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“Tell me why or put me down.”
A reddish-pink glow sparked in her vision. Then, in a quiet, almost shy voice, he grumbled, “I got fat.”
“This world wanted to see a monster, so I gave it a monster,” he added, his voice a croak and heart-achingly sorrowful. “If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll be better in the next one.”
“You know what?” he said with a quirk of humour. “I’m going to get you to swear at least once by the end of our journey. I think you could do with a good bout of corruption.”
He’d never had a soft spot for... well, anything before. Raewyn, however, was funny in a cute sort of way. She’s bubbly.
All he knew was that he was growing annoyingly infatuated with her beauty. Pretty things like her shouldn’t exist, much less sleep so trustingly, peacefully, and sweetly against his chest.
She was a bright spark in a dim world; he wouldn’t mind being the reason it kept shining.
Merikh lifted his head when she gave a little mewl, and he realised he’d just been greedily taking in her intoxicating scent. He’d tickled her ear and neck with his breaths. Embarrassed by his unusual behaviour, his orbs turned a reddish pink.
He absolutely refused to wear a saddle like a damn horse. Giddy up? More like giddy go-fuck-yourself. He pictured her giggling at his speed, though, and suddenly, the idea didn’t seem so abhorrent to him.
Her body was tall, petite, willowy, and yet her feminine qualities were much more appealing than he thought they’d be.
It is like an angel carved her, from every single strand of hair on her head, all the way down to her cute feet.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so deeply. All musings aside, he was awake once more.
“You naughty little nymph,”
She was too big and too small everywhere!
“He... Jabez is my brother. Well, half-brother really,”
Despite his violence, not once did he ever lay a claw on her. Instead, that day, he petted her hair, cooed at her, and even sang. She cried in confusion at his actions, and worried about how much trouble he would be in because of them.
He’d played hide and seek with her. He would wear his best outfits and her silly crowns when she wanted to have a tea party.
he wished he had someone who would spill tears on his behalf.
He didn’t often tell himself off, but he was currently doing so as he looked away from her tear-stained face. Actually, the adorable state of her inflamed cheeks was causing his heart to do this weird squeezing flip in his chest. One minute, his sight was flickering yellow in joy because she looked really cute, and the next, it was a reddish pink due to shame. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been ashamed.
“Oh no, whatever shall I do?” she falsely cried as she threw the back of her wrist to her forehead and turned away dramatically.
His orbs glowed a dangerous colour of red, haloing her in his potential violence. Instead of being frightened, she turned to him with her hands curled into fists at her sides and leaned forward slightly. With her nose bunched, her teeth gritted in her own anger, she said, “Grr.”
his orbs flashed to bright yellow.
“Did you just growl at me?”
“Did you just laugh? Like... an actual laugh?” she asked, her sweet voice turning higher pitched in surprise, as though she couldn’t believe he was capable of such a positive and pure emotion.
Her nose bunched as she gritted her teeth. This time, she shook her head up at him as she said, “Grrrrr.” She sounds like a fucking puppy! It was hilariously endearing. He didn’t know whether to laugh at her or nuzzle her damn beautiful, scrunched-up face.
When she growled in return, one of his conflicting desires won, and it wasn’t his laughter. Merikh rubbed the side of his snout and cheekbone against her cheek and jaw to pet her. His snarl softened into rumbles before all went silent, except for a few crickets that had decided to come out of hiding.
He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to rub against another affectionately, and yet he’d done so to her. All because she playfully growled back at him? Her heart had nearly tumbled out of her chest, confused but utterly delighted. His bony face was hard, and he’d pressed it rather deeply as he rubbed it against her cheek, but it reminded her of one of the pets they had in Nyl’theria begging for snuggles.
He got all shy and awkward. She’d almost ‘awwed’ at him when reddish-pink sparks flared in her vision. She found it sweet, but she hadn’t wanted to make him feel uncomfortable.
She ran away from me. That was something that made his cock soften and caused his orbs to shift to blue – a colour he was used to seeing.
She was accustomed to him giving her light growls, so she ‘grrred’ him back this time. He let out a warm chuckle, and she stopped shaking him when her ears went hot. He really seemed to like it when she did that.
His orbs turned a flaring orange from guilt. I shouldn’t have touched it.
Merikh was just so used to being alone and rejected that he’d stopped caring.
Raewyn sucked in a sharp breath and froze. They’re inside... Whatever they were, they sounded massive and hostile. How did they get inside the ward? “Do you see her?” one asked. “I don’t see her, but she went this way,”
“She did not stop to play with us.” “Maybe she did not notice us.”
Then, at the same time, they said, “Strange.”
One thing she did notice as they neared was that they actually didn’t sound the same. One’s voice was raspy and coarse, while the other’s was slightly higher in pitch, although still deep. Their colour flashes changed, one going purple and the other going... pink?
“Yeah, but the humans never speak to us,” the one on the left said, his orbs sparking purple and his voice the coarser one.
“Only scream and cry,” the one on the right said, his orbs pink and his voice higher.
Merikh hadn’t taken into consideration the twins, who had no home and ventured everywhere within it, leaving destruction in their path. They weren’t inherently violent, but their version of playful was aggressive, and their curiosity often got the better of them.
Standing near the entrance of his cave, Merikh watched the Elf and the two Mavkas spending time together. Raewyn was sitting on the ground with the raven-skulled Mavka acting as her back support, while the other had his bat skull resting in her crossed legs. When Merikh had tried to chase them away from his home after they’d grown their bodies back – and his arm returned – Raewyn had intervened with a loud shout.
He couldn’t remember if his orbs had ever turned green in jealousy, but the emotion clawed at his chest like a rabid beast.
Raewyn cried, which only made him chuckle when her face was scrunched in displeasure. It was cute, the way her brows furrowed and her lips pursed.
When she lifted her nose even further and she was practically facing the sky, his fangs parted, and the chuckle finally left him. She’s cute when she does that.
“Thank you, and thank you for offering. That was really sweet of you.” “What the hell?” he exclaimed, his tone flabbergasted as reddish-pink sparks flashed.
He’d never cared for another through an illness, and he was utterly useless. When he tried to help, more foam had frothed from her blueish lips, and his orbs had turned orange in guilt.
You fucking lied to me, Elf. She’d said it wouldn’t be too bad, that he hadn’t needed to worry, but he’d been panicked since this started.
saw her. Why would someone that beautiful consider becoming my bride? I am hideous, inside and out. She is too kind, too smart, too... perfect, and she can have someone who is just like her.”
he found himself wanting to seek out Raewyn.
chest as his orbs turned a stark white. There stood Raewyn, leaning weakly against the wall. She was covered in a sheen of sweat, and she was trembling on wobbly knees. She still looked awfully unwell.
He thinks I’m beautiful...
