Sweet Hatred Chapter 309: Blood

ARIA

I don’t know how long I sat inside the cafe. All the noise faded into the background.

Until a touch jolted , cold against my skin. I flinched, lifting my head before I even realized what I was doing. That was when it hit ...I was crying. Not softly, not discreetly...my whole face was wet, my cheeks raw, my lashes clumped together. My breaths ca broken, shallow.

"What’s wrong?" Ash’s voice was low, urgent, already circling around the table.

I shook my head. Slowly. Helplessly. Words refused to form. Every ti I tried to breathe, it cracked inside , like my ribs were splintering, like the air had claws. And still everything I’d tried to bury clawed its way back up, spilling into the open.

"Aria..." Ash crouched in front of now, her hand hovering, uncertain, her eyes wide and burning. "Is it Kael?"

I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. I just nodded.

Her expression hardened instantly, sharp enough to cut. "What did that bastard do?"

And finally, I forced myself to speak, my voice dry and trembling. "I finally got what I deserved."

"Don’t...don’t say that." Ash’s tone cracked, thick with anger and disbelief startling so of the custors around us.

"I’m fine," I whispered, though my chest was still heaving like I’d been running through hell.

"You’re not fine," she snapped. "Tell what happened."

I swallowed, tasting the salt of my own tears, the ash of my own sha. "He ended it." My voice was a ghost. "The contract... between us. He said I was just convenient. And that he was bored."

Ash froze for a beat, like she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Then her face twisted, furious. "That son of a..."

But I was already gone, slipping out of myself. Numb. Empty. Like my body was here, but my mind was drifting into that white static where nothing touched , not even her voice.

And then...sharp. A sudden stab deep in my abdon, hot and cutting, stealing the breath right out of my throat.

My hand flew instinctively to my stomach, curling tight, and a strangled sound slipped past my lips before I could stop it.

The first cramp tore through so suddenly I couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t the dull ache of hunger or exhaustion...it was sharp, violent, like soone had reached inside and twisted. My body bowed forward, a strangled gasp ripping from my throat.

"Aria?" Ash’s voice sounded distant, even though she was right there. I tried to straighten, to stand, but my legs buckled with the effort. My hands shook as I pressed them to my stomach, as if I could stop whatever was happening.

And then warmth. A gush of liquid so hot and heavy it startled . My breath hitched. At first I thought...I thought I’d lost control of myself, that I was urinating right there on the floor. Sha flushed , but then the sll hit ...thick, tallic, copper...and my stomach dropped.

Blood.

It was blood. I heard collective gasps but everything quickly dulled back.

"Ash," I whispered, though my throat was too dry, too raw.

Her face changed instantly when she saw the red streaming down my legs. "Oh my god...oh my god... soone help." She was fumbling for her phone, hands trembling looking around while people watched, others slow approaching.

But I couldn’t hear her or them anymore, because the pain ca back. Stronger. Rhythmic. My whole body convulsed with it, waves of pressure rolling through . It wasn’t just pain...it was sothing deeper, primal, like my own body was trying to expel sothing.

Blood poured. I could feel it soaking through my pants, gushing down to the floor in a terrifying flood. My knees wavered, my balance tilting.

I clawed for air. "What’s... happening to ?"

Ash caught my arm, her voice breaking. "I don’t know...I don’t know, Aria...just stay with ...please..."

But the pressure was unbearable now, low in my pelvis, heavy, sickening. I could feel it pushing down, sliding. My whole body clenched, forcing sothing through .

"No...no, no, no..." I shook my head, sobbing, because I could feel it moving. A wet, slippery shift, like sothing was being dragged out of .

And then it happened.

A sickening squelch hit the floor.

I froze. My whole body revolted. The sll of iron, the heat of blood coating my thighs, my hands when I reached down in desperation...it was too much. My ears rang. My vision swam. The world narrowed into red and the sound of my heartbeat roaring inside my skull.

"Aria! Stay with !" Ash’s voice was breaking apart, warped like it was underwater. She was gripping so tight it hurt, trying to anchor .

But I was slipping.

My legs shook violently, unable to hold up. My hands slipped against the table, wet with blood, unable to steady myself. I staggered, choking, the floor tilting under .

Everything blurred. Black crept in from the edges of my sight, the cafe collapsing into a tunnel of shadows.

I tried to speak, to ask Ash again what was happening, but my words drowned under the sound of my pulse.

And then my body gave out.

I collapsed, the last thing I felt was the heat of blood soaking , the copper stench choking , and the sickening sense that sothing had just left forever.

Then...nothing.

I woke to warmth. Soft sheets cocooning , a steady arm draped heavy around my waist. The scent of him hit first...dark, clean, Kael. My chest loosened, a sigh escaping before I even opened my eyes.

And when I did, there he was.

Kael.

Sleeping beside , face softened in the kind of peace I rarely ever got to see. No sharpness. No command. No cruelty. Just him...breathing slow, lashes dark against his skin, his hand fisted gently in my shirt as though afraid I’d slip away even in sleep.

For a mont, confusion tugged at . The room was massive, opulent, familiar...the vaulted ceilings, the carved furniture. Italy. The castle. The weeks we spent there for that wedding, where I would wake up sore and aching, half-cursing him for ruining my body all night only to find myself the happiest I’d ever been because I got mornings like this.

It was a mory. I knew it was. But I didn’t care.

Because God, I missed him. I missed this. Him like this. Us like this.

I rolled onto my side, watching him. Drinking him in. I thought if I could stay here long enough, maybe the longing that gnawed at my ribs would stop. Maybe I’d never have to wake up again.

"Kael," I whispered, reaching for his face, desperate to feel the warmth of his skin under my fingers.

But before I could touch him, sothing shifted between us.

A small body. Tiny. Warm.

A boy. A toddler, maybe two or three. He looked up at with sharp green eyes I knew too well, dark hair falling into his face. His smile split wide, pure sunshine in the middle of our sheets.

Kael stirred too, his arm flexing around as he blinked awake, instinctively pulling close.

For one heartbeat, I thought...this is it. This is everything.

But then it shattered.

Sothing yanked back, violent, ripping. The boy’s laughter echoed and warped, Kael’s hand slipped from mine, and the whole world collapsed around .

Pain slamd back into . Agonizing, real. My body scread, my blood sticky and hot beneath again.

Muffled voices sward around . Urgent. Frantic.

"...critical blood loss..."

"...pressure’s dropping..."

"...move faster!"

I tried to move my hand, to reach for him again. My lips trembled, the words choking out. "Kael... don’t... don’t go. You can’t... you can’t discard ..."

No one answered.

Only the roar in my ears, the tearing ache in my chest, and the hot sting of tears slipping down my face as darkness folded under again.