Page 98 of The Hunger
I gently rested the back of my forefinger against Piepen’s head.
“He feels warm.” I considered him for a moment, really hoping I wasn’t going to regret helping him. “Get him undressed. We’ll give him a cool bath in the sink and see if that brings him around enough to ask him some questions.”
She undressed Piepen while I ran some water. When I returned, he was still out cold, pale, and covered in sweat.
“I really don’t want to touch him when he’s like that,” I said.
Merri gave me a troubled look. “Do you think it’s contagious? He was holding Piewhistle earlier.”
“No, that’s not it. The last time I touched him, he…sparkled.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. Piepen took a vow of obstinance with me.” She looked down at him, her adoration clear in her eyes.
“Do you mean abstinence? Where you don’t have sex?”
She blushed. “Yes. That. I’ve been reading a book about how not having sex can enrich your life. I told him about it, and my dream to travel. To support me, he said he would abstain too. It’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. Look at his acorns. You can tell he hasn’t milked them in days. Have you ever seen acorns that big?”
I looked.
Why did I look?
I wasn’t interested in any aspect of his acorns. But she was right about how swollen they seemed. A little red, too. I couldn’t remember if they’d ever looked like that before. Honestly, I’d tried not to note this level of personal detail about Piepen, ever.
“Let’s get him in the bath,” I said, gently scooping him up.
He groaned and moved listlessly.
“No, I can’t,” he mumbled. “I promised.”
Understanding what he meant, I hurried to the sink and lowered him into the water. It wasn’t cold, but it was cool enough that his eyes opened in shock. When he saw me, his gaze softened.
“Princess, I thought I was dreaming. Why are you touching me?”
“Because you’re sick. Merri flew you here.”
His head lolled against the heel of my palm as he looked for her. A dreamy expression appeared on his face.
“Beautiful,” he whispered.
The scent of his lust exploded in the air. He groaned and hunched in pain a bit, but his gaze remained locked on Merri. I glanced at her and saw she was stripping.
“I can hold him in the water,” she said, kicking out of her pants.
“Your petals,” he groaned. His hips bucked, and a second later, his eyes started to roll back into his head.
The intense smell of lust completely disappeared.
Merri slipped into the water and eased him from my hand.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” But I had my suspicions regarding what was wrong with him and hurried to get my phone. Mom answered after the third ring.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry I woke you up, but Piepen’s here. There’s something wrong with him. Let me put you on speaker.” I switched the call over. “He’s feverish and pale. I put him in a sink full of cool water, and he came to a little but passed out again.”
“I’m not sure how I can help,” Mom said. “I don’t know much about brownie physiology.”
