Chapter 76 - You are my universe

HADRIAN

My muscles are weak and I sink onto the grass at the training field. I sink my bare back in the cold grass. The morning sun beats down on my chest and warms my already scorching skin. My muscles are heavy from the mass I carry. My thighs are aching and run on empty.

I’ve neglected my body for the past couple of days. I haven’t slept and I haven’t eaten. I can feel it now in the lack of strength. My eyes fall close with the need for sleep.

My control to resist the pull is weakening. I fear that I might do something in a moment of wavering restraint.

I need to feed my body. I need to take every precaution.

I pull my t-shirt over my head and walk through the corridor and towards the kitchens. The pull towards Gaia is strong. I can sense it in the corridor and lures me to the third floor. I grit my teeth and will my legs the other way.

There is something else simmering in the air. My heart starts to race when I pick up a hint of vanilla through the overwhelming haze of roses, nightshade and orange peel.

I take a deep breath and distinguish the scent of Emma. I try to find the trail, but I can’t follow it.

I growl when her scent disappears in the mass.

Emma is here in the palace. She must’ve come with Cecile. She must be with her then. I pick up speed.

Servants move away as I pass through the kitchens. The ovens burn hot and the wave of heat flies over my skin.

The space is filled with different scents mixing together. Pork roast, rosemary and garlic make my stomach growl.

None of them are the scent of my mate.

I quickly spot Cecile talking to Miles, who is stuffing his face with bread and cheese.

More food line the counter. Mangoes, watermelon, nuts and cheese. Cecile cuts up some pieces of bread. All the scents waft through the air, but the scent of vanilla, custard and lemongrass is still absent.

“Hadrian, what are you doing here?” Miles asks with his mouth full. Miles has been carefully discarding my title. Contrary to Callum who does not waver from the rules.

I look around the kitchen, but there is no sign of her. No warm presence fills the space. “Where is Emma?”

Miles swallows and his throat bobs with the large bite of food. “She went to your rooms.”

Emma is in our rooms and Gaia is on the third floor. I can pull still urging me there. “Fuck.”

“Is Callum there?” I growl.

Miles scratches the back of his neck. “No, he had the night shift.”

My aura comes out in strong waves. It hits Miles and leaves him trembling. “Are you telling me that she’s alone?” My voice is laced with darkness.

The realization that Gaia is on the third floor has me turning towards the exit. I don’t trust Gaia around Emma.

A sharp pain hits me squarely in the chest. It rips through me, tearing my chest open. I nearly stumble from the excruciating attack. I catch myself with one hand on the granite counter and one hand on my unscathed torso.

The hairs on my arm rise and my heartbeat races as if confronted with an invisible threat.

“Spice, are you okay?” Cecile calls behind me. Her brows are pulled in a frown as she places her knife on the counter.

Miles eyes the hand on my chest and searches for the threat around us, but the threat isn’t here.

I shake my head. “Something is wrong.” Every cell of my body is on high alert. Every muscle in my body is high on tension.

Emma is hurt.

My body aches and my body bleeds, but I sprint through the halls and up the three flights of stairs. I push through the pain. Maids with baskets of linen fall back and trip as I pass.

My single-minded focus is on the burn in my chest, the sting of the ragged edges of my heart and the call to the third floor.

I burst through the doorway of my rooms. Through the haze of roses comes the familiar scent of vanilla and the pungent smell of blood. I follow it to my office.

My blood cells freeze when I step into the room. Emma is there, but sh's alone. She has her back to me and through the reflection of the window, I can see that she’s clutching her chest and pressing against ragged wounds.

She turns and I howl for the pain evident in my mate.

Tears are running down her cheeks and fear haunts her eyes. Her metal spheres are dull like a ragged knife. They cut me open and tear out the remnants of the beating organ in my chest.

Blood seeps through her fingers and drops on the floorboards. Every drop is a fracture in my soul. I don’t know how there is anything left of me to scatter, to break, to burn.

She takes a step and stumbles. Her legs fail to catch, but I do. She falls in my arms. Her soft body sinks into mine. The strength she has is all directed to the pressure of her hands on her chest.

Footsteps sound at the door and I sense that it’s Miles.

“Get the healer!” The command booms loud through the room and nobody would be able to deny it. Even my father would kneel at the velocity of my command.

“Hadrian.” My name is barely a whisper on her pale lips.

I run my fingers through her hair and over her face. “Shush my mate, save your strength.”

I press one hand on her wounds. She cannot die. I won’t survive if she dies.

Blood is draining from her face and her fair skin becomes ghostly white. The healthy flush that she dispels so easily is gone. There is no color left in her cheeks.

She swallows and the movement is slow. “Hadrian, promise me that you’ll save them.”

I growl at her words. “You’ll be fine.” She cannot leave me. She doesn’t deserve to die.

“Hadrian, please.” The life is slowly disappearing from her eyes. “I can’t hold on anymore.”

I pull her closer to me. Her body loses its strength as I keep her upright. I urge her to lean on me.

“You’re mine, you cannot die,” I order, but the command is futile. She has never been one to listen to me.

Emma is strong-willed and headstrong. She always creates her own path.

She removes one hand from her chest and blood gushes out of her wounds. Everything is covered in blood.

She places a hand on my jaw. Her fingers are coated in the dark red liquid and her skin is ice-cold. Her dull metal eyes blink slowly and barely open again. I lean into her touch before her strength leaves her body completely.

“I love you.” She whispers and her words send a burning fire through my chest. It disintegrates everything and the need to howl feels undeniable.

She's my mate, She's my Emma. She healed me when I was broken. Love doesn't describe what she means to me.

“You are my universe.”