Chapter 20
“Oh? What did you say?” She asks, her eyes brimming with curiosity.
“Nothing. I’m happy to help. Come, let me show you to your room.”
I grab her bag and motion her to follow me.
“As you can see, this is the living room and there is the kitchen.”
She nods and we enter the hallway. There are three rooms on one side of the hallway.
“This is my room,” I point to the first door. “This is the spare room that will be yours,” I add as I open the door and motion for her to enter first.
Tentatively, she steps inside.
The spare room is the same size as my own, mirroring everything from the furnishings to the layout. There is a double bed in the middle, a desk and a chair in front of the window and a wardrobe on the wall opposite the bed.
“Are you sure this is mine? Isn’t it…”
“You don’t like it?” I ask, suddenly afraid she doesn’t like it.
“No, no. I like it very much. But isn’t it too big?” She looks anxiously around, almost as if she doesn’t dare believe this is for her.
I drop her bag next to the bed. “All the bedrooms are the same size in this house. My room is the same.”
“Oh, I see.” She nods. “Thank you again. This is much more than I expected. I love it.” She gives me a small smile, which I return in kind.
“I’m glad,” I whisper. “I’ve been living alone in here for a long time. It will be nice to have someone else around.”
She stares at me, not replying. Her body grows stiff.
Did I say something wrong? I frown.
Eventually she finds her words, “I promise I will not disturb you too much.”
I blink. Did she think my words were a warning?
“You won’t!” I blurt out. “Please make yourself comfortable. This is your home now too.”
Shyly, she nods her head.
“Uhm, can you show me the rest of the house?”
“Of course! Follow me.”
She walks behind me as I explain that everything in the house is rune-operated. Heating, water and electricity all run on magical runes that were etched in the foundation of the house from its inception—the only magical artifact I have left from my father.
“The third door leads to another bedroom,” I explain.
“And this,” I point to the door opposite, “is the library. You’re welcome to read any of the books inside, though I should warn you most of them are historical chronicles and instruction manuals.
There are some fiction books that I’ve bought over the years, but they are not nearly as many as the others. ”
Opening the library door, I motion for her to go in.
All four walls are adorned with bookshelves filled with precious ancient tomes.
When my father had prepared this house for me, he’d gathered as many books as he thought would be useful for me.
Unfortunately, he did not have a lot of time to gather everything I would have needed in my development.
Still, his regard for me and his thorough preparation for my future never ceases to amaze me.
She walks around the shelves, looking reverently at all the gilded spines, all of them weathered by time and use. My heart warms as I see her appreciate my treasures.
“The first wall contains the history of Tartareia, legends about the Seven, maps of cities and information on the ruling Houses. The second wall is focused on runes, but it’s mostly basic information.
” I take a deep breath before I continue in a self-deprecating voice, “Unfortunately, I am unable to use any of the runes due to my low spiritual energy.”
She whips her head toward me, her brows going up. “But, today, you…”
“This is not a normal for me,” I admit with great reluctance. “I took something to enhance my abilities, but that is only temporary.”
Though I did not want this conversation to happen so quickly, I knew that sooner or later she would be curious about it—especially if she sees me devolve into a useless mess.
“Why?” She asks suddenly, her gaze fixed on me.
“Uhm,” I stammer. “I…” I gulp down. “I would not have been able to make it past the guards without some sort of abilities.”
She narrows her eyes at me now. “Really? And how would you know that?”
“I tried and—” I stop as I realize what I just blurted out.
She comes toward me, her lips spreading into a smile. “So you went there without abilities at first.”
I swallow drily. “Yes.”
“And so you decided to take something to enhance your abilities.”
“Yes.”
“To save me.”
It’s not a question. It’s a statement.
“Yes.” I nod.
“Thank you,” she murmurs. My eyes are glued to her as I try to commit all the details of her features to mind—her smile, the way her eyes crinkle with pleasure, the slight flush of her cheeks. Before I realize it, she raises herself on the tips of her toes and presses her lips against my cheek.
My eyes widen. My heart stops beating in my chest for a full second. Then it thuds against my chest as if it seeks to break out of its cage. Heat travels up my neck.
“Y-y-you’re w-welcome,” I stutter as heat ravages my body and my stomach twists painfully.
Her features turn pensive then. “But is it safe to enhance your abilities like that?”
“I… I don’t know. But I’m fine so far,” I admit honestly.
I’d heard about the side effects for mortals, but for immortals it is different.
Even the owner of that spiritual essence I consumed knew that.
Both the potency of the essence and the aftermath would be different for someone whose biology was compatible with the potion.
She purses her lips. “Please let me know if you feel ill in any way, all right?”
I don’t have the heart to tell her that even if I felt ill, there’s nothing she could do about it, so I just nod.
“Right,” I clear my throat. “Where were we…” I move toward the third wall filled with books. I don’t know if my attempt at looking unbothered works—not with how my heart continues to hammer in my chest. But with every breath, I try to compose myself as much as possible.
Damnation! Why is it so hard? It was just a kiss on the cheek.
Granted, no one’s ever kissed me on the cheek before. I can still feel the warmth and softness of her lips on my skin and—
Stop it, Nykander! Get yourself together!
Easier said than done when she stands so close to me. Less than one step separates our bodies, so much so that her fragrance fills my nostrils, drowning me in that sweet perfume of hers.
“The third wall has classic Tartareian literature and some plays. And then on the fourth wall—” I pause when I see her walk straight to the middle shelf on the fourth wall—the one containing my prized possessions.
“The Adventures of Hippo,” she whispers as she hovers her hand over the spine of the books. “All of the volumes…” Her brows furrow as she reads the titles. “Why are there so many duplicates?”
I smile at her as I pick up the first volume. “This one is a first edition,” I say proudly and give it to her.
She receives the book with both hands, handling it with great care.
“You have a first edition?” She echoes in wonder. She glances at me. “I never asked you. How did you start reading the series?”
“All of the upper shelves are fiction books I’ve collected through the years. As you can see, not that many. One reason was that books are expensive, and I would typically only buy one as a treat to myself. But on the other hand, there aren’t that many fiction titles being published.”
She raises her brows in question.
“You’d think that with their lifespans, immortals would create innumerable works.
Sadly, it is the opposite. Very few are involved in the arts, and those who choose a career in writing usually dedicate themselves to chronicles or plays.
It was by chance that I discovered the works from the Mortal District, and since then, I’ve been buying almost exclusively from there. ”
“This was the first book I ever bought from the Mortal District. The bookseller told me it was a new author and they only had that copy in stock, so of course I had to buy it. After I read it, I was so eager to find out what happens next that I went to that bookshop every single month to inquire.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I think it was a year before the second volume was released. Whenever I would go to the bookshop, the seller would always say the same thing: it’s the author’s first book, if it doesn’t sell well, it’s unlikely they will release the next volume.”
Her eyes widen in shock. She looks from me the duplicate titles on the shelf and then back to me.
“The duplicates of volume one?”
She starts counting them. “One, two… Twelve. You bought twelve of them?”
“One every month,” I say wistfully. “I thought that if the author knew there were readers out there appreciating their work, they would keep writing. So I kept buying them and sure enough, they released the next volume. I did the same for the second volume, and by the end of the second year, the series had become a success. Everyone was reading it.”
“You…” She mutters. Moisture clings to her lashes, and a few drops make their way down her cheeks. “You did that? For someone you didn’t even know?”
“I may not know them personally, but I know them through their words.” I smile and take out a handkerchief from my pocket. Dabbing at her cheeks, I wipe some of the tears away before handing it to her.
She glances away, flustered. “That is… That is very kind of you, Nykander.”
I cough nervously. “Let me show you the washroom.”
She just nods and follows me.
We exit the library and walk further down the hallway. The washroom is one of the larger rooms in the house, twice the size of my bedroom. That is mostly due to my father’s preferences. He loved to relax in a hot tub for hours.
The entire room is insulated with a special wood that keeps the moisture inside and maintains the temperature. In the middle of the room, there is a rectangular pool. The depth makes it comfortable for one to sit inside fully submerged.
On the left side there is a steam room while on the right side there is a separate shower.
“Here, let me show you the controls,” I tell her, walking to the wall right next to the shower.
“You place your hand on this symbol.” I press my palm on the drop-like symbol and the entire room illuminates.
Next to that symbol, a few others appear.
“This one is for the shower, this one for the steam room and the last one is for the pool. You press the one you want once and when it activates, you can choose the temperature combination of the water. Red is hot, blue is cold. You press them repeatedly until you get the desired temperature,” I explain and demonstrate the mechanism.
She watches me intently, nodding along.
Once I’m done explaining, she bites her lip as she looks at me.
“I’d like to wash up. May I?”
“Of course,” I immediately answer and already make my way out of the room. “I… I’ll let you… do your thing.” Great, Nykander! You’re such a great conversationalist. “Since it’s late, I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”
I dash out, and with each step, my heart thuds faster in my chest.
She’s taking a bath. She’s going to be naked. In my house.
Damn it! Get your head out of the gutter, Nykander!