Chapter 57

Chapter 21:

Trisha’s P.O.V

“Someone’s had a lot of fun last night?” I smirked at Rosanna as she entered the cafeteria late in the afternoon, having skipped breakfast. “It’s almost lunch time.”

“Fuck you!” She groaned, fixing her messy hair into a bun, revealing the love bites on her neck.

“I think you already did that…with Lucas.” I laughed at her sour look.

“Bitch! If you didn’t have vampire healing, I’d like to see how you would fair, Mrs. Vampire Queen.” Rose glared at me. “Where’s the hubby? Aren’t newlyweds like, attached to the hip or something?”

“He went back to his castle to gather Intel.” I shrugged, taking a sip of my coffee. I had been working all morning and I needed caffeine to keep me going. “This newlywed couple has a sword hanging on top of their heads.”

“Yeah…I know.” She sighed and asked Amir, one of the servers, to get her a coffee as well. “I need to deal with some finance shit today. Wanna join?”

“Ask Lucas.” I told her. “He runs a pack; he’ll be better help than me at the moment.”

“Like we’ll get any work done that way,” she grumbled under her breath before turning to me. “How’s the research coming along? Find anything in the archives?”

“Nothing of importance.” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “These records were clearly written by a fan because I see nothing but praises. I need something that I can use against the elders, not sing praises for them in court.”

“Does His Highness know about your suicide mission yet?” Rose raised her eyebrows at me, after taking a sip of her newly arrived coffee.

“You think I’d be sitting here if he did?” I asked back.

“Right.” She shrugged. “So…what now?”

“There’s only one place that might have what we need right now.” I told her. “The Castle library. It has the oldest collection of books and the only place where all books had been stocked after being rescued from the debris after the Wipeout.”

However, the only way to get there was via Damien’s teleportation. It was time to come up with the perfect lie so he would let me stay the night at the castle. But then again, I wouldn’t really need to lie, would I? I could just tell him the truth that I needed to get to the library. I am taking on his case, so it would be better this way.

Once done with my coffee, I stood up to go back to work but Rose stopped me.

“What is it?” I asked her frowning, taking the seat beside her once more.

“I know it’s not my place to ask,” Rose rubbed at her eyes before looking at me directly in the eye. “But I have to. Are you happy, Trisha?”

“Of course!” I said at once. “Why won’t I be?”

“It’s just that…” Rose sighed, like she was having trouble finding the right words. “This last year, when you were here alone, without Damien…I know you didn’t see me but I saw you every night. You would walk out onto the deck or go to your balcony and just stare out at the sea like a lost puppy. Sometimes you would stand in the rain for hours, just staring at the horizon. I didn’t understand then, what it was that you lost and who you were waiting for, but now I know it was all because you were waiting for Damien to show up.”

I remember those nights clearly. I had stood on the balcony for hours, hoping to see the light of a ship that might belong to Damien. I had known that it was a pointless wait; that he had no reason to be here…but still I had waited.

“I don’t know if Lucas set you up for this.” I told her now, since her words did seem to have his views in them. “But yes, I had waited for Damien to show up. I had waited, hoped and prayed that he would come. What for? Why? I guess those questions didn’t matter now.”

“But they should.” Rose urged. “Lucas didn’t set me up for anything, Trisha. But him and I…we’re both seeing something that you probably aren’t.”

“Seeing something?” I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You stopped waiting once.” She said. “One day, I saw you stop coming to the balcony, stop looking at the horizon with longing in your eyes. You were moving on. And even though, at that time, I had no idea who you really were and that the person you were waiting for was Damien, I was happy for you. I was happy that you were getting better. You started interacting with other members more; got involved in the activities wholeheartedly and I thought you might end up with one of the males in the ship or something. But then, Neema had his vision and Damien appeared.”

I think I understood what Rose meant. I had stopped waiting for Damien almost about eleven months after we left. At that time, I had lost all hope that he would ever come for me or that I would ever see him again. I felt like I had no choice but to move on in life and leave the past behind. But now things were different. Not only had Damien come back, I was now married to him! I was Mrs. Trisha Redfern Vandolff!

But now that Rose had mentioned it, I couldn’t get this nagging feeling out of my head.

“What exactly are you and Lucas seeing, Rose?” I asked her quietly, a little afraid to know the answer.

No, I could never regret loving Damien or marrying him…but everything did happen very fast. Was that what they were talking about? The shotgun wedding?

“I can’t tell you that because you wouldn’t believe me.” Rose shook her head, picking up her coffee and taking a slow sip. “Your love for Damien…sometimes I wonder if it’s an obsession. You have your own believes, your own faith, but the instant Damien is in front of you, you abandon all rational thought and start following him blindly. This past year, I saw you thrive, I saw you fight back! Don’t give it all up.”

I shook my head at Rose’s words. What was she trying to imply? And what obsession was she talking about? I couldn’t be obsessed with Damien…could I? Yes, I had hero-worshipped him at one point in my life, but…

Was it really true? What she just told me? Was I really following Damien blindly? No! That couldn’t be! If so, then I wouldn’t have thought about researching the Elders.

“You know what, just forget it.” Rose said suddenly, placing a hand on my shoulders. “I’m just overthinking for no reason since I’m stressed about the finances. So, just forget what I said okay?”

“Okay.” I gave her a reassuring smile as we parted ways, but her words had started to take root in my mind and no matter what I did, they wouldn’t go away.

Both Lucas and Rose saw something in mine and Damien’s relationship that I didn’t. So what could that possibly be? I was well past the age where I would just call them jealous of my relationship and turn a blind eye to the truth. There was something wrong and I needed to know what. So I went to the only person who gave me comfort in this world, no matter what the situation.