39 Chapter 39:

I heard the door open outside of the bathroom, my senses growing stronger as I knelt down and grabbed the plunger from beside the toilet. Even though it was disgusting to touch, I wasn't going to walk out there without anything to protect me.

Taking a deep breath, I wrapped the towel tighter around me before opening the door. Someone appeared in front of me as I yelped and swung the plunger at the unknown person.

"What the- Gross, Hrudra!" A man screeched, swatting at his head when I stared at him with wide eyes and whacked him again with the plunger. "Stop it!" He grabbed my weapon from me, throwing it away from us and glaring up at me.

"It's you!" I hissed, remembering the man that I had sex with hours ago and covering myself more with the towel. "What are you doing in here?!" I snarl while peering at the bag he had in his hands.

Why did that so familiar...?

"Last time I checked, this was our room." He confesses, handing me the bag in his hands. "Here. Your things are in here. Get changed. We're heading home." The man says, turning away to walk out of the bedroom.

"Wait!" I yelled, my cheeks growing red when he cocked his eyebrow at me in a teasing way. "I-I don't know what's happening but... Could you tell me where and who you are? How is it-"

"It's best to give you some time. Freya told me that your medicine will eventually wear off with time." He told me with a gentle smile that only seemed to stress me out more. "My name is Proximo." Proximo introduces, the name striking me as I sucked in a breath and watched him walk out of the bedroom.

I sat down on the bed feeling utterly exhausted from the day's events before opening the bag and noticing large pieces of armor and gasping at the sight.

I was not going to wear this shit. What was I?

A hooker?

I tossed the bag on the bed, tightening the towel around me while creeping out of the room and spying a maid cleaning the cabinets in the hallway.

"Um. Miss?" I whisper when she glanced over and saw me peeking out of the room I was placed in. She hurried over to me and entered the room once I allowed her inside.

"What is it, Ms. Hrudra? Do you need anything?" She asks me kindly making me smile slightly embarrassed.

"I don't have any clothes here. Could I ask if you have an extra dress in your possession or if you could ask someone if I could borrow some clothes?" I mumble as she chuckled and nodded with a sweet smile.

"Of course. Let me ask the other if there is anything suitable for you. Do you want a dress? Not armor or anything?" The maid questions, opening the door.

"No. I hate wearing armor. A dress will be very lovely thank you." I told her as she nodded and disappeared out of the room. A sigh broke through me before I sat back down on the bed and waited for the nice maid to return.

〰 Proximo 〰

"I wonder what's taking her so long." Valrun questions, yawning from exhaustion. The night before was hectic and I knew that Valrun and Rogan had bonded a bit during the night since she actually smiled at him this morning.

It may sound strange, but Valrun doesn't smile.

And for once she has...

"She doesn't remember anything. Even though they wiped my memory of seeing her, I couldn't help but feel as conflicted and I only had a few hours wiped. She had months even years of memories thrown out the window. It's a hard transition fo-"

"I'm ready. Sorry, I took so long, the maid found me the perfect dress." Hrudra blushed, standing beside Getha and Agalana. Her light marron dress fluttered around her in a girly way as her braided copper hair curled on her shoulder.

Her calm purple eyes looked at every person around before settling on my gaze. I could see her smile widening unconsciously giving me the slightest bit of hope that Hrudra still remembered me.

Valrun snorted when crackling in laughter, nearly falling on the ground at the sight of Hrudra. I could tell that Hrudra was growing uncomfortable but didn't say anything other than tear her gaze away and glared at Valrun.

"Aren't we going? Come on." Hrudra huffed clearly irritated when Rogan patted Valrun and ushed her away from the crowd.

Everyone started to walk away as Hrudra stayed close to the other Valkyries and held her long dress up from getting caught on things on the grounds. The others spoke about things that happened recently confusing Hrudra making her step away from the conversation.

We've been walking for less than twenty minutes and she was already alone from the crowd. I couldn't even imagine the stress that forgetting everything that's happened has caused. It hurt me to see her in such grief.

Slowing my pace I matched with hers and caught her attention with a gentle smile. She smiled back, trying to figure me out before I reached into my bag and pulled out my water bottle.

"Here. You look tired." I offered her as she nodded and took the bottle from me.

"Thank you. I am not used to walking this far and in this heat." She admits to me, looking at the others that were slowly disappearing from sight. "Seems like I am the slow one," Hrudra mumbles in defeat, sipping on the water that I gave her.

"Don't worry about them. I was getting a little tired anyway." I tell her making her smile gratefully.

"I can tell you are lying to me, but it's sweet of you to say that." She laughs softly and gave me back my water bottle.

"I'm not!" I yell playfully, nudging into her softly as she laughed harder.

"Alright. Whatever you say, buddy." She shook her head before looking up at me with a curious expression. "So we were together?" Hrudra questions when I placed my water in my bag and glanced over at her.

"Yeah. We're mates." I said.

"How did we meet? Khole wanted to know our stories but I can't remember anything..." Hrudra looked away, looking shamed that she couldn't remember anything.

"Hey. Don't worry. You'll remember in time." I assure her as she nodded and peered up at me. "We first met when Khole came into her Valkyrie powers. Her mate is the king of the demon world and I was his first commander. You escorted Khole and her mate back to the kingdom and that's when we first met." I told her when she clasped her hands in front of her in a dreamy way.

"And how did it go? Did we react like we were in love at first sight? Was it like a dream? Like Cinderella?" She questions in an exciting way making me laugh softly.

"You punched me when I said hi," I admit as her face grew horrified causing me to bark out in laughter.

"I didn't realize I was so mean..." She murmurs under her breath.

"You weren't used to the idea of having a mate, so you lashed out. I liked it because it was part of your charm." I said when she sighed and messed around with the end of her braided hair.

"I couldn't even think of harming anything without reason. I don't even like to fight so-"

"You? Don't like to fight?" I repeat while she glanced up at me and nodded.

"I don't like to hurt people. I didn't even know I could fight until Khole fought me." She admits to me causing me to shake my head in shock.

"Hrudra. You are the most badass person I've ever known and you can definitely kick my ass even with your forgotten memories." I confess as she blinked up at me with surprise.

"That's so nice..." She mumbles, tears collecting in her eyes. "I'm so sorry I forgot about you." She sniffed, rubbing at her eyes making me grab her shoulders and hug her.

Hrudra crying...?

I was not used to this.

"It's alright. I'm not upset, Hrudra. It'll take time to remember. Don't worry, I'll always be there for you." I promise, rubbing her back in a comforting way. Even with her memory loss, I wasn't sure if Hrudra would come back as she was before.

〰 Hrudra 〰

"We have to leave eventually, Proximo," I whisper to him, running a finger along his exposed back when he grumbled something into the pillow. "I didn't hear what you said," I told him with a cheery tone before he turned his face towards me.

His ruffled brown hair looking crazy, the sight oddly comforting as his dark eyes stared at me in a loving way. A smile stretched on my face making my fingers twitch to run through his crazed hair, but I was more content running my nail over his back.

"I don't wanna leave." He mumbles making me laugh and lean down to kiss his forehead.

"I promise Kho that I would help her train. Lana is very happy with her progress and wants a harder opponent. Who better than me?" I point out, getting out of bed and walking over to my closet.

"As much as I like this view of you, I don't wanna go." He whines, reaching for me as I peered over my shoulder and grabbed some clothes to change into.

"What's wrong? You've been clingy for the last few days. We've been held up in this house for three days doing nothing other than being together." I mention, walking over to him and running my hand through his hair causing him to lean into me.

"I like how we are now. I just hope that we are able to stay like this once we leave the house." He admits to me, not looking me in the eye as I tilted his face to look me in the eye.

"Proximo. I may not have been the best mate, but nothing will ever change how we are now. Alright?" I poked his cheek before walking over to the bathroom. "Get dressed! I don't want anyone to see you naked!" I yelled with a soft laugh.

"I could say the same for you!" He barks back.

〰 End of Flashback 〰

"Hrudra? Are you alright? You zoned out." Valrun asks me as I shook my head and smiled up at her.

"Of course. Just a little tired." I lie with ease, trying to wrap my head around the vision I just had.

"You should get some sleep then. Maybe you'll get some memories back." She said, nudging my shoulder making me laugh and nod.

"You're right." I stood up and dusted the dirt off of me. "Do you know where Proximo is? I need to talk to him before I rest for the night." I ask her while she grinned at me evilly.

"Why are you looking for him?" She questions me as I blushed at the look she was giving me.

"I need to ask him something! It doesn't concern you!" I shout, marching away to find him on my own as she laughed loudly behind me. I noticed a man walking towards her with a small smile that seemed to drown out Valrun's laugh.

The others were either speaking to each other or asleep already in their sleeping bags. I wanted to ask around for Proximo, but I didn't want to look needy so I steered away from the group and followed where the man had appeared from.

The man seemed to be close to Proximo and I assume since they were both demons that they were friends. Which was probably not a good idea since Mira and I were Valkyries and we weren't friends.

Though it was all I had going for me to find Proximo on my own.

"Hey, girl! You looking for Proxi? He's getting cleaned up at the nearby river. It's that way." Mira pointed towards the left before grinning at me with a strange smile. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?" She patted my shoulder before leaving me alone.

I watched her walk away, still not used to her being around and so friendly. I would give anything to remember what brought us together.

Shaking my head, I walked towards where Mira told me Proximo told me he was at. Even though I wasn't sure of her intentions, she had no reason to lie to me.

At least, that's what I am thinking.

"Proximo?" I call out, stepping over a branch and noticing the river that she was talking about.

"Hrudra! What are you doing here?" Proximo calls out, ducking under the water to prevent me from seeing anything as I yelped and spun around. My cheeks burned in embarrassment while heard the water swishing around behind me.

"I needed to talk to you! I'm sorry. I didn't even think before coming here." I admit when I peeked over my shoulder and saw him naked making me look away again.

"No, it's okay. You just surprised me. What's wrong? What do you need to talk to me about?" He asks and touched my shoulder as I jumped and notice he was wearing jeans now. His glorious- His chest was exposed to the world and I could help but feel like covering it up for my eyes only.

"I-I um... I wanted to ask if we were ever getting changed to go to Khole's home to practice fighting. I uh... had a um... Can-Can you put a shirt on?" I ask, completely distracted by him causing a sly grin to crawl on his face.

"You remember that?" He asks me, ignoring my request.

"So that is a memory?" I note, tearing my gaze away from his exposed chest and looking up at him. His dark eyes staring down at me in an adoring way.

"Yeah. You were so excited to leave me." He teases when I smacked his chest and smiled up at him.

"Shut up. I was going to see Khole and Agalana." I remind him as he rolled his eyes and shook his head from the water stuck in his hair.

"Whatever you say, Hrudra." He says, grabbing my hands and pulling me towards the water.

"No. Don't you dare," I growl, trying to pull away but he was holding onto me tight enough. "No! Proximo stop!" I laughed, not wanting to go in before he threw me into the water.

I could feel the dress stick against my skin as my hair fluttered around me. I swan above the water and gasped for breath when he crackled in laughter at my horrified expression.

"You should see the look on your face!" He laughed. I snarled at him, hurrying out of the water and darting towards him.

"Come back here! I'm going to get you back you asshole!" I yelled as he easily dodged my hands and hurried away from me.