Page 18 of These Eternal Bones
My heart jolts, my eyes finally landing on his fangs and their deadly, sharpened points. The veining darkens around them. It's only then that I realize how hard it must be… being around the blood, my blood. Our prophet used to tell stories of vampires, known for their carnal lusts, the way they would defile humans as they drank the very thing that sustained them.
That alone has a flush rushing to my chilled cheeks, utter humiliation deepening the shade. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I want to,” he grits out, his irritation flaring.
“What is it you want fromme?” I challenge, raising my chin in challenge but it’s unlike me. Molly doesn’tchallenge, but she wants to learn. Maybe I’ve always wanted to. It just never felt like a safe enough time.
My lips part as he steps closer, his intense, dark eyes claiming mine as his fangs nick his pale bottom lip. “Nothing you will not want desperately andnothingyou are not willing to give. You owe menothing.I requirenothingbut a break from this monotony. I wish only to break it with you.”
My mouth pops open, my heart slamming my chest like a battering ram, and suddenly, I’m not sure if the trembling is at all because of the chill in my bones. “I-I want to be fair, to repay your–”
“Rid yourself of your wet clothes. I’ll return with the bathing tub.”
“Elric–”
A savage growl tears from his throat, his tendrils dematerializing suddenly, making me flinch. “I will be back.” My eyes widen at the dark mist that seems to fizzle out around him. I wonder if he’s ever noticed how…pretty it is. Like my rock, dark and shiny. He leaves quicker than I can track him, making my pulse jump as I fall back onto the bed and a pot I had thrown chattering to the ground, counting the seconds until he returns.
10
Magic Bathwater
Molly
And return he does, the hulking copper-toned bathing tub looking as light as a feather as he hauls it into the small cottage. The thing is so big it wouldn’t even fit in the bathroom. Wearing a dry pressed button-down shirt and rolled up sleeves, he makes trip after trip with water. My eyes glued to his flexing, stone carved arms, the black veining faint on them. So much so, you’d miss it if you weren’t staring.
And it seems I am…doing a lot of that.
My fingers dance across the tie of the soft plush robe I found in one of the many piles and stacks of gifts. My permanently soiled bride gown finally where it belongs, shoved deep inside the wood stove, making the cottage roar with heat despite the hole in the roof. He’s quiet, thoughtful, his pale Adonis form lit by candlelight as he makes trip after trip. It’s only then that I note he’s not bothering to warmany of the water he’s bringing in. Where in the weeks I’ve grown quite used to the frigid baths, I’d be lying if I didn’t say my heart dropped slightly.
The cottage was only barely straightened up by the time he’d returned despite my best efforts. A gasp leaves me as another contraction like cramp rips into my gut, making me pitch, bracing myself on the post of the bed. He’s there in an instant, ignoring me as I try to push him away. “Surely this dedication surpasses what is required of an employer.” I grit.
He chuckles, the sound impossibly warm despite his cool hands as they press into my lower back. “Are they always this painful?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, I-I had lost track of the weeks. I didn’t–”
“Why must you apologize for something you have no control over? Tell me what you need, and it will be acquired for you.”
My cheeks flush with embarrassment for the hundredth time today. “The bath is a good start.” I breathe out, finally able to straighten, although it feels as if my vagina is attempting to detach itself from me entirely. I stand to my full height, still dwarfed by him, my head only coming up to his mid chest. “You can go. I can imagine this is…difficult for you.” The words feel like bile in my throat. Somehow, addressing the bloody elephant in the room is so much worse.
The sound he makes jerks my attention to him. Again, his sense of personal space is lacking, but I don’t move away as his eyes find mine, keeping them captive once again. “You do not live as long as I have without acquiring a frustrating amount of self-control.”
“W-why is it frustrating?”
“There is such exquisite sensation to be had when one gives in.”
My lips part, and my heart is whooshing in my ears until a voice cuts in, breaking Elric’s hold over me.
“Master, shall I heat her bath now?”
He sighs, straightening away from me with a single nod, his eyes barely leaving mine until I rip them away, turning toward the small-framed woman as she enters. Her hand sinks into the cold water, a strange static charging the air around us until suddenly, steam rises.
“Please, mistress, tell me if you find this temperature suitable.”
It takes a pregnant second for me to realize she’s referring to me. “Oh, of course.” I rush out, still reeling from watching magic, actualmagic. I quickly cross the room and plunge my hand inside. A moan leaves my lips unbidden, making her smile brighten, her pale-colored eyes sparking with pleasure. “It’s perfect.”
“Shall I assist you then, mistress?”
“Assist me?” I ask before it dawns on me. “No, I can–”
