Chapter Thirty-four
Blaze strode into the room. He stood by the entrance and frowned as he glimpsed Arabella’s trembling body.
He heard her sniffled as he got to the foot of the bed, and he gripped her hand.
“Hey,”
Arabella flinched and, instinctively, she slapped his hand away.
As soon as her eyes landed on his, she bit her quivering lip. “Blaze!”
She climbed down from the bed and jumped into his arms.
Blaze stilled. His heart jammed in his chest at the sudden movement.
Arabella had never hugged him willingly before until now and his eyes flickered to the door as he heard footstep.
He heaved a breath, as soon as he saw the door was locked.
He didn’t want to be caught off guard by Sandro or anyone else, and the last thing he wanted was for her to get in trouble.
“This is too much for me. I don’t know what is going on any more.” She sobbed. Her hand scrunched his shirt and he patted her back.
Blaze let in a deep breath, her vanilla-strawberry scent wafted into his nostrils and he let out a breath slowly.
“Hey, Hey…” Blaze said, caressing her back as she whimpered.
“Please, make this go. Make it go away.”
“You will be fine. I promised to make you feel better, just trust me, okay?” He murmured.
Arabella released her grip on him and stared into his eyes, “Why is this happening to me? I didn’t ask my father to be in this. I don’t even know what he did to warrant this punishment and worse, I do not even have only one enemy!”
“Who is the other one?” He asked. He walked her towards the bed and placed her gently on it.
“Tell me, Bella.” He rasped. “Is there someone treating you badly aside from him?”
“Your sister, Thalia. She hates me so much.”
“She doesn’t.” Blaze let out a breath. Thalia wasn’t much of a threat in the present situation. Rather, she was the easiest to scuffle with. Not that he needed to scuffle with her before she stopped harassing Arabella.
“She freaking does! Why’d she do that if she didn’t hate me? I mean, she is meant to be on my side and protect me like you do, but she instead threw me to the bad guys the instant she got. She hates my fucking gut.”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.
“Thalia doesn’t hate you.” Blaze repeated. He knew all that was going on, and he believed he was partly to be blamed. If he wasn’t watching out for Arabella, Thalia would have been a better person to her.
Although he was older than her, she had always looked out for him. Besides, he believed it was due to the secret they were desperately trying to keep from Sandro, it was the reason Thalia let her get caught.
“Then why did she do it?”
“I’m sorry I was not there to protect you. The instant I saw who we were after, I couldn’t go against the people with me. Something awful will happen to us if I did and the least I could do to help you again is set another plan which is in order.”
Arabella nodded. She trusted him, and she believed whatever plan he had was good for them.
She wiped her face with the back of her palm and grinned up at him. Her brows knitted together as she noticed him watching her.
“What?”
“Delicate Rose.” Blaze said.
That name, again. Arabella mused. She shivered as she recalled the murderous look on Sandro’s face. She didn’t know the reason they referred to her like that, and he didn’t provide her answer instead.
But she believed Blaze will.
“It’s you right? Delicate Rose of the Rosetta empire?” Blaze asked, searching her face.
“If at all that is a real name, I do not know who that is. I’m quite confused.”
Blaze eyes narrowed at her. “Are you certain you don’t know who that is? I can’t be mistaken. Even the paintings I had seen and the description, all points at you, and you look exactly like her.”
“Perhaps, someone in this world looks so much like me.”
Blaze stared at her intently. Then he let his shoulder sagged.
“Sandro asked the same from me and even if I lie to everyone, I won’t lie to you. You need to trust me, I’m not her.”
“I believe you.” He said almost immediately.
Arabella was a nobody, and there was no way she’d suddenly be the treasure they were looking for. It must have been a mistaken identity. He was sure of that, and she never lied to him.
“Thank you.” Arabella sighed, sitting back on the bed.
“For?”
“Believing in me.” She said.
“I’ll always believe you no matter what.”
Arabella’s heart warmed and her cheeks reddened. She averted her gaze, biting her lip as he stared at her.
Blaze chuckled. “You need rest. I’ll be back later. And don’t do anything dangerous. Just yell for me if someone is troubling you.”
Arabella nodded and watched as he walked towards the door, then out of the room. She doubted, if she yells for him when she was in trouble, he’d appear. He was the one always sent out to do the most dangerous work.
Moreover, he was still under Sandro’s roof and impossible for him to help her whilst he was still alive.
The door opened immediately. Arabella’s head snapped to it.
“Did you leave something?” She asked.
“I’m here to tell you to back off, bitch.” Thalia replied as she stepped inside.
“What do you mean?”
“Stay the fuck away from my men!”