Chapter 40
/-Selene-/
My eyes flickered open suddenly as though someone had pushed them from the inside.
The first thing I noticed was the taste of dryness on my tongue; it felt like I had eaten sand and swallowed smoke.
My lips were dry as well, and when I tried to move them, they cracked.
Gently, I forced them open, hoping to speak, to stop Finn from leaving, but no sound came out of my mouth.
I closed my eyes and opened them again to adjust to the blinding light that came in from the open window.
My body was still stiff.
My hands felt as though they had been soaked in molten iron, while my legs felt like I was pulling them out of ice.
I finally tilted my head to see Kaelen sitting close to the window.
His hair was a mess, there were bags under his eyes, and worse still, dark rings too. I wasn’t sure he had gotten any sleep since I lost consciousness.
“Kae….” I whispered, but the word didn’t get past my lips.
Surprisingly, Finn heard it and stopped at the door.
“Did you hear that?” He asked Kaelen.
“You should fuck off; I am not endowed with the gift of patience,” Kaelen snapped.
Finn turned to me. “She’s awake.”
Only then did Kaelen notice my open eyes.
His huge frame jerked forward as he gently knelt down beside me.
His hands trembled as he reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair from my face with a kind of gentleness I would have sworn he didn’t have.
“Selene,” he whispered with a broken, shaken voice.
Chapter 40
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“You are awake; you did it. Oh, thank you, oh….” He rested his forehead on mine.
“I thought I lost you. Why would you take such risks? You want…..”
His voice cracked, and he paused to gather his voice.
I tried to raise my hand to reach for him, but my hands didn’t move.
My body was still trying to wake, but only my heart and mind were awake.
I parted my lips to speak, but instead, all that came out was a dry croak.
“No, don’t say a word; don’t move,” he rushed, collected the bottle of black liquid and held it to my lips.
“Drink; it will help you regain your strength.”
I drank slowly from the bottle and made funny faces because of how bitter it was but drank everything.
It felt as though my limbs, joints, bones, and everything came to life.
Then I spoke.
“Thorne.”
“No, it’s Kaelen,” Kaelen corrected.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“I’m sorry. Kaelen.”
“It’s okay,” he whispered.
“You should be disoriented for some minutes.”
Finn stepped forward cautiously.
“Hey Selene, How are you doing?”
He knelt down too and reached for my hand, but Kaelen yanked it away.
Finn pretended as though that never happened and continued speaking.
“I didn’t deserve that, Selene; thank you so much.” His voice shook, and his eyes clouded.
“Hey, Finn. I’m glad you are fine. I’m okay,” I forced the words from my mouth.
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Chapter 40
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“You are strong,” he muttered and made a face. I smiled, and Kaelen lost it.
“Get out!” He ordered Finn.
“That’s enough conversation; you can leave.”
Finn blinked subconsciously.
“She saved me. I was just expressing my gratitude and…”
“Out!”
Kaelen didn’t even want to hear more words he had to say.
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The way Kaelen growled, I feared that he might get violent if Finn didn’t do as he said immediately.
“Kaelen“, I muttered. “Allow him; he….”
Kaelen turned to me sharply.
“No! The last time you stayed close to him, I almost lost you.”
Finn spared me one last look, bowed slightly and walked away without another word.
The silence after that was awkward until Kaelen sighed, as though he had dropped a heavy weight that had rested on his head for days.
Then his brows furrowed as he stared at me.
“Selene“, he called out urgently.
Those types of urgent calls when there is a reptile moving on your body and you aren’t allowed to move.
“What’s going on?” I whispered, trying not to move my body.
“Come.” He placed his hand behind my head and helped me sit up.
Gently, he propped me against the pillows, and then I noticed what he had seen.
“What?” I gasped.
I was different.
My hands were once covered with hair, like that of a wild animal, but now they were smooth and clear.
Chapter 40
I looked at my legs; same. No hair.
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My fingers trembled as I raised my clothes to check other parts of my body, and to my horror and happiness, it was all clear.
My back was sore, but when I shifted my weight to feel the usual bulge of the hunch, I froze.
I could still feel it, but it was small, so small, almost invisible.
“What’s… what’s happening? Who touched me? What’s going on? Am I still alive? Talk to me,” I said at once, staring at Kaelen, who was equally surprised as I was.
“This is creepy, what?” Kaelen exclaimed.
“Did the poison do this? Did it reverse anything?”
My whole body was trembling now.
“Please call the priestess,” I muttered.
“Guard!” He screamed, and a guard rushed in.
“Call the priestess.”
I requested a mirror to look at my face, but strangely, my face remained the same.
Ugly and rough. So was my hair; it was still scaly and irritating.
Something was changing in my body, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
Moments later, the priestess stepped in with the beta by her side.
My entire body recoiled with hate.
“The beta should get out!” I muttered.
The Beta scoffed.
“Instructions from you sound funny.”
“I said get out!” I said it louder than I did the first time.
He opened his mouth to protest, but Kaelen cut in.
“Get out!”
He glared at me for a few seconds, then noticed the changes in my body.
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Chapter 40
“What’s going on….”
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Kaelen stood in anger that minute, and the beta turned sharply, almost running away.
The priestess stared at me for a long time and then knelt close to me.
“You should leave,” she said to Kaelen.
Kaelen didn’t disobey, he walked away and shut the door gently behind him.
“Is it the poison?” I muttered.
Instead of giving me a reply, she slid her hand to my stomach.
“A child. There is a child.”
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
