220: Crossing another line (part 1)

Crossing another line (part 1)

3It was as if a vengeful spirit had suddenly possessed her.

Clutching the towel tightly in her right hand, Adela moved to her bed. She couldn't comprehend the source of the desperate feelings welling up inside her – Concern, loneliness, and an overwhelming ocean of sadness, all shadowed under the inexplicable urge she felt to go to the window. It was as if a rope made of steel was pulling her towards it, compelling her to look outside.

She took two shaky steps when the next breeze brought him in.

Egon appeared, holding onto the sides of her window. His face displayed a moment of calmness before quickly shifting into pure fear, his eyes darting between Adela's face and the glass of champagne on her coffee table. In a heartbeat, he was crouching next to her.

"Did you drink that?" 

Adela shook her head, her hands unclenching from her stomach to cup his stubbled face in response. She watched as pain flashed behind his big brown eyes, which closed the next moment when he tilted his head and kissed her wrist with a contorted expression.

"I see… You finally took that wretched thing off, thank God. I thought something was the matter with you," he said softly, his lips lingering against her skin.

Something was indeed the matter with Adela, and everything happening around her was overwhelming. Feeling the towel around her about to fall, she took the hand that he wasn't kissing and clutched the towel as hard as she could once more.

"It hurts!" she said, her voice trembling.

Egon immediately moved to the tray where the bottle and the glass were placed. He brought the glass closer to his nose, smelling its contents carefully.

"Clean," he declared, a flicker of relief in his eyes.

Adela was puzzled by his response. Clean?

Did he think it would be poisoned!

"No matter what you do, do not open that bottle," he warned her with a serious tone.

Before Adela could respond, Egon was by her side, pushing her back until they both reached her bed. He gently held her chin between his thumb and forefinger, urging her to focus on his face.

"I'm sorry. It might take some time… That bracelet, I will put it back on your wrist," he said with sincerity, his eyes pleading for her understanding.

But a surge of anger, entirely hers, welled up inside Adela. She let go of the towel she had clutched, pushing down her horror as it began to unwrap from around her chest, and instead, she grabbed Egon by the collar, pulling him closer to her with a raw intensity.

"You… What is this… What is this misery?" 

"...It is mine,"

As if in a dream, he disappeared from her face for a moment, only to reappear with the bracelet in hand. He reached for her hand, as if wanting to put Aldric's bracelet back on her wrist, but she slapped it away, causing the bracelet to fall to the ground with a rattling sound.

Her nails dug into the flesh right below her throat as she stared at him intently, "Why are you in pain?" 

Egon gulped audibly, his eyes never leaving hers as her towel gave up and fell on her thighs, the sudden surge of desire she felt was not her own.

Her teeth clattered pathetically.

"You're freezing,"

He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, enveloping her in his piney scent and his cruel warmth. The proximity to him seemed to alleviate some of the pain. The initial sharpness was subsiding.

"I asked you...Why," she repeated, her voice firm this time.

"... It's been a constant struggle."

"Don't you dare deceive me, Egon von Conradie, or whatever your name is," she warned.

Hurt flashed in Egon's eyes once more, followed by a solitary nod as he finally began to answer her question.

"Healers will always be attracted to those who need them. Powerful emotions that you can help with are something you will undoubtedly experience," 

"Answer the question!" She snapped.

"...What you're feeling is the mate bond between us. That damned bracelet reminded me of one thing that Andreas tried to communicate many times, but I just didn't want to listen… It is my bond, and mine alone… Humans… They don't have mates."

She looked at him as if he had grown another head.

"You never spoke of that with Larissa, did you?" 

She shook her head cautiously.

"That's strange, considering the two of you appear close," he mused, a slight furrow forming between his brows before dissipating. "If you had asked your sister, she would have told you that the mate bond was a one-way link," he scoffed, "Andreas and my unrequited love, if you may."

"How ridiculous," she muttered.

Egon's eyes softened, "Your essence is what allows you to feel what I feel, Adelaide. Otherwise, you, unlike me, will always have other options…" he sighed, "I will just have to make my peace with it."

With a swift and powerful motion, Adela's hand shot out, her fingers spread wide like the claws of a wounded lioness. The slap landed squarely on Egon's stubbled cheek with a resounding crack that echoed through the room.

Egon's head remained immovable, but his eyes bore a bewildered expression.

Overwhelmed with shame, she pushed herself off the bed, the towel slipping completely to the floor, leaving only his oversized jacket to cover her.

"You speak as if you are not the one who declared that he was about to get married! While I heard you loud and clear the first time you proposed!" 

Egon rubbed his cheek, "The third time…"

She couldn't believe her ears. "What?"

"I think it counts as the third time that I am proposing to you," he clarified.

"...It's not a very good time for me, Egon. I can't handle my uncle and you simultaneously," she confessed, rubbing her throat where her anxiety seemed to manifest physically.

Egon slowly rose from the bed and approached her, his eyes never leaving hers. Desire, unmistakably his, stirred within her, but she fought to maintain her composure.

He reached out and buttoned his jacket on her, then looked into her eyes again. "Nothing will happen to your neck. If, by some miracle, our plans fail, I have your father's consent to take you away on the spot," he reassured her, a touch of melancholy in his smile. "But that won't happen."

She looked up at him with a confused expression.

He gestured toward the coffee table, "We managed to sit around that table once and had a decent conversation," he said, placing a hand on the small of her back and guiding her there.

She awkwardly sat down, her eyes following him as he took the chair across from her.

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