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Chapter 16

Ryan's POV

"... So did you understand?"

"Ryan.... Ryan!"

I snap out of my daze and look back at Aunt Cora, who is giving me a concerned look. Closing the file in her hands, she keeps it aside and walks up to me. She places a comforting hand on my shoulder as her dark blue eyes meet mine.

"What happened, son? What's wrong?" She asks with worry laced in her voice.

Everything is what I want to say. But instead, I end up muttering a nothing. She narrows her eyes at me as if she doesn't buy it. I sigh.

"Seriously, it's nothing." Not.

I think back to today's events, and it doesn't fail to remind me what a big prick I had been to Iris. That honest and kind soul didn't deserve to be subjected to my pent up frustration and anger. How could I do this to her?

My eyes momentarily trail to look out of the study's window and are met with the dark sky. I then realise that night has fallen. And still, I wasn't able to reach out to Iris.

Roaming my eyes once more at the darkening sky, I turn to look back at Aunt Cora. She is still looking at me as if she doesn't believe me. Sighing, I take her hand off my shoulder and hold it in both of mine, giving it a firm squeeze.

"Everything's fine, Aunt Cora." Not. "It's just that with everything that's been happening lately, my mind ends up wandering here and there and I cannot really concentrate on anything." Now that's isn't a complete lie, is it? And it looks like she buys it, as her face scrunches up in concern.

"You're right, son. I-" She pauses as if thinking about something and then shakes her head.

"I'm so stupid. With all that has happened lately, you should be taking rest and giving your mind some time to come to terms with everything. But here I am, dragging you into work and bothering you." She shakes her head again and looks at me with guilty eyes. I give her hand another reassuring squeeze.

"Aunt Cora, don't say anything like that. It's really nothing. I'm doing fine and I can't really slack off from my duties now, can I? I'm a Prince and if I start ignoring my duty calls for something so trivial then what can we expect from others?" She opens her mouth to interject but stops abruptly.

Her body stiffens and the air around us grows deathly silent. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion and look down at her stiff form with concern. My eyes fall on her face and I find her gaze cast on something behind me. I follow her line of sight and look out the window at the dark and stormy sky. Suddenly a sharp yelp of pain from behind me fills the silent air, and her hand is sharply yanked out of mine. I turn back in alarm and look at her placing it over her heart, squeezing it. Her face contours in immense pain as she lets out another cry.

"Aunt Cora!"

Her knees give in, but I catch her before she hits the ground.

"What's wrong?" I ask as she writhes in pain in my arms.

She lets out another whimper in pain followed by a painful cry. It echoes through the walls and the entirety of the house, and within seconds Bennett and dad are standing beside us.

"What's happening to her?" Dad asks me in an alarmed voice, but before I can reply a piercing cry resounds through the room.

My head whips back to look at her writhing form in my arms. Tears are flowing down her cheeks, as she lets out another piercing cry.

"We need to take her to the hospital. Call Dr Brooke immediately and tell her there's an emergency." I bark orders at Bennett. I know he doesn't like being ordered around, but just one look at Aunt and he gets on with it.

I take her in my arms and rush out of Dad's study quickly. She hits her chest over her heart repeatedly, gasping for air and grunting in pain.

I immediately mind link Uncle Seb and inform him about Aunt's condition, before storming towards the medical room in our house.

• •• • •• •

Everyone's tense as we stand around Aunt Cora's bed and wait for her to wake up.

Dr Brooke said there was nothing wrong with her physically, so she told us to wait for her to wake up and then ask her about what could've happened.

Uncle Seb arrived almost an hour ago, and not left Aunt's side even for a moment. He's sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her left hand in his and occasionally brushing the hair out of her face, whispering sweet nothings in her ears.

I look around at everyone's fallen and tired faces, and realise something. Hell, they must've been so concerned when I was swimming in my pool of subconscious mind and refused to wake up for days.

I slowly walk up to Uncle Seb and place my hand on his shoulder. Slowly his head looks up at me, and my eyes meet his concerned ones.

"She'll be fine," I whisper in a low voice to him, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze and trying to reassure him. It's really hard to see such a strong and powerful person so helpless and vulnerable about his soulmate's condition.

A sudden moment in my peripheral vision catches my eye. I look down at Aunt Cora to see her head whip slightly yet sharply to left, and she does this three to four times. Everyone follows my line of sight and look at Aunt Cora having some minor seizure.

"Cora!" Uncle Seb's voice is laced with concern as he reaches out and holds her head in his palms, trying to stop the seizures.

We all breathe a sigh of relief when we see Aunt Cora's eyes flutter open. We see as she looks around first in confusion, then in alarm. Her eyes then fall on Uncle sitting next to her lying form, and she quickly jolts up and embraces him tightly. Uncle Seb pulls her closer to him and pecks her forehead occasionally.

I quickly avert my gaze, not wanting to remind myself of my dreadful fate. My eyes then connect with Bennett's, and I can see the same turmoil behind his ice blue orbs.

After a while, I turn back to look at dad on hearing his voice.

"Are you alright, Queen?" I turn to look at Aunt Cora, who has her arm wrapped around Uncle Seb's waist and is hugging him from the side. She gives a slight nod after thinking for a while.

"What happened Cora? You got us all so worried..." As the words leave Uncle Seb's mouth, I see her visibly stiffen. Her eyes are guarded and her face is ruled, not giving anything away.

"Oh Hell, is it-" Uncle Seb gulps and looks at Mr LaGray, whose standing facing his back to us and looking out the window, before continuing, "Is it b-black magic?"

His question raises the hair on the back of my neck.

Black Magic...

"No, it's not black magic." Our heads whip to the head of the bed, beside which Tristan is standing. His response makes me raise my brows.

"It can't be. There's no magic cast on her." He continues with such firmness, it's hard not to believe him. We all turn to look at Mr LaGray, who slowly turns around and faces us.

"My son's right." His response puzzles me. I thought of asking how he is so sure that Tristan's right and there was no black magic involved whatsoever, but leave it for the time being.

"It has..." My head turns back to Tristan on hearing his voice.

"It has got something to do with..." He trails off and tilts his head slightly to the left while looking at Aunt Cora with a certain doubt. She just looks away and rubs her hand on her chest over her heart, trying to maybe ease the distress.

"It's nothing." She says, but I don't miss her voice faltering slightly in the end. I don't think anybody does.

"Cora, please tell me what caused all this. Gosh! I was so worried when I felt rolls of your distress and fear running through me. And when Ryan informed me about your condition, I was shaken. Please tell me what happened...." Uncle Seb tries persuading her to give us something, anything at all. But she didn't budge and stuck to her monosyllabic reply.

Something's wrong. And she knows it but isn't willing to tell us. And by the looks of it, Tristan knows it as well seeing as just when I'm about to open my mouth to somehow trick her into telling us, he speaks up shocking all of us.

"Can I have a talk with Queen?"

"Privately," he adds as an afterthought.

I throw a glance at Uncle Seb, whose jaw is ticking so bad like he's holding himself back.

"No." He quickly states his answer, leaving no room for further argument. Or so I thought.

"Just 5 minutes, King. I just want to.... clarify something..." He trails off, chewing his bottom lip nervously.

"You can clarify whatever the hell you want in front of me." He states and doesn't look like he's going to back down. All this while Aunt Cora stays silent, zoning in and out of her daze.

After a painfully long minute, I hear Dad sigh. He gets up from the couch placed in the corner of the King and Queen's room and ushers Uncle Seb out despite his protests. We all quietly follow suit. I step out of the room, but not before I throw a deathly look at Tristan over my shoulder that says finish-quickly-and-don't-try-anything-stupid-that'll-get-you-killed.

Not even two complete minutes have passed when the door to the room opens, and Tristan ushers us all in. Confusion is written all over his face, and although he tries to mask it I can say he's failing miserably.

I come to a standstill beside him, thinking of questioning him when the chance strikes. I look over at the bed to see Aunt getting interrogated by a very worried Uncle Seb.

"What did he ask you? Did he do something? I'll slaughter him if-"

"Sebastian!" Aunt screeches, making his mouth closes shut.

"The kid did nothing but question me about... something." She doesn't tell what that something is, and I glance at Tristan. He's wringing his fingers, a nervous habit of his. He's muttering something under his breath, very low for even vampires to hear. But since I'm standing pretty close to him, I can still make out bits and pieces of what he's muttering. It's something in the lines of "the pain she experienced was not hers but still a part of hers."

I don't understand what he's trying to say. So I make it a point to question him later.

"Oh, and by the way," I hear Aunt Cora's firm voice and we all turn to look at her, waiting for her response. But her next words make Tristan choke on his own spit.

"We need to take Tristan to the Éminences Grises. ASAP."

To be contd.