"What?" Bianca was confused.
Kill God?! Was this some kind of joke?
Celestine chuckled. "I think I might've broken your brain. Maybe the info dump is too much."
Bianca glared at him, her brain filled with questions. "What do you know about my parents?"
He shrugged. "Everything. If you want to know more, you could ask your aunt." He tilted his head. "But I still want you to fulfill my mission while at it."
Her brows furrowed. "What will you do if I don't get them to work with you?"
"Oh, they will," the pale-faced man answered, his tone confident. "If you don't, you'll die. And they'd never let that happen."
"Die?" she whispered in surprise. He had that sort of control over her life? Wasn't she just told that she was different?
He seemed to notice her confusion, because he let out an empty laugh. "You've awakened, but not fully. No wing, no powers, etcetera. Your life is also still in my hands because you signed a contract with me. There are different ways I could harm you. I just don't want to."
Bianca was far from worried now, more questions spilling out of her. "Why would you even want to harm me? I didn't do anything wrong and-"
"This is an irrelevant question." He waved her question away. "Ask me something interesting before your dear mate comes back."
"Why do you want to kill my father… and save mother?"
She knew next-to-nothing about them and wanted some answers for the issue that she was being thrown into.
"Hm." Celestine sighed after a moment of silence. "She's here. We'll have to talk another time." Then he paused, as if to think. "Whenever she returns, tell your aunt Celia that I said hi."
Bianca wasn't quick to process everything, a hand stretched out as she tried to stop him. "W- wait!"
She blinked. The mist was gone and there was no sign of Celestine ever being in the room. Looking down on the floor, she realized that she'd been standing the whole time. How did she not remember getting up from her bed?
The door bursted open to an Astrid who appeared loaded with food and drinks, a big paper bag in hand that gave off the salivating aroma of steak.
Bianca's stomach grumbled.
Both women paused. Then the green-eyed beauty let out a loud, infectious laugh.
"I guess I made the right choice by getting this, huh?" she joked, closing the door with her foot.
Bianca really wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. Why did this feel so embarrassing? This was all her aunt's fault. If she hadn't told her all of those things, she wouldn't have lost her appetite for food, wouldn't have been so overwhelmed and wouldn't be embarrassing herself in front of such a beauti-
Mate.
She suddenly remembered what Celestine said before. Her eyes moved to observe Astrid who was taking out the packages from the bag. Her flaming red hair was tied into a bun, showcasing her beautiful, slim and slightly pale neck that had a tattoo with indescribable written words on it.
"By the way, why exactly are you standing?" Astrid asked, her gaze on her.
It took Bianca a while to respond, taken aback by how attractive her face was. Her ties hair really gave her face a chance to shine really well.
She felt her heartbeat accelarate. Had she ever noticed a woman's face like this before?
Maybe Celestine was right.
"Bianca?"
"I don't know," she answered.
Astrid raised a brow, a side of her lips curled up as she didn't look away from her. "You should sit, you're a patient. You sounded hungry, so let me serve you."
Bianca followed Astrid's instructions like an obedient student and sat back down on her bed, waiting to be served. There was fried rice, steak, some braised pork and really cold smoothies. There was water too, but nobody cared about that.
"D'you want me to feed you?" Astrid said playfully after they both got their plates, sitting by the bedside and watching Bianca take her time to eat.
Thankfully, the food wasn't in her mouth yet, because she'd definitely have started choking by then.
"I'm not an invalid," she mumbled instead, her cheeks hot.
Astrid simply smiled, munching on her steak, slowly licking over her lips. And that caught Bianca's eyes when she raised her head up.
Her lips were luscious and red. They looked like a delicious fruit. And Bianca wanted to know what they tasted like.
Her gaze on her lips didn't shift. She breathed deeply and faster as her thoughts went to places she never imagined they would go.
"Bianca?"
She snapped out of it immediately. "Yeah?"
Astrid smiled. "You weren't saying anything for a minute, so I was worried if you didn't like the food or something."
"Sorry," Bianca said, letting out a nervous laugh.
"What were you thinking about?" the other woman asked, curious.
You. Your lips. Very much non-respectable things. And I'm so sorry about that, Bianca thought.
Then she shrugged. "Just wondering when I'd be out of this damn place."
Astrid nodded understandably, munching on her steak. "You have been here for a long time. Your healing has been fast, so you do deserve to go back home. I bet your doctor wouldn't refuse you."
Bianca stared into her eyes, asking, "But what about you?"
Astrid paused for a millisecond before answering, "I'll be here. You can come visit whenever you want to see me. Or Oliver."
Oliver.
Bianca internally slapped herself on the face for thinking about her boyfriend's sister like that. Oliver was in a coma and she was acting like this?! What would he think? What would Astrid think if she found out?
Maybe Celestine was wrong. Her having a mate wouldn't bring such messiness in her life.
"Stay with me," she said impulsively.
"Uh… what?"
Bianca's cheek reddened. "I don't like the thought of you staying in a hotel. It's better if you stay somewhere homely. And you could stay with me."
She had been thinking about Astrid's living situation for a bit, but today came up with a solution. It sounded like a great idea for everyone.
The only problem was Astrid's reaction.
Surprisingly, she didn't look mad.
A cunning smile played on her lips as she asked, "What will you do if I refuse?"