"I'm so sorry," he murmured through a strained, agonized tone.
I summoned all the strength I could to keep from showing him how much pain I was in.
"It's not your fault. I'm the one who antagonized them. I thought Aster would stop them, but something happened to her. Is she okay?" My voice was shaky, and weak, not aiding me in convincing him I was okay.
He grimaced upon hearing the painful sound in my voice. "Nothing you could have said would justify anyone ever doing this to you. You have no idea how bad I wanted to snap their necks in half," he hissed through gritted teeth.
I asked my question again, in an attempt to shift the conversation. I worried that he might actually go back to finish the job. "What about Aster?"
He answered while still assessing the damage done to my body. "She'll be fine. Chris took her to the house to see Anesta. I'm sure it's nothing."
He sounded convincing, but I was still worried.
He set me in the car, and I cringed with pain as my knee scraped the side of the door. "Ow, ow, ow, ow," I squealed through one rapid breath.
My hands were skinned pretty badly from being drug on the pavement. My lip felt twice the size it should. My face throbbed with pain, and the unwelcome taste of blood invaded my mouth even more.
Tallis's face was unnervingly furious and miserable at the same time. He leaned away like he was going to go back, but I grabbed his hand.
"Let's go check on Aster. I'm worried."
He nodded somewhat reluctantly and climbed in the car. He slammed his door so hard I was surprised it didn't break. Before I knew it, we were going a hundred-and-twenty down the old highway. I just dropped my head back, hoping the pain would cease or at least decrease. It only seemed to worsen though. Everything on me was throbbing with pain. Then I felt Tallis touch the side of my cheek with the back of his hand in a caressing motion. I looked at him and tried to make light of the situation.
"Well, I was trying so hard to look sexy tonight. I think this just put me over the top."
My attempt at humor was in vain. He didn't smile. He just stared at the road, silently brooding for several minutes.
"No one will ever hurt you again as long as I'm alive."
The conviction and protectiveness in his tone made my heart flutter. It was the perfect moment. As horrible as I looked, it was still perfect. I was about to tell him I loved him, when suddenly we were at the house. The yard was littered with vehicles.
"What's going on? Is it Aster?" Now I was really worried.
"I'm not sure."
He jumped out and had my door open before I even got my hand on the handle. He scooped me up, carrying me and my battered body. He
had no idea how painful this was. His grip was too tight, but I couldn't tell him.
"I can walk."
"No, it's the least I can do for leaving you alone." His eyes were almost in tears from his unwarranted guilt.
I took a deep breath and spoke through the pain. "Quit blaming yourself. This wasn't your fault at all. I'll be fine."
Chris met us at the door. He had a look of sheer terror that instantly turned to fury. "Damn!" Then he turned to Tallis with his fists clenched. "I'll go back with you, right now."
I put my hand up quickly in front of Chris to stop him. "Tallis already handled it. They'll feel worse than I do when they come to." I stopped for a second to fight of a burning stab of pain from my knees. "I don't want to talk about this. I want to know what's going on with Aster."
His face changed. So many emotions gathered in his eyes at once that I couldn't tell what was going on.
I was ready to panic, when he said, "We're having a baby."
I could hear the shock and worry in my tone. "What? Is the baby okay? What happened? Aster was on the ground."
"Yeah, having a magical baby introduce itself can apparently knock you off your feet. Aster didn't know what was going on. She's pretty worried about you though. I told her not to worry. I never imagined… What kind of mortals do this to a girl? I never even knew animals like that existed."
They kept fussing over me instead of worrying about Aster. I was almost terrified to see what I looked like. I could feel my ribs trying to dislodge.