Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
I open my eyes and find myself alone on the large bed in the main bedroom. Slowly, the events of the day before flash through my mind.
After Mine had significantly recovered, he’d washed all the blood from his body before doing the same with me. He has a strange fascination with washing me but since he seems to enjoy it and I’m rather partial to it, too, I let him do it. When we were both clean, he took me out of the pool and dried me before carrying me to the main bedroom of the house.
He was all purpose and determination as he laid me on the bed and went to look through the various chests of drawers. He found some dresses, some male clothing, and even a silky nightgown, which he’d promptly shrugged over my head.
I’d looked at him perplexed. Not a few hours before he’d been barely able to move and now he was taking charge as if he owned the house…and me.
He’d put on a cotton tunic, too, and he came to bed, though retrospectively I realize he must have done it so I didn’t look at the extensive damage his bout of illness had wrecked on his body.
“Let’s sleep,” he’d whispered as he pulled the blankets aside, nestled both of us within, and hugged me to his chest.
Too weary from everything that had happened, I could only let my body relax knowing he was fine. He was alive and next to me. The tight hold of his arms was all I needed to feel safe and at peace, so I’d drifted off to sleep almost immediately.
But as I take in the empty other half of the bed, my anxiety returns in full force.
Where is he? Is he fine? Is he suffering in silence?
Panic burrows in my breast until I can barely breathe. The thought that he could so easily be taken away from me awakens a fear in me I previously thought myself impervious to.
Jumping out of bed, I look dazedly around the room and when I don’t find him, I go to all the rooms of the cabin, one by one.
A sigh of relief escapes my lips when I see him on the floor of the drawing room, surrounded by open books. The color has returned to his face, though the new scars are still red and angry.
“You should have woken me up,” I tell him as I take a seat next to him on the floor. I breathe in and out to calm myself, though my heart is still giving me palpitations.
“You were tired from yesterday. You should have slept more,” he replies with a soft smile as if I had been the one at death’s door just hours prior. A flush goes up my face and a sliver of guilt spears its head as I think I might not have done enough for him.
Here he is, worrying I didn’t get enough rest when his entire body had been split open and bleeding from this mysterious illness.
Although I appreciate his concern, I wish he took better care of himself too. I’m the immortal one here, and he’s the human with a debilitating illness.
“I slept enough,” I grumble. “Did you find anything in these books?” I switch the topic, still not very used to these new feelings he awakens inside of me.
Before him, I’d had concerns. But true fear? I’d never encountered that. And I’m still not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing that I now have.
“Not on greed demons in particular. Yet.” He closes the book in his hands and places it next to him. He’s barely looking at me. “How come the general let you borrow all these books?” he suddenly asks.
“He didn’t. I took them.”
He half turns and raises a brow, the scar tissue puckering around his eyebrow.
“Just what happened in there?”
I purse my lips. I don’t know how much I should tell him because I don’t want him to worry too much. After all, the general might have tried to harm me, but he was killed before anything happened. By a demon of all things. Truth to be told, I am still trying to wrap my head around what happened at the base because I’ve never seen a demon so powerful to be able to take out a general with the least amount of effort.
“Let’s just say that my visit there wasn’t welcome. But the general and the soldiers had other things to worry about”—like being killed, though I don’t say that—“so while they were busy, I made away with the books.”
His lips tremble.
“Minnie, Minnie. Breaking more rules?”
I shrug.
“If they did not want to listen to me, then I might as well take it upon myself to solve the issue.”
“That’s a good initiative. Then you should be rewarded even more, no?”
“I suppose so,” I mutter, though the desire to be praised and rewarded seems like a faraway one. Especially after what happened at the military compound. Commander Azerius will no doubt hear of it soon and he will launch an investigation into what happened. He will want to interrogate me, too, and I’ll need to come up with a narrative that will least impact me or Mine. Alas, good thing he waited for me outside. Because the commander will likely employ the truth diviners to see what occurred and if he saw a human with me…
“Then we better start working,” Mine says. He’s still avoiding facing me directly, and I frown. Grabbing a book, I shuffle in front of him so I can have a clear view of him. I do like his eyes on me, and perhaps while he’s reading and not paying attention, I can also steal some glances at him.
He seems startled by my move, but he doesn’t say anything. He merely continues reading.
I force my attention on my book, but every time he turns a page, the sound captures my attention and I find myself glancing up.
He has a slight frown as he concentrates on the words at hand. I wonder how my little spell worked in aiding him to understand the language and if he has any difficulty deciphering the written form.
I should be putting in the same effort to research this demon—it is my reputation and maybe even life at stake here. Yet time and time again, my eyes slide up, ending on his face.
Is he still in pain? Did my blood help with that too, or it just closed the wounds? The questions are so many, yet I find myself tongue-tied when it comes to voicing them aloud.
Suddenly, his gaze collides with mine.
I immediately straighten my back and avert my eyes, but I’ve already been caught.
“Do my new scars bother you?” His voice, laced with a combination of wariness and resignation, surprises me.
I blink in shock, this time looking directly at him.
“No. Why would they?”
He lets out a tired sigh as he threads one hand through his thick locks.
“You don’t have to lie to me. I looked in the mirror this morning. I saw…” he trails off.
“What did you see?”
“I look like a monster,” he replies quietly.
“What?” I stare at him. “You what?”
His hand comes down from his hair as he traces his new scar.
“I’m sorry if this offends you. It should get better with time.” He pauses, frowning. “I hope,” he adds under his breath.
“You think it offends me?” I repeat in outrage. That was the last thing I would have ever thought about. “Have you gone daft, Mine? Did this illness also addle your brain?” I shoot back.
His eyes widen in surprise.
“You don’t look like a monster, and they don’t bother me in the least.” I roll my eyes. “Here I was admiring you, in a rather positive way, I might add, and you think I’m offended by your scars?” I huff aloud. “The only thing I am offended about is that you would even think tha?—”
I squeak in surprise as he grabs me by the waist and moves me to his lap as if I weighed nothing.
Our faces are inches apart, the green of his eyes making me gulp uneasily as my stomach makes a sudden somersault.
“You maddening, beautiful, brave female,” he whispers.
Slowly, I lift my hands and frame his jaw within my palms, tracing the scars with my thumbs.
“Does it still hurt?” I ask in a whisper. Up close, I can see that though closed, the wounds are still red and puckered.
“No, not anymore. Because of your blood,” he says as he takes my left hand and presses a kiss to the inside of my palm. “I’m fine now, though a little worse on the eyes.” He lets out a dry laugh.
I pull my hand away.
“Stop this,” I tell him firmly. “I don’t care if you had a million scars. I only care about this,” I say as I stab one finger into his chest. Then I move it up to his head. “And this.” I press against his temple. “I’m not shallot,” I declare.
He blinks and stares at me. Then he suddenly bursts into laughter.
“Shallow,” he corrects.
“Whatever. I’m not that, all right?”
“All right,” he replies softly.
“Good,” I huff.
He chuckles and leans in to place a kiss on my nose. Then he slowly hovers over my lips. But before he can kiss me, I press my finger against his lips and push him back, narrowing my eyes at him.
“No, no, no. We still have to talk about this.”
“Got it, you’re not shallow,” he adds with amusement.
“That too. But I need to know more about this illness of yours. You said it’s recurring. Will it happen again?”
His lips flatten, his mood changing immediately.
“It is likely,” he answers slowly, reluctantly. But I’m not about to drop the subject, so I push on.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know when it will happen again. Sometimes I’m fine, and sometimes an over exertion can cause it. Despite my father’s efforts, the illness remains dormant within me.”
I stare at him.
“Will you…die from it?”
He lets out a nervous laugh. “I’m mortal. We all die at some point.”
I swat his shoulder. “Stop joking about this. Will you die from it?” I repeat, this time more forceful.
Seconds pass by as he takes a deep breath, his brilliantly green eyes eclipsed by a wariness I haven’t seen before.
“If it gets bad enough, yes, it can be deadly,” he admits.
“You…” My lips tremble. “You lied to me. You told me you’re fine and you’re clearly not. If this can kill you. If…” I ball my hands into fists and bang lightly against his chest. My eyes are moist, achy, and no matter how much I blink, I cannot get rid of this irritation.
He catches my fists and holds on to them.
“Don’t panic,” he whispers. “It’s not my time to die yet, Minnie.”
“But you will die.”
“Eventually, I will.”
How can he say this out loud so carelessly?
“No, no.” I shake my head.
“I’m mortal, Minnie. My fate has been decided a long time ago.”
“No, I won’t let you,” I tell him vehemently.
He gives me a tender look.
“If I were to die, soon, at some point…will you stay with me until the end?”
“I’ll find a cure. Whatever illness you’re suffering from, I’ll do everything in my power to cure you.”
He gives me a sad smile.
“You’d be messing with fate again,” he notes wryly.
“So be it.” I shrug. “I can take whatever punishment they dole out for me. But at least you’d live.”
“My tiny darling,” he whispers as he pulls me to his chest, pressing one of my hands against his beating heart.
I raise my gaze to his, and with our gazes locked together, I lean in and press a light kiss against the scar on his chin. Slowly, I make my way up, kissing each and every one of his scars.
“You’ll live,” I tell him. “I don’t care how many scars you get. You will live. For me.”
“Ah, Minnie, have I told you how much I love you?” he whispers as he turns his face so that our lips are mere inches apart.
I blink and stare into his eyes.
“You…do?”
“I love you,” he states quietly. “More today and even more tomorrow. Every day, I’ll love you more.”
I pull back, my heart racing in my chest. He’s talked about love before, but this is the first time he’s said the words so clearly, so directly.
“I…”
Do I love him, too? I don’t know, but I think I do. If these feelings growing every day in my chest are any indication, then I’d say I’m well on my way to loving him too, if I already don’t. But because there is so much standing between us, so much that is outside of my control, I find it hard to say the words aloud and give him my confirmation.
“I…”
He waits expectantly as I stammer and stutter in an attempt to find my words.
“I think you’re not too bad,” I end up saying, though I mentally beat myself over it.
I wait for the disappointment to appear on his face and try to think of ways to explain myself, that there is something there, but I’m having a hard time to define it because I’ve never experienced this before.
But as I open my mouth to speak, he suddenly laughs. His eyes crinkle with warmth and amusement.
I frown. What…?
“Oh, Minnie, Minnie. You really do know how to stroke a man’s ego.”
“Are you…mad at me?”
He shakes his head, a smile still on his lips.
“I could never be mad at you. In fact, I probably deserved that.” He chuckles. “Funny how history repeats itself,” he mutters, more to himself.
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to understand, Minnie.” He caresses my cheek. “My love for you is unconditional, and it always will be.”
“That’s…” I clear my throat. “That is very nice of you.”
He pulls me close and presses his lips against mine in a swift yet maddening kiss.
“We have work to do.”
I nod, though that doesn’t mean I’ll have an easier time focusing on my work while he’s still here, especially after he said those words to me.
We spend half a day going through the books, though we don’t find much information about greed demons. As we put aside book after book, I wonder if I made a mistake when I chose the titles. I didn’t have much time for an in-depth search, but it would be disappointing to know everything I did was in vain.
Mine releases a tired sigh and my eyes are suddenly on him, looking for any sign of illness. He seems fine, though a little tired.
And that’s when it hits me.
When did he last eat?
I’m built differently and I can withstand hunger better. But he’s human. He needs daily nourishment.
Suddenly, I get to my feet.
“I’ll make some food,” I declare.
His brows go up.
“Can I watch?”
“Of course,” I tell him. “Perhaps that will make you love me even more.” I wink at him playfully.
“Of that I have no doubt.”
We head to the kitchen and I open a couple of cupboards and get some items from inside. The cabin is designed to be self-sufficient, and each cupboard door is engraved with runes that ensure the food inside is always replenished when the door opens.
Mine takes a seat at the table, a book still with him as he watches me.
I smile to myself. Cooking is something I’m quite good at, if I do say so myself. Spending so much time on the battlefield meant I had to make do, so I’ve learned quite a lot from the many worlds I visited.
While I prepare the food, I take care to only select ingredients that wouldn’t be incompatible with Mine’s biology. I end up making a hot spicy stew with vegetables to be eaten aside something similar to the rice in his world.
I plate the food and bring it to the table, but this time, instead of watching me, his brows are furrowed in concentration as he reads from the book.
“Greed demons are descendant of the first Greed Primordial. While they are rare, they are insidious and can make a community rot to its core.”
“You found something?” I take a seat next to him.
“It recounts how greed demons act and how they spoil a person’s character by influencing them to give in to their inner greed. But then it says ‘There is only one way that has been shown to have some success in stopping a greed demon. Since they get stronger on greed, the only way to weaken them is to give them the opposite.’”
“The opposite?” I frown.
“Charity,” he states.
“What does that mean?”
He purses his lips.
“The instructions are not too clear, but if I understand this correctly, it means that instead of letting the demon get to our heads, we should treat him with kindness instead. Charity. Perhaps offer him things?”
I nod and think on it.
“That easy? Impossible.”
“That’s all it says. But it might not be impossible. Think of the other sin demon references we found. For a lust demon, the weapon to defeat them is chastity. For a wrath demon, it’s peace and calm. It seems that what they lack is their weakness.”
“That makes sense. But how do we even give charity to a demon?” I snort. The entire idea seems preposterous.
“I’ll check the rest of the books too, but I think this is a starting point,” Mine says as he closes the book and grabs his bowl of food.
I wait for him to taste it, and once he lets out a moan of approval and he starts eating faster as if he can’t get enough, I can finally focus on my own food.
“Charity. Easier said than done,” I add thoughtfully. “What can one even give to a demon?” My words are filled with venom, and Mine’s head suddenly snaps up, staring at me with an inscrutable expression.
“Demons are beings, too, Minnie. They have wants, just like you do.”
I snort and roll my eyes. “ Insidious wants.”
His lips press together as he stares at me for a few seconds. Then, with a sigh, he turns his attention back to his food.