Helplessly In Love

{Music Recommendation: Picture Perfect ~ Jhené Aiko}

༺ ♰ ༻༺ ♰ ༻༺ ♰ ༻༺ ♰ ༻༺ ♰

Rhane closed the door quietly but didn't leave. He stayed behind, ear pressed to the wood, listening. The shuffling inside had stopped. Only a gentle sigh came now and then. Rhane exhaled softly. His chest was tight. Jenna was trying, really trying- to hold herself together, and for that, he was grateful. Because if she had still looked broken… he didn't know what he might have done. Maybe go back to that house. Stab those dead men again. And if Gerald was dead too? He'd dig him up and carve out his goddamn organs just to make a point.

But Jenna wasn't just any woman. She was resilient, like a small piece of wood in a raging sea. Quite tenacious despite her noble upbringing, the only explanation for how she survived and stayed with a beast like Gerald. And that made her different, her toughness. Which shouldn't be so. Not that he didn't want her strong, but if it was because she had to do it to survive a beast of a husband... Rhane didn't want it.

Rhane moved his body from the door and began walking down the hallway. He passed two rooms before getting to the only room occupied by someone in the entire mansion. Without knocking, he pushed the door open and found his sister jerking up as if surprised.

"Bloody hell! Learn some manners, brother!" Kali spat, holding her stomach.

Rhane ignored her. His eyes fell on Kali's bed first.

"This lass- very weak and dumb, this one. He passed out because he saw blood," Kali began defensively, rubbing her temples.

Rhane didn't care anymore. Kali knew quite well it wasn't because of Percy he had come to the room to start with.

"Where is he?" Rhane went straight to the point, his eyes a raging storm of so many emotions- most of which were deadly. He wanted his pound of flesh.

Kali cleared her throat. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Well, if you failed to notice, I got stabbed. The blood... the reason this lad passed out."

Rhane blamed himself for that. He didn't look at his sister properly to notice because he was expecting to see Gerald tied up and waiting to die by his hands. He rubbed his neck and asked in what he thought was a worried tone, but in reality was rushed. "How did you get those?"

Kali raised her hand and shrugged. "Take a wild guess. Of course Gerald rose from a pile of the dead and fucking stabbed me!"

Rhane nodded slowly. "So where is he now?" he asked.

"You're not quite grasping the situation, are you, Rhane?" Kali asked, her brows furrowed. "Our brother escaped while I was there. I did ask the hunters to find him but... you know how sneaky Gerald is."

Rhane hesitated, as if trying to get the new information wrapped in his mind. Then he blinked, and Kali nodded.

"Yes! He stabbed me and ran for it," Kali explained, then flinched when she felt a serious pain in her stomach. "I only returned to bring this sissy home. I'll be on my way soon to find Gerald. I'm sorry."

Kali grabbed her dagger and tied it around her waist. She made her way towards the door, still limping. Before she walked past Rhane, he grabbed her hand.

"You want to die and make me feel guilty, don't you?" Rhane asked with a cold voice.

"How did you guess that right?" Kali asked with a sharp grin. Slowly, her expression turned cold and she looked up and pressed her lips. "It's my fault everything is happening this way. If I hadn't tried to send the lady away—"

Rhane searched around inside the room and found another box. "If the women in my life can give it a break with trying to die, I'll have a moment to think," he muttered when he found what he was looking for.

"Go sit."

Kali gave a girlish smile, one she only gave on rare occasions and only to her brother. She rubbed the back of her head. "I thought you were too in love to even notice you have a sister."

"Still am," Rhane brought the candle closer once Kali had sat down. He moved a stool towards her before raising her shirt. "He missed your important organs by a whisker. Will take time to heal." He began shuffling with the things inside the box.

Kali hummed, glancing down at her stomach. "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt. I'm used to it."

Rhane hissed. "My women and getting used to pain," he cursed his fate. "This ain't normal, Kali."

"Not our fault, Rhane. We got exposed to it, might as well get used to it." Kali grabbed a piece from the chair before biting into it. "Stitch it. I'll be scared to do it myself."

Rhane eyed her. "Yet you were ready to run around open with it and claim I killed you for my love madness."

"Will still do," Kali remarked, biting into the piece she'd grabbed.

Rhane exhaled softly. All because of one man, he was covering the wounds on the body of his sister as he had done on the woman he loves. Gerald needed to count the minutes he had on earth as a miracle, Rhane thought as he carefully stitched Kali's stomach the way he did for himself. Once he was done, he closed it up and let down her shirt.

Kali removed the piece on her stomach, sweat trickling down the side of her face. "That hurts like the devil!"

"Sure it does," Rhane nodded, "which is why women shouldn't be made to bleed for reasons so unnecessary."

Kali rested her head on the chair, trying to catch her breath. "You're really smitten by her, aren't ya? Lady Jenna."

Color returned to Rhane's face and he blushed.

"My brother is gone," Kali winced when she felt her movement stretch her wound. "Is this what love does? Makes you drunk?"

Rhane raised his face. "You should have seen her dancing that day near the pond... and trying to hide underwater, almost drowning because she wanted to preserve the dignity of some debauch." He remembered the day he caught Jenna hiding under the water.

"She acts tough but is very soft at heart, like her skin. You know, when she smiles, it's like the hummingbird came to visit. Peaceful yet enchanting. Quite rare..." Rhane's voice trailed. He remembered Jenna's anguish-filled voice, and he couldn't wait to bring her laugh and smile back.

And if he was lucky, the urge to be touched again.

Kali grunted, shaking her head. "For a woman betrayed, it's going to be one hell of a task to bring her around." And she knew that because no man had ever melted her enough to trust men sensually.

Rhane nodded, though pain filled his eyes. "I didn't start knowing it was going to be an easy fit. Even if it breaks me down to nothing... I'll still ask her, with whatever I have left." he remarked.

"It's a sickness," Kali scowled. "You're love-sick, brother... sick!" And the truth was that Kali was even more afraid, because what if Rhane got his heart broken forever? If Jenna stood on her rejection...

In her entire life, Kali had never seen Rhane talk about a person, talk more a woman like he does about Jenna. And not once had he tried debauchery from what she'd seen all this while. And it scared her so much, because Rhane was helplessly in love.

Rhane smiled. "Her stubbornness is also a charm," he nodded, packing the contents back into the box. "You sh—"

"There's blood!" Percy jerked up from the bed with a startling scream, then fell back.

Kali rolled her eyes and groaned. "Bleeds once a year and calls it an emergency. Typical man." she muttered softly.

Rhane had almost forgotten the young man. He walked over to the bed and pushed Percy down with a thud and a soft groan from him.

"Now go have a rest if you're planning on healing," Rhane pointed at the bed.

Kali obeyed, she could really use a nice rest at the moment. "And you?"

"Back to my master, while I think of what to do to our dear brother once I find him," Rhane replied dryly, a short stare at the candle, then he left the room, going back to the arms of his Jenna.