Come to me...

Chapter 16 ~ One week... Part II

And, ladies and gentlemen, that's how the first day finished. One down, only six more to go until the poison attains Gabriella's core and kills her.

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*Second day*

Bittersweet, that was the best way to describe how Rayne felt when he woke up the next morning.

From the one hand, having Gabriella in his arms almost felt surreal. He had spent a lot of time thinking about how it would feel to wake up next to his mate. He used to be secretly jealous of his brother when want  into his room and saw him comfortable in his bed with Kate. Well, actually he was jealous of Kate because she had all of Nate's attention. But still, the curiosity of what it would feel like was still there.

At that moment Rayne knew why Nate always threw at him the first thing he put his hands on when he barged into his room. Why he always told him he was getting up in just five minutes. Why those five minutes always morphed into half hours...

It was a deliciously unique feeling, that's why.

But of course if there's a "from the one hand", there had to be a second one. And that's why, among all that sea of delightfulness, there was a huge vortex of sadness consuming Rayne from the core.

Gabriella was in his arms, yet he felt as if she was slipping away from is hold. Time felt like it was his worst enemy. His heart was going to stop anytime, yet the clock in front of him kept moving as if nothing was happening at all.

Rayne started to feel anxious. He wanted to stand up and run like there was no tomorrow. He wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it for the rest of his days. But that wasn't going to be of any help to Gabriella.

Speaking of Gabriella, from the time he opened his eyes, Rayne still hadn't glanced at her. He just couldn't.

Her chest rose up and went back down with each breath she took. He could feel each one of them. Rayne could sense her whole being surrounding him. She needed him. Her whole body radiated with the need of waking up, of being alive. Yet he still couldn't bring himself to look at her.

Rayne knew he was being a coward but there was a question going through his mind that paralyzed him every time he wanted to man up and face her.

What if I can't save her?

Minutes passed and Rayne was still on his bed, refusing to look at his unconscious mate. He had his fists clenched. He wanted to punch himself for being so helpless. That was until his thoughts started drifting to Nathaniel again.

This time, rather than remembering how jealous he was of his late sister-in-law, he thought of all the nights he would sneak out with his brother to go hunting.

At that time, both of them were still very young. Nathaniel wasn't married and Rayne was still learning how to go through his duties. He was receiving lessons on economy and politics. He had to know everything about Gyra's management.

Needless to say, those lessons were overwhelming. They took almost all his time. Nate could totally relate to his brother's tiredness. Not because he was amazingly perfect brother, but because not only ten years before he was the one being taught that.

 One time Rayne complained saying that he didn't understand why he was learning that if he wasn't going to become King. After hearing that, Nate offered to sneak out once in a while to the forest they had outside the castle and start hunting.

The two brothers went out once, then twice, until it became a tradition. First Nate taught him how to catch a prey with a bow. Then, little by little, he trained him to seize his victim with his own hands.