Xiran’s POV

I opened the door and walked in. Aselia was sitting with her face in her hands while Yurian sat in front of her, giving her a pep talk.

Yurian glanced at me as I strode toward them with my lips forming a thin line. Her mesmerizing scent filled the room but she paid me no heed. I halted a few feet from her and requested:

"Yurian, can I talk to her alone?"

"No need, Yuri. Tell him I have nothing to talk to him about," she still made no effort to glance at me. She didn’t even address me directly. This shredded my heart, it would be so much better if she would yell at me and show her annoyance.

"Aselia, just for a few minutes," I pleaded and tried to touch her shoulder.

"DON’T, she growled at me with disdain dripping from those turquoise orbs of hers. "Yurian, ask him to leave," she turned her attention back to Yurian. Who was opening and shutting his mouth constantly, not understanding what to say? He was stuck between the two of us. He finally spoke up:

"Partner, you mean the world to me but you need to talk to him alone. I will be right outside," he sighed and got up and halted near me before whispering:

"Don’t hurt her any further, she is in a fragile state right now."

Speaking those words Yurian left the room, closing the door behind him.

I stepped closer to her and slipped into the chair Yurain had just left. She instantly arose and tried to move away from me. I caught her left wrist and pulled her into my lap.

"Let go of me, I don’t want to be near a manipulative person like you," she writhed in my lap trying to get herself free, her eyes shooting daggers at me.

"I will just listen to me," I tried to calm her down by placing my hand on her face but she swatted it away.

"No, I will not listen to you today and I don’t want you to touch me," she snapped at me and removed my hands from around her waist before getting up and moving further away from me. This hurt more, this wrecked me inside, and this was hurting her too for her expression was pained.

"Aselia, I told you I will go to any length to protect you. This is me doing that, you can hate me if you want but I will not let you face my father, ever. That’s my decision and you will have to accept it."

My words didn’t sit right with her for the anguish seeped into her orbs and her breathing became erratic, her heartbeat had elevated to an abnormal rate.

"I reject your decision and I will pursue your father, let me see you stop me," her defiance had no bounds and I knew she was being petty right now, wanting to test my patience, wanting to hurt me for I had hurt her immensely.

"You won’t be able to do that, Leia. Your leader has given me his word and I will ensure that he keeps it. He has used your freedom to pursue my father as a bargaining chip to acquire information from me. And you know the rules of your organisation better than me. You will have to abide by the rules." I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible.

"What? Are you two besties now? Will you be braiding each other’s hair next? And what will you do? Hide me away? Lock me up?" she yelled at me with so much force that the veins on her neck popped out.

"Yes, if that’s what it will take to stop you. I will do that too," I knew I was taking away her freedom, I was constricting and suffocating her but it was better than her ending up in the hands of my father. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

A look of utter disbelief passed on her face as the reality of my callous words sunk in for her. I could see her breaking, I could see myself losing her, the torment it brought forth had filled her eyes with tears and yet she didn’t shed them. Her mouth flew open in shock:

"Right. What was I expecting from a vampire? Way to break my trust. Congratulations, I don’t trust you anymore, and I will never come to see you again." She was hurting and her defense mechanism had kicked in to safeguard her heart against me. All I wanted to do was keep her in my arms but she would never let me now. Her words were cruel, her words were insensitive, her words cut deep as they were meant to hurt me but I tried to act indifferent.

"It’s alright Leia, as long as you are safe," I still kept my voice low and detached.

"You people can’t stop me, you can’t take this away from me because I give a damn about my safety or life, and I give a damn about rules," I had to take a deep breath because my answer was going to blaze her. I knew she will never back down so I knew where to nail her.

"Aselia if you do that you will be breaking the treaty your organisation has just signed. Which will mean war with me and I will not take that lightly. I will annihilate all the hunters in my city, and not only that I will kill Aldridge. Do you want others to die for your actions?"

Her steps faltered as she took two away from me. I was sure she would have crumpled to the ground if she hadn’t caught the edge of the table. My heart screamed to reach out to her to comfort her for there was this look of horror on her face. This was something she hadn’t expected from me.

The tears she was vehemently trying to hold back finally spilled as dew drops on a sanguine flower. The tears so precious and this time I was the cause, I had made her cry, I had broken her fragile heart. This I could see on her face, in her eyes, the light had dimmed in them. The light that used to shine so brightly.

I got up and cautiously approached her, I had to calm her down, but she yelled out: "Yurian."