Burning Castles | ✓

Chapter 27 - Adrenaline

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∞ | Chapter 27 - Adrenaline | ∞

Antro Tower, Carvensland

She stared at him, unable to move or to even breathe.

It was him. 

It had to be him, right?

It couldn't not be him. It couldn't. She didn't think she could take it if it wasn't.

A spark of hope flared up in her and she quickly turned around.

"Rhydderch?" she breathed out, heart beating thunderously in her chest.

Footsteps sounded and her eyes went blurry as Rhydderch stepped into view. And to her ever-increasing annoyance, her knees buckled and she collapsed onto the ground.

The last thing she saw was outstretched hands reaching for her as she fainted.

* * *

With a shuddering breath, Adrastea sat upright, eyes wide as she quickly scanned her surroundings.

Rhydderch was alive. He had to be.

Or so she thought. Hadn't she seen him in the bathroom earlier? Clumsily, she stumbled towards it, determined to make sense of whatever she had seen.

It couldn't just be a dream.

She refused to even entertain that thought. She never hallucinated once in her life. Rhydderch had to be alive. She'd seen him.

But if he was indeed alive, where was he? Wouldn't he be by her side to ensure that she was alright?

She pressed her mouth into a thin line, her mind racing as she examined the bathroom. Of course, he wasn't there.

Was she losing her mind?

Did grief really do things like this to people?

She finally understood.

Understood why people gave up on living after a loved one passed. Adrastea didn't think she could continue on without Rhydderch. Or if she did, she would be an utter mess.

Heart racing, she shuffled her way back to the bed and ran her hands through her hair harshly. She really was losing her mind, wasn't she? She was seeing her dead soulmate who could even be haunting her.

No, she shook her head furiously. Rhydderch wasn't haunting her from the great beyond. Ghosts weren't real. The only logical explanation was that she wasn't well. Mentally well, that is.

She hiccuped and crouched down on the ground. Her balance was terrible as of late. She knew she hadn't been taking care of herself. She hadn't the appetite and she hardly slept. She was basically a former shell of herself.

Maybe she really was hallucinating everything. Psychologists would claim that she was in denial and projecting her desires in her mind, causing her to see things because she believed in it.

Maybe she had imagined the whole scene of seeing Rhydderch earlier when she was in the bathroom.

But it still didn't explain how she had gotten into bed with the covers tucked around her. Because the last thing she remembered was breaking down on the ground.

Maybe, a logical part of her brain began, someone had entered the room and saw her on the ground before tucking her into bed. Like one of the maids around the castle. Perhaps even Jarek or Darius when they came to check up on her.