Word Count: 1503

Everyone looks up at me as I walk in, mother's glare so intense I nearly turn around and walk back out.

Ignoring the silence, I sit back at the table. My gaze lowers to my lap, as conversation resumes again between all the Alpha's and my mother. I can hear the doors rattle as Eryk walks back in.

"You didn't even change," mother mutters at me, jabbing her elbow into my side. I wince, brushing her off. I forgot that the front of my dress is still soaked with water, which is likely why everyone was staring so harshly when I walked in. Right now, I'm not worried about any of these men think.

"I'm really hungry," I tell her, eyeing the fish sitting right in the centre of the table still. I know what's it's going to do to me, if I actually go through with this...

Eryk is lingering at the edge of the room, watching me with wary eyes. Severs pass by him, muttering to him, but he ignores them, eyes fixed on me. He's going to step in as soon as I reach for this fish, which is all I need to prove that he's trying to protect me...Or maybe that he is being told to protect me.

Reaching out, I grab the shell of the fish, drawing it to my mouth. I keep my eyes trained on Eryk, as he does with me.

"Aven...That's got fish in it," mother scolds, not even bothering to hush her voice.

Before she has a chance to swat it from my hand, I down the fish, hardly even thinking it through. The moment it touches my lips, I immediately regret it. What am I doing? What has all this paranoia brought me to do?

"My bad," I say softly.

"Go call for a doctor, a nurse..." Mother says to one of the severs, standing abruptly. My ears ring with the sound of chairs scraping against the wood, people panicking without really knowing what is going on. I'm paralysed to my chair, my mind processing what I've just done, just as my throat starts to itch.

"What's going on?" Aria asks, clearly not knowing what to do, how to react. Mother is fluttering around me, yelling at servers, no longer caring about her crumbling perfect dinner facade.

"She's deathly allergic to fish, and she just ate it," I hear her say, although it hardly passes by my numb exterior. My throat is already starting to swell, so I'm just sitting here, trying not to panic. "There's medication in the upstairs bathroom."

"I'll get it," I hear Eryk say.

"It's going to be okay Avey. We are getting your medication," mother says, coming to stand next to me, grabbing a hold of my hands. Her touch burns my skin, as my fear begins to accelerate, but I don't shake her off, trying to concentrate on my breathing, which is becoming harder and harder.

"Let's take her up to the bathroom where the medication is," I hear someone else say, their voice oddly familiar, but I'm so distracted with everything else going on, I hardly pay attention.

"Yes...Yes," mother insists.

Mother tries to help me up, but the man brushes her off, reaching for me instead. "It's okay, Alice. I will carry her."

At this point, I'm on the brink of unconsciousness, clawing at my neck as if it's going to help me breathe. I look up toward the man as his arms glide under my legs, pulling me up to carry me. Through the blur that my vision has turned into, I realise that I've seen this man before, at the ball...

His hair is obsidian black, the same as his eyes. He had tattoo's creeping up his neck, ending at his jawline. I must be hallucinating at this point, as it looks as though his tattoo's are moving slightly.

"I know you," I whisper, as he carries me out of the room.

I haven't just seen him at the ball, I'm sure of it. He had been the enigmatic stranger I had followed out of the ballroom, who seemed to disappear into the shadows, but I've also seen him elsewhere, but in my state, I can't put my finger on it.

"Shh. Concentrate on breathing," he tells me, his voice so smooth, like the answer to everything I've been searching for. I cling to the sound, as I slowly drift into unconsciousness.

+++

I finally manage to struggle into consciousness after a long moment of staring at the back of my eyelids, trying to coax myself to open my eyes.

I'm lying on my side as I wake, blinking blearily, grateful I am able to breathe again. Although my throat feels raw, it's not swollen now, which means I've been fed my medication.

I'm in my bedroom, the door open into the hallway, showing my mother standing with the tattooed man, speaking to him.

I open my mouth to call to them, but my throat aches in protest.

Mother looks anxious, still dressed in her outfit from dinner, despite the fact that it must be late, shadows forming in my room from the darkness of night outside. "How do I, as a mother, talk to her about this?"

"It was an accident," the man replies calmly. The more I look at him, the more frightful he looks. He wears all black, and towers over my mother with his height, having to dip his head down partly at risk of hitting it on the ceiling. Whoever he is, he's involved with some kind of nobility. No wonder mother has invited him over to make a good impression.

"She has known all her life that she is allergic to fish. Why would she do that?" mother questions, shaking from how anxious she is. If there is anything I regret from this, it's upsetting my mother, who is often flighty and overdramatic.

"Let's just be grateful for her being alive," the man murmurs, grabbing my mother's hands tenderly.

I try to sit up, to call out to them again, but it's near impossible.

"I can't believe I allowed myself to not top up her medicine," mother expresses frantically, digging her hands into her hair, ruining her immaculately pinned hairstyle. "The moment I found out we were out I was convinced that was it for her. I'm grateful you could help her."

My heart almost flutters to a stop. There was no medicine in the house? Had I known that, I would have never eaten that fish...How am I still alive?

"We should never question miracles, simply embrace them," the man says, the gentle smile on his face not reaching his eyes. Am I dreaming, or did this strange man do something to save my life? I'm not in the right headspace to figure that out right now. It's hard enough to stay awake right now as it is.

"Thank you, Stace. I have to go thank Eryk," mother says, calming down finally. So she does know who Eryk is...And that name, Stace, is familiar. He was at the dinner party and I didn't even pay attention.

"Just keep her close, Elizabeth," he replies.

"Mother...What's going on?" I call out, finally able to find my voice. It's croaky and soft, but it gets both of their attention.

Stace meets my gaze for a brief moment, and it feels as if all the air in my lungs is expelled from my body. Part of me wants to call out to him, to draw him closer so I can just look at him, to make sense of why just seeing him is comforting, why it feels like it's answers all the questions I've had my entire life.

"Relax Aven, you're okay," mother says, stepping into the room and closing the door, blocking Stace from my view. "You're recovering from the medicine you just had. Everything will be okay now."

I frown, blinking through my tiredness, wondering why my mother is lying to me, among other things. "Who was that?"

"Don't worry about him," she insists, coming to sit next to me on the bed.

I ignore how the way she pats my head feels as though it's going to lull me to sleep. "No, I want to speak to him."

She shakes her head ta me, pulling my blankets up to my chin. I know I'm tired, and I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to fight it. The threat of unconsciousness creeps up on me, tugging at me. Even though I've been healed to some degree, my body still desires sleep, and knowing mother isn't going to five this up, I may just allow it to best me.

"You need sleep, Aven," she breathes, and finally, I allow myself to sleep.

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If you guys want to read more of KISSING DANGER you can find it 10 chapters ahead on Radish (:

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~Midika 💜🐼