Chapter 170: The Difference Between Real And Replica
[Music recommendation: A. Blomqvist - Spring]
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Just then, a hand reached out in front of her, holding a glass of water. She lifted her eyes to meet his as she reached out to take it.
Gavriel read the silent question written across her face and answered quietly, "You are in our room."
Her eyes widened at how easily he said our room.
Before she could stop herself, a faint blush crept onto her cheeks, and she quickly looked away as she raised the glass to her lips and drank the much-needed water.
Once she was finished, Gavriel took the empty glass from her hand and asked, "More?"
When she shook her head lightly, he set the glass on the side table before sitting on the edge of the mattress, turning to face her.
Her eyes inevitably drifted toward him and traced his ridiculously handsome features as though they had been painstakingly carved from marble. Yet the longer she stared, the more she realised he looked different from usual.
His hair, which was always impeccably styled, was now slightly dishevelled, with a few strands falling across his forehead, somehow making him look even more sexy than he already was.
His black robe hung open, offering an unobstructed view of his broad chest and tightly defined muscles, while the sharp V of his abdomen disappeared beneath the waistband of his black pyjama pants. The sight made her swallow hard.
Before she could let her thoughts wander into the gutter, she quickly snapped her gaze up, only to find amusement dancing in his eyes. He knew exactly what she had been doing.
"You can look as much as you want... or touch. It’s all yours," his deep, husky voice rasped in the quiet room, making Aliana’s heart skip a beat.
The blush on her cheeks deepened, forcing her to look away toward the opposite side of the room, noting that it was still pitch-black outside.
Desperate to change the subject, she asked, "What time is it?"
"Four in the morning," he replied, his unwavering gaze never leaving her face.
"I see."
Her fingers curled tightly around the blanket lying in her lap, as she hesitated before asking more cautiously, "And... how much time has passed since...?"
"Our engagement?" Gavriel completed her sentence smoothly.
At the reminder of their big day, her eyes instinctively moved to her left hand. She was surprised once again to see the beautiful ruby ring resting securely on her ring finger.
"How..." She trailed off, looking up at Gavriel in confusion.
"I put it there, remember?" Gavriel replied, tilting his head ever so slightly.
Aliana shook her head. "How am I here? What happened? What day is it?"
A crease formed between her brows as a flood of questions began to pour into her mind one after another.
Gavriel knew he would need to answer each one patiently and as honestly as he could.
There was still a massive part of his world that she had no idea existed, and he did not want to dump all that heavy information on her at once.
She had been severely traumatised only hours ago, and he needed to find the right time to reveal the full truth to her, and that time was definitely not now.
Deciding to take it slow, he started by answering the easier questions.
"It is the morning after our engagement." He caught the flicker of surprise that crossed her face and continued, "I found you inside a shipping container at an abandoned dock a couple of hours ago."
"You did?" Her voice was laced with disbelief.
Part of it stemmed from the fact that she had never truly known whether Gavriel would come for her at all. Whether he cared enough to search for her.
And another part came from the poisonous words Jacob had planted in her mind about another woman taking her place while she had been trapped there.
Remembering the details, she looked sharply into his eyes and asked, "There was a woman... someone who must have taken my place. How did you know it wasn’t me?"
A flash of surprise flickered in Gavriel’s eyes.
He had not expected Aliana to know about Diana taking her form and impersonating her. The revelation made him wonder just how much she had been exposed to out there.
Instead of answering right away, he countered with his own question.
"How did you know there was another woman who had taken your place?"
Not getting a direct answer did not please her.
Her frown deepened as she snapped back, "That son of a bitch told me."
The mere thought of Jacob caused a violent rage to flare in her eyes. Gavriel watched closely as her jaw clenched tightly and her knuckles turned stark white against the blanket.
"What exactly did he tell you?" he asked, genuinely wanting to know how much the corrupt human had revealed.
Snapping her gaze back to her fiancé, she replied irritably, "He said there was some woman who had replaced me. That she would be taking my place in front of the world and would..." She paused, her tone turning icy, "Marry you."
Gavriel raised a brow, watching her get so thoroughly rattled by the thought of another woman marrying him.
His lips twitched, then a quiet chuckle escaped before he could stop it. Aliana was startled slightly, completely caught off guard by his laughter.
Then, without a word of warning, he grabbed her hand and pulled her firmly toward him.
A gasp left her lips as she landed directly on his lap. Her hands instinctively flew up to rest on his broad shoulders, while Gavriel snaked his powerful arms around her waist, positioning her so that she was effectively straddling his thighs.
Lifting his free hand, he gently brushed his knuckles against her cheek.
The amusement in his expression faded, leaving behind nothing but seriousness.
"Do you seriously think I wouldn’t realise that woman wasn’t you?"
Aliana gazed into his eyes while her fingers unconsciously gripped the fabric of his soft robe. "I... I don’t know."
Her voice came out much softer because she genuinely didn’t know whether Gavriel knew her well enough to tell the difference between the two.
Her gaze dropped to his neck, but he didn’t let her hide again.
Curling his fingers around her chin, he forced her to meet his eyes, and she saw a flicker of irritation in those icy blue orbs, as if her answer had offended him.
"Listen, Aliana, you may think I’m just some man who could be easily fooled into not knowing the difference between what’s real and what isn’t, but you’re wrong. I knew something was wrong the second that woman walked out of the washroom pretending to be you. My only mistake was dragging out the questioning until I reached home. It was enough time for them to move you somewhere I couldn’t find, until I forced the woman to reveal your location herself."
His hand, which had been resting on her cheek, slid down to her neck, sending a delicious shiver down her spine before his fingers curled possessively around the nape of her neck.
His voice dropped lower as he continued.
"Her voice was yours, her face was yours, her body was yours..." He leaned in closer, and she didn’t even realise she was leaning toward him in return.
"But..." He let his lips brush lightly against hers, his breath hot against her skin as he whispered, "Her mouth did not speak the way you do. Her scent was not quite yours, nor was her touch, and definitely not her mannerisms. So don’t you dare think this future husband of yours would be so easily fooled by a cheap replica."
He grazed his lips over hers once more. "Because I will always, without fail, be able to tell the difference."
