Wife of The Demon Prince
Chapter 319: Stay with me

Chapter 319: Stay with me

Eadlin didn’t know how long it lasted, the passing of time turned like the fleeting wind in summer, but Henry finally pulled away from the hug. She had closed her eyes at some point, savoring the warmth of his embrace, the first and final time she would be in his arms, she would etch this in the depths of her memories.

She slowly opened her eyes and gazed up at him, her eyes looking slightly swollen from all the tears. There was a gentle look in his usually stern blue eyes, and once again she couldn’t believe this softness was meant for her.

With a faint bitter smile on his face he caressed her cheeks, with the faint brush of his coarse fingers on her skin, she closed her eyes to savor it. Slowly he leaned in, she could feel the warmth of his breath tickle her cheeks, her heart skipped a beat and began to beat faster, but just when his face was less than an inch away from hers, he eyes shut closed, his body turned slack, Eadlin was quick to react, catching hold of him before he’d fall, but in the end, her frail body couldn’t support his weight and she ended up going down with him.

She furrowed her brows slightly, before making any effort to push up his weight from her body, he seemed to have passed out from the amount of alcohol he’d had.

After some time of struggling, Eadlin finally managed to somehow drag Henry towards his bed, it was a good thing that he had at some point regained a faint hint of consciousness, she had then assisted him to the bed, while she managed to bear a third of his weight as she supported him to the bed.

She helped him lay down, then covered him up with his blanket, as she pulled the blanket up his chest, she paused, her gaze lingering on his face for some time. More tears threatened to gather in her eyes but she raised her chin subtly to push them back.

She had come to say goodbye, but she would get to leave with the memories of the sweetest words she had always wanted to hear. The sound of him telling her he loved her still repeatedly rang in her mind. And she could tell a part of her heart wanted to believe in those words, but another part of her was scared she’d blindly choose to believe in them only to end up being disappointed.

After some time of gazing at his face, she let out a small sigh, then moved away to leave, but her hands were grabbed once more by Henry, though his eyes were closed, he had a deep frown on his face, as if displeased. Eadlin stood still in her spot for some time, waiting for him to fall back completely asleep, before she tried to pull his hands away from her wrist, but despite her efforts, his hold did not seize, as he felt her about to slip away from his grasp, he suddenly yanked her towards him, Eadlin found herself falling onto him, her eyes widened and she quickly pushed herself up, but she still couldn’t get her hands out of his grasp.

"Stay..." He muttered breathily, the sound of his voice so faint, but she’d heard him being close enough, "Stay with me..."

She let out a deep sigh her eyes lowering in disappointment, perhaps it wasn’t meant for her, perhaps he was just feeling lonely in his drunken state, nevertheless, Eadlin decided to just stay with him for some time, perhaps until he fully fell asleep, this was the last time she’d be anywhere around him anyway.

She silently sat by his side, not attempting to pull her hand out of his, she watched his furrowed brows slowly relaxed, then she lost herself staring at his handsome face as if to imprint his image in her heart, in the moment it felt like an image that would last a lifetime, but memories were like smoke, if the fire is lit, there would always be smoke, but as the fire extinguished, the smoke would diminish and fade with the wind and passage of time.

___

Pain... All Henry could feel was a hammering pain in his head as his eyes slowly opened to the blurry image of his room before it focused a few seconds later.

The first thing he could perceive was the strong lingering smell of alcohol on himself, and the memory of him being confused and regretful the night before dawned on him, there had been so much chaos going on in his mind he ended up getting so much alcohol, he didn’t even realize when he became drunk, but underneath the smell of alcohol was a faint scent that stood out, the familiar scent wafting into his nose, a fragrance of multiple flowers like the merging of fragrances from an exotic garden, he frowned.

Eadlin?

Then, the memories of his drunk reaction last night all suddenly returned to him, he had been drinking, but like a figment of his imagination, she appeared before him, he had been deeply confused after reading Anne’s letter where she told him he had most likely fallen in love, he was not a man to dig deep into his own emotions, nor was he one to be able to openly express his thoughts and feelings, however under the influence of alcohol, he had tapped into a part of his heart that he had always hidden underneath his mask of rigid sternness and indifference, thereby fully confessing his feelings for her.

But thinking about it now, Henry didn’t feel a tinge of regret, nor did he wish to take back his words, he meant every single one of it, every single word...

He loved her, he truly did, and he would want nothing more than to keep her by his side, to have her with him for the rest of his life.

At that realization, Henry suddenly swung his head up, looking beside him and around the room but she was nowhere around him.

He raised his hands, looking at his palm where he could still feel the lingering warmth and softness of her hand in his own.

Then a thought crossed his mind that had him panic.

Could she have left?