Empire of Eternals (Book 1 of The Eternal Series) ✔️

Chapter 6 | These Kinds Of Wounds Last Forever

***Aiden Sullivan POV***

"Would you believe me if I told you I was being mind-controlled?" I asked

I looked down at her, gripping my hand in my grasp as I left her stunned. She was speechless. Even though I didn't know what she was thinking, I could tell a thousand things were running through her mind. This wasn't the right time to have this conversation, but I guess it was happening now.

At this point, she probably thought I was making up excuses, to prove myself innocent. But, I wasn't lying. I didn't want her to think I was lying. So I decided to say more, thinking if I did, she might believe me.

"I was being mind-controlled Adriana, for 2 years, by a witch."

Her jaw dropped a little as her eyes widened, her chest heaving up and down as the cold wind brushed my hair into my eyes. I sat there, waiting for her to speak up. This wasn't good. She wasn't saying anything. What if she told the bureau about this?

I could feel the anxiousness growing in my chest by the second, crawling up my throat like a spider as the tip of my fingers began to tremble in fear of her not believing me. This was too early. She couldn't handle it. She had lost her best friend, was hunted by the witch in me for 6 months, and learned Dexter was the one who killed Katherine.

Adriana was just having things thrown at her one by one. But, how did she find out about Dexter killing Katherine? Did she read his mind? Reading the mind of another vampire can be exceptionally hard since they can block other vampires from reading theirs. It takes practice, but they can.

What if someone told her? What if Dexter told Hermione, and then she told Adriana? What if she found out herself? I pleaded to myself, begging to be proven right that someone else had told her. Because, if she found out herself, what if it broke her?

Judging from the way Hermione behaved and Dexter was distant, it seemed like only she knew about it. Did she keep this to herself? Her best friend died at the hands of her brother, and she kept it to herself? I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it must've been, sleeping under the same roof with the person who killed your best friend.

"You don't have to believe me." I spoke up, tilting my head a little as my brows furrowed, feeling miserable knowing she wouldn't believe a word that came out of my mouth

"I do." She said in a monotonous voice, the palm of her hand resting on her mouth as she looked over the estate, an expressionless look plastered on her face as she tried to make sense of the situation

Of course, she would believe me. In the courtroom, she didn't know I was being mind-controlled, but she still saved me. In the fight, she saw that I had come back, even if it was for a couple of seconds. She saw the good in me.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to wait a while before I told you. I didn't know you had already figured it out." I sighed, my eyes fixated on her as my trembling fingers finally came to a rest

Adriana believed me. She actually believed me. But, she probably hated her brother now. Trying to prove myself innocent for what I did, I made her hate her brother. What was the point of this innocence when I had made the person I care about hate their family member?

What if Dexter and Adriana drifted apart? What if Adriana did something to Dexter? She wasn't just angry about being lied to, she was angry that she had found out the truth through another person. The rage and anger were building up, I could feel it, seething off of her in waves as her eyes began glowing an eerie red.

"You can't hate him for it, Adriana." I demanded, trying to calm her down

"Oh, I think I can." She snapped, her voice stern

"When Dexter found out it wasn't me, the witch used the same mind-controlling spell on him. He didn't have any other choice than to kill Katherine."

She didn't respond, sitting there silently. It was as if she had become a statue. The silence from her was nerve-wracking. I could usually tell what people were going to do or say, but it was hard for me to read Adriana, partly because of the furious aura that surrounded her.

"Adriana." I mumbled, leaning forward slightly

My hand made contact with her shoulders, the touch instantly making her snap back to reality. Her eyes were now back to the normal colour, an olive green. She had pushed back the rage and fury. It was almost impossible to tell that the person sitting in front of me was furious just a couple of seconds ago.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worriedly

"Yeah." She sighed, slowly

"I'm just-Dexter was mind-controlled to kill Katherine?"

"Yes." I mumbled in response, putting my hands in the pocket of my hoodie

"He didn't do it willingly."

I guess she was still trying to understand what I had just told her. First, I was mind-controlled to find Adriana and kill her. When I failed to do so, the witch went to the boarding school, lured Katherine where they took her hostage. When Katherine refused to give up Adriana's location she began looking for Dexter, found him, and when he figured out it wasn't me he also ended up being mind-controlled.

The witch didn't hesitate to get rid of Katherine because she was a loose end. The witch knew that Dexter wouldn't be able to tell Adriana what happened. They let him live with the guilt. Whoever this person was, they were cruel and selfish.

"So it was never really you who wanted to kill me?" She asked, fidgeting with the ring on her finger as her eyes locked with mine

"No." I sighed, shaking my head

I could tell she was having some sort of inner conflict. If I was her, I would be. She blamed me for killing Katherine, hated me for doing it. Then she hated Dexter, and now after being told the entire truth, she couldn't hate or blame anyone else.

In the end, she just needed to blame someone for Katherine's death to put her heart at rest

"Do you know who mind-controlled you?" She asked, speaking quietly

"No. I don't know what they look like, or sound like, or why they did what they did." I confessed, begging for this conversation to stop

I couldn't handle it anymore, and neither could Adriana. We were both exhausted, mentally. I had confessed my darkest secret to someone, and Adriana had found out the truth behind her best friend's death. If anything, it was best not to mention this to anybody else.

But, this didn't fix things between us. Sure, it wasn't me who wanted to kill her, but that witch wore my face as their own. Adriana was surely going to have some sort of trouble with me staying here. Major problems like this didn't just end up being fixed with the snap of your finger, it took time to heal after being chased for 6 months.

"Adriana, can I ask for a favour?" I asked, breaking the silence with a question that was stuck to my mind

She looked up at me, her head slightly slanted as her beautiful eyes seemed to provide a strange comfort for me. With Adriana, I wasn't afraid of being mind-controlled again. With her, I felt like I could take on the witch who mind-controlled me for 2 years.

"Please don't tell the bureau? I don't trust them." I asked, shaking my head slightly as my eyes were half-closed, a crease in between my brows

A small smile appeared at the corner of her angelic shaped pinkish lips. Her smile was contagious because I realised that I was also smiling, though I pursed my lips inwards to hide it. We weren't there yet, I couldn't smile around her just yet, not after everything that had happened.

"I won't. And I also don't trust the bureau." She stated, my pounding heart coming to ease when she said she also didn't trust the bureau

"And you can call me Ana."

She flashed me a quick smile, the rays of sunlight that were poking through the clouds shining down on her as they made her eyes sparkle. The way the wind blew her black hair out of her face, the strong scent of vanilla always enveloped around her; she was perfect.

"Ana." I mumbled, a small smile at the corner of my lips as I took in the way of how well it rolled off my tongue