mess. You always save me though."
"Yeah but-"
I put my hand over his mouth to stop him from continuing to blame himself. "But nothing. I'm very happy that you saved me…again. You're always my hero."
He smiled big that time.
