Made For Him

7.

After Haestus’ laughing hysteria, he called for Dinner. It was delivered to his wing by the royal chef before he took it to the kitchen where Orabelle was.

“Have you sent your men for Kiara?” Orabelle asked as she looked at the food that was laid before her on the table. There were so many exotic dishes that she knew Kiara would have loved to taste. It reminded Orabelle of her friend even more. She couldn’t help but wonder where she was and what she was doing. Has she got anything to eat? Has she got any place to stay for the night? Was she alright? All these questions were eating her from inside.

Haestus knew the look of concern that decorated her face while she had asked the question. 

“My men are already out looking for her. They’ll find her,” He tried his best to assure her. She didn’t say anything but nodded. Silence joined them for dinner. It was disturbing Haestus along with the urge to know more about her so asked, “Tell me about yourself,”

Orabelle stopped chewing her food and raised an eyebrow at him. He wanted to know about her and so did she. 

“You start off first,” She said instead. Haestus’ lips curled into a small smile as he asked, “What do you want to know about me?”

“Anything,” Orabelle answered, rolling her eyes at him as an attempt to hide the effect he was having on her. She wanted to know everything about him but wouldn’t admit just yet. She wasn’t still sure about the mate-thing yet. She wanted time to process it in her head. 

Haestus nodded at her before he took a sip from his drink.

“I wasn’t born a wolf…” Haestus trailed off as he moved the food on his plate while he collected his thoughts before continuing, “I was born to morals. My father was a fisherman, my mother was a Ruer,” The last part had Orabelle snapping her head at him.

Ruer. He said his mother was a Ruer. She knew who they were. Those women were mortals who helped the witches. It explained his knowledge of spells and potions.

“So that’s how you know about spells and potions?” She asked and he smiled at him as he nodded at her. The smile was different. It didn’t reach his eyes. There was a tinge of pain and grief in his eyes that didn’t go unnoticed by her. 

“How much do you know?” She asked curiously.

“Not much. Just the basics,” He said, shrugging. She was amazed to know how similar their backgrounds were. It fueled the curiosity in her to know more about him.

“My mother worked for Bianca,” He added and it made her sit up straight. 

“Bianca?” She asked with fascination. Bianca was one of the most powerful and famous witches of all time. It was always Orabelle’s dream was to meet her one day but it was not easy to find that woman. She was of a mysterious nature and very few people knew about her whereabouts.

“Yes,”

“Then? What happened?” She asked with curiosity. It made Haestus’ internally happy that his mate was interested to know more about him so he went further, “We lived in this small village. It was the three of us. Me, father and mother. My childhood was great. The village we lived in was peaceful. We had a small house and life used to simple and peaceful. I was nine when my mother was expecting my sister. I was very excited to meet her but…” He trailed off before he took a sip from his drink. 

The painful memories came flooding back to him. With time, he had forgotten about the m******e of his family and the pain it caused him. He had pushed those memories down after he had vengeance upon the people who took his loved ones away. He hunted them down and killed every single one of them but no matter what, it didn’t bring his loved ones back. It didn’t fix what had been broken. 

“What happened?” Orabelle asked gently as she looked at him. She saw that his demeanor had changed. He seemed different. Melancholic vibes radiated off him. She felt a certain heaviness of the air.

“Haestus?” She called for him as the silence grew louder between them.

“She was taken away…” It didn’t take Orabelle long to realize what happened next. She understood that his mother was killed during one of the trails of witch-hunting. They were both tortured by the same past. 

She rested a hand on his shoulder which had him looking at her. She felt empathy for him. She had never seen anyone so sad. It tugged at her heart. She wanted to reach out and hug him but she was herself so frozen by her own grief that she couldn't.

“I am sorry,” She spoke while blinking her tears away. She dropped her hand from his shoulder and concentrated on the food on her plate. She had suddenly lost her appetite.

He sighed deeply before he continued, “Father and I searched for her. We never got to see her again. Father went to the village chief but they refused to listen to him so, he raised his voice against them. Next day when I returned home, it was burning with him in it. Next, they were after me so I ran from there…” She saw his tight grip on the spoon. Even though it was made of metal, it didn’t sustain his powers.

“I ran to the nearby kingdom and there I met Arles. We became friends instantly because we shared the same dark past. Although, his past is much darker than mine. Even after discovering what he was, I continued to be his friend. The moon goddess was pleased with me being supportive and loyal to Arles so she gave me a wolf.” He added this before taking a big gulp from his drink. Orabelle kept silent and listened to him. As she heard him tell his past, she saw her past playing in front of her eyes. 

“I never forgot and had never forgiven for what happened with my family. In a few years, Arles grew powerful and overthrew the throne. He became the king. He chose me as his second in command. He trusts me blindly…” He said the last part while looking at Orabelle and she knew what he meant. He was keeping her without letting Arles’ know. He was betraying his friend for her.   

She gulped hard and looked down at her food. He continued to speak.

“Arles gave me everything. He made me powerful. I didn’t take long to hunt them down-“ Haestus was interrupted when Orabelle had started coughing. He was soon on his feet, ready to help her. She reached for the glass of water that sat on the table but Haestus moved it away and instead made her lean forward and rubbed her back.

“Are you okay, Bell?” He asked concerned when she had stopped coughing. 

Bell.

He had called her that again. Only her mother called her by that. The tears she had been holding back all this time now escaped her eyes and trailed down her cheek as she now reached for the glass of water. Haestus now handed it to her voluntarily. He noticed her tears as he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“My mother used to call me that,” She muttered lowly as she used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe her tears away before she gulped down the water from the glass. He watched her with empathy. He wanted to sweep her in his arms and tell her that everything would be alright. He wanted to wipe her tears away but he couldn’t because he had promised her that he wouldn’t touch her. He was keeping his words well.

Orabelle noticed this too as she looked at the food on the table. Her appetite was gone. She didn’t want to eat anymore. Haestus noticed this and felt the same himself so he said instead, “I’ll accompany you to your room,”

She nodded before she slowly got up from her chair. He led her out of the kitchen. He walked her to her room. 

“It was nice talking to you, Orabelle. I love spending time with you. Goodnight.” He said when they had reached her room and she opened the door to get inside. She turned to look at him. He was standing just behind her. There was a look of desperation on his face. He longed to touch her. She noticed how his dark blue eyes drifted down to her lips before they were looking back into her hazel ones. He wanted to kiss or goodnight. No, he wanted to spend the whole night with her.

Deep inside, she wanted to do the same but right now, she didn’t. Instead, she just nodded at him. She was too upset to say anything to him. She feared that if she spoke then her voice would waver and she would break down into tears in front of him. She wanted to cry. So, she didn’t say anything to him as she stepped inside her room and closed the door behind her, leaving him alone out in the corridor. A part of felt guilty leaving him like that but she was so deep into the grief that her past bought her that it washed everything else away.

When she crossed the little sitting-room before entering her bedroom, she found several dresses laid out for her on the small couch. When she neared it, she found several pieces of jewelry laying by the dresses too. In other circumstances, she would have gotten excited and examined everything closely but instead of that, she ended up picking one of the nightgowns and going to bed.

As she laid in the darkness alone, she thought about herself and she thought about him. It was the first time she was thinking about them together. It both scared her and gave her hope. She had decided to give him a chance.