“Magic that strong takes time to bloom. Sadly, it’s time that we don’t have. I will have to extract your affection, then distill it into its strongest form, and fortify it with your compassion and your caring for the general to consume.”
“What are you talking about? How do youdistillaffection?” I mumbled, confused.
“Well, that’s whenmymagic comes into place, dear Elaine.”
“Can you really do it?” I used skepticism to hold hope at bay because hope had devastated me way too many times already.
“I wouldn’t come to your door if I couldn’t deliver what I’m offering,” Suhai scoffed haughtily. “But even I cannot create something from nothing. I can’t give the general the centuries of life he’s lost. What I can do is share the decades of life you still have ahead of you.”
“What do you mean?”
His sigh filtered through the door. “Humans’ lives are so short, Sweet One. Are you prepared to cut yours in half to share it with the general?”
“Is…is that even possible?” I tripped over my words in shock. “Do you know how long I have to live?”
“About sixty years, give or take,” he replied casually. “Not much, not much at all. I can reduce it to mere thirty years. But these would be three decades spent with the general. You and he each would have thirty years.”
“You’ll take my expected lifespan and share between the two of us?” I repeated, flabbergasted.
“Yes. Thirty years for you, instead of sixty. Thirty years for him, instead of the few days he still has left. He’ll stop dying. You’ll stop aging. For thirty years.”
“Wait. What? He’ll live? I won’t age?” I had a hard time keeping up with all the incredible things the mage tossed through the door at me.
“Exactly. One can’t get something for nothing, remember? A longer youth for you would be his payment for the extended time in this world that you would give him.”
One can’t get something for nothing.
Yet it felt like a win-win situation to me. I was twenty-five. Thirty years felt like an eternity to me, longer than I’d already lived. And I won’t have to lose Timur. He’d be with me for three decades instead of a few days.
“Will he be cured from the dragon’s poison? Completely?” I asked.
“Completely and absolutely,” Suhai exhaled quickly. “Not a trace of it will remain. No more pain. No more dread. No more bones taking over his body.”
In that case, what did I have to lose?
To shorten one’s life by thirty years sounded terrible. That’d be more than a third of my entire lifespan. But when I thoughtabout it a little longer, those would be my elderly years, the years likely riddled with pains, aches, and decline. And anyway, that time seemed to be so far away right now, it felt like Suhai’s offer came with no payment at all.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “How do we make it happen?”
“Good, good.” Satisfaction spread thickly through Suhai’s voice. The quick sound of skin rubbing on skin came next, and I would’ve sworn it was the sound of him rubbing his hands in celebration. “All you have to do now, Sweet One, is to open these doors, and I will do the rest.”
“You want me to open the doors?” I repeated slowly.
“Yes, yes. We need to make the deal, remember? Then, I’ll have to collect your affection and the other beautiful, magical, delicious emotions of yours.”
His voice didn’t really change. It still had the same sleek quality, the same hushed tone that made it run like a velvet river, hiding all the sharp rocks in the placid stream. But it’d grown slightly more eager after I’d accepted his offer.
“How exactly will you collect my affection?” I inquired.
“With absolutely no discomfort to you,” he rushed to assure me. “You don’t have to worry. All it’ll take is just a drink of sweet, warm tea?—”
“A tea?”
My chest hollowed with dread. Tea used to be my favorite drink before…before I watched the traders force it down Peter’s and Maria’s throats back at the camp. Of course, there were many different kinds of tea. I didn’t mind drinking the tea Timur made for me.
But I trusted Timur.
I did not trust Suhai.
