I stared down at Aidan in disbelief. Why was she crying?

I slid my arm beneath her head, and elevated her upward so that I could kiss her. I could taste her tears on her lips as she softenend beneath me. When I pulled back, her tears had stopped.

"Why were you crying?" I asked.

"Constantine....was he..."

I knew what she meant and I nodded. "Yes, it was him." I grew angry. "I don't want you to say his name ever again, hear me? The guy's a sick bastard and he's never going to come near you again." She nodded.

"Thebes?"

"Safe and sound at home with her mother and brother protecting her like gaurd dogs." Aidan sighed and closed her eyes. The sight brought fear into the pit of my stomach. I didn't want her to slip into a coma again. She'd been out for two weeks. "Aidan, honey, don't go to sleep. I don't want my princess to fall into a coma again until the marriage."

She started to smile and then all of a sudden, her eyes grew wide and she stared at me in disbelief. All too soon a mask was back on her face and she smiled at me.

"What's wrong?" She shook her head. I sighed and grasped her hand in mine, sliding my thumb along the back of her hand. "I set the date. We're to be wed tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to go another day, knowing there is a death sentence hanging over both of our heads, without being husband and wife. I don't want you to die, ever, but Heaven forbid you do, never knowing what our love could have come to. Likewise, I don't want to die and leave you with nothing."

She shook her head.

"No...talk of dying."

She smiled, weakly, but it was a smile and I drowned in the look of her golden eyes.