Supernatural Tales - Book II

Chapter 21

(Unedited)

Aaliyah rolled over under the soft sheets and sighed deeply.

Her half-lidded eyes looked around her new bedroom, the sight of it all tugging out another deep exhale from her heart, and she ignored the now-familiar fluttering sensation inside her stomach as she pushed herself to sit up. It had been a few days since she arrived in the realm she once vowed to never set foot in again and every day dragged through her soul, tiring her out in ways she never knew it could. Unlike herself, Bida and Juno were having the time of their lives and Aaliyah knew it was courtesy of the vampire queen, Rayelle, who had left no stone unturned to make them feel at home in this strange place. While Juno spent all her days on the gaming console and munching on snacks from the human realm, Bida either slept under the new sun or took over her body only to follow Esme around like a love-sick puppy.

The thought of her mate made Aaliyah's chest hurt.

Pressing her hand against her heart, she once again observed the chambers she knew not how to make a home out of. Tulip was right to believe that the spell never worked for Aaliyah because she did not even know the meaning of home. It was pitiful, she knew, to have been exposed before the young princess in such a tragic manner. She could tell Tulip recognized the ivory marble that comprised her room once the spell was over and even when she was kind enough to not mention it, it made her feel bitter and weak. How pathetic was it that even after having lived for eons the sole nearness Aaliyah had ever known of a home was the place where she met her mate, got her heart and soul broken forever, and lost her dragon before returning to her realm utterly shattered.

Aaliyah did not wish to ponder on that question and in her desperate attempt to escape her own mind, she compelled herself to move even when she was convinced there were sandbags tied to her legs and lava boiling inside her constantly aching heart. Unfortunately, for her, she could not get too far before finding her feet halting on their own. As she stood in the middle of the now-furnished and much cozier than before chambers, Aaliyah thought back to the second day of her arrival in this realm. She had woken up with a familiar tiredness inside her chest, exhaling as she pushed herself to move if only to ensure Juno was alright, but the moment she noticed the difference in her new living space, she paused and looked around with an alarmed gaze.

The ivory marble of her living space did not look as dead as it did the day before and neither did the expanse all around her. On one side of her living space, before a huge magical glass wall that showed the magnificent view of the icy peaks, was a working fireplace with a sofa set and a table that was not there before. One of the walls of her chambers now housed a huge shelf filled with books from her realm, the human realm, and this one as well, and a comfortable reading armchair. One of the hubs had been morphed into a small yet surprisingly well-equipped kitchen that looked a lot like the one she had at the orphanage and it was on the huge marble island in there that she saw a steaming mug of a strange beverage waiting for her with a note left beside it. Her feet moved only to take her closer to the unfamiliar note and Aaliyah's dark brown eyes skimmed over cutting words written in an elegant penmanship.

I hope you do not mind me taking the initiative to help supply your living space a bit more to your liking. Or at least I hope it is since my only source of knowledge was Bida and one can never know if all of this was what you may have wanted or what they desired. In any way, I hope the new changes do not deter you and make you feel a bit better.

I made you coffee. I hope you like it.

Sincerely,

Esme.

Aaliyah had read that note countless times and she had fought off her desire to rip the page to shreds even more so. In the end, she simply folded the note with delicate movements and slipped it underneath her pillow, only then realizing that everything inside her bedroom was additional as well. She made sure to let Bida know that she felt betrayed by this but the dragon was only too glad to remind her that they could sense the seed of happiness that was blossoming inside her treacherous heart against her will. Ignoring her haughty dragon, Aaliyah forced herself to enter her restroom and skillfully ignored everything new and shiny inside there as well. She believed she did not need any help from anyone, she was sure she could have done it all herself once she possessed the heart to do it, but the moment her tired body was drenched in lukewarm water that smelled like roses, she admitted, albeit bitterly and with much, much, struggle, that she could not have done as good of a job as her mate had done.