But he considered it.
Her eyelids fluttered with dreams and Vedikus sat back. His taut stomach burned from leaning over the flames for too long. With a grunt, he scooped some of the paste from his bowl with his fingers and spread it over his skin. Within minutes the pain vanished.
First, he needed the tools to stop her corruption, then, he needed to deliver her to his brothers where she would have the extra protection to keep her safe.
Vedikus twisted his lips, feeling the pressure of his cock weaken. He hated that he needed the human to better the lives of the Bathyr with as much fervor as his member wanted to penetrate her. He grabbed the bone bowl and moved to her side.
She was a tool of the Bathyr now, and his personal burden.
What am I going to do with her?His wet fingers pressed into her exposed skin. If they survived the trek to the mountains, through Prayer, it would be a question he’d have to answer. If his mother were still alive...
He clenched his fists.
Vedikus released them and untied the rope at her waist. He grasped her hair and angled her head back. “Awaken.”
Her eyelids flickered but did not open.
He lifted her in his arms and set her before the fire. She did not fight his hold, did not do anything at all but slip to the ground when he let her go. Vedikus pressed his mouth above her own and inhaled her breaths.
Weak, shallow, and twinged with a bitterness he could not attribute to blood.Viler poisoning.He tore off her boots and clothes, leaving them in dirty heaps at his sides until she was bare except for her underthings. Hundreds of tiny red dots and pink scratches revealed themselves from her cheeks to her shins.Not once had she mentioned pain or faltered under her ailments.
A hiss escaped his lips as his eyes found a large black bruise encasing one of her upper arms and the raw flesh on her wrists. All hidden under the long shredded sleeves of her tunic and pants.
Infuriated, Vedikus stormed to the vines and ripped off an armload to bring to her side. He squeezed the liquid out of them, splashing the excess over the female’s bare skin. His tail lashed from side to side.
Her body startled upright like the newly undead and a shriek filled his ears. Vedikus placed his hand on the center of her chest and pressed her to the ground.
“Relax!” he rasped, her panic seeping into him. She only fought him more, clawing frantically under his weight. “Relax,” he repeated louder.
“What’s that feeling?” Her eyes widened, her nails dragging at her skin. Confusion. “There’s something inside me!”
Vedikus grasped her wrists with one hand and pinned her legs down with the other. The force of his actions was more violent than he intended but a couple more bruises were better than opening her wounds deeper.
“Female, do you remember the thorns?” he asked slowly, waiting for her struggles to subside. She stared at him for a time without blinking before she answered.
“Yes.”
“They pricked you everywhere.” He indicated her body and she raised her head to look.
“Yes.” A barely-there breath.
“Some of them took root inside you.”
She dropped her head back to the ground and silently cried. A black cloud of possession filled his gut and bloomed throughout his body. He wanted to lick over every prick on her flesh and reclaim it for his own, but he knew that doing so would not cure her.
It was still better than the alternative.
“This will hurt... What’s your name?” he asked, voice hoarse.
“Aldora,” she said between sobs, her limbs shaking under his.She’s under my grip, he reminded himself.Not tangled in rapist vines.
“Aldora,” Vedikus repeated, “hold still.” He didn’t wait for her response as he emptied out one of his pouches and stuffed it in her mouth. Her tear-filled eyes followed his every movement. He grasped the bone bowl and its boiling contents and poured the mixture across her skin, watching her flesh redden with heat. Her body spasmed, fighting it, her eyes squeezed shut as tears flowed freely down her face.
It wasn’t until her body relaxed and he unpinned her legs that he realized he hadn’t breathed since she’d given her name. He pulled the pouch from her mouth and brought the same bowl to her lips, tilting it for her to swallow its contents, knowing the slight euphoria of the cove would offset the scalding liquid.
It was still better than the alternative.Vedikus sighed and picked up his tools. That black cloud remained.
***
