169: FOR YOU, I WILL COMPROMISE

FOR YOU, I WILL COMPROMISE

Hey baby when we are together

Doing things that we love

Every time you near I feel like I am in heaven

Feeling high

I don't want to let go girl

I just need you to know girl

-No Promises. By: Shayne Ward-

**************   

"Fae?" Raine looked at the woman in puzzlement, her gaze shifting from the woman, back to Torak. "I have never seen one before." 

The woman's smile didn't falter as she greeted Raine. "Greetings Luna, I am Purple. Guardian of this place." She said in her crisp voice. 

And then, Raine took a second look at Purple. Her wings, her friendly smile, and her whole being. The girl couldn't hide the embarrassment that she felt for her previous reaction towards Purple. 

"I am sorry." Raine came out from behind Torak's back. "This is my first time seeing a fae…" She said timidly. And in awe, she glanced at her wings again. 

"It's alright, there are not many of our kind left." Purple said reassuringly. 

Her wings had various shades of blue, and yellow color. They were translucent, just like the wings of a dragonfly. The only difference was that this one was way bigger in size. 

Raine couldn't help herself, she was wondering. Her thoughts went places upon seeing the sight of the fae. She adored how Purple looked, stunning under the ray of the sunlight. She was shining so brightly like an angel. Unlike herself, who was said to be a guardian angel. From just her appearance, Purple was looking more like one.

Am I supposed to have wings? Is it possible for me to have wings as well, since I'm a guardian angel?—she thought. Just thinking about the idea of having wings, Raine was unnecessarily getting excited. If having a pair of wings was a thing for guardian angels, then she would love to have that.

"Alpha, the room that you asked is ready. Here is the key to it." Purple took out a golden key from her pocket, and handed it to Torak. 

"Thank you purple, you may leave." Torak took the key.

In response, Purple nodded, and waved her hand at Raine cheerfully. "I hope we can meet again." She said. And then, the fae fluttered her wings, and flew away.

What happened next was blowing Raine's mind. She gawked in amazement, her gaze went at her surroundings, surprise when her eyes looked back to Purple. That fae had flown past a big opened window, and then, she disappeared. But no one seemingly noticed this scene that just happened.

  Noticing his mate's confusion, Torak said to Raine, "They couldn't see her." Then, he took her hand. "Let's go."

"Oh…" Raine understood, and followed him. "But how could this be? She looked just like any other human. Well... except for her wings, of course." She mumbled.

"All faes are like that…'' Torak glanced at Raine, giving her a better understanding about faes. "They aren't like shifters. Even though they don't show their wings, no human could see them."

Raine understood, and took this additional information as a new knowledge about supernatural creatures. She made a mental note at the back of her mind. 

This library was absolutely luxurious. Sleek large couches, and chairs lined the walls. The majestic looking room was decorated with plush carpets that adorned the floor at the corner near a huge window. There, people could sit, and read with enough sunlight. The interior was white, and lined with gold. The walls were made of sleek dark wood.

Some people walked past them when they strolled down in a long corridor. Many of them were girls that were seemingly around Raine's age. They were carrying books, apparently preparing themselves for the entrance exam like what Raine did. 

The feeling that she felt was unexplainable, the moment when Raine noticed the similarity between her, and other girls. For the first time in her life, she felt almost normal. But then, she frowned. She noticed something else. All these girls that walked passed Torak would take a second look at him. They smiled sheepishly in secret, two or three girls even deliberately walked past them again, all just to see Torak.

Raine pouted her lips, and stared at the man beside her, eyeing over him from up the top of him, to down his feet. She could understand why those girls acted that way. Torak was so dazzling in his black sweater, and denim. He looked like someone, who came straight out of a woman's imagination about a perfect man. 

Raine couldn't blame them for that, for it would be unfair. Even her, who had been sleeping next to him for countless nights, and had been treated unimaginably well by him, would always find herself lost in his callous and mysterious aura. 

She sighed in irritation when a girl in short pants turned her head, and looked at Torak without even trying to hide her intention, disregarding Raine's presence who was clearly standing beside Torak. Raine glared at that girl anxiously, only to find it to be a completely naught attempt.

She failed to gain that girl's attention. To think about it again, it was only natural. Because the girl had no interesting Raine.Or worse, she might've not even noticed Raine's presence. Her gaze was fixed to someone else. Out of frustration, suddenly Raine grabbed Torak's collar and pecked his lips, declaring that he had already taken. 

Regardless, Torak didn't pay any attention to those girls. He was so used to ignoring people, to the point that he would think of them as a part of decorations. What Raine just did was unexpectedly daring. But it also made him realize that his little mate could get jealous as well. 

Torak didn't mind at all with her being jealous. He rather found it so adorable when she glared at those girls around in an attempt to repel their gaze away by putting on this angry expression in her face, all just to scare them. Little did she know, her effort was completely a waste. Because in reality, she didn't look scary at all.

"What is it?" Torak asked her, pretending like he didn't know why Raine did that. 

"They are staring at you, as if they want to eat you alive." Raine said sullenly. Her big eyes stared straight into his blue eyes with displeasure. 

"You have eaten me entirely, what else left for them?" Torak teased his mate as he tousled her head, making her beanies drop until it covered her nose. Raine pulled it up again, grinning before the both moved on. They resumed walking the long corridor, going up to the second floor by climbing the spiral looking stairs. Until, they finally stopped at the door that had a warning sign on it.

"Hey, it says 'off-limits area'" she told Torak when he was about to turn the knob of the door.

"Oh don't worry, it was me who put it there." Torak said calmly, and opened the door with the key that he got from the fae earlier.

"Oh…" Raine said, and she followed him inside the room. "Were you working here before?" The question slipped away from her mouth, just like that, before she realized how wrong it sounded. "No, that's not what I meant…ughh...do you own this place?" this time Raine was more certain with her guess.

However, when Torak nodded his answer, she was still surprised nonetheless. 

"Wow… I don't know what to say…" Raine was speechless with what she just discovered. Meanwhile, Torak laughed heartily when he heard her comment.

"If you have to live a long life—at least long enough just like me—at some point of your long life, you will come to realize that all of these mundane things are nothing. They are merely things that are part of your possessions. There is nothing special about having them. Owning them is just a matter of filling my free time." Torak said lightly.

"Well, I think it'll be hard for me to understand that idea…" Raine grimaced. She had never had as much money as Torak. Let alone living a long lifetime as he had been!

"You don't need to." Torak chuckled. "All those things are nothing compared to you. You're my precious one." He said sincerely, and it made Raine blushed attractively. 

Torak didn't say it just for the sake of saying it, nor did he teased her this time. All the words that he said were truly how he felt about her, and he was serious about it. In fact, if he must, he would say it again to convince her if ever someday she came to doubt his feelings.

After Torak unlocked the door, it was another long corridor. But it didn't take a long while before Torak opened the first door that they found. Immediately, Raine was welcomed with such a unique, and earthy smell. There, in front of her, was a great hall that seemed to infinitely extend. And in that great hall, there were endless rows of books that ascended high into the rafters, and up beyond.

Compared to the previous majestic looking library from before, it wasless breathtaking than this one. This place was as big as the other one, as if the building was built with two sets of libraries, the one that was made for public, and there was this one for… private…? Raine wasn't sure with her own opinion.

"Another… library?" Raine asked, while she looked at her surroundings in amazement. "This place is so…" Raine found it hard to get the right word, not even one that came close to describe this. "… wonderful…" 

Raine loved to read. So, being there surrounded with these books, made her absolutely thrilled. She started to look into each book, one at a time. Most of them were seemingly from decades ago.

"Do you like it?" Torak asked. Raine nodded, responding to him while smiling from ear to ear. Before, he once brought her to an art gallery, and now he took her to this amazing library. "But, this is not what I wanted to show you, my love." 

Torak stretched out his hand, gesturing for Raine to follow him. As they walked to the center part of the private library, Raine simply couldn't take her eyes from the row after row of the books. 

"Is this place always empty? Does no one ever come here?" Raine asked.

"The fae works her magic, and casts an enchantment spell to hide it from human sight." Torak was referring to the door to the library, not the one with the sign. 

They suddenly stopped in the middle of the center of the library. 

There, Raine could see a huge stone was standing right in the middle of the library. Its height was around twelve, to thirteen meters, with a thickness that seemed to be as long as Raine's arms. 

"What is this?" The stone was looking like it was thrown by someone, and accidentally landed there. It didn't match with the other items inside this room. It just didn't feel like it belonged there.

"The stone that can tell you anything." Torak said calmly. He came from behind Raine, and hugged her waist. "You can ask anything that you wish to ask, and let's see what it'll tell you."

Raine frowned. A stone could answer my question? But, how?—she thought, wonderingly.

But, she approached it nonetheless. The surface of the stone wasn't smooth, it was rather rough to touch when Raine rested her palm on it to feel the texture. 

"What should I do?" Raine turned her head, and looked at Torak questioningly.

"Just think about your question, what do you want to know?" Torak said. He was amused as he watched Raine's confused expression. "Because you'll be the one who will be able to see the answer."0

"Why don't you tell me instead? That way it'll be unquestioningly easier, right?" Raine asked, still in confusion. Why would he take her that far, going all the way to a completely different country, all just for this?

"Because you said you have a lot of questions for Serefina that I can't answer." Torak replied, trying to tell it as it was.

Raine was surprised when Torak answered. But then, she realized immediately. It seemed that Raphael had indeed told his Alpha anyway, even though she had begged him not to do that.

So, the purpose of this whole trip was for her? They flew for seven hours straight, and drove for hours, it was all done just for her? For the sake of her?

Raine was wrong about it all. She had been thinking that the reason behind the trip this time was because Torak wanted to show her the most memorable place for him. Because, it was what he said before.

"I don't want you to compromise with Serefina just because she holds something that you want. I might've lived long enough, but it doesn't mean I can answer all of your questions. Although it's annoying, and completely hard to admit. But you are right, Serefina knows something that I don't." Torak explained, he admitted what he was lacking information.

And he added, "And this stone only works for the one who seeks answer. I can't find the answer to your question using this. You must ask for yourself."

Raine was speechless. Never had she ever imagined that Torak would have thought about everything this thoroughly. 

"I just want to ask you one thing." Torak stretched out his hand, and caressed her cheek. "Please, don't hide anything from me. If you still want Serefina to be around, I can compromise with that."

Raine blinked her eyes to fight back her tears. She felt ashamed, and was filled with guilt. "I am sorry…" She said weakly. Out of shame, she lowered her head, and couldn't seem to look at Torak in the eyes. How could she think of hiding something from him, and mean to lie to him, when he always thought about her all the time. He even said that he would compromise with Serefina for her. 

Raine knew, it was a big deal. With Torak's nature and his position. He wouldn't compromise with anyone. But for her, he would do that. 

He had done everything for her, but in return, she did something despicable, an attempt to lie to him.

"You don't have to apologize, my love." Torak pulled her into his embrace, and patted her back. "I just want you to trust me enough that I will do everything for you."

Raine sobbed on Torak's clothes, her voice choking on her throat when she talked. "I feel bad for even trying to hide it." She felt ashamed too.

"You don't have to feel that way. You only tried to solve your own problem, thus you don't have to feel bad for that. That's what we call progress, my love. And for that, I'm proud of you for trying to stand up for yourself." Torak whispered to her ear softly. "It's me, who can't bear to see you struggling alone."

Raine didn't know what she had to say anymore. She knew Torak was trying to make her feel better by saying those words, and that actually worked. 

"Tell me anything that you're curious about, and if ever anything that might have troubled you. Just please, let me help you." Torak said again when Raine's tears flew like a river on his sweater. Her body was trembling. "I want to be there whatever happened to you."

Raine sniffed, and rubbed her teary eyes. "I love you…" She said between her sobs, the tip of her nose slightly red the same way with her cheeks.

"You know I always do." Torak kissed her forehead, and wiped her tears. "Now, try it. Let's see whether this will answer your question or not."

Raine nodded, and turned around to look at the huge stone. She frowned, but she did what Torak told her. Taking two steps closer, Raine was in the middle of the stone.

At first, she didn't know what she had to do. But then, she put her palms against the rough surface, closing her eyes. She thought about the question that she wanted to know. There was nothing happening in the first second. But then, chills crept down from her palms that were touching the stone, as she shivered involuntarily. Yet, she kept her hand still.

Even though her eyes were shut close, she could see herself. It was like she was watching herself, standing in front of the stone with Torak behind her, waiting.

She felt just like watching from behind a soft white mist, it was as if her soul was extracted out of her body. Raine gasped in surprise, and hurriedly ran towards her own body that was only a few steps away. 

However, before she could touch her own body, she watched the stone shining brightly. How blinding it was, like there was a golden light coming out from within the stone. 

Then, Raine remembered what her question was; she had asked about the prophecy that Serefina briefly mentioned during the last time they met. There was a prophecy about her, and the purpose behind the resurrection of the guardian angels. All about the things that related to her.

From her ability, and why she was able to leap back in time. There were too many questions in Raine's head that she needed some answers to. 

Upon seeing the golden light that exuded from the stone, Raine stopped her step right behind Torak. He apparently wasn't aware that she was now behind him. But then, there were two Raine in that exact moment, and Torak couldn't see the other one who was behind him.

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