(Kacir)
Amaia's muffled screams wake me up. I jump out of bed and it takes my sleepy mind a few seconds to locate her. She is bent over near her bed with her uniform in one arm and the other cradling her belly. Screaming in a contained voice as if trying for no one to hear. But, it's the pain on her face that reveals the agony she is experiencing.
The way she is holding her stomach and the way it comes in waves for her, I understand what's happening.
I scramble towards her and hold her, offering her water, guiding and helping her through this painful process.
I am no stranger to it. I have gone through it plenty of times, thanks to my mate Rahria.
It never gets easy, the pain never stops or lessens. The intensity remains, you get used to it.
Amaia's screams finally stop. The shaking of her body lessens and goes slack in my arms. Her head remains on the side of my shoulder as I wipe away the tears from her face.
My heart hurts seeing her like this, so broken, in such a state of pure misery.
There is something about Amaia I can't place, a feeling like there is so much more to her than what meets the eye.
She is relentless, brave and she reminds me of my sister. From the first moment I saw her, I knew we would get along. There is this connection I feel with her, the one I can't even explain, the one which wants me to protect her.
"I am sorry, I don't know what happened," she painfully says and I let out a painful breath.
I don't want to do this but she needs to know. Maybe she already does to an extent of it. It's guaranteed she has found her mate, because this doesn't happen until the bond settles between two mates and one of them cheats on the other.
For whatever reason, he hasn't claimed her, or if it's her decision not to accept him, is a mystery to me. But she doesn't deserve to be cheated on.
I will never push her to reveal anything she doesn't want to. She will learn to trust me and confide in me whatever she wishes to. Nothing more nothing less. I am not the kind of person to force anyone to share their secrets.
But I am guessing that one of the twins is her mate. My bet is on Mintaka because if it had been Alnitak, he would have straight away claimed her and not have that conversation of choosing each other at the end of the year. He has been waiting for his mate for three years and never lets an opportunity pass to remind everyone how he is remaining chaste for his future mate.
That leaves Mintaka but if it had been him, I would have felt the pain too.
Did he sleep with someone else?
Or maybe it isn't the twins at all, but someone else.
"I do. You have recognised your mate. The bond has settled for you or maybe for both and he was just unfaithful to you," I apologetically tell her.
Amaia's black eyes widen at my words and more tears slip out of them. The commotion has awakened the bird she had rescued last night. He has flown over and now sits on her shoulder rubbing his beak along her teary face.
"H–how you know?" She asks brokenly. I wipe away more of her tears.
This pain we both share. I can't help but confide in her.
"Because I have been through this multiple times. My mate liked to sleep with someone else."
Amaia gasps. Her hand reaches out to capture my left arm and she gently squeezes. "I am sorry, Kacir."
"It's not your fault, Amaia," I assure her and finally help her up from the floor and settle her on the bed.
The grackle is croaking loudly now. There is pain in the way he makes the sound, and Amaia gently settles him in her lap and strokes his head.
"Shh! I am fine now."
"Whoever that is, you need to speak to him. Tell him to either accept you or reject you because this is no way to live. Believe me," I kindly tell her, picking up her uniform and placing it on the bed beside her.
She shakes her head and closes her eyes. "I can't. I just can't…"
"Why not Amaia? Is it one of the twins?" I blurt out before I can stop myself and she flinches and then goes stiff. Her body starts shaking again and she grabs her thigh bending over in pain.
Damn! It is Mintaka. That fucking asshole.
"Amaia! We won't talk about it if you are not comfortable," I quickly say, rubbing her back and she nods, not speaking.
The situation has gotten more fucked than I could have even imagined.
I sit closer to her and she just leans onto me. For a while we don't speak, just two broken souls comforting each other and then she asks.
"Why haven't you rejected Rahria?"
This question has kept me awake on countless nights. Destroyed the very peace of my heart and butchered my soul, leaving me hollow and weak.
I should after what she has put me through.
"She has my father's ear and I can't take that deision, yet." It's not the full truth but I feel ashamed of myself whenever I think of the reason I haven't rejected her.
"Does he know that she has been unfaithful to you?" Amaia questions next and I just nod my head.
"I am sorry Kacir that they treat you like this. But you won't be alone from here on. I will be with you every step of the way." And then she smiles at me, wiping away whatever the last of the tears had been left.
"And I will be there for you. No matter what the future will hold, we will have each other's backs." I return her smile.
"We should get ready now. Shouldn't be late for our first session. Won't reflect well on our first day." She carefully stands up balancing the grackle.
"Yeah! Alnilam is not known to accept tardiness. He punishes and punishes hard," I tell her and leave the bed, heading to the cupboard to grab my uniform.
"By the way, I have named him Zille," she tells me with pride.
I turn and wave at the angry looking grackle, who is perched up in her lap.
"Hello!" I head to the washroom after to change so we can head down.