ARIA'S POV..Hope flooded my heart like never before, and we began to make our way, towards the shore. Aiden still couldn't move his arm, so I had to take him all the way out of the water. Finally, I got out of the water, and pulled him out too. We panted hard, and looked at each other, with sparkling eyes. It had been done. We had survived it. At least that was if there were no more obstacles for us, on the way to the cottage. “I think we made it. Whoever's living there must be the person controlling this place. Maybe if we're lucky enough, they will grant us a safe path home. Maybe it was a kind of test after all. Let's think positively. I… I have a good feeling about this. There's someone living here!” I squealed, and threw my arms around him.“It's still too early to celebrate. Let's get there first.” He replied, stiffly, and I immediately withdrew from him. His shoulder was swollen.“Aiden, did you…?” I was asking, and he began to walk away.“It's not my first time having a
ARIA'S POV..“What darkness?” I asked, but she shook her head. “Maybe it's not the right time.” She said, and proceeded to set Aiden's shoulder right. “I will give you some food to eat, then you sleep, but you have to find your way back. You cannot stay here for long.” She said, setting it with a single snap that made Aiden grunt. She bustled away from us into the kitchen, and I watched her leave. “How did we get here in the first place? We don't know, so how can we get back?” Aiden asked in confusion, looking around.“Actually, I… I think I might have something to do with it.” I said, and he raised a brow.“You might have something to do with this weird land?” He asked, sitting up slightly. “Yeah. You… you were actually right. The rogues were not friendly for no reason. They had ulterior motives. Their leader was mad, and it seemed like he wanted to attack me. I think that nervousess, and unease, triggered my powers again, but I didn't know.” I explained, and saw how anger settl
ARIA'S POV..My heart skidded and it seemed like all thoughts of how to escape had been plucked out from my head. I was transfixed, staring at the darkness approaching. Hilda had talked about it. She had said they knew I was there, and were coming for me. What would become of me if they happened to take me.“Aria! Do something!” Aiden shouted, jolting me back to my senses, as the darkness swirled nearer to us. Just then, I felt the same nervous energy piling up within me. I could recall the nervousness I had felt when the rogue looked like he would try to attack me. That was the same energy filling me.My fingers began to move faster than my eyes, knocking aside the poorly arranged stones, and placing them where they ought to be. The feeling was great— the feeling of being awed at myself for being able to pull off such. I made the old door perfectly, and left it. We were maybe a minute away from potential danger, which might lead to death, and my heart had leaped to my throat. I
ARIA."Mother?" I called out in disbelief as soon as i opened up the door that housed her chambers. My entire body shook massively as I trembled at the unforgiving sight in front of me. My mother has been murdered and was lying down in the pool of her own blood.I knelt down in front of her and with shaky hands, I reached out to her dead body as the tears burned my vision, threatening to fall. I had taken a walk to pick out some flowers from my favorite garden somewhere in the woods when i heard screams which was followed by endless wailings from afar. Scared and utterly dumbfounded, i rushed back home to find our house open. The first thought that came to my mind was that someone had broken into our house to steal but when i got in and found traces of blood everywhere, something stirred inside me causing me to panic.The entire room was filled with dead bodies that had been killed in the cruelest way possible. My heart sank at the derogatory and horrid sight in front of me.Just the
ARIA.I huddled at the far end of the cold cage. My entire body aching massively. The wounds inflicted on me stung as though my body had been bitten terribly by group of ants. I bit down hard at my lips to reel in the pain and suppress the heat that burned up my insides as the images of my mother and father being killed flashed through my head. It has been a week since my family was massacred in cold blood and I still can't get over the trauma that came with it.Taking deep breaths, I tried to find my footing but failed miserably as I crashed down to the cold, hard surface. After Ryan rejected me that day, he had brought me to the palace to serve as one of the lowest ranking slaves and everyone here bullied me, especially Keira, his sister. I wish i had just died instead rather than being alive to go through this constant pain and bitter torture."Aria..." Someone called out to me from the cage. I recognized the familiar voice of Martha, my cellmate who was also locked up in the cage
ARIA."Grab a wine from the cellar." The chief maid instructed me. "You're going to serve the alphas in place of Mary because she's sick." She added and i couldn't help the shock gasp that escaped from my lips. I am also sick and injured but no one seemed to care. To make matters worse, tonight was supposed to be the celebration of my eighteenth birthday but here am i taking orders from everyone. My entire day has been spent working and now that i was supposed to rest, i still have to serve at the banquet tonight."Did you hear me?" She repeated and i nodded my head before making my way towards the cellar. Today, the kitchen was bustling, or more accurately, the entire palace was bustling because the Alpha King was hosting a grand banquet with members of other royal families in attendance. It was known as the feast of all alphas where they came around with their slaves to discuss and make merry about their latest accomplishments.If we were still together, I'm pretty sure that Ryan w
ARIA.I was unable to speak, struggling to find the right words to say. It was then I realized that I was standing in front of the Alpha King. Fear gripped me as I realized what could happen to me if he figured out who I was. I was about to be caught and I couldn’t let that happen.Before he could realize what was going on, I turned to my heels. I didn’t stop until he held me by my wrist. “Turn around.” I obeyed and did as he said, before he started to inspect me from head to toe. “You are Ryan’s slave, aren’t you?” I nodded in the affirmative, afraid to look into his eyes. I never really looked at him for more than thirty seconds. I guess that’s why I never noticed his strong masculine features which made me feel a certain kind of way. “What are you doing out here then? Isn’t there a party?” He paused for a moment and sighed. “You were trying to run away.”Before I could even think of what I was about to do, I went on my knees and started to weep. It was the only way I could free
ARIA.The silence in the carriage had been so uncomfortable that I was avoiding eye contact with him like the plague. Sometimes during the journey, I would feel his eyes on me as though he wanted to start a conversation but he didn’t know how to. It was strange albeit exciting and scary that I was going somewhere with a handsome Alpha King of whose name I didn’t even know.His kingdom was quite close to Ryan’s so we got there that same day. That made me wonder if it seemed like they were foes. I knew when Ryan didn’t like someone. He would give them the stink eye and scowl at them as well. The crazy part is that wasn’t the look he gave me. It was the look of hatred and disgust which made me wonder how he changed so much. This Ryan wasn’t the Ryan I had fallen in love with. I think I always knew he was like that, just not to me. Ryan was always rude and wicked to slaves. I never really did anything about it and that’s why the other slaves hated me as well when I got into their shoes.