Valentina laid hiding in wait. No one walked this path but she couldn't be too careful. She waited for Nicholae to come to her.
And she couldn't wait to hear the good news. Or bad news. Whichever one he'd received they'll make it work. Oh, how She missed him so much.
Valentina pulled her cloak even tighter around her shoulders to protect against the nights chilly air. She could very much see her breath come in white puffs as if she was smoking. She pretended to do just that.
A chuckle from behind her threw her heart against her chest.
Her hand on her chest to still her frightened heart.
'Cole, you scared me.' She ran into his arms holding him tightly.
'I missed you.' She told him.
'I missed you too.'
'So?' She looked up into his face. But he wouldn't meet her direct gaze.
'It's fine Cole. Just tell me what Sonya said. It doesn't have to be good. I still want to know.'
He sighed pacing away from her.
'I tried but...'
Valentina knew Sonya could be very hard to convince but they wouldn't give up.
She placed an understanding hand on the side of Nicholae's face.
'We don't need their blessing. We can do this, just the two of us. And hopefully, one day, the three of us.'

Nicholae flinched a little.
'You're pregnant again?'
Valentina shook her head and gave a small smile.
'No.' But she wanted so much to become a mother and start a family with Nicholae. It was the right thing to do with the love of her life.
Once fate had given her a chance, she'd been eight months pregnant. She and Nicholae had been doing so well with hiding the pregnancy. She had a name for the child. Had it been a boy: Nicholae; Had it been a girl: Marissa. But they'd lost their chance.
The memory of her miscarriage and the pain that came with the remembrance remained fresh till this day. She'd been hungry so she went into the kitchen to make a vegetarian sandwich when the pain had struck. She knew something was wrong with the baby the second that pain tore across her abdomen and crippled her on the ground. Nicholae hadn't been around to help her and there was nothing she could do.
They'd been so close to starting the family that she'd dreamed of. But someone, somewhere, played a cruel joke on her by dangling all her dreams in her face and then taking it all away in one swoop.
'I still ache when I think about the child we lost.'
Nicholae face fell.
'That's too sad of a memory to be dwelling on today, my love.'

'I just want that to be our motivation for tonight. And after today, we have more time to try again.' She said in a hopeful tone trying to lighten up the mood.

Nicholae looked up into the night sky. He could barely feel the chill of the night air.And for that she envied him.
'You're shivering, come here.' He pulled her back into his arms and held her like that for minutes.

'I don't think we should march to the Coven.'
He spoke.
'What are you saying? The Coven won't come to us. The only to get them to listen to us is to go barging into their meeting hall.' Valentina said unto his warm chest.

'Without the support of our families?' Nicholae asked.
Valentina smiled at his worried tone. In their relationship she'd always had to be the strong one. She was trying to get Cole to become a stronger willed person. He needed to be strong for both of them this time. And because he was willing to try now gave her all the confidence she needed to face any hurdle thrown at them from the Coven or their families.

'Yes Cole. Baby, we're all that we need. Plus Aaron is there whenever we need him.'
She felt Nicholae tense up under her cheek.
She giggled.
'This is no time to get jealous man. I'm all yours Nicholae Tchkovsky. In sickness and in health, for better or for worse remember?'

She felt his head move up and down, and she smiled. She could stay in his arms all day but they had work to do. And her stomach rumbled.
'Did you bring something to eat.'
She moved far enough to batt her huge brown eyes at Cole who chuckled as he took the bag off his back.

'Of corse I did. I brought dinner and dessert.'
He placed the takeout in front of her and watched her eat. But there was a sadness in his eyes and a shiftiness in his demeanor.
'Are you okay Cole?'

'I'm fine love.'
Then he poured her a drink from a flask .

'Drink this. It goes really well with the slice of chocolate cake.'

And with all her naïveté, Valentina did exactly that.
She swayed when she tried to get on her feet.

'Cole?' His name felt weird on her tongue.

He came to hug her from behind.
'Remember that I'll forever love you Val. But it's better if you forget about me.'
She tried to pry his hands from their place around her waist.

'Give me this moment. In a second I'll become nothing but a stranger to you.'
The betrayal cut her in so many places she didn't even know she had feelings.

'What have you done?' Valentina whimpered.
'I don't want to forget about you.'

'But we can't be together. '
She was hearing his words but they all seem to dissipate into the air around them. His voice, his touch, their memories- they all began to fade from her mind. She was aware of what was happening and yet she couldn't stop it.
Her only question was why? Yet she couldn't even ask that.

The hands on her waist detached themselves.
She slowly turned around, and standing there was a stranger.
He gathered his belongings and turned away. Without so much as a word to where she was and why she was there.
He left. Her feet carried her to he her station but she couldn't quite recall what she was even supposed to do. She felt entirely discombobulated. Kneeling before the trees, between the riped weeds of guntak, there was someone there. She was visiting the trees. Her face, Valentina would never forget.
The woman was pouring something onto the roots. She looked up at Valentina and dumped the rest of the contents on the roots of the last tree which was still linked to her body. She knew that at least, she also just realized the woman's malicious intent.
Valentina turned to ran for help, the stranger who'd just left, he could help her. But she was ambushed by the crippling pain which slammed into her with the full force of a speeding train.
She shrieked and crumpled to the ground in pain.
She saw the face of the evil woman smiling at her before disappearing.
But that wasn't the last face she saw before she died.
The stranger from earlier was floating towards her on clouds of light. And then she breathed her last.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The world didn't want to stand still. The ceiling danced around in circles. Valentina must have sat up too quickly because he insides lurched in rebellion.
She bent over to the side expelling the bile from her throat and unto the floor.
In an instant, Semi was beside her gently stroking her back and with a glass of cool liquid waiting.

'It's okay.' Semi said to her and then instructed her to drink from the glass.
Although thankfully drank the sweet and sour liquid which quickly settled her stomach.
She'd thank Semi but her brain was too busy processing everything. All her memories had returned and they were the reason for her tears.

'Talk to me Val.' Semi set the glass aside and held her in her arms.

'I hate him. I hate him with everything in me Semi.' Valentina wept bitterly.
'I want to kill him. I want to drive a silver stake into his heart. I need to burn him at stake.'

'Calm down. Valentina.' Semi tried cleaning the tears but she found herself weeping with her friend.

'Tell me what you remembered and I'll help you kill him.' She tried to joke.

Semi rocked her back and forth not knowing what else to say to relieve her friend.

'I now see that he was a coward who betrayed me and everything we believed in.'

Valentina heart pounded against her rib cage. The tight space couldn't contain the emotions stored in there. A boiling sensation intensified in the pit of her belly and she wanted to scream at all the things she'd missed because of Nicholae Tchkovsky. That rat.
Her friends died because she'd been weak. She'd fallen for a coward, a liar and a thief.

'I have to know why he did it.' Valentina pushes Semi away, looking around the room for anything that would help her focus.
'I have to...'
Semi looked behind her to find the reason for her sudden silence.
It was Nicholae standing at the door.

Semi was torn. She gripped Valentina's arm offering her strength in her support before leaving the room.
'I'll be a call away.' She said to Valentina before closing the door behind her.