Chapter 173: Blank
Aliana flinched at the noise, blinking as she turned her head to look around the room. "What was that?"
Without answering, Gavriel simply pulled her tightly into his embrace, burying her face against the solid expanse of his chest. "Must be the wind," he muttered, his voice a low, gravelly rasp.
Aliana didn’t understand how a sharp cracking sound could possibly be caused by the wind outside, but she chose not to dwell on it.
Her memories had gone entirely blank after the moment Jacob had tried to force himself on her.
A sharp, lacing pain throbbed in her mind the harder she tried to remember what happened next, tearing through her head until she couldn’t bear it. Biting her lower lip, she closed her eyes and remained leaning against Gavriel’s chest, desperately trying to draw comfort from his steady presence.
However, if Aliana had lifted her face to look at him, she would have seen how Gavriel’s eyes were now glowing a brilliant, blood-red.
She would have seen that half the glass objects in the room had already cracked, their surfaces splintered with thin fractures and only moments away from shattering completely.
All because the devil was barely managing to keep a tight leash on the seething fury building inside his chest.
Before he could lose control of his intense emotions again, a soft hiss escaped Aliana’s lips, forcing him to look down. Her side profile was twisted in a grimace of pain as she clutched his robe, holding onto him like he was her only life raft.
He blinked, his eyes bleeding back to their usual icy blue as he called out to her, "Ana?"
"It’s... it’s too much..." she whispered, keeping her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
Gavriel instantly pulled back, cupping her face, only to find her skin burning up with a feverish heat. A wave of unprecedented panic rushed through his chest at the sight of her agonising distress as a flush spread rapidly across her face.
Unsure of what was happening to her, he could think of only one solution that had worked before.
Rising from the bed with her still in his arms, he rushed into the bathroom and twisted the shower handle, instantly blasting them with cold water.
He continued to hold her tightly against his frame, watching her chest heave as she breathed heavily.
Running a soothing hand up and down her spine, he urged her in a low, grounding voice, "Calm down, Ana. Just concentrate on your breathing."
"I... I don’t know what’s... happening to me, Gav. It’s so hot... my head... feels like it is going to split open," Aliana murmured between laboured breaths.
She clung to his touch, leaning into him for strength as the cold water trickled down her skin, offering a desperate wave of relief to her burning body.
Gavriel, on the other hand, was having a difficult time controlling his rising helplessness, and his dark aura began to leak out of him.
The moment it spilled forth, filling the tight space around them, he realised what was happening.
Cursing internally, he scrambled to retract it, terrified that it would hurt her if it came into direct contact with her fragile skin.
But what happened next completely stunned him.
His raw power, which could easily obliterate a powerful demon... was now being effortlessly absorbed by Aliana, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
His eyes widened as he watched it happen.
Her body greedily drew in the darkness, absorbing it with astonishing speed.
Then her temperature began returning to normal. Her breathing gradually steadied.
And Aliana, completely unaware of what was happening, felt a wave of relief wash over her as the splitting pain in her head slowly began to subside.
Silence once again filled the spacious bathroom, broken only by the steady sound of water cascading from the shower.
She released a relieved sigh before lifting her head, only to freeze the moment she caught the utterly shocked expression on Gavriel’s handsome features.
Not once until now has she seen him look like that.
"Gav?" she called out softly.
When he didn’t respond and simply stood there frozen, she wondered what could possibly be going on with him.
Raising her hand, she gently touched his cheek. "Gavriel?" she called out again.
Feeling her touch, he snapped out of his shocked state and focused his gaze back on her.
He opened his mouth to question her, but she stole the words right out of his mouth. "Are you okay?"
A soft breath escaped him as he cupped her face.
His eyes held a glimmer of deep concern she had never seen before as he countered, "Are you okay?"
He scanned her face and body intently, trying to see if anything was amiss or if she had been inadvertently harmed by his dark power.
She gave him a reassuring nod. "I’m fine now."
Suddenly, with the cold water still hitting her, Aliana shivered slightly, prompting Gavriel to turn the shower off completely.
Without a word, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her straight into his large walk-in closet attached to the bathroom.
Setting her gently on her feet, he moved swiftly to grab a plush towel before coming right back to her side.
Grasping the hem of the soaked white shirt, he commanded softly, "Lift your hands."
Aliana blinked up at him, her voice quiet. "I can do it by my-"
She trailed off the moment she saw the sheer severity of his expression.
Pressing her lips together, her gaze dropped to the floor as she silently lifted her arms.
She felt her cheeks burn crimson as the cool air licked her wet, bare skin, not daring to look up at him.
Gavriel moved with practised efficiency. He wiped her dry with gentle but firm strokes before wrapping the towel securely around her, turning on his heel to retrieve a fresh, clean shirt.
When he returned, he didn’t need to give a command.
Aliana dropped the towel onto the floor on her own and quietly raised her arms, allowing him to slip the clean shirt over her head before beginning to button it up.
"I... I don’t know what happened," she confessed softly, keeping her eyes cast downward as his fingers worked their way from the bottom button to the top.
"As soon as I tried to think of what happened after Jacob..." She bit her lower lip, unwilling to repeat the details of what the man had attempted, and added, "...my memory just went... blank."
At her admission, Gavriel’s jaw clenched hard, and his hands paused briefly.
"I tried so hard to recall it," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "But that’s when I felt that intense pain shooting through my brain. It felt like my head would be crushed if I pushed any further."
