CHAPTER ONE OH ONE

I groaned, rolling onto my side. The cushy material beneath me seduced me to slumber once again, but the voice was insistent.

"Aria."

I flopped back to my other side, scrunching my nose in discomfort at the way my muscles ached beneath the satin sheets. It felt like I hadn't moved a muscle in at least a week, and the smooth and alluring voice wasn't helping me want to get up. I was exhausted.

"Go away." I mumbled, throwing an arm over my face in defiance.

He chuckled, the deep reverberations stirring my heart and making my mind finally kick into gear.

Rory!

I darted up, nearly colliding with his head as he leaned over me, but he pulled back in time, blinking quickly in surprise.

"Aria? Are you okay?"

"Rory! Oh my goddess, Rory!" I cried, throwing my arms around his neck and pulling him closer to me. He melted against my touch, hugging me back and burying his face in my shoulder. "Is it really you?" I asked, unwilling to believe that he had come back to me.

Come back to me?

Rory was gone. But he came back to me. Where was I?

"Drink, love. It will help with the soreness." He urged, pulling away so that he could bring a flute of blood to my lips. I resisted the alluring scent, looking into his loving eyes skeptically.

"Rory, where am I? Where's Bastion? The babies? What the hell happened?" My voice was gradually climbing in panic, but he remained calm.

"Shh... You're okay now. The twins are here, they are just napping in the nursery. You agreed to come with me, remember?"

A sharp pain shot through my temple. What do I remember?

I remember Rory coming to get me. The note. I remember feeling afraid and ashamed. I remember the man at ARIA. The man with the tattoos, the one with the dark energy.

My eyes narrowed into a glare, and my hand shot to the glass, backhanding it out of his fingers. He jumped as the crystal shattered on the floor, splattering blood across the smooth marble.

"Don't you fucking lie to me." I snarled, attempting to pull away from him. His face grew sad as he caught my wrist, dragging me back across the bed.

"Aria, why do you have to fight?" He mumbled sorrowfully. I kicked against him, struggling with all my might and even attempting to hit him with my free hand, but he caught that wrist, too.

Why was I so weak? What was happening to me?

"Rory! Let me go!" I screeched, willing my claws to extend, but they wouldn't.

"Dev!" He shouted at the door, dragging me off the bed and locking my arms around my body, pressing my back to his front. Within seconds, the same man who had taken me stepped through the door, but his tattoos were covered with a black button up.

"No!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, making Rory wince.

"Love, it's okay. He isn't going to hurt you. Please, I don't want to force you down there. Stop yelling."

Down there? Down where?! Panic rose in my throat and I felt like I would choke on the thick air. My breaths came out in short gasps and I could already feel myself passing out.

"Please, Dev." He said, trying to hide the distress in his voice, but I knew it was killing him to do this to me. Dev stepped towards us, producing a syringe from a small black case in his back pocket.

Fuck, he was going to drug me!

"This will be safer for her than any magic I'd cast, especially if she's about to undergo a major ritual." He assured my royal, who was tightening his hold on me and stepping back.

He must've trusted this man, because Dev's words seemed to calm him, causing him not only to freeze, but to pry my left arm into an exposed position to be pierced.

"Rory, please. Please, don't. Rory, I love you. I'm sorry." My words were tumbling out between sobs and choked air, begging for mercy. Was he angry at me? Was this because of Lysander? Or because I didn't want to go with him?

I felt warm tears dripping into my hair, followed by his lips pressing against the top of my head.

"I know, love. It's okay. This is just to help you relax a little. I swear, I won't hurt you. You're safe."

At his last word, the needle pierced my skin, pushing the burning liquid that filled the syringe deep into my veins. I felt my throat tighten, along with the rest of my muscles, as they seized in complaint against the foreign invader. I grunted, my legs giving out beneath me, but Rory just scooped me into his arms.

After another second of the near-painful tension, it all left my body in a rush, leaving behind a heap of slow breaths and half-drawn eyes. I could barely even think straight, much less move.

Rory eyed me in concern, his eyes flitting back to his friend who was storing the used needle.

"What was that?"

"Dilaudid."

"Isn't that a pain medication?" Dev grunted his confirmation, zipping the case closed.

"It's a strong opioid, but does a pretty damn good job at partial sedation, without changing the mental state too much." He nodded to my unmoving form, placing the case into his back pocket and offering me a grin. "Doesn't look like she'll be doing much shouting. She won't be able to do much at all."

I could feel my inhibitions fading away with each passing second, but despite my lack of energy, I was wide awake. It was like being drunk, without the stomach ache and spinning room.

My eyes searched Rory's face, unconcerned with the fact that he had begun carrying me out of the room. Nothing mattered more to me at that moment than watching my royal.

He caught me staring, a slight frown forming on his lips.

"Are you okay?" He asked warily. I smiled, a lazy and drunken smile, lifting my floppy hand to stroke his neck.

"Why did you leave?" The words tumbled from my mouth so messily that I was amazed he even heard me.

"Because I love you." He stated calmly, never faltering in his step, despite his eyes remaining focused on me. I snorted, pressing my lips to his collar. He tensed.

"Bullshit. You... You left cause you were scared." His jaw clenched, making me giggle. "You're a coward like me."

His eyes darted straight ahead, and I could tell my words were affecting him.

"I am a coward, Aria. But sometimes we do crazy things for the ones we care about most."

I considered his words, the best I could in my fragile state of mind.

"We could've been happy, though. We could've been a family. Three of us. No, five."

He shook his head, making me furrow my brow.

"We couldn't, love."

"Why not?"

"Because it wasn't meant to be. You can only have one." His last words got caught in his throat. "And I can't lose you." I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me with my brain so foggy and scattered, so I moved on, forming my words carefully.

"Sorry. Lysander. I did a lot of bad things with him." Rory jolted to a halt, his red eyes flaring at me. I watched them with fascination. They were oddly beautiful, hints of pink and crimson scattered across the iris.

"Like what?" He asked through a clenched jaw. I knew I should've stopped talking, but I couldn't find my filter. I had willingly surrendered to the sensations of the heavy narcotic in my system. None of my actions had consequences, anymore.

"Hm... I tasted him. He tasted me. He used a toy." I whispered, as if I were telling secrets. His eyes widened before screwing shut. I could feel his deep inhales and exhales against my body. "Do you forgive me?" I finally asked, suddenly desperate for his love. My fingers skirted inside his shirt, tracing over where his seal was. He shivered at my caress, tightening his grip on me as not to drop me.

"Yes, Aria. I've had a lot of time to think about it. I forgave you a long time ago." His beautiful blue eyes met mine once again, but there was a hint of shame. "Now, I need you to forgive me."

"For what?"

Without another word, he stepped up to a massive wooden door, covered top to bottom with intricate carvings, much like the markings on Dev's arms.

"We are ready for the ritual, Mr. Bennet." A woman wearing a black cloak spoke, gesturing for us to enter further into the darkened room. He nodded back at her, stepping forward with grace until we reached a candlelit section.

Fear gripped me, regardless of the sedation, and I clung tightly to my royal.

"Rory? What's going on? What is this?" He offered me a small smile, prying me from his body to set me on a wooden table. With a nod of his head, several hands sprung forth, pulling me flat against the glazed grains and strapping my ankles and wrists into biting leather straps. "Please." I choked out as one final plea.

Silent saltwater fell from his gorgeous blues and he leaned forward to press his forehead against mine.

"I love you, Aria.