Aria
I grasp the letter from my parents in my hands tightly and breathe it in, wishing I could smell my mother’s perfume, my father’s aftershave, on the paper. It only smells like a regular sheet of paper, nothing else, not even a trace of the gross smelling apartment I left them behind in. I feel bad that I can’t even pick up a fine trace of them, not even with my super smelling abilities. But at least I have something they touched, something they held in their hands, and their thoughts.
I go to rip the letter open but realize the envelope has already been slit open at the top, from a letter opener. I feel violated as I pull the piece of paper from it’s container. Who had opened my mail? Why would they do that?
It doesn’t take me long to realize it had to be someone from Kurts&rAria“Okay! This is a game my grandma told me she used to play when she was a little girl,” Mim explains as she sits across from me on the bed, both of us cross legged and laughing already. She has a pair of oranges in her hand and gives one to me as she explains with the other one.“How do you play?” I ask, interrupting before she even gets a chance to tell me, even though I know that’s what she was about to do.Giggling, Mim says, “You have to peel as much of the orange as you can without breaking the peel. Then, you stand on the bed and say, ‘Show me my mate!’ and toss the orange peel over your shoulder. However it falls on the ground, it will reveal the first letter of your soulmate’s first name.”
SebastianI am dreaming about Aria again. I know it is a dream because nothing like this would happen in real life, at least… it never has before. I am walking down the hallway near my office, and I hear a beautiful singing voice coming from one of the rooms nearby. I can’t help but follow the sound of the haunting melody, sung in a high soprano voice. The tune winds its way around my soul as it leads me closer to the source, much like a siren luring sailors to crash against rocky shores.I open the door and see Aria dusting a grand piano. She is alone in a room that doesn’t exist inside of our home. We do have a grand piano, but it’s in the parlor, not a side office. This room is nearly empty, other than the piano. And the girl.I walk into the room and notice her ski
SebastianI knock on the door of my father’s office and wait for him to call me in. Instead, his right-hand man, Grip, opens the door. I’ve never liked the guy. He’s far too brash and seems to think he’s a tough guy when he’s really not. I know I could beat the shit out of him with one hand tied behind my back. Still, my father likes the guy, so I’m polite to him as I say, “Hi. Father called.”I notice that Grip is looking at me oddly, probably staring at my shirt. I am uncomfortable, but I don’t let on. He says nothing, only steps aside so that I can come into the room.Inside, my father, Victor, is seated behind his desk. Another of his associates, a large, bulging man named Wheeler, is seated across from him. There are two other chairs. I wait fo
I rush up the stairs, back to my room, even though I am conflicted at this point as to whether or not I should go speak to Dez or even Aria first. I know what I will choose to do after I dismiss Gloria. I know that I will choose to make Aria my personal maid, even though it is a mistake for more reasons than I can count. Being attracted to a servant is not a good idea, especially not the one that is responsible for cleaning my underwear and making my bed, but there isn’t anyone else I would dare ask.I won’t be asking. I need to remember that. Of course, it will come across that way when I invite her to my office, have her sit across from me like a client, and tell her what is going to happen. I will ask her if she would like to take the position when it comes out of my mouth, but even if she says she’d rather not, it is not an option. Once I’ve posed the question to her, she cannot
AriaMim is hilarious. Even though we are just polishing the wood furniture in the library, she finds a way to make me laugh. No matter what we are doing, with Mim beside me, it’s fun. I can’t imagine how I would’ve survived this experience without her. She makes what would otherwise be an impossible job a great experience.She is in the middle of impersonating a comedian she’s seen on television, back when she was at home and could watch television, when the library door opens. We both draw our faces into straight expressions as we take in the form of the woman standing there. It’s Elvira, and she is not amused.“Mimosa!” she says in an angry shout. “How many times must I ask you not to be so loud and obnoxious while you’re working?”
AriaI follow Sebastian up the stairs to his room, my pulse racing. I wish I would’ve had the opportunity to go tell Mim that I wouldn’t be back, but I can hardly do that now. I also wish I would’ve cleaned a little more quickly today. She’ll have so much to do herself. Maybe I can go and help her finish after I clean Sebastian’s room. We clean so many rooms downstairs during the day, I can’t imagine it could possibly talk me all day to clean his room and his bathroom.We are not using the staircase I normally use, the one in the back of the house, the one for help. Instead, we are using the main staircase, the one in the front of the house. I have never gone up or down these stairs and get a little lost admiring how elegant they are, with their hand carved railing and thick red carpeting.
SebastianI cannot get down the stairwell fast enough. Aria is so beautiful, and she smells so divine, just being around her makes my heart beat out of my chest and my breath catch in my throat. If I am going to get any work done today at all, I’ve got to find a way to get her out of my mind.In the meantime, I need to go let Mim know what’s going on. It wouldn’t be fair for me not to tell her myself.I follow the sounds of her singing softly to herself down the hallway and find her in one of the offices currently unoccupied by the member of my dad’s henchmen that generally operates out of this space. Mim is dusting the furniture as she sings, and I can’t help but smile at her. She really is quite the entertainer. It’s no wonder Dex has it so bad for her. I
AriaIt’s really important to me to do the best job possible cleaning Sebastian’s room, so I am multitasking as much as possible. I have a load of laundry in--mostly towels, though I also need to wash his sheets--I have sprayed the bathtub so that the cleaner can start to loosen some of the grime that has adhered itself to the tile over the last few weeks when it’s been pretty clear that Gloria hasn’t actually been cleaning anything, and I’m busy dusting all of the furniture so that I can vacuum. I know I have to make time to iron all of his shirts, too. I knew there was something wrong the moment I first saw him this morning because his shirt was so wrinkly. He’s usually so put together.The room is super quiet, and I wish I would’ve asked Mr. Sebastian if it’s okay for me to listen to music while I
Sebastian I am standing at the end of an aisle, outside in my mother’s garden behind our house, waiting for the most wonderful woman in the world to walk down and stand beside me so that the preacher before us can pronounce us man and wife. All of our friends and family are also here, including the remaining members of Vargas Pack. There are rows and rows of white folding chairs covering the velvety green lawn. The sky is crystal blue, white puffy clouds roll by high above us, and I can’t imagine how my life could be any more perfect than it is at this moment. My father retired from being the pack Alpha a few months ago. He said he hoped it wouldn’t interfere with the wedding plans, but it was time. Mom had this river cruise she wanted to go on in Europe, and it was getting ready to set sail. He said he’d neglected her wishes for far t
Sebastian“I remember.”Hearing Aria say those two words is almost as good as it was to hear her say that she loved me for the first time. Tears fill my eyes as I look into hers, the magic from the rings in the moonlight dissipating as we are left in the ruins of her home with our arms around one another.“You do?”Her smile widens as she nods enthusiastically. “I do. I remember everything.”A sigh of relief escapes my lips as I wrap her up into my arms and swing her around. “I’m so glad,” I tell her as I set her down on her and brush her hair back before I kiss her. Just like our hands melding together started the magic that brought he
SebastianAria and I walk hand-in-hand up the hill that leads to her old village with the light of a full moon guiding our feet along the path. I am nervous about what might happen when we get to the top and she sees her old homesite. Either she will recognize where she’s at and a flood of memories will come back to her, or she won’t, and this entire visit will leave her devastated.I try to reassure her as we go. “Now, if this doesn’t work, it’s all right. There are lots of other things we can try. There are people we can see. We’ll go visit your old packmates. It’s possible that some of them will be able to help you remember. Or we can find a doctor, an expert on amnesia. I bet there’s a good one that knows about the shifter world already. If not, they don’t have to know you’re
AriaWe take another plane to my hometown, or at least, as close to it as we can get. Sebastian tells me that there are no airports in my former territory. In fact, the closest one is a few hours’ drive from where we want to go. This time, on the airplane, when he wants to hold my hand, I not only let him, I want to hold his hand, too.The flight is much longer this time, over three hours. To pass the time, I ask Sebastian questions about his childhood, and he tells me stories about when he was a little boy. I wonder how many of them I have heard before and how many of them are brand new to me. He makes me laugh, and I love to hear the sound of his voice.But I am nervous. What if this is my last chance to remember? What if I get to my hometown and I don’t recognize anything?
AriaOnce again, Sebastian has me by the hand and is leading me down the stairs to another part of this enormous house. I have no idea where we are going, only that we are looking for some rings that Dez mentioned when he was talking about Mim.I don’t bother to ask Sebastian any more questions because he seems to not want to tell me anything. He said he needed to show me. Maybe whatever he’s going to show me will help me to understand more, even if it doesn’t help me remember.We stop at an office door on the first floor, and Sebastian knocks. I hear a deep voice that I think is his dad say, “Yeah? Who is it?”“Father, it’s me, Sebastian, with Aria. Can we come in?”
SebastianWaking up next to Aria, I think for a moment that things are normal, that all of this has just been one horrible nightmare, and she’s still exactly the way she should be, her memories are intact, and she knows who I am and who she is.Then her eyes open, and I can see the vacancy registering there. My heart feels crushed again. She blinks a few times and then smiles at me, and I don’t feel quite as bad.Since she lost her memories, I’ve felt terrible for her, but I have also held onto one selfish fear, that she will never remember me and won’t learn to love me again. I have been terrified that she will decide she doesn’t want to be with me anymore.This smile reassures me that that isn’t the case, that
AriaI feel like a wanton woman, but I want this man, and since we have been together many times, I can’t convince myself that it’s not okay. Trying to keep my hands off of him is like trying to prevent myself from breathing. The longer I try, the more it burns, the greater grows the need.I don’t know if the two of us being together will inspire any memories to fire off within my head, but at the moment, I don’t care. He is kissing me like he loves me, and I believe that maybe he does. He tastes like rain water, and I can’t get enough of the feel of his tongue against mine. He is cautious at first, taking his time, but when I place my mouth on his mark, he knows what I want and that I’m sure that I want it.We waste little time stripping our clothing off as
SebastianI take Aria to my room, not sure what to expect. I am surprised that she’s had such vivid memories of Mim. It seems that scents can trigger memories for her, so I will have to try to think about how I can use this knowledge to help the situation in the future.I’m not sure there are any particular scents she can associate with my room at first, but when I open the door and see the bed, one comes to mind.Her memories might be trapped in her mind somewhere, but mine are not, and walking into the room, holding her hand, seeing the bed where we made love for the first time, where we made love so many times, I miss her in a way I haven’t missed her since she was lying in that hospital bed and I was sitting in the waiting room, waiting to see if she would recover.
AriaAfter a few days, I am dismissed from the hospital. Dr. Wilson, charming man that he is, says that normally, he would keep a patient who has no memories a bit longer, but in my case, he was fine sending me home. He said it was best if “my kind” took care of me. Since i still think I am his kind, I don’t appreciate this. But I go because I’d rather be anywhere but in the hospital.On the plane ride to Sebastian’s home, I sit next to him but say next to nothing as I stare at the window of the private jet we are on. His parents, who seem like nice enough people, although I’m not crazy about his dad, sit in the row in front of us and also don’t talk. Sebastian tries to get me to speak a few times. I mostly shrug and use one word responses, so he gives up. I know he wants to hold my hand, so when