Asher's Beloved

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen - Need You

One month later.

Asher Antonov's P.O.V.

Waking up with a start, I sit up immediately in the chair and look over to the bed. Sighing sadly when I find Ayla still asleep instead of awake like in my dream, I rub my face tiredly. I stand and take a seat beside her on the bed, holding her hand. Glancing at the clock, I know the doctors and nurses won't be here for another ten minutes so I slip off my shoes and cuddle up to her.

"Come on, little butterfly." I whisper, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Wake up now, I miss you so much."

She doesn't respond like always, but her steady heartbeat reassures me. Sighing, I press a kiss to her temple before resting my chin on the top of her head. It's been one month since she slipped into a coma and without her, I've turned into a miserable mess. I haven't left her side much, wanting to be there when she wakes up.

"Wake up so we can finally start our lives together without any obstacles this time. You won't suffer again Ayla, the rest of my life will be devoted to keeping you happy and safe. We'll travel around the world just like you wanted, I'll make an art studio stocked with all the supplies you could ever ask for and we can go and visit your family. You'll finally see them, all you have to do is wake up baby."

Doctor Ilias walks in and as soon as he spots me on the bed, he sends me a stern look. Glaring furiously at him for disrupting my time with Ayla, I get off and take a seat back in the chair beside her. He runs through all his checks as usual before Sasha, another well-known healer of this realm, comes in.

"She's healing well, my King." Sasha smiles for the first time in a month, her power flowing into Ayla's body. "I can feel her body accepting it."

Sighing in relief, I nod while trying reign in my emotions. Hope blossoms within me at the thought of Ayla waking again. I miss her terribly and ever since she slipped into a coma, I don't feel the same without her. I tried to focus on work to distract myself in the first two weeks but I failed at that as I would run back and forth between the hospital wing and my office. Eventually, I asked Dimitri to take over and consult me regularly in any high-ranking decisions.

Sasha persuades me to take a shower and get some sleep, commenting on how I look like death personified. Glaring at her, I order her to stay and protect Ayla while I'm gone, calling Vito and Corbin back to guard her door. Making my way upstairs and into my bedroom, I lay down on the bed, hating how the scent of her essence has disappeared from the room. It's the only thing that calms me nowadays and that's why I refuse to leave her side.

Sighing, I close my eyes and everything turns dark. But my rest only lasts for what feels like a few minutes when I'm woken up. 

"Asher." A familiar voice calls, shaking me from my sleep.

"Ayla?" I sit up quickly, only to sigh in disappointment when I see my little sister instead.

"Sorry." She whispers regretfully, making me smile weakly and pull her into a hug. "How are you doing?"

When Helios came to the castle, he took Sage with her – although it took a lot of grovelling on his part. So, she doesn't know what happened to Ayla and because Helios had taken her on a long trip to another part of the Vampire realm to make up for what he did she's only hearing about it now.

"What happened? I saw her before I came to you, she's in a coma?" She whispers horrified, turning to face me.

Nodding, I begin to tell her about everything that occurred after the attack at the courthouse. She listens attentively, near tears at the end when I describe what happened when Blithe stopped the teleportation process to kill her. Her baby blues brighten in fury when she hears that Silvano lied to everyone to protect himself from Blithe.