Hunter's POV:
When I come round the corner and see Rosa stuck in Ash's arms I pause. What had I just walked in on? What's gotten into Ash to make him act like that? His face is hidden from me but when he raises his head Rosa's blood drips from his mouth, and I feel myself being consumed by a blinding rage. Her hands are trying to pry his arm off her throat and I notice that on one of them he's bitten over her wrist as well. "ASH!"
He stops and looks at me coldly, his eyes blank. I flashback to what Rosa had mentioned to me earlier about how something with him had appeared off but I can't shake the rage simmering inside me. Ash watches me for a few seconds long enough for Rosa to turn her head towards me and try and mouth something before he throws her at the wall. The cracking sound that comes from her head hitting the stone echoes through the corridor like an explosion and I run towards her with worry and pain coursing through me. She blinks blearily a few times before she slumps and lies motionless on the floor.
I turn to face my brother with a scathing hatred. "What did you do?" Still, he regards me with the same blank expression. The only emotion I can sense in him was anger. Anger and a sadistic sense of malice that makes my blood boil. "What's wrong with you? What did you do?" When the expression on his face still doesn't change, I shove him against the wall, which causes him to blink slowly.
"Hunter? What...what happened?" He looks around with a dazed expression, his eyes repeatedly going back to his hands which are still covered in Rosa's blood. "What did I do? What happened?" He looks fearfully around until his eyes land on Rosa's limp form lain on the ground. "What happened to her?"
"You should know," He looks confused at my angry tone and in the back of my mind a part of me wonders why he doesn't remember chasing Rosa through the palace and driving her mad with fear before attacking her. Multiple times. And then throwing her at the wall. "What did you do?"
Now he looks truly terrified. "I - I don't know," I snort and he fixes me with a pleading look. "Please, Hunter I swear I didn't do it. You have to believe me." He sounds lost and afraid but my anger burns too bright to hear him. He hurt her and that's all that matters. All that matters. "It - it wasn't me. I swear."
"It's true," Rosa's weak voice sounds over my shoulder and I look back towards her. She coughs but persists in trying to sit up. "Hunter I know how it looks but it wasn't Ash who attacked me. At least no the Ash stood there now." She looks drawn and tired but her voice holds her steely strength in it. "Please," She gives me an imploring gaze. "If you can't find it in your heart to trust Ash please can you trust me? I'm telling the truth." Her eyes flicker to Ash. "He's telling the truth." She coughs again and I let go of Ash and go to help her. Ash tries to do the same but I glare at him.
"Don't you think you've done enough damage?" My voice is harsh, and he looks distraught. Next to me, I try to help Rosa but she's glaring at me angrily. "What? He hurt you, Rosa, did you really think I was going to let him anywhere near you." I try reasoning with her but she's stubborn and shakes her head. Christ. What now?
"It wasn't Ash. I know it wasn't," She coughs again and pulls her arms tighter around herself to keep from shivering at the arctic blast of wind that blows through the corridor. "He wasn't the one who attacked me." She repeats and I want to yell in frustration. How can she say that when I found them as I did. She grunts with frustration. "Yes, I know what it looked like but that isn't the truth. I know it isn't."
"And how do you know that?" My anger spills over and I snap at her. She gives me a wounded look and I sigh, trying to reign in my anger. But I can feel an echo of hers shooting through me like lightening "When did you become an expert in my brother who by the way hasn't exactly treated you properly in the past."
Behind me, Ash gives a tired sigh. "I should be going. Clearly, my presence isn't helping." I grunt in agreement but refrain from speaking when Rosa hits me hard across the arm. What? Why is he sticking up for him after what he just did to her? Is she crazy or just...I don't even know.
"I'm sticking up for him because he didn't do anything," Rosa repeats stubbornly and I feel like screaming. Why won't she listen to me? "Why won't you listen to me, Hunter? I'm telling you Ash didn't do it and I mean it. Plus...." She pauses and I watch her closely. "Plus I have proof." How?
"What do you mean you have proof? Rosa, I found him attacking you or are you going to tell me that this," I hold her arm in front of her so she can see the bite marks. "And this," I point to the mark on her neck which she promptly hides with her hair. "Were caused by someone else." I fix my gaze on hers with a grim determination. But she meets my stare with equal determination and ferocity in her gaze.
"Yeah. Yeah, you know what Hunter? I am." Her eyes shift between us and I see her watching him for a second. "He didn't do it, it was someone else. Someone who isn't here in this corridor right now." She stands on wobbly legs and tries to make a dignified exit but she stumbles. Right into Ash who catches her before she can hit the floor. "Thanks, are you ok?" Her dark eyes are full of concern and I'm just as surprised as Ash who's watching her with a puzzled look. "Hello?" She pulls a strange face and he laughs.
"Confused. How did I get here? I - I don't remember anything," He sounds even more lost than before and Rosa takes one of his hands, giving it a reassuring squeeze that makes him smile slightly, a ghost of his usual grin. Her own face is a mask of sympathy and hope. For him.
"We'll figure it out eventually." She whispers and then looks over her shoulder towards me. "Is Eris still here?" I nod, "Good. I need to speak to her about all this." I'm still confused but I follow Ash and Rosa back to my quarters and let him put her down gently. Now that some of my anger has receded I can see the difference between this Ash and the one I found holding Rosa by the throat. They seem subtly different but I can't place why exactly. Not quite, since the difference is so small. Rosa though is giving me a small smile. "See what I mean?"
"Not really," I reply in a cold voice. "What was it you said about having proof of his innocence?" even though you and I both know that he's guilty. I think and she growls at me from across the room. Yikes, someone's angry. She notes my sarcastic thinking and growls again, her eyes changing so they darken to a black with luminous amber irises. Yeah, she's getting seriously angry.
"Yeah, 'cause you're not listening to me!" Her voice is dangerously soft and I find myself wishing she'd shout at me. Just to release the bottled up anger I can feel spreading through me from her. "Just shut up and listen ok?" I don't make a move to disagree with her and the slight darkening of her eyes shifts, her irises losing their otherworldly brightness. "I told you I have proof and I mean it."
I have to take a deep breath to quell my rising frustration but somehow I manage it. "Ok? So what's this fabulous, irrevocable proof you have of Ash's innocence in attacking you? What could you possibly have that proves his innocence conclusively without room for doubt?" I don't mean to shout at her but somehow I can't help it. Watching her closely once again I can see her eyes darkening and the lights in the room flicker. What was she doing?
"His memories," Rosa replies and behind me, I can hear Eris and Mara draw a breath together. I'm equally confused. How did she manage to look at Ash's memories? And so selectively as well? She looks around the room, taking in our confused faces and she sighs, throwing her hands in the air. "I don't know how I did it - or even if I can do it again - but I did." She looks at me pleadingly. "Please believe me,"
"What did you see?" I'm still trying to deal with my anger and I'm doing a poor job of it since it leaks into my voice and she gives me an angry look that does everything bar audibly hiss at me. "Rosa what did you see?"
She doesn't answer me. Instead, she turns to Ash where he's still stood near Eris by the door. "Ash? What's the last thing you remember doing or happening?" Her tone is gentle and helps to relieve some of his anxiety. "Can you tell me the last thing you remember doing?" She keeps her eyes on him.
"Umm," He runs a hand through his hair and looks somewhere over my shoulder. "I remember walking back to my quarters looking for Mara. Yeah, I was going to check on Mara when everything goes blank until I woke up with you yelling at me." Ash replies to her question, looking at me with the same fearful stare as before.
"So the last thing you remember is that? You don't remember this?" She gently shows him the inside of her wrist where the fang marks are still visible under the coating of blood on her wrist. He shakes his head, "Or this," She pushes her hair away from her neck so the bite marks and livid purple bruising surrounding it is visible. Ash shakes his head again, looking paler than before.
"No, .... No, I don't remember." He looks over at me properly for the first time and I see tears in his eyes. Something I haven't seen in years. I'm still doubtful of him but some of my conviction wavers. "Christ, Rosa. I - I'm so sorry. I - I didn't mean to. I swear." He looks back at her and she gives a small smile, hiding the injuries back under sleeves and hair. "Please, you have to believe me."
"No she doesn't" I snap but I'm stopped when Rosa once again glares at me. Stop it she mouths. How many times do I have to tell you? She's stubborn and the thought makes me want to yell at her. You're not listening to me! I think to her angrily. She glares in my direction
"AND YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!" She screams, glaring at me. I give her an angry look, my mind still unable to understand her thinking. Sighing she looks away and when she eventually meets my eyes again she's lost some of the angry stance and is looking at me with tired, pleading eyes. "Please, Hunter. I know what it looked like but please just trust me,"
I sigh in defeat. "It's not you that I don't trust Rosa, you know that," Hell I'm tired of arguing with her but I just can't see what she's meaning. I know what I saw. Her eyes watch me with an intense frown and she narrows her eyes.
"I know you're doubtful but, please. Please just trust me. I wasn't Ash." She looks like she's trying to hide something from the way she's biting her lip and looking around but it's a losing battle. After a few moments she sighs, her words tumbling out in a rush. Almost like she was afraid she'd give up halfway through. "He was being controlled by someone else. He was possessed." I frown and she sighs. "I know it sounds crazy but..."
"Actually," Eris speaks up from where she'd been silently stood with Mara watching the argument play out. "Actually that makes perfect sense. Someone who'd been possessed wouldn't remember what they'd done when they weren't in control." She looks from Rosa to Ash. "You don't remember anything?" He shakes his head. "Nothing at all?"
"N-no, nothing." He looks deeply distraught and my conviction wavers again. Maybe he didn't do it. Just maybe. Rosa smiles. See now? I'm telling the truth. Please say you believe us now? She thinks. Maybe. I reply and she smiles briefly before a pensive look replaces it.
"Rosa, what's wrong?"
Rosalia's POV:
I can hear Hunter asking me what's wrong but I don't answer, my mind caught up in the problem. Why have Ash attack me? And who did it? Who has enough power to do that? A sick feeling of dread spreads through me the longer I think about it. And everything else that's happened recently.
"Rosa? What's wrong?" Hunter askes again and I shiver, trying to push away the horrible realisation I've just had. I can sense he's concerned bout me - as is Ash, Mara and Eris - but none of them approaches me. I feel faintly sick. "Rosa, whatever it is please can you tell us before we all start worrying."
"I was thinking about why whoever was behind the attack and possession had Ash going after me. Just about all the craziness that's been going on the last few hours." I shive again, drawing my arms tightly around myself. "Who was Ash programmed to attack and nearly kill," I ask, looking around the room.
"You," Ash's voice is faint. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I didn't know," He looks even more distraught than before and I try to offer a weak smile but the severity of the situation stops me. "What else Rosa?" He sounds afraid to ask and I swallow nervously.
"Who has been being watched ever since the Laurier's arrived and who did they take an immediate interest in the minute they walked through the door?" I keep my voice flat but I know that Hunter can feel he terror bouncing around under my calm exterior. "Who's been their target from the beginning?"
"You, you and you," Mara whispers, her eyes looking suspiciously bright with tears. "You Rosa." I give a slow nod, a leaden feeling spreading through me. I'd been trying to push aside all the craziness as just an extraordinary set of coincidences but after someone tried to get Ash to attack me I couldn't stop my mind from connecting the dots. "But...but why?" Mara asks, her question addressed to all of us in the room.
I try to come up with a rational explanation but for some reason, I keep thinking about one word. Chess. For a second I can't place a link between the situation and my sudden obsession with the word until another puzzle piece settles into place and my stomach heaves. "They're trying to knock me off the board," I whisper to myself.
But I'd momentarily forgotten the others in the room. "What do you mean trying to knock you off the board?" Mara asks the same time as my eyes lock with Hunter and Ash and they both say "Chess," And I nod, the sickening, lurching feeling of the earth being pulled out from under my feet consuming me.
I look back to Mara. "Remember when we spoke and I remarked about how tense the Laurier's arrival was before this happened?" I keep my eyes on her and she nods slowly, a calm look replacing the hysteria in her eyes.
"You said it looked like two opposing sides of a battlefield where the battle lines had already been drawn." She recites slowly, her eyes looking at me with confusion. "I don't understand what this has to do with what's happening right now though." She looks around the room with a bemused expression.
"I think it's more like they're two opposing forces playing a long game of dominance and control," I say, testing my theory. "And if that's the case then they should have been playing long enough that they know all the players on the board - like in a game of chess - so know who they can beat and who they can't"
Ash now mirrors Mara's bemused look. "I get that Rosa, it makes sense but then why have all the extra attention on you? Why call out your presence when they arrived? Why have Haydon and Ariel follow you? Why have someone control me to attack you? You aren't even involved in this game." Whatever it is. He doesn't say the last sentence out loud but I hear it loud and clear.
"Because I'm a confounding player in their game. An extraneous player that shouldn't exist on the board." I reply, my voice getting stronger the more I talk it through rationally. "Think about it, Ash. When you brought me I was just another human girl right?" He nods slowly. "But then how come I can remember things that should be impossible, do things that should be impossible. Like this." I close my eyes and focus on my earlier anger, feeling my eyes change. When I open them I can see myself in the mirror over his shoulder. Black scleras and luminous amber irises just like I predicted. What I hadn't predicted was the sight of my injuries magically closing.
"What...how...What just happened...how...?" Ash looks exceedingly confused and I don't blame him. I'm spooked too since I don't know how I just managed to do that. Those injuries should have taken weeks to heal up - or days depending on how much help I had - but when my eyes had changed they'd healed in seconds. "What are you, Rosa?" He sounds afraid. Deathly afraid. And that makes my own fear worse.
I keep my eyes on the mirror and give a low sigh, feeling a slight pressure in my gums that fades away seconds later. When I stare at the girl in the mirror she fixes me with a sad gaze tinged with fear. "A confounding variable in their game," I repeat quietly, blinking so the unusual colours drain from my eyes and I'm left with my usual hazel eyes with the specks of smoky brown and gold. "A player who shouldn't exist in their game but whose a part of it without her knowledge." Out of the blue, I remember something I heard Mae and Jax saying one of the times I eavesdropped on their conversation. we don't fully know who or what she is.
Who or what am I? I wish I knew since I appear to be able to do some forms of magic, I can sometimes read people's thoughts oh and I'm Bound to one of the royal family. Add to that my freaky black and amber eyes, strange memory, sometimes inhuman reflexes and my most recent miraculous healing ability I'd really love some sort of supernatural peer guide to come to tell me what the hell I am and how I deal with it. But for now, it's just me and a bunch of problems revolving around my sorry ass that I can't link. Fucking hell. Life sucks.
"But why target you specifically?" Hunter asks, breaking the silence that had spread when I stopped conversing with Ash. "I mean besides the fact that you seem to be incredibly intuitive and can sense when something's going wrong." His beautiful eyes look lost and I sigh, a drawn-out sound of frustration.
"I wish I knew," I try to keep my thoughts to myself but I have a sinking feeling he's heard at least some of them and will ask me about them later. "But at least we have a faint clue about the weird occurrences that's been happening." He gives me a confused look and I give a slow sigh. "They all have a common thread: me."
"That doesn't necessarily mean anything," he replies obstinately and I shoot him a slow, sad smile. It does. None of us wants to say it but it's clear we all know what it means. I'm the target. Why else have so many strange occurrences revolve around me all at once. "It's just a coincidence," He replies stubbornly. "A series of coincidental events."
"You really believe that," I say in a resigned tone and he nods firmly, his eyes blazing with a conviction I wish I had. "Even with rumours of your mother hunting me?" His eyes widen with shock and I give him another sad smile. "Yeah, I know she's after 'The Fire' and you and I both know who that is." He gives me a sad look and I have to swallow down a thick knot f emotions tuck in my throat. "Can you seriously - knowing all that - tell me that it's still just a series of unfortunate coincidences now?" He looks away and doesn't answer but his silence speaks volumes.
He can't and he knows it. Still the feeling of keeping my worries nags at me like I'm trying to hide something which I guess I am. Especially since my having something to hide is linked to my life. I didn't know what the Lauriers or the Queen want from me but my gut is telling me that it's nothing good. For half a second I completely conceal my thoughts and contemplate running. Just waiting until it's safe and heading for the hills. But then the pain hits. Sharp like a spear it lances through me, robbing me of the ability to breathe. Taking as deep a breath as I can manage the feeling of something being ripped out of me comes next and I have to curl my hands into fists to keep from crying out. When the ghostly pain recedes I can feel a hollowness in my chest and it feels raw. Like I'd lost my heart. Awareness shoots through me at that second and I try to suppress it, hoping that it isn't true because...because the alternative is too painful to bear.
It feels like when I decided - even as a trial - to leave Hunter, Ash, Eris, Mara and all the other people of this world that I was lost. Hollowed out inside because I'd forsaken their world. My world. Whether I wanted it to be or not I am now a part of it. And Hunter...Just thinking of leaving him makes me want to tear my heart out of my chest and leave it. Just to stop the pain. It was then that I realised that I felt for him in a way that I can't quite name but that made up an integral part of me. I had tried to push it away, to deny it. But I couldn't any longer. I needed him. He made me complete.
It was then that I realised I cared for him. And that maybe - just maybe - I could love him one day. If I don't already.