Several days had passed when Elyna opened her eyes for the second time. She let out a soft groan and raised her hands to support her pounding head. Her mind felt heavy. It took a while before Elyna could finally process what had happened.
As soon as Elyna remembered how she killed someone with her powers, she panicked, and her mind was jumbled up. Elyna panted heavily. She raised both of her hands only to see them covered in blood.
Elyna's eyes went wide. Her chest frantically rose and fell. Static overwhelmed her mind as if there were dozens of people just screaming into her ears at once. Her face went deathly pale. She was drenched in cold sweat.
Elyna pushed away her blanket with trembling hands and sat up. She stumbled but tried to get back up the next time.
"Val..."
In panic, Elyna could only call her mate's name in a soft voice. Elyna started to cry when she didn't get any response in the cold room. Elyna was afraid of being thrown away. No werewolf would want to have a relationship with a half-vampire like her.
CLACK!
Elyna's focus immediately turned to the door when she heard the sound of someone opening the door. Tritan entered her sight. Just like her, Tritan also looked surprised when he looked directly at her.
Since bringing Elyna back 'home', Tritan had hardly rested because he had to help stabilize Elyna, who had lost control of her powers. Only when Elyna had been declared stable did he finally take time to rest for a while. By the time he arrived back in the bedroom, fatigue hit him hard. He quickly drifted off into a sweet dream. Nothing could wake him up at that time until he finally woke up on his own.
The first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to look at Elyna. He woke up in a hurry, afraid of missing the moment Elyna woke up. Tritan did not expect to be faced with Elyna crying as soon as he opened the door to Elyna's room. The sad expression on Elyna's face made Tritan rush to approach. Tritan wanted to touch Elyna's cheek, but Elyna reflexively stepped away from him.
Being rejected by Elyna made Tritan's heart hurt, but he tried hard not to show it in front of Elyna. Tritan smiled gently. He deliberately kept his distance from Elyna so the girl wouldn't become more wary of him.
"You're awake. Is there any part of your body that's uncomfortable? Are you thirsty?" Tritan softly said.
Elyna's tears streamed down. When he heard Tritan's soft voice, the images between the Tritan he knew and the Tritan in his memory mixed.
"Val..." she said with a trembling voice. "Where's Val? I... I killed someone."
Tritan shattered into pieces. Even if Tritan could confirm that her memories had returned, Elyna still looked for Val instead of him.
"Elyna... what happened wasn't your fault. You were trying to protect yourself. It was those savage dogs who were at fault for daring to attack you."
Tritan paused his words. He knew Elyna was uncomfortable when she accidentally called the werewolves 'savage dogs'.
"It's okay. You're safe now. Those werewolves won't be able to find you again."
Elyna finally looked out when she realized the meaning of Tritan's words. Elyna was in a large castle. The sky above them was red. Elyna is not in the same dimension as Val anymore.
"But... Val is my mate."
Elyna had tried to accept the fact that she was Tritan's half-sister, but she could not accept that Tritan was taking her away to a place where Val could not find her. Elyna would rather be kicked out by Val than go off on her own. Val was her savior. Without Val, Elyna might have been bought by the humans who could have tortured her.
"He's not. We vampires don't have that kind of fate. Your vampire blood is stronger than your werewolf blood. Even without him, you'll be fine."
"But Val won't be okay!"
The more he denied it, the stronger Elyna's desire to return to Val became. Her emotions were restless. Elyna no longer thought about her fear of killing people when she remembered that Val could not reach her in that place.
"I want to go back."
Tritan's emotions started to get out of control when he heard Elyna's request. Tritan stepped forward. Even if Elyna kept backing away, he didn't stop until he managed to grasp one of her arms.
"You wouldn't say that if you had remembered everything about us."
Elyna had remembered everything. But that doesn't mean she is willing to be separated from Val just like that.
"Val is my mate. Meanwhile, you are... my family."
"I'm not just that. I'm your future partner."
Elyna shook her head. The vampires will not die even if they do not follow the traditions among them. But Val will. Werewolves who fail to unite with their mate will slowly lose their strength until they eventually die.
"You don't want to be with me?"
Elyna was silent when Tritan asked her in a hurt tone. She saw the pain in Tritan's eyes, then remembered how Tritan had loved her all this time.
Actually, from the start, there was something Elyna wanted to ask since she remembered everything. Elyna secretly clenched her fists. Tritan's answer would determine how she would treat him in the future.
"You... how could you leave me and my mother at that time?"
Besides the good times, Elyna also still remembered how the werewolves excluded them just because Elyna was different from the others. They had lived in hardship all this time. Her father and brother were the leaders of the vampires. With their powers, Elyna thought they should have been able to save them.
"Why... was Val the one who saved me and not you?"
The question hit Tritan's weak spot right on the mark. Elyna reminded him of his weakness, his stupidity for not being able to find Elyna before the others did.
"I... we never did it on purpose."
Tritan's shoulders dropped. His heart ached every time he received a rejection from Elyna.
"Our Father and I fell asleep for hundreds of years after the werewolves attacked us. I immediately looked for you after I woke up. I didn't lie to you about that, Elyna."
Tritan deliberately didn't tell her how Elyna's mother's pack secretly attacked them and then separated them from Elyna and her mother. Tritan and his father were badly injured at that time. Without a long sleep, they would disappear without having the chance to meet Elyna again.
The choice they had to make at that time was a tough one. But both of them finally went through the long sleep phase while holding on to the belief that their loved ones would be fine when they woke up.
Elyna might be fine. But her mother...
"I... I have no defense for that. But Elyna, I can't lose you again."
Elyna refused Tritan's outstretched hand. She didn't know what her brother had lost to meet her again. But during Tritan's absence, Val was the one who had made her life colorful again.
"I can't lose Val either."
Elyna kept turning Tritan's words around. She tried to look strong when Tritan was hurt by her. Her chest also tightened at her denial. But to Eyna, it was all just a psychological reaction to what the vampire race had taught her all this time.
"I want to meet Val. If you can't take me to him... then I don't want to talk to you anymore, Brother."
Elyna's words, wanting to end their conversation immediately, made the expression on Tritan's face darken. Tritan knew he had to be patient with Elyna. But hearing her keep mentioning other people's names continued to hurt his heart.
"On the night of the full moon... people say that Father will wake up. He will look for you. I hope... you will at least want to meet him."
Elyna gripped her clothes tightly. If what Tritan said was true, both of them had been badly injured that they had to sleep for hundreds of years. Elyna couldn't just ignore them. Even though she was worried to death about Val, she still nodded for the good of her family.
Tritan smiled when he saw Elyna's silent answer. That's enough. Tritan had been prepared to spend his entire life filling the void in Elyna's life.
Slowly but surely, Tritan will fight to get Elyna's love back.
"Then, I'll make all the preparations. You stay here. If you need anything, just pull the rope on your bed to call the servant."
Tritan looked at Elyna carefully before continuing his words.
"I love you, Elyna."
After that, Tritan finally really came out. He left Elyna alone in the room without any chance to return to Val.