The Tyrant's Pet

Meanwhile...

Aries grunted as her eyeballs flickered underneath her eyelids. She weakly opened her eyes. Seeing the roof of the tent, a deep exhale slipped past her lips.

'I feel weak...' she thought, closing her eyes once more to recall what happened to her. Her expression grew sour when she recalled snippets of the spooked horse, then jumping from it and hitting her head.

Aries raised a hand to her temple, feeling the bandage around her head.

'It happened.' She sighed deeply, dropping her hand to her side. Her eyes fluttered open once again and blinked weakly until her hazy vision grew clearer.

'About that winter...' her jaw tightened as memories of that winter when she saw someone and then feeling like she was drowning etched in her head. 'What did she say?'

"Circe."

Aries flinched when she heard a voice from the side of her bed. When she turned, she saw Joaquin leaning his upper body forward. Worry and relief mixed in his eyes as he scrutinized her.

"Do you feel pain anywhere, Circe?" he asked, brushing her forehead with his thumb. "I thought I will lose you."

His eyes were watery as he heaved a deep sigh of relief, staring at her straight in the eye. There was no vestige of a lie in his eyes. Joaquin was sincerely terrified of losing her. But his sincerity didn't move her even a bit.

All she did was stare at him silently. Despite her pale complexion, her eyes slowly filled with hatred and disgust.

"Circe, are you --"

"Go away." She turned her head to the other side. "Go. I don't want to see you. Not you."

"Circe..."

"Go!" she yelled, eyes heating as she cast him a glare. "I don't care anymore. Go. I don't want to see you, Joaquin. It's all your fault..."

Joaquin's face crumpled, confused at her anger. However, he blamed it on her concussion and the fright she went through.

He rocked his head, retrieving his hand that was reaching for her. "Alright. I understand you don't want to see me now and you are confused." He smiled bitterly.

"If you need anything, there's a bell right next to you. Ring it. My tent is just right next to yours." Joaquin huffed weakly before tilting his head down. "Rest for tonight, my wife. A lot had happened, but I'm sincerely glad you're safe now and back to me."

Aries held her breath as hatred swelled up in her chest at his last remarks. She watched him saunter towards the entrance of the tent, sliding it to the side before departing it.

"Back to you...?" she scoffed in disdain, balling her hand into a fist. Her eyes remained fixated on the entrance, seeing shadows outside. She waited for minutes and after some time, Aries propped her elbows to assist herself to sit up. She winced at the pain in her abdomen, making her hold her side as she hunched in slightly.

The pain was still there, but she felt the tight bandage around her torso to reduce the discomfort.

Aries let out a deep exhale as sitting upright all on her own was a total struggle, but the discomfort would not stop her. She flung her feet out of the bed, watching her movement to reduce the pain across her body. It didn't take long for her to adjust to her limited movement as Aries stood beside the bed, looking around cautiously.

"I can't stay here," she mumbled with her quivering lips, clutching her skirt, and dragging her feet to the small back entrance of the tent. Good thing she made time in this tent to create a small exit behind the rack of clothes for emergency situations.

Aries ground her teeth as she dragged the rack away, creating a small gap for her to fit in. She dragged her feet while keeping her palm across her abdomen. She slipped through the small gap, cutting the thin thread to open the pre-made exit.

Through the small gap, she peeked to see if there was anyone outside. To her relief, no one seemed to have walked around the back of her tent. So Aries immediately slipped herself out of the tent.

As soon as she was out and met the chilly breeze of the silent night, Aries hugged herself and shivered. She had no clothes other than her chemise.

'Where is he?' she wondered, looking around, confused. 'Never mind.'

Aries took a deep breath, but not deep enough to hurt her lungs. When she reopened her eyes and breathed out through her lips, she discreetly limped to find the person she needed the most right now. Her hand was clutching her bicep, but before she could go far away from where she came from, a dark voice came from behind.

"Where are you going?" she froze as soon as she recognized his voice. "Darling, where could you possibly go wearing just that?"

Her eyes fell soft as heat traveled and filled them. She swallowed a mouthful of air and turned around, only to see that familiar, dangerous beauty.

"Abel," came out a whisper, biting her bottom lip to suppress the sobs that were tempting to escape from her.

"Yes, darling?" Abel tilted his head to the side, stretching his hand out, waiting for her to take it. "Let's go back. It's cold here."

She shook her head as her eyes betrayed her when one tear fell from them. He frowned.

"Is there something wrong, darling?" he inquired.

"Did you come for me?" she asked back, watching him furrow his brows. "In the woods... did you come for me?"

There was a moment of silence at her seemingly out-of-the-blue question. Abel stared at her with his usual unreadable expression, seeing the desperation in her eyes.

"Did you call for me?" he asked instead of an answer.

"I did."

"No, darling. You didn't."

"I did, Abel." She choked, clutching her shoulder even tighter. "I called for your help... in my heart."

That second, another tear rolled down her cheek as she looked around to distract herself from crying. She knew she didn't call, 'help,' verbally, but in her heart, his name was the only name she could think of. Aries was aware she was being 'unreasonable' since there was no way he would hear her heart.

However... it scared her. Not the fact that she nearly died, but the fact that...

"I'm a monster," she whispered, raising her eyes ever so slowly to meet those pair of dangerous deep red.