A/N: Hello avid readers. How has everyone been lately? Yes, I know it's been well over four days, but many things have been distracting me. First it was my other story, where I got a sudden burst of inspiration and I just had to write in it. Then there was school, where they decided to load down about I don't even know how many projects that required my full attention. And finally, there was the beloved writers' block. Yes, our greatest enemy and age-old foe. But I have overcome him and he is slain...for now. Anyways, please enjoy the chapter.
Life After Everything Else
Chapter Nine: Revelation
God this man was not helping his nerves in any way! True, he was the person one would turn to when such a thing like this happened, but with his constant head shaking and muttering under his breath, tensions were high. Tarrant sighed as he entered her bedroom for about the hundredth time only to see him still shaking his head. Crying out in exasperation, he stormed away from the door and slumped into a decorated chair in the adjoining room.
Why had he let his happen to her? Yes, he was mad at her for what she did three weeks ago, and yes he was still mad at her for it. But that was absolutely no excuse for the way he treated her and he inwardly cursed himself for it. Unable to keep still, he walked back into her room and up to her still form. Her skin was so pale that, if he hadn't known any better and wasn't praying to everything and anything that would listen to him, he would believe that she was dead. The usual color she always seemed to have in her cheeks had all but disappeared and her normal pink lips were very colorless.
As he gazed down at her, he remembered the kiss he had shared with her in his fury weeks before and cursed himself yet again for turning her away. He shouldn't have yelled at her, he should have at least tried to understand the conflicted feelings the girl surely must have been feeling when she made the decision to return to her world. But, no matter how much he grieved and apologized for his foolish behavior, he knew that it would change nothing.
"Well?" he demanded, his voice harsh as he turned to face the doctor who still bent over Alice's figure. Clicking his tongue, he managed to lift himself up and took off the tiny spectacles that rested on the bridge of his nose before rubbing the glass as he looked at Tarrant.
"Are you the girl's husband?" he questioned. Tarrant fell silent, not sure how to response to the question as the man stared at him. "Well, are you?"
"Of course he isn't!" a woman's voice exclaimed. For a brief, blissful second, Tarrant believed that Alice had woken, but fate was too cruel for that. Instead Sapphira and Mirana entered the room hurriedly. "What in hell's demonic name made you think that!" Tarrant had to admit it though, when frustrated Sapphira could muster up quite an interesting vocabulary.
"Now Sapphira, please," Mirana begged, holding onto the woman's arm to hold her back. "Let the man speak."
"Indeed. The young girl here seems quite out of it, but she should pull through. Just plenty of rest and she'll be bright as day in a few hours after she wakes," the man explained with a brief smile. The other man in the room stared at him, clearly confused with the doctor's words when compared to his behaviors before.
"Is anything wrong with her?" Mirana asked, announcing his fears aloud for all to hear.
"Not sure yet. It's possible that her lungs had suffered a bit of damage, but I'm sure not by much. I do advise though that she shouldn't wear them. Unlike most women who have grown accustomed to it with time, she clearly has passed the age where one would be introduced to them and grow...comfortable when wearing one." Nodding her head in gentle understanding, the doctor performed a brief bow before placing his glasses back onto his face and leaving the room. Not sure what to do, Tarrant sat in the chair beside the vanity as he sent a well placed glare towards Sapphira. The woman simply brushed it off without notice before picking her skirts up and walking out of the room with a courteous nod towards the queen.
"...I'm sure that she'll be happy to see you, Tarrant," Mirana soothed as she continued to stand across the other side of the room.
"After I yelled at her and ignored then, then didn't even bother to take true notice of her until it was too late? Yes, then, she'll be terribly happy," he spat, grabbing his top hat and carelessly tossing it onto the table beside him. Lady Mirana frowned ever so slightly at the gesture before walking over to him. Before she even made it halfway to him, Tarrant noticed a strange stirring coming from Alice's bed but thought it merely his imagination. Standing from his seat, he stood in silence as Mirana finally made it beside him.
"She cares for you, Tarrant," Mirana whispered. "Why is it that you are so stubborn to see this yourself? And trust me; it's not a care one would give to their brother or friend--"
"And how would you know?" Tarrant interjected in accusation as again he thought he saw the blonde stir.
"Because..." Mirana fell silent, clearly having an inner battle with herself on whether to admit the secret. "Because I once cared for someone the way she cares for you now...and still does," she breathed, tears threatening to spill out of the woman's dark eyes. Tarrant gazed at her sadly; about to apologize before she took a step towards him to seek mere comfort but instead found herself tripping over her own skirts. Easily falling, Tarrant quickly caught her and held her gently in his arms.
"Be careful," he whispered, low enough for her to hear and cause a slight giggle to erupt from her dark lips. She couldn't help but laugh at her clumsiness. Allowing him to help lift her up she -though she didn't know fully why- snuck a glance at Alice's form and felt her cheeks go red. Before the both of them was a very shocked, very angry, and very much awake Alice.
"I...I should be going," Mirana muttered, feeling incredibly embarrassed over the whole thing. Giving Tarrant a look begging him to talk to her, to help Alice understand both what happened and his feelings, she quickly left the room and closed the door softly behind her.
Swallowing a sudden nervous lump in his throat, Tarrant turned to face Alice as she glared fiercely at him. "I see you're awake."
"Yes, no thanks to you," she hissed, throwing the heavy covers off her body. Tarrant took just slight amusement in the fact that she didn't seem to notice she was just a few scraps of clothing away from being completely naked.
"It is thanks to me," he responded quietly. "It was me who brought you here."
"Bullshit!" Alice shouted, very tempted to grab a vase and throw it towards his head. "Just admit it; you don't care about me at all!" Tarrant could feel his body tense as he frowned at her. If anything, that was as far as the truth as she could possibly get.
"That's not true, Alice," he replied calmly as tried to walk over to her only to have her shrink away from him.
"Yes, it is! You care for...for her!" Staring down at the furious blonde, he never felt more confused in his life.
"Her...?"
"Don't play games; you know who I'm talking about!" Alice snapped. When still Tarrant didn't say anything, she brushed away tears from her eyes. "Lady Mirana!"
"Why...?" He was wrong before; this was the time he had never felt more confused. "Why would you think that?" Alice let out a groan of despair as she still tried fled from his presence.
"It's obvious!" she screamed, feeling like just collapsing onto the ground in a sobbing heap. But she wouldn't allow that. There was no way in hell she would give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. "It's as plain as day that you love her!"
"Alice, please, listen to me--"
"Don't even try lying to me! I figured it all out. I didn't want to believe it at first. No, I wanted to believe that you...you loved..." Suddenly, her voice grew softer and quieter until he seemed to resemble a terrified child. But the spell was soon broken as she shook her head fiercely. "When you ignored me the day you returned to Marmoreal, even after I made it clear to you that I was trying to get your attention, you shrugged me off and continued walking. Then there was the ball; you were dancing with her and you were so damn happy!" Alice couldn't look at him, was unable to as she knew if she did she would do the very thing she was tempted to do.
"Alice..."
"And then just now! You seemed all too eager to take her into your arms when I wasn't 'around' to notice. Just tell me the truth, end my misery, and then get the hell out of my room!" God, she was turning into a pathetic heap. Her voice was quivering and her whole body trembled violently with both fury and the desperate need to want him to deny everything that she knew was true. It was so obvious from the way that he looked after the woman that he loved her.
Lifting her head, she saw that Tarrant was carefully walking towards her. She had lost her energy and didn't bother trying to back away from him. "Alice, you have to listen to me. I do love Lady Mirana, yes, but at the most it is like the love a brother and sister share for one another-"
"Don't lie!" she nearly shrieked, running up to him and pounding her fists on his body as hard as she could as her vision blurred from her tears. "I'm sick of your lies! Sick of them! Just admit it and stop playing with my emotions because I'm not some toy for you to use!"
Suddenly grabbing her wrists, Tarrant pressed her against her bedpost, pinning her body between his and the wood in an attempt to make her listen to him. "I'm not lying! I'm not playing games with you! And I am most certainly not using you!" he shouted right in her face as she was held still. Silence. Alice said nothing as she continued breathing heavily and looking down, away from his staring gaze.
It was at that exact moment that Tarrant was greatly tempted to take her completely in his arms and erase all of her worries from before. To reassure her that she had nothing to fear and admit to her that he cared deeply for the woman and admit that he longed to feel her lips press against his, her body close to his, just like the day that he and her celebrated her choice on staying. His green eyes falling down, he couldn't help but gaze at the rise and fall of her breasts from her heavy breathing and inwardly slapped himself. Now was not the time for such thoughts!
Yet he was unable to help but hold his breath as she shyly looked at him through her lashes before slowly lifting her head up to meet his gaze. Her eyes shone from unspilt tears and her lips her slightly red from where she had been nervously biting them. Gently loosening his grip on her wrists, he watched as her gaze turned away from him again and his eyes wondered over her once more. The undergarments she wore not only left little protection from prying eyes as well as leaving little left to the imagination for what waited underneath them. She clearly squirmed under him, but not from his gazing but from the thoughts in her mind.
Looking back up at her, he caught her eyes in his and gently released one of his hands from its grip around her wrist and brought it down to rest on Alice's face. Letting his thumb brush a stray tear that had escaped its prison that was her brown eyes he could tell that she was holding her breath. Really looking into the brown depths, he could see how much that she wanted him to deny everything she had accused him of, and how much she truly did care for him...possibly even love.
"It isn't Lady Mirana that I love," he whispered.
"Then who?" she demanded. Tarrant was taken aback, he most certainly wasn't sure how to response to the retort.
"I can't say," he whispered, but caught her chin to force her to look at him. "Not because I won't tell you," he quickly corrected, "but because I'm scared of what she'll do if I tell her." Yes, it was true. He truly was scared of how Alice would react. It hadn't been long that he realized the feeling himself, but when he saw Alice faint, he knew that he had to help her, even if it meant having to cross Underland to find help. It was then that he realized that he never wanted to care for any other person the way he cared for the girl standing before him.
"...Do I know her?" Alice questioned quietly.
"You could say that," he whispered, staring deeply into her eyes as he suddenly felt the strong urge to feel her lips against his once more.
Alice stared up at him, wanting deeply for him to kiss her the way that they had before. She wanted to give in to her passions that were raging inside her for the three weeks of solitude: anger, sadness, and especially the want to be close with the man who stood before her now. "If you claim all those pretty words, then how do you explain what I saw?"
"Lady Mirana tripped over her dress skirts. Besides, if anything will sooth your worries, know that Lady Mirana already has someone that she cares for very deeply as one would love, but that she knows not where this mystery man has disappeared. Or, at least, she won't tell," he explained, his hand that was resting on her cheek now moving so that his white fingers threaded in her golden locks. "Please believe me, Alice. I would never betray you," he whispered.
"I believe you..." she muttered, her voice growing soft and faint. Her eyes floated down, too ashamed to look at the man before her. She knew she looked defeated, and that he was more than likely right about what had happened. But why, then, was she still upset over it?
Looking up at him, staring into his green eyes, Alice tried to find something. True, she wasn't sure what exactly she was trying to find, but she couldn't turn away. It was almost as if his gaze drew her in, beckoning to come closer...
"Alice?" he asked, not sure what to do. He couldn't turn away from her, look away from her innocent brown eyes that held so much hope and promise. Watching with apprehension as she lifted her arms up and wrapped them loosely around his neck, his whole body tensed up as her eyes fluttered close. "Alice--"
"Don't," Alice ordered gently, her eyes still closed as she seemed to be thinking. Tarrant gazed at her, clearly confused as he waited for her to speak again. When she didn't but instead revealed her brown eyes, he was about to speak himself before he was stopped. And what had stopped him was Alice's pink lips against his.
Tarrant was taken by surprise, to say the very least! It was such a drastic change from the fury she was showing him earlier that, for a moment, he almost believed himself dreaming. If it is, never wake up, he thought as his arms instinctively dropped and wrapped tightly around her waist, bringing her closer as her lips shyly parted. God in heaven, Tarrant had found paradise and it was being held in his arms right now! he couldn't stop, he didn't want to stop!
"What in holy hell is going on here!" a woman's voice nearly shrieked. Alice instantly backed away, causing the back of her head to hit the pole.
"S-s-s-sapphira?" Alice stammered her face a bright shade of red. "W-w-what are y-y-y-y-you-"
"I came here to check on you! But lo' and behold, I find this disgrace instead!" she shouted, walking into the room before she closed the door behind her.
"W-w-w-we w-weren't doing a-anything bad-"
"And you're not even dressed!" Sapphira screeched, nearly bursting a vein. "That's it! Out! Out!" Storming up to Tarrant, she grabbed him by his shirt and began pushing him towards the exit. When she successfully kicked him out of the room, she made sure to slam the door loud enough for all of Underland to hear before more shouts were heard on the other side. Tarrant couldn't help but smile.
Standing up from the floor he was thrown onto, he brushed his shirt from any dust and stared happily at the door. No matter what Sapphira said, Tarrant was not going to be avoiding the blonde he definitely had fallen for.
Before the day would end, Tarrant knew he would somehow, someway, get himself around to seeing Alice again...
A/N: Everyone, I am so so so so so so so very very sorry that it has taken me this long to update. My writer's block came back in the middle of the chapter and I would just stare at my screen, willing it to write something as I screamed in my head 'think of something, damn it, you can do it!' So, I had to make this chapter short before I ended up killing it and dragging it through the dirt. So...yea... Anyhow, since the next chapter is a milestone for me (tenth chapter) I intend to celebrate it with this, and I hope you take enjoyment in this. Secrets will be revealed and they should keep you all very entertained. Make sure to review and I'll see everyone next chapter.
