Louisa's POV
After Lucian was gone, there were only two of us left in an empty cell.
The blood stains were drying up on the ground, while silence seemed to come drifting down like flakes of snow.
Darren curled up in the corner of the cell while holding his knees.
I knew he didn't want to talk to me, but I just couldn't sit there and watch his wounds bleeding like that.
I took up my baggage from the ground and sat next to him.
Pain gripped my chest.
He was so badly hurt that there wasn't even one single inch of intact skin on his body.
"Darren, please let me at least stop the bleeding for you..." I softened my voice and attempted to reach him.
"Please don't touch me." He said while moving his arm away from me.
I knew he was begging me to leave him alone. But the indifference in his voice was like a surgical knife, scratching my skull.
Tears kept falling out of my eyes and melted in my tender voice, "Darren, please let me help you. I can't see you bleeding like this. You're losing too much blood. You're going to..."
"Die. I know." He said without lifting his eyes.
These intangible words came out of his mouth, dropped on the ground, and broke into thousands of shards, piercing into my heart.
"I can't watch you die. Please, Darren. I'm begging you now..." My words floated in the cold dark cell and vanished in the air.
"I thought..." Darren whispered, "Throughout my entire life, I haven't got any choices. But I was wrong. That was just an excuse. I've always had the option, but I was either too cowardly or too stupid to choose the right option. My uncle told me that the war started on the day I was born. Millions of people died on that day, but I was born. I should have passed away on the day I was born. But I didn't. I should have killed myself on the day my brother left. But I didn't. Now... This..."
He lifted his blood-soaked hands and stared at them.
"It's the time to get it right, Louisa." Darren looked at me, "I'm sorry to get you involved in my pathetic life. You've always been kind to me and this isn't what I want to do to return your kindness. But if you can share some sympathy or mercy for me, please take out the most lethal potion in your box, so I can pour it into my mouth..."
"No... No..." I shook my head violently, "That's not going to happen... Darren, listen to me..."
"No, Louisa, you listen to me," Darren interrupted me and said, "Lucian has brought it to you personally and left you alone with me, so Master must have already agreed to that..."
"He wants me to heal your wounds..."
"So I could be sold to the slave market." Darren whispered, "Louisa, have you ever been to a slave market before? Do you know what they are going to do to someone like me?"
I put my fingers gently on his trembling lips and said in tears, "Darren, I won't let that happen to you. Let's get away from here. We'll go back to the cottage and live an ordinary life together. You can go hunting in the woods and I'll stay at home and cook for you. Whatever you want to eat, I promise. Darren, this world is too damn cold and dark, and you're the only light in my life. Please don't leave me alone here..."
I couldn't continue speaking because tears had already filled my eyes, nose, and throat.
Darren looked at me. I knew there were thousands of words he wanted to say to me, but he couldn't speak them out. Eventually, he stretched out his arms and held me against him.
I buried my head in his arms and cried my heart out.
"I'm sorry, Louisa. I'm sorry..." Darren repeated. "I really wish I could take you away. I really do. The days we spent in the cottage were the happiest time of my life. I had never lived before you came into my life. I didn't want to hurt you. I have never wanted to hurt you. I said that I wanted to kill you because I wanted you to leave me and start a better life... Louisa... I have always wanted to tell you that... I..."
"I know, Darren. I know..." I lifted my head and looked at him.
His face, despite being raptured and bruised, was still amazingly handsome and marvelous.
He lowered his head and lifted his hands to wipe the tears off my face.
I could hear the beats of his heart accelerating in his chest as he was getting closer to me.
"Louisa..." He whispered my name like it was some sort of mysterious dark spell.
Before he finished, I had already pressed my lips against his.
"I love you, Darren," I whispered while kissing him carefully.
He moved back a bit, looking at me with pain and grievance in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," I stroked my hands gently in his hair and said, "I must have kissed on your wound..."
I didn't finish my words, because his lips had already pressed against mine again.
Only this time, it was a thousand times more tender and passionate.
I had never kissed another man other than Lucas in my life.
It felt completely different. It was deeper, warmer, more sincere, and...
Natural.
Like a stream of love deriving from my heart, flowing all the way into his heart, heating up both of us.
I felt that the entire world stopped spinning at that very moment as if nothing in the world ever mattered to me anymore.
"Please don't leave me, Darren..." I said in a blurry voice. I wanted to hug him more tightly, but I was afraid of hurting her.
"I'm here, Louisa. I'm not going anywhere." He said in a soft voice, holding me closer in his arms despite the pain.
I didn't remember how long we held each other in the darkness on that day.
It was the bitterest yet the sweetest thing that had ever happened in my life.
I finally managed to fall in love with someone else other than my mate and he loved me back in the exact way I had prayed for in a thousand sleepless nights.
But the most heartbreaking thing is that we both knew wouldn't last.
The happy scenes in the cottage were just an impossible illusion for us.
Lucas would never allow us to live a life like that.
One thing I knew about this cold-blooded creature was that he hated people running away from him.
He might not have a heart, but he could still be heartbroken when he was abandoned.
I was still worried about his bleeding wounds. So as soon as he passed out in exhaustion, I quickly cleaned up his wounds and applied some yarrow powder to them before wrapping them up with bandages.
I looked out of the barred window and saw it was completely dark outside.
Thousands of stars were spreading all over the dark velvet sky, but I couldn't see the moon.
In the cold light of the stars, I saw Darren's body shivering in his dream.
I couldn't find any blankets in the cell, so I had to use the cape on my body to wrap him and myself up.
As I pressed myself against his body, I had a tremor.
His body was freezing cold. He had lost too much blood.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, stroking his arms and legs. I wished I could warm him up with my body temperature.
At that time, I suddenly felt a wave of pain and depression from the bottom of my heart, sprawling all over my chest. Then, my whole body started to tremble and twist, which I couldn't control at all.
It felt as if all the pleasure and happiness were permanently deprived.
I couldn't breathe, neither could I speak.
What's happening to me? I thought to myself.