A/N: Was the wait worth this slightly longer chapter? Please leave a review to let me know about your thoughts. They mean the world to me and also are the best kind of motivation, so more reviews, more frequent updates. Thanks so much. *kisses.
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A/N: Hey, guys. I have to say that this is my favorite chapter so far, because so many things happen. It was very fun to write and the thing I have in mind will only be more interesting. Enjoy :)
When I woke up, I couldn't believe that I wasn't dreaming. Alex's warm body was pressed against mine and I could feel her chest rise and fall with every breath she took. She had stayed.
"I know you are awake." She told me softly and I decided that from now on, the first thing I wanted to hear every morning when I woke up was her husky voice. "Why do you keep your eyes closed?"
"Because if I wake up, we have to go to breakfast. And I don't want to leave this bed." I said sincerely, opening my eyes and taking a look at her. Even after waking up, she looked breathtaking.
Alex smiled faintly and I could tell something was wrong. "I guess we can stay here a little longer." She said so quietly that I barely heard it.
I didn't want to ruin this perfect moment with concerns and bad thoughts. So, I just closed my eyes again and became her little spoon, cherishing every second that passed.
…..
Alex hadn't joined me for breakfast, so I literally devoured what Red put in front me, not wanting to wait another moment before I could go back to bed.
"What's the rush, kid?" Nicky asked me with a lopsided grin.
"I have things to do with Alex." I told her, not caring that my mouth was full.
"Today?" She repeated with disbelief. "Impossible."
"Why?" I stopped stuffing my mouth with food. "What's today?"
Nicky and Red shared a look and the wolf sat down beside me. "Now, I need you to listen very carefully and try to understand what I tell you." She hadn't even started and I had a feeling that I wouldn't like what she had to say. "Once in six months, we each have a specific day in which we lose control of our powers." I stared at her, holding my breath. "For me that means that I can't shift out of my wolf form. Lorna harms whoever she touches."
She deliberately failed to mention what happened to the one I cared most about. "And what about Alex?"
Nicky sighed and looked down in discomfort. "Alex is the most powerful of us and for her it's-"
"What happens to her, Nicky?"
"Alex loses control of her illusions. For several hours, she doesn't now what's real and what's not. She's lucky if she has gained most of her control before the day is over."
I felt the world crumble beneath my feet. So much new information… Alex is an illusion-maker, I repeated it in my brain and somehow it made perfect sense. But that was not my main concern right now. She can't distinguish reality from illusion.
Before Nicky could stop me, I started running. I ran and ran until I was breathlessly standing outside her closed doors. "Please." I told the guards, begging them to let me in.
"Her Majesty doesn't allow anyone, Ms. Chapman." One of them said without any expression.
I was about to walk away when I heard her scream. Something inside me cracked. I caught the guards off guard when I pushed my way through them, that being the only reason I managed to walk into the room.
On the bed lay Alex, constantly moving as if trying to escape from something. Suddenly her head yanked to my side. "Piper…?" She asked weakly. I was already by her side when the next question came. "Are you real?"
"Yes." I breathed. "I'm real. I'm here with you, Alex."
A croaky plea came out of her mouth. "Please go."
"What? Why?" I asked, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"I'll hurt you." Her voice was full of panic. "I can't control myself."
"I'm not leaving." I told her, my tone gentle.
"Please, Piper. If you are real, go!" Her eyes darted to the other side of the room and fear was written all over her face. An illusion, I presumed. "Please." She winced as if something had hurt her.
"If you were in my position," I gave her my hand and she held onto it so tightly to a point where I almost felt pain. "-would you leave?"
Her silence was the answer I had expected. "Nothing is real." I said, getting onto the bed. "Just you and me." With that, I wrapped my arms around her, making her my little spoon.
…
The hours passed by and Alex squirmed and winced and I could nothing more than tell her soothing words and hold her. The day was coming to an end but instead of getting better, she only got worse.
"Mum." She cried out, looking at something I couldn't see. "I'm so, so sorry." A single tear run down her cheek. It was the first time I saw her cry. Turning to me, she screamed, "It's your fault she is dead!"
"What? Alex, no. I-" Before I could finish my sentence she pushed me onto my back and wrapped her hands around my throat.
"I'll kill you." Alex was looking at me but she was definitely not seeing me.
"Alex!" I screamed back at her. "It's Piper."
Just when I thought that this was how I would die, she blinked a few times and let go of my throat. "Dear Gods, what have I done?" She breathed out. "Piper I'm so sorry. I didn't mean- I- I wasn't- Please forgive me." Tears were streaming down her beautiful face while she softly ran her hand on my necks and the marks that she had left there.
"Of course I forgive you." I told her sincerely, getting into a sitting position. "I'm okay, really." She looked at me with disbelief and I added, "It's nothing Lorna can't fix."
"Please, go there immediately." I decided that the logical thing to do would be to agree with her, so after placing a kiss on her cheek I left for Lorna's room.
…
It was Alex who came to find me.
"Hey, there." She said, leaning against the door frame.
"Hey." I told her with a smile. "You look better."
"So do you." She sat at the edge of my bed. "About earlier-"
"Please don't bring up the incident. It was really nothing."
Alex allowed herself to smile faintly. "I actually wanted to thank you for staying with me despite all dangers."
"You would have done the same for me." The words come out of my mouth before I can think against it.
"You are right. I would. But I never allowed myself to think- to dream that you might care enough." It was spoken so quietly that I had to move closer to her so I could understand it fully.
"Alex…" I didn't what else to say, so I just said her name. Oh, how I loved her name. "Alex." I said again and smiled as if it was my own inside joke.
"A little bird told me that you enjoy taking baths a lot."
"I love everything that has to do with water. Especially when it's warm." I smiled. "It's my happy place."
"Well, then you'll be elated when you see what I want to show you."
…..
"May I open my eyes yet?" I asked, feeling a little scared wandering through the gardens without my vision. I wondered why she had asked me to wear nothing but a robe.
"Just a little more." She told me and I could feel her excitement. "Okay, you can see now."
We were in a secluded part of the gardens that I hadn't visited before and in front of me was a hot spring. The water must have been very warm because steam was coming out of it. "Alex… It's- perfect."
A gasp escaped my lips as she walked behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. "I want to show you my gratitude." She whispered in my ear, sending shivers up my spine. "This was my least severe loss of control in ever. And it was all because of you." With a swift move, she turned me so I was looking straight into her icy green eyes. "Ask me for anything."
I didn't have to think twice. "Show me your powers."
"Ah… Nicky told you about them, didn't she?" Alex asked, running a hand through her raven-colored hair.
"She had to. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what was wrong with you." I spoke the next words, so, so softly. "Don't be mad at her."
"I won't." Alex smiled bitterly. "If you want me to stop at any moment, just say it." She warned me and closed her eyes. Shortly after, rain started pouring down from the sky. "Wow…" I breathed out as my clothes and hair got wetter and wetter.
"Seems real, doesn't it?" Before I could nod, the rain stopped falling and I was dry. "How about this?"
Hundreds of butterflies appeared out of nowhere and started circling me, trapping me in a hurricane of vibrant colors. I was giggling like a little child until each of them vanished. "Alex, you can create so many beautiful things," I told her, my hands holding hers. "All this time I thought that you were darkness, but in reality, you are just a star pretending to be darkness, because you are too afraid to stand out."
She didn't answer verbally. Instead, behind her appeared a creature made of the most terrifying nightmares. It was very tall and lean, its skin was covered in scars and it didn't have a face- just razor sharp teeth.
I didn't let my fear show. "You don't scare me." I said firmly, staring at the illusion until it faded.
Alex opened her mouth to say something but then thought against it. With her delicate fingers, she undid the knot that kept her robe closed and let it fall down, revealing her bare behind. My breath hitched and she chuckled while entering the hot springs. "Come on, kid. I know how bad you want to go in the water."
Don't be a coward, I told myself harshly and after taking a deep breath, I dropped my robe exposing my naked body to Alex. I slowly made my way into the water, trying to don't shake too much. Two emeralds were glued on me, appreciating every curve and edge of my body. She looked me in a way that didn't make me feel uncomfortable, but rather a priceless piece of art.
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Alex asked me and I suddenly couldn't breathe. I didn't know if it was because of the fact are naked bodies were touching or the way she spoke those words. Yes, she had called me beautiful again, but back then it was only a compliment, meant to charm and seduce me. This time, it came from her heart.
"I love the smiles those lips create." She whispered, running her wet thumb on my lower lip. My eyes fluttered closed on their own and when I regained my sight, we were swimming in the night sky. Like freckles, stars were decorating the water, that bare resemblance to the dark sky.
"Is this real?" I asked in awe.
"Does it matter?"
"No." I murmured simply. "Are you real?"
"Yes." She told me with a soft chuckle.
"Good." Every living cell in my body knew that if I didn't kiss her I would explode. So, pushing away every trace of fear or doubt left in me, I pressed my forehead against hers and slightly, oh so slightly, brushed my lips on hers, a silent invitation to make the first move.
Her eyes locked on mine, asking me for permission as she positioned her hand on my cheek. Yes, I wanted to scream, but instead I simply nodded. Alex then slowly -giving me the chance to back away until the last moment- pressed her lips against mine. It felt as if I had taken my first breath after centuries of suffocating. The next one was more passionate, Alex bringing our bodies closer the same moment she sucking gently on my lower lip. "Alex…" I moaned out her name, not knowing any other way to express how I felt.
"I know, Pipes. I know." She kissed me again as if I was addictive and she had to have just one more, even though she knew that even with that she wouldn't be left satisfied. "Close your eyes."I didn't know why she wanted me to, but I obeyed nevertheless. I was utterly hers.
When I opened them again, we were no longer in the garden. Still naked, we were on her king sized bed. The thought didn't intimidate me. In contrast, it excited me. "H-how did-"
"Shhh…" She murmured against my lips and with a courage I didn't know I possessed, I used my hands to bring her face even closer to mine and to kiss her. "Let me take care of you." She didn't have to say it twice.
I was lying on my back and Alex was hovering above me. It started with another kiss on the lips, which was even more pleasurable than the last. She then moved on to kiss the length of my neck, sometimes sucking on the sensitive skin, making moan and groan. When she was done with that, she kissed her way down my torso and stopped somewhere in between my navel and lady parts. Icy green eyes looked up, catching mine. I was about to tell her how much I wanted, needed this when there was a knock on the door.
"Who the hell is it?" Alex growled, looking at the door's direction.
"Lorenzo is here, your Majesty." I recognized the voice of one of her guards.
She threw her head back in frustration. "Out of all the time in the world, he had to come now?"
"Who is Lorenzo?" I asked, for the first time feeling a little exposed being completely naked.
"He is my recruiter." Alex was wrapping a robe around her body. "He travels around the continent looking for people like me and he brings them here."
"Do you have to go?"
"I'm so sorry, Pipes." She told me, planting a kiss on my head. "You can join me if you please." With that, she threw a silk robe at me, presumably one of hers. "Either way, I promise to you, we will continue this."
…
Alex was sitting on her throne and I was positioned on her lap. All the court people that were in the throne room had their eyes glued to me. Some of them looked at me with pity, while others with disgust. All of them, however, shared the same thought. Alexandra's whore.
I didn't mind. Not a single bit. Because she softly stroke my thigh, not a sexual but rather reassuring movement, and she looked at me, her eyes filled with so much love that made everything else be background. I was there for Alex and nothing else mattered.
Even though we were both wearing our robes -it was the middle of the night after all- Alex had put on her heavy looking crown, which was covered in black jewels the size of small rocks. The Lady Alexandra Vause, the first of her name, mighty Queen of Darkness, and many other titles I couldn't remember.
Finally, a young man appeared and the guards announced him as Lorenzo Salvatore. He was a fine looking man. But no nearly as close to the beauty that was currently breathing against my neck. Acknowledging him, she said flatly, "Report your findings and be done with it."
Despite her tone, he managed a smile that could make any girl swoon. "Two triggered and one that still has not shown his power, your Majesty."
Alex seemed pleased. "Very good. I'd like to meet them first thing tomorrow."
Lorenzo nodded politely and then let his eyes wander on me. His look was something new- not judgment or sympathy, but pure excitement. He then turned back to Alex. "I didn't know that you had found someone on your own, your Majesty."
"What do you mean?" Each word came out gritted teeth as if she knew the answer but didn't want to hear it.
"Your… companion is one of the gifted ones."
A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I just had to. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and of course the Vauseman moment. I'm eagerly waiting for each review you write. Stay awesome :)
