After her conversation with Novel regarding exactly what her own course of action would be if her mate passed before she did, Ara found herself fearing for the end much less than she'd anticipated. She'd never been raised with beliefs about the afterlife, and she'd never discussed such things with her mate, but she could only hope that the end would just be a new beginning - if there was anything afterwards she could count on the two of them finding them one another there. The thought was wistful at best, but weirdly comforting even spite of her deeply realistic mindset.
Hearing that cough shaking her lungs was enough to unnerve her. Despite being outwardly calm, the sound and the scent of blood that followed made her heart begin to race in a way she couldn't ignore. "Almost as beautiful as you," Ara replied, her voice soft, though still able to be heard above the rapidly increasing beat of the rain hammering down outside of their den.
"Do you remember when I first told you I loved you?" They seemed to be living in the past so much these days, something she'd never really liked doing - but could you blame her now? The memories were soothing and kept her distracted from Novel's current state, at least momentarily. "I was so scared, I thought I would be sick," she admitted with a soft laugh. "I was helping you raise our sons, sleeping beside you every night. I spent every waking moment with you, and I was still afraid to tell you how I felt," Ara was rambling, her voice low still, though the sound that left her lips was as much a soft sob as it was a laugh. It seemed so silly now to be afraid of telling Novel anything, but she'd never known fear like that before until that day, and she wasn't sure the feeling was something that had been replicated since then.
