Astrid The Hybrid Princess - Chapter 311 You Know You Want I

CHAPTER 311

“Why? Who?”

She did not need to say the words completely for Jareth to understand what she meant. He did not want her feeling guilty and shook his head at her.

“No one.”

Her brows furrowed further at him. She knew he was lying and she just wasn’t liking the idea.

Her hand on his burnt skin moved up to rub his cheek gently. “Hey, Jareth. Talk to me.”

‘What did he mean by that? How did I scare him,’ Astrid thought to herself.

‘Wait, why is she looking at me like that? Do not tell me she still did not remember anything that happened?’

Jareth was beginning to understand that whenever she went into hyperdrive or overdrive, she just did not recall.

“Astrid, it is okay. You do not have to worry about it. Tell me, how are you? How are you feeling now? You scared me back then.”

Astrid looked at him with confusion and disbelief laced in her eyes. “What are you not telling me?”

“Master.” Snow who had been quiet all these while suddenly spoke to her through their mind link.

“Yes? Baby, I am sorry I did not talk to you since.”

“Master, that is not the problem now. We are all happy you are awake and okay.”

“Then what is wrong?”

“Sigh, master, you would have to remember. Oh, and you burnt him,” Snow added that last bit of information quickly.

“What!”

“Hmm hmm.”

Hearing her little baby’s words made Astrid’s mind go bunkers. She was tired of always hurting Jareth and making him go through so much because of her.

Her eyes peeled off little Snow and returned to Jareth. He had been patiently waiting for her to finish talking with her little beast and when she looked back at him, he could see her eyes were no longer filled with confusion but with sadness.

Without being told, he knew Snow had probably informed her about what happened. This was definitely not what he wanted for her. He would have preferred she did not recall at all, just so he could prevent her from blaming herself.

“Oh my… Jareth, I am so sorry.”

“I know. It is alright.”

“I never intended to hurt you Jareth, I am very sorry,” Astrid apologized again.

“Astrid, you do not have to apologize. It was never your fault, to begin with. It is okay.”

“No, it is not okay. I burnt you. I… again at that.” Astrid’s voice broke and her words hung in her throat.

“I never blamed you for any of it. I know you did not do it intentionally.”

His words were like piercing needles in her heart. Why was he so good to her? Why was it that whenever she went out of control he would always shield her from herself?

Why was it that he always had to get hurt just for her sake? So many whys ran through Astrid’s mind at that moment and she could feel the pain begin to take over.

Feeling the guilt take over, Astrid lowered her gaze. She just could not look into his eyes at that moment, the pain would only grow stronger.

Slowly, her hand on his cheek dropped as well but before it could fall completely from his face, Jareth quickly stopped her and placed her hands back on his cheek, using his to keep it back in place.

“Hey, look at me, Astrid. Look up.”

She still could not do so. She could feel the guilt and pain come upon her like nothing she had ever felt before and she did not know why.

“Astrid, stop it. Stop feeling guilty over this. It is just a burn, I would heal soon, so do not brood over it and feel guilty, please.”

She felt at that time that she was not deserving of him, his time, his care, everything.

“Astrid, please. It is nothing. Trust me.”

Even though his lips said one thing, he was actually feeling a different thing. Somehow the injury at his back failed to heal up until now and that was even more painful but he refused to tell her as she may not be able to forgive herself when she saw it.

He would show her at the right time so she could heal him but for now, he needed her to calm down and be herself once more.

She just woke up from something not so good that really put a lot of stress on her mind. He was not about to make her pass through the whole ordeal again and more stress with her worrying over him.

After some seconds, she managed to look him in the eys but as quickly as she did, that was how she averted her gaze again.

Jareth sighed in his mind. Why was he not surprised? He knew she wouldn’t be. Just looking at her struck several chords in his heart. He wanted to hold her close and tell her it was okay.

He wanted to kiss her and calm down all her nerves and assure her it was fine and he wasn’t mad at her but he just could not.

Something about him kissing her, made him wince in pain and he threw away that thought from his mind for now. The memory of how he kissed her and somehow invaded her mind replayed in his head.

And when he recalled her powers had shut him out of her mind as a form of a protective barrier, he had to rethink about his desire.

He shook his head to clear all those thoughts away and moved his fingers under her chin, raising her head up and turning her face to look at him but her eyes remained fixed somewhere else.

“Astrid, look at me.”

“I can’t.”

“Why? I am not angry, you know.”

“I know.”

“Then?”

“It is just…” she paused, unable to complete her sentence. “I… you are sad.”

“Me?” Okay, Jareth was taken aback by her response.

Why would he be sad? If there was anything, he was sad because she was and nothing more.

“Ahem. I am not Astrid. You would only know if you look at me, right? Come on, look at me.”

“No.”

“You are one stubborn girl, you know that. A very stubborn baby.”

“Hey, I am not a child.” She immediately forgot her earlier statement of not looking at him and returned her gaze to meet his, challengingly.

“I knew that would work.”

Realizing her mistake, she looked somewhere else instead.

Jareth could not help chuckling at her behaviour as she puffed her cheeks and pouted her lips, making her look all the cuter, just too cute.

He was glad that the mood was changing bit by bit and no longer was her mood sour.

There was good improvement in her facial expression, well apart from her pouting of course but even at that, the fact that she could pout meant her guilt was going away.

“Astrid, if you do not look at me now, I am going to kiss you.”

‘Did he just… why does he keep threatening me with that?’ Astrid thought to herself as she pouted further.

“I am not joking about that. Look at me young lady.”

“No, why?”

“To let you know I am alright. So you do not have to worry.”

“I know, no need to look at you.”

“Are you scared?”

“Why would I be?”

“Because you have succeeded in slowly turning for face away to the side.”

“Umm, I want to look in this direction.”

“Liar. Look at me or I would definitely kiss you.”

“Hehhe, master, look art Jareth now or he would smooch you.”

“Pff, whose side are you on anyway, Snow? Mine or his?”

“Yours of course, but from the look of things, I would say, it looks as though you want him to kiss you.”

0_0

Astrid widened her eyes at Snow’s absurd remark. Just at that time, Jareth was tired of waiting for her and decided to make his threat look real enough.

Just as he was bringing his face close to hers, Astrid turned at that moment to prove to Snow that she did not want his kiss.

Unfortunately for her and fortunately for Jareth, their lips met, barely grazing each other before she instinctively pulled away.

“Oh, master! You know you want it.” Snow blushed at their public display of love and earned himself a scroll from Astrid.

“What? I only speak the truth and what your heart wants.”

“That’s it, no more caresses and cuddling for you.”

“Pff, I can always meet Jareth to do so.”

“Why you!” Astrid ignored Jareth, moving her body back a bit and made to hit Snow but the later scurried off to where she could not reach him easily.

“Why did you back away?”Jareth’s voice suddenly interrupted them.

“I uh… nothing.”

“Astrid.”

At that moment, a soft voice, invaded her mind, shocking her a little.

“White-Fire?”

“We need to talk.”