"Does it hurt? Tell me if it hurts." Eli has been bombarding me with questions in the few moments that Ash has been gone.

I convinced him to let me get changed on my own but he still insists on helping which is irritating.

Slowly I pull on a silky camisole, a random pair of pyjama bottoms, underwear and satin dressing gown. Not bothering with a bra or socks, I put on some slippers and tie the robe in a loose knot.

Eli knocks on the door to the closet, "Elle?" He echoes, waiting a beat, "are you sure you don't need help, cause you're taking a hell of a long time in there," he continues insistently.

"No," I groan, opening the door, I walk out to face him, "look, I'm fine and I got changed without your help, so please could you stop asking me if I need help."

He stares at me for a moment, looking hurt, he gives me a curt nod, "ok."

I walk past him and sit on my bed, looking at my arms, grimacing it looks gross and painful but doesn't hurt at all.

Distracting my self I whisper, "spark," summoning a tiny golden star, I roll it along my knuckles, moving it over my thumb to my index, then I send the little pulse to Eli zapping him.

I laugh when he jumps slightly, "ouch, Elle," he whines. Then the room fills with an awkward silence, which Eli breaks with the clearing of his throat then, "Elle, it's ok, you know."

My eyes meet his, I know what he's talking about but I don't say anything, I just look back down at my hands this time fiddling with my fingers.

Noticing my silence, he continues, "We lost James, us both and the rest of the Institute but he wouldn't want us to dwell on his passing, we should stay strong and continue our mission for peace. James put this life's work into us and Thistle so we need to honour him by keeping it alive, granted there are definitely a few changes we need to make," now sitting on the bed he nudges me, causing a smile on my face.

"Definitely," I agree, nudging him back, "we should start by not killing vampires, and adding a Starbucks or something."

"Perfect, just what I was thinking, so I promise not to die on you and you better not die on me either," he says with a sad smile, trying to laugh. Taking a breath, he holds my hands in his and continues, "we still have a species to unite and we are in this shit together," tears roll down his face, I give him a watery smile trying to reassure him that I won't leave him, not after death, not until we finish what we need to.

I grip his hands tight, so tight that my forearms burn in pain, "we are in this shit together," I repeat.

The door creeks and our heads turn to Ash, "I hope I'm not disturbing anything," he interrupts with a small smile playing on his lips.

I give him a wide grin in return and answer, "nope, we just finished speaking," I then open my arms and say, "I missed you."

He denies my hug, making me sad but then I remember my arms are wounded and put them down. Seeing my smile fade, Ash places a kiss on my lips and whispers, "I missed you too."

Eli had removed himself from the room saying something about going to see Clyde. After feathering a few more kisses to my lips Ash stepped back introducing Dr Rhodes, "This is Dr Rhodes."

"Please just call me Freya," she says, Freya looked quite young for a doctor, "is she a vampire?" I project to Ash. Hearing my thoughts, he looks at me and responds, "hmm no, she's a healer, her family has worked with the Nightshade's for centuries, Freya is like an on-site doctor for everyone in the castle," he explains.

"It's nice to meet you Freya," I greet as Ash sits on the bed and pulls me into his lap, his arms wrapped around my waist, keeping me warm.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Princess, now let's get started," Freya announced with a smile, she tied her sandy blonde hair into a neat bun at the bottom of her head and pushed up her thick glasses; taking a closer look at my arms.

Her grey eyes blinking rapidly as her lips stayed pressed in a thin line; she gently prodded a blister. I winced in response, tensing stiff at the sudden pain.

Ash pushes his head into the crook of my neck but I can still hear him quietly growling, "calm down Ash, I'm ok," I squeeze his hand. He nudges his head deeper into my neck in response then takes a deep breath.

"Ah I'm sorry," Freya said with a shaky voice.

I look back up at her to see tears slipping down her face. "Are you okay?" I ask softly.

She wipes her tear and answers, "yes- oh- sorry, it's just that I can feel your pain and it's really bad, how are you not crying or something," she rambles, trying not to cry, looking into my eyes she continues, "heavens, it's physical and emotional," trying to laugh, she humours, "I should be asking if you're ok," she smiles.

Smiling back, I take her hand and say, "I've cried enough tears, now I need to be strong for everyone that needs the old Elouise back, the good Elouise."

With my words, she relaxed, as though my pain, a weight on her shoulders, lifted a little.

She squeezes my hand then pulls away grabbing the bag she placed onto the floor up onto the bed, opening it she placed an array of items on the bed beside me.

Disinfecting the wounds and wrapping them in cotton gauze, she gave me a small dose of morphine and left a bottle of pain killers.

"Thank you, Freya," I say.

"No problem," she returns, Ash also says his thanks and Freya leaves.

Looking around the room, I finally realised Eli had gone, he always seemed to disappear when we were here. I hope he gets some rest, he looked exhausted today. My heart sinks as I realise that he was dealing with a lot, it being partially my fault. I didn't even thank him or say goodbye.

I began to feel hot, the gauze began smoking, "Elle," Ash said voice higher than usual.

His grip on my waist released and he flipped our positions only now I was lying on the bed instead of on sitting, his hand on my chin forcing me to look into his eyes, "it's not you're fault," he said before kissing me. His kisses rough at first but softened as I responded kissing him back.

I relaxed into his touch, kisses trailing from my lips to my jaw, he continued to leave a trail of kisses before stopping above my chest.

Forgetting my troubles, I no longer felt as if I was on fire and the smoking had stopped.

Ash hovers over me, his hands placed either side of my hips. He just stops and looks into my eyes.

I stay in my position and blink back at him, smiling I say, "hi,"

A smile plays on his lips as he returns, "hey."

I wrap my arms around his neck, looking him dead in the eye, I say, "you come here often?"

He lets out a hearty laugh, "I wasn't expecting that," he chuckles, he contagious laughter causes me to giggle too.

I stop giggling and continue, "so what's a pretty boy like yourself doing in a place like this."

He plays along, "you know what," he looks at me waiting for a response.

"What?" I say.

He leans in, close, "it seems as though, right now, you're in my bed."

"Your?" I gasp, "excuse me sir but I think you'll find that you're married, to this ethereal goddess and whats yours is all hers too, so this bed is ours."

"Really," he cocks an eyebrow, "well ethereal goddess, your smouldering god of a husband here has a wedding gift prepared for later, so I suggest we get some sleep on this bed of ours."

Giving me one last kiss, he rolls off me and with vampire speed shuts all lights and returns to bed in time for me to snuggle with him under the covers.

"Goodnight," I yawn.

"Goodnight Elle, I love you," Asher says.

"I love you too," I mumble drifting off to sleep.

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New chapter for you lovelies!

I have a question, does anyone actually read this? Like my story, if so please tell me anything, what you like? Dislike? Maybe something I can add?

Also, I know it's been a minute since I updated, I don't have an excuse but haha slow updates are a very correct statement as of late.

Anyway, let's see when I post next.

Enami out ;-)