Bloods Of Power

08

He still hadn’t made his decision yet, what to act as. And now as he lifted her body that was as hot as though she had been dipped into a volcano, Lorcán stared at her pale skin, how it seemed devoid of life and the only thing that could show him she was alive was the faint beat of her heart. He placed her back on the bead head, the wood moving a bit as she staggered to fall back on the bed, still unconscious. He didn’t know what to do to her, but at least he knew better than to let her sleep on an empty stomach. Okay, maybe not sleep, he didn’t even have the right words to describe it as.

He positioned her well on the bed and began feeding her the hot soup he had ordered from the inn restaurant. Her mouth was sloppy, not being controlled and everything was slackened in her body. He wished she could just wake up and everything will be done with. He had never taken care of someone before in his life, apart from his brother; Dûsan, the only family he had known and grown up with.

Knowing so well the kind of situation he found himself in if he let his thoughts wandered back to Dûsan, Lorcán immediately pushed the thought away from his mind and stared at the fairy that laid before him. He only managed to force ten spoons into her mouth and he knew if he tried to make her unconscious body take more, it would be bad. He placed the bowl down and made her laid back on the bed and he covered her up with the quilt. He knew she was burning within, wondering what type of fever she was suffering from that she could burn as much as Avyannah did. But he had seen her, freshly out of the river while those young men made her stood almost n***d under the glowing and scary light of the moon, she must’ve had a sensitive skin and body system.

He made sure she was safely secured in the room before he walked out. He didn’t know where to start from, but he knew if he let himself get distracted by Avyannah he wouldn’t be able to do what brought him here. He came for a search, and he would surely find what he came looking for. And would be the end of him or her, whatever it was that brought an end to his little joyous life. And when he stood in front of the inn’s gate, he stared at the throng of people moving around the market place as though it was bright daylight, the people walking in and out of the inn. From where he stood, Lorcàn could spot some women dancing beautifully in a bar with drunk men chanting them. Somewhere within his heart, he wondered how Avyannah would look like if she danced the way they did.

Not to lose focus about what he came out and also, how he knew he must treat her, he shrugged off his shoulders as though that would be enough for him to shrug off her thoughts in his mind and he walked deeper into the market streets. Dodging the rushing shoulders and when he wasn’t fast enough, nudging shoulders with whatever gender was close.

•

It had been one hell of a ride, she felt as the fire burnt, cooled down, and re-burnt her body in the most malicious way she had ever felt before. Why did she let herself get so angry to the point that she had rustled so much fire within that it came back to harm herself? She wanted to cry, but the weight and power were so much that she couldn’t move a limb. And now that the fire had cooled off, after hours of t*****e, of burns, Arana could finally feel herself coming back to life as coldness began to riffle through every nook and cranny of her soul.

She shivered, her teeth clattered and she drew more of the quilt she didn’t know where she got it from. Her whole body shook with her shivers and she was aware of the way the wooden bed was beginning to make a sound at the jolts she was making. Teeth clattering, under hypnosis, Aranya felt as someone got down from the bed, and it took only some minutes, minutes not enough for her to think where she was and who she was together with before she felt another quilt draped over her body and also there was warmth. A fire being lit in the hearth.

At first, she eased and a slow relieved smile began to graze her lips but that wasn’t enough. She felt colder, as though being weak and unable to even open her eyes was enough to cool off the fire within her and maybe if it had ever been possible, a fire could be turned to an avalanche. She began to shudder again, and she felt warm strong arms as they wrapped themselves around her and she was aware what her head was placed against wasn’t a pillow, but maybe…a chest? A strong one at that.

Not strong enough to lift her eyelids to see for herself, Aranya resorted on enjoying the warmth and she relaxed more into his arms, it was the safest and warmest she had ever felt in her life. She snuggled her head more onto that strong chest she wouldn’t mind sleeping on forever before warmth engulfed her whole body, the coldness slowly melting and she found herself again before sleep slowly overtook her soul.

Whoever this person was, he saved her life. Because she wouldn’t lie to herself to say this wasn’t a man, because everything about him spoke of his masculinity and she knew even if she had no prey for this time, which she even had already, she wouldn’t take him to Zinambra, for saving her life. For giving her the warmest arms and a chest so strong she felt weak being engulfed by it. Even though she would like to think of him as a mortal, and Betla had nothing to do with mortals, Aranya had promised to be loyal to him, never to hurt him or let him be hurt.

•

Strength was back into her body as though she had never felt as ill as she felt yesterday night. She felt as her eyes began to voluntarily open themselves, as a slow smile graced her lips when she felt the strong arms of her lifesaver still wrapped around her. At first, she had a blurry vision of the face sleeping peacefully next to her, and when she looked clearly, it was the same pillow they shared. No, she blinked her eyes twice, thrice, for the fifth time because she didn’t want the face she was vividly seeing to turn out to be that of the man she had fantasized over yesterday night, even in her dreams. And she rarely dreamt.

Before she made her next move which was to shrug him off her and stand up before she insulted the life in him, he opened his eyes and lazily smiled at him. She had gotten the chance to stare at those mahogany eyes when he had just woken up from sleep and she was certain when she said they were much more the colour of blood than mahogany, she was correct. 

“Good morning, Avyannah.” He smiled again at her as he drawled the words, and Aranya took that as a cue to push him away from her. When she did, she immediately stood up and stared down at her body, and she was surprised to see herself clothed and her hand instantly went up to her hair, the hairpin was there too. What did this mean? Did he put her clothes back on her? Because she was so aware of what had happened last before she lost her consciousness. 

“What did you do to me?!” She asked with anger dripping from her voice but she immediately took a hold of it because she was still aware of what she was capable of now and this man thought of her as human, he was practically the reason she had suffered as much as she did last night.

He sat upright, with a smug smile on his face and he rested his back on the bed head, staring at her. “What did I do? I saved your life, you ungrateful human. Those young men would have disgraced you and you wouldn’t be able to do anything to them. You were almost n***d and wet, and you were so scared that you fell into consciousness. The rest of what had happened is for me to choose whether to tell you or not.”

She lifted her face and palmed it out of exasperation, she didn’t know what she had done yesterday night. How much she had revealed, how much he had seen. Because she usually rambled whenever she was sick and knowing so well she nearly died yesterday night, Aranya didn’t know how much she had spilt off. Was that why he was smiling smugly at her because he knew she wasn’t truly interested in Jaromir but rather, wanted to take him to her hungry mother?

“That’s what I need to know, and I deserve to know it from you. What happened to me after I have passed out? You need to tell me everything.” He saw the fire, never mistaken about it. He wondered why a mortal would have fire flashing through her eyes whenever she was irked. If not for being so curious, he could say loved it. It looked so good on her and made her a little bit scary.

“And that’s my experience to tell or not. Come here, how are you feeling? You were so hot before you turned extremely cold and had yourself all over me. What kind of body do you have to be changing as fast as yours did and each, with so much intensity?”

She lifted her chin and poised, angling her eyes directly at him for him to know that she was furious at him. “I didn’t throw myself at you, I could remember what had happened when I was cold. I want you to tell me what happened in the river and why I slept here yesterday.”

He smiled, “Come over, I need to feel your temperature to see if you’re fine.” He waved his hands at her to summon her as though a mother summoning her crying child. 

She hissed angrily and turned to walk out when he pulled her to him from where he stood and the next place Aranya landed was on his chest. That broad, strong chest she so much fantasized upon. He had his hands wrapped around her shoulders and he placed his palm on her forehead and felt that her temperature had turned to normal.

“Let go of me,” she managed to utter because it was now that she was noticing he was shirtless. What happened yesterday night? Did he give her a body to body contact to ease her coldness? And seeing his n***d chest made her weak.

“What if I want you here? Don’t you know you have to be thankful to the man that saved your life?” He guessed he would act like the man that was amazed and titillated by her. By god, she titillated him. And yesterday, having her sleep into his arms was something he both cherished and cursed himself for.

“I don’t care…” she began but was caught off by him when she felt his lips on hers. Something sparked in her, as though a bubbling fire got in contact with a forest of dry woods. Embers rose to her cheeks and she felt as something burnt in her, but this time, without the pain, with something she had never felt before and she couldn’t fathom as well. Her bulgy shocked eyes involuntarily closed themselves and she felt as he just didn’t place his lips on hers, he deepened the kiss that she wanted to scream out of the feeling he burst in her.