The Rejected Link

Chapter 7: Show of care

I woke up in a daze, my head pounding with pain. The events of the previous day played like a blur in my mind.

But where was I? Looking around, I realized that I was no longer in the forest. Instead, I found myself lying on a soft bed, surrounded by unfamiliar walls adorned with paintings and bookshelves filled to the brim.

The scent of Cinnamon was thick in the air. It filled my lungs and spread warmth through my body, relaxing my nerves. I sit up on the bed, wincing from pain. As I looked at my side where the stab wound should be, I saw wraps of bandages stretching across my abdomen and extending to my back, where a level of pain resided.

“You're up!” Exol enters the room.

He's wearing black slacks with a white shirt. He looks amazing. The slacks go all the way to his ankles slightly covering the black sandals he has on. The shirt complements his shiny black hair; it's long-sleeved with ropes at the front that are undone.

He walks majestically to his table and takes a sit facing me.

“How's your side?” He asks passively, seeming uninterested.

Why ask if you are not concerned?

“It hurts” I state, my voice low. His expression is stoic, his grey eye resembling a troubled sky that's about to rain. His lips are set in a thin lip and his arms are crossed.

“Are you the one that-” He cuts me off before I can finish “No, Grace tended to your wounds”

Right, the healer, but how exactly did I get here? I remember before losing consciousness, the dark shadow had attacked the cloaked man; if Exol had found me…wait, how did he find me?

“How did you find me?” He visibly flinched at my question, dropping his hands to his knees.

“I followed your scent” He responds, standing up and turning away to hide his face from me. “You were in trouble and needed help”

“But how did you know I needed help?” He doesn't answer. He moves towards his closet and, picks out an outfit, throws it on the bed beside me. “You can use my bathroom and clean up”.

He avoided the question, but I wasn't going to let it go that easily. “How did you know Exol?”

“I felt you!” He states, looking at me now, “Our bond! I can feel you through our bond.” I gawked at him, I didn't know that; we weren't mated yet, so he shouldn't be able to feel my emotions yet.

“We are supposed to feel each other's emotions, you know that, right?”

“But we are not mated yet” He smiles. Not a happy smile, but that smile that says I was stupid for not knowing. But a smile regardless.

I get up from the bed and move, but a sharp sting from my wound surges through me, causing me to bend over in pain. Exol is by my side in seconds, holding me up with his hands.

He is very close, and I can't help but breathe in that rich scent of his; the oakwood isn't as much, but I can smell it. The cinnamon stands out heavily. He rushed to help me at the slightest sign of discomfort.

He does care. Why is he bent on rejecting me then? I brush off the feeling, I take advantage of the situation and hold on to him tight.

He helps me stand and leads me gently to the bathroom; as we walk slowly, I study every detail of his face, his grey eyes that shine from the reflection of light, his lips that are plump and peach in color, his nose that is pointed and small. His jawline is so sharp; as I studied, I noticed a scar just above his jaw, almost at his ear.

I take my free hand and trace it out of impulse, I only notice what I'm doing when he stops and looks at me directly.

“I'm sorry,” I'm quick to say. He's not being hostile with me right now, and I don't want to ruin that.

“Why can't I feel your emotions?” I ask after a minute of us just staring at each other.

“I think it's better that way,” He states, his voice barely above a whisper, but I hear him. I feel sad hearing that; not only can't I feel his emotions, but he doesn't want me to.

I remove my hands from him “I think I can manage from here. Thanks.” He lets me go; for a second, he feels reluctant, but he does and closes the door to the bathroom. “I’m right here”

The bathroom was simple, all his body essentials were in a small cabinet on the wall beside the mirror. A minimalist design, it was lovely. Removing the bandages around me, I noticed that the wound was still very fresh and slightly darkening.

This was very strange, I should have healed by now. I took longer to heal than others, but this was still very fresh.

Despite my eerie feelings, I proceed to take a shower. Once I'm done, I tie the towel around my body and step out. Exol is sitting at his desk with a book in his hand. The same one I saw him with the first day we met.

I clear my throat to make my presence known, he turns to me and stares at me dragging his eyes from up to down making me feel self-conscious, my cheeks flush and I tighten my hands on the towel in fear of it falling off

He drops the book and steps out of the room in a hurry not without taking one last glance at me.

I dress up quickly in black sweatpants and a matching black shirt that swallows my small frame. I shout that I'm done, Exol stalks back into the room and stands in the middle.

“Do you read a lot?” I ask trying to diffuse the thick tension that filled the air. I move to the table and pick it up. It was a slightly heavy book with Secrets of the Dark written in bold on the cover.

I liked reading; it was always a way to escape reality, where I got to be whoever the character was and live their lives vicariously.

I spot Exol by my side from the corner of my eyes, his tall frame hovering over me slightly. He doesn't answer me, he takes the book from my hands and settles it at the edge of the table.

I face him, his face turning serious, his brows crease and his lips are in a tight line again.

He looks at me squarely and asks, “Why were you in that forest, Ruthni?”