Veylo handed her the bottle, and she pressed the nipple in Jeroda’s mouth.
“There you go,” she whispered. “Good boy.”
Jeroda’s hands grasped either side of the bottle, clinging to it as he desperately sucked back the fluid, his neck trembling with each gulp.
Veylo smiled. He seemed satisfied with how quickly Maggie was adjusting to motherhood.
She glanced at a floor mirror on the wall opposite the shelves. It almost looked like the portrait of a family, a husband standing beside his wife and child. The only piece of the image that seemed to contradict such a pleasant sight was Maggie’s eyes, filled with worry and dread.
***
He’s so beautiful when he sleeps.
Eilee hovered over the sleeping Treycore.
Dawn had approached, and a faint blue haze illuminated his face.
She remembered when she had been free to lie against his chest and kiss his cheek. Now, she knew it was a line she couldn’t cross.
How did we get here?
She wasn’t just thinking about their relationship. She was thinking about her madness, their presence in the darkest part of the pitied realm, the clash between the Almighty and the Leader, which had happened so long ago. She was thinking about so many things, none of which she could control.
It wasn’t useful to dwell on these issues, but she couldn’t help it. Her time in isolation had only permitted her to ponder on so many things that she had no means of controlling.
I’ll just pretend that we’re back in the golden days.
She perused every curve, every crack in his flesh.
But the distance between them was a constant reminder she couldn’t ever get back to those days. It was as it had been when she would attempt to pretend she was in Heaven as she wandered the yard of her castle. It was futile. Nothing in the mortal world was as beautiful as in the immortal realms. She had been spoiled, and now she suffered with the realization that she could never truly find her way back to the best part of her existence.
She reached her hand out. She could just graze her finger across his cheek. Surely, he wouldn’t feel that. And if he didn’t feel that, maybe she could offer the lightest of kisses.
But what if he roused? Would he be upset? Would he yell at her?
Surely, she could bear whatever rage he spewed to get a taste of him again, as she had when she’d first snuck a kiss when they’d escaped the glippers’ lair.
She scanned the scene around her. A fanciful part of her feared some ominous power would appear before her and chide her for what she was about to do. But she had to—every part of her compelled her to.
She leaned forward and planted the softest of kisses on his cheek. It was so soft, she just barely felt his skin, but it was enough, as it stirred powerful emotions within her.
She quickly pulled away, checking to see Treycore’s reaction.
His face twitched slightly, but that was it.
She was safe.
She smiled, excited, and yet, a new emptiness filled her. Though she had stolen a kiss, the realization it had to be stolen reminded her of the cruel and twisted reality she lived in, and the sensation that welled up within her was even worse than the one she’d felt before she’d seized his flesh.
Tears filled her eyes.
There was no sanctuary for her misery… no ease for her pain.
As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she slid away from Treycore and lay across the ground, waiting for him to arise.
***
Here we are, Treycore thought.
