45

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
ASHER’S POV
Diner was epic.
The arguments, the food, the joy, everything about it was fantastic and I wish it didn’t have to end.
Right now I’m walking towards the bedroom Freya and I share and I am fully prepared for the fight I’m going to have with her.
It’s official, we fight every day of our lives.
I wonder if she never gets tired.
Once I open the door, I see her walking helter-skelter, fuming in anger.
“Don’t tell me you have been doing that for the past two hours” I say softly as I walk in.
“I’m getting fed up with all this! This is getting out of hand. First your brother and now your sister!”
“No, first was my sister, the came my brother and now my sister again. You won’t feel very good tomorrow if my brother comes again”
“You keep taking their sides?”
“What exactly did Aryra do this time around?”
“She humiliated me in front of that tramp called Astrid!”
“You humiliated yourself by leaving!”
“Asher… why are you doing this to me?” she asks with a shaky voice that’s supposed to make feel sorry for her, but it doesn’t. “You won’t even look at me, you keep taking Astrid’s side every single time. I’m always the one at fault. Why are you doing this to me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the fact that you have been such a bitch to Astrid for the better part of her life. Maybe that’s the reason why I can’t stand you.”
“But, we are going to get married”
“Doesn’t really matter. Even marriage won’t be able to change the way I feel about you”
“You are cruel” She cries as she wipes the tears that are falling from her eyes. “You are so cruel Asher”
“Goodnight” I turn around and walk out of the bedroom and the only thing on my mind is Astrid. I head straight for the East Wing.
I hope Freya understands and leaves this castle, because for as long as I live, I will only dislike her and we have no future together!
When I get to door to Astrid’s bedroom, I knock at it and wiat for for a response, but none comes.
I knock again, but still response.
She could not have have fallen asleep so soon. I gently creak the door, hoping it’s open and when it opens up, I give a silent prayer to the moon goddess and step in. I scan the surroundings, but there is no sign of Astrid.
I notice there’s there’s more breeze getting into the room than it is normally supposed to and that’s when I understand where she is.
I head over to another door in the bedroom that’s ajar and see her standing by the balcony, gazing at the stars in the sky. The breeze causes the strands of her hair to fly freely and she has both arms folded over her breasts. And indication that she is cold.
She appears to be so lost in thought and I wonder what it is she is thinking about.
Could it be her parents?
Or her life at the moment
Or me?
It will do much good to my nerves if she is thinking about me.
I take off the overall jacket I have on and take calculated steps behind her. When I’m close, I gently place the jacket on her body, causing her to tremble in fear and jerk around.
“It’s just me, don’t be scared” I assure her in a whisper and the fear in her eyes subside, but she’s still breathing hard. I gently stroke her hair and take her into my arms as I urge her to stay calm.
“I’m sorry for scaring you like that, just that I knocked but got no response”
“I’m sorry, I was out here… watching the stars”
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about” She breaks the hug and looks up at me.
“Thank you for the jacket.”
“Anytime” We both stand side by side by the balcony and look up into the alluring sky in silence.
Looking at the stars is something I love doing, but I have never done it with any girl before. Doing it with Astrid for the first time, really makes it special.
“Back at the Black Wood Pack, my bedroom was nothing short of a hole” She chuckles and I feel the pain in her voice. “I had just a small window and every night, I would sit on it and look at the stars. Sometimes, I would count them. Especially after having a long day of serving Freya and getting some beatings from her. Counting the stars served as a distraction, it prevented me from thinking myself into depression and harboring intrusive thoughts”
“Was she that bad?” I ask softly and she chuckles yet again.
“You have no idea. You know…” She looks up at me. “Back there, I didn’t feel guilty for what we did to her. I mean when she left, we all ate on like nothing happened, I didn’t feel guilty about that because in a way, she deserved it. She never let me have dinner with the other maids. I always had to wait for everyone to go to bed before I sneak out with food, into the woods to eat” Now, her voyce iS shaky and she is about to break down. “That was a horrible experience”
“I saw you once”
“What?”
“Yeah. After that day we first met, I swear I couldn’t get you off my mind. One night, I came to… I don’t know, spy around to see if I would catch even a glimpse of you, that’s when I saw you in the woods, eating. It shattered me I to pieces Astrid. I wanted to take you away that minute, but I knew better than to do that. That would have led to a war between me and your Alpha. So I planned to get you by other means, but, you ran straight into my arms. You have no idea how happy I was” I explain
“I… I… don’t even know what to say. I didn’t know that”
“You couldn’t have known. I’m just happy you are here Astrid and I promise you that you will never go back to that kind of life. You have no idea how furious I get when Freya bullies you, it hurts me to the core. That’s why I’m training you hard, so you can defend yourself against her and why not make her eat her own shit?”
She laughs hard and I look at her I’m amusement.
It feels nice to see her laugh this hard.
“I promise I’ll do better henceforth. I won’t let her bully me ever again!” She assures me with confident smile and I nod.
“That’s my girl.” She looks back up a the sky and I keep looking at her like a lunatic.
I can never get enough of this girl. From her beautiful balck hair, to her perfectly sculptured face which has got the softest features. Her slim figure is everything I want in a girl.
She is gorgeous and I will make her mine someday.
“Astrid” I call softly and she turns to face me. I close the gap between us and give her an intense look straight in the eye.
She opens her mouth to say something, but all of a sudden, she closes it and just keeps staring at me.
Right now, we can can actually feel each other’s breaths and her intoxicating smell is raiding my mind.
I gently raise my left hand up and caress from her temple down to her cheeks and my heart flutters in excitement when she tilts her head to get more of my touch.
I carefully snake my right arm around her waist and pull her closer to me. The moment our bodies brush against each other’s, a thunder of emotions strikes within me, causing goosebumps to appear all over my body.
As I bring my face closer to hers, my heart starts beating so fast, that I’m scared she might hear the sound. I look at her pink full lips that are just a few inches from mine.
All I have to do is to capture them in the most passionate kiss, but I know better than to do that.
Without warning, I withdraw from her closeness, muttering the words “I’m sorry” over a million times as I leave her presence.
I can’t kiss her.
I can’t kiss her just yet.
There are many things still at steak.
I’m still engaged to Freya.
I still haven’t figured out how to defeat Alpha Adolph.
The witch still hasn’t told me what I need to do with the dagger.
There are a lot of things that have to be set right before I do this with Astrid.
I can’t get involved with her right now, I can’t risk putting our future on the line by rushing things with her.