Page 15 of These Eternal Bones
I ignore it as I hold the necklace out to the woman in front of me. The smell of lilac bleeds into my bones, surrounding me as she shifts her waterfall hair to the side, baring her neck. She has no clue the temptation it holds as she waits, allowing me to adorn her. The older woman stalks off, preparing the things I’ve bought as my little human's eyes peek back at me.
“I didn’t get the impression you had many friends here.” She asks quietly.
I smirk. “I do not.”
“She seemed…friendly with you.”
“Yes, she never had much in the way of sense.”
“You’ve known her a long time.” She retorts as I step closer, seeking her warmth. “That makes you friends.”
“No, that makes her a sustainable meal source.”
Her eyes widened at that, a flush building on her cheeks. Perhaps I could’ve been more tactful with my words. Perhaps my hands lingered too long on her slender neck, feeling her pulse thrumming under my fingers after a statement like that. Perhaps I cannot focus when she makes my mouth water and soul hum.
9
Disagreeable Girl
Which Witch - Florence & the Machine
Molly
The cottage feels so much smaller with him inside it, his very essence eating up the space every bit as much as his enormous body. Consuming the air, making it thicker, harder to pull through my lungs. Elric’s dark, ink-like eyes follow me as I skirt around him, my heart fluttering in my chest as I work my fingers on the scar mottling my ring finger, a reminder of my time at New Eden. Pretending that if I can simply view him underneath my eyelashes, he will seem more manageable as he sets down the third round of items he bought for me. “I will send for the rest tomorrow, or tonight, should you want them sooner.” His deep timbre of a voice shakes me out of my open staring, making a smirk draw up on his lips, like he knows just how unfair it is to look like him. A beauty I once thought would be reserved for God.
“Oh no, tomorrow is more than fine! I-I don’t know how I’m going to begin to repay you for all of this.” Embarrassment flames my cheeks before a sharp, sudden pain builds deep in my stomach, making me grit my teeth.
It’s the sixth one since we headed back from town, after I shamelessly gorged myself at the local restaurant, pretending not to notice the open horror and gawking of the nearby patrons as Elric nestled his hulking frame into the small booth. He paid them no mind, instead seeming fit to flip jarringly between interrogating me about every aspect of my life and intense, prolonged eye contact that made me want to shed my skin. I ignored most of his questions, stuffing my face instead. He didn’t seem to mind my rudeness, like he could glean everything he needed simply by watching anyway.
“I could use more help at my manor when you are settled. I have several hundred years' backlog of paperwork that needs sorting.”
Hundreds…okay.
Yes, I could do that. If I couldread. I mean to tell him, but the shame feels too great, burrowing in my chest before another ungodly cramp nearly makes me lose my breath.
He needs to go.
Now.
“Yes, that’s fine. I uhm- I need some time…perhaps a week to get settled.” He eats up the distance with two strides, making me take a step back. My mouth runs away with me. “I know you said I owe you nothing for all of this, but I’d like to have no debts before I leave: the clothing, food, and my debt to Captain Faine.” Those words alone make the food weighing down my stomach feel like bricks.
I can’t fathom the price.
Oh god, I’ll be here for years.
I watch his lips pull up in a smirk, no doubt my expression betraying my thoughts. “Yes, perhaps that would be for the best.”
I frown, crossing my arms, willing the smell of spice and cedar from my lungs. “What happened to you having no need for coin?”
“You’re right. I have no need for it, but I could hardly live with myself if I denied you your desire to repay me.” He’s…joking with me.
I can feel the smile edging onto my face, the humor budding in my chest before I wipe it away, reality sobering me. “Why are you doing this, truly? I am nobody to you.”
Whatever humor he felt has gone away in an instant, his jaw hardening. For the first time, he looks away from me. I feel…colder for it. “Eternity is boring, Molly.”
Eternity.
I weigh it in my mind before I’m struck with something I doubt many have felt for the being in front of me. Pity. I cannot imagine living for hundreds of years, the sadness of the thought nearly taking away the shock that comes with the concept. “Yes, an eternity of anything sounds…terribly cruel.”
