Touch of Flame

Malachi placed her gently on the bed and she turned away immediately, hating herself and being embarrassed. She curled, afraid of what he would do next. She would rather he did something mean than make her feel this useless and that was how he made her feel. He covered her with a warm blanket and a sob escaped her lips. She put a hand over her mouth, her chest struck with pain.

This was why she hated this. Letting her walls down once did this to her. She could not survive this pain. It was too much.

She grasped the cloth around her chest, squeezing the way she felt her chest squeeze. The pain choked her. She missed her parents. She missed her uncle. Ester. Bram. Ares.

Corinna. She remembered the days they used to play together. Hide and seek was their favorite game; when everyone joined, it was a lot of fun. She remembered her sister's laughter, her warm hugs, their fights, and their mischievous games where they changed clothes and behaved like each other to deceive people.

Oh, God. She could not breathe and her cries came out as strangled sounds. She squeezed her eyes harder and tried to imagine being dead so she could breathe. She imagined herself finding peace. Being nothing but a memory, not many people would remember because they were dead.

She repeated the thought in her head until she calmed down and then she fell asleep.

In the morning she woke up to the smell of coffee and baked bread. She sat up, her eyelids heavy from being swollen and her head throbbing in pain. Malachi walked through the door, hair wet and upper body bare. He wore a bracelet around his upper arm and she noticed that he had those tribal tattoos today that she had seen some of them have. It covered the other upper arm and one side of his chest.

He held a tray of food with legs and came straight to bed. "Good morning, princess." He said coming to sit on the bed with her. She folded her legs and he placed the tray between them. What was he doing?

"Breakfast?"

She looked at the food on the tray. It looked delicious but she had no appetite.

Malachi made himself comfortable, folding his legs up on the bed as well. He poured coffee into two cups. Ravina's vision swayed. She was still very tired and her head and eyes were hurting.

She reached for the coffee hoping it would help her wake up. Malachi's eyes widened and his lips parted as if to speak while she brought the cup to her lips. She took a sip. "What is it?"

He blinked. "It is hot."

She looked at the cup in her hand. "It is fine." She said.

Usually, when she became a little emotional, she woke up either completely mad or numb.

Malachi watched her with a frown.

"You took off your bandage," she said.

"Yes."

"You shouldn't have. As long as there is an open wound, it can get infected."

He looked down at his stomach. "You did a good job. It looks fine, and my healing is back to normal."

She looked at his face. His skin had that healthy glow again. His full lips had their color back again. She watched them part, as he put an olive into his mouth. She was tired of his face. She had watched over him the whole day yesterday.

"What are you trying to do?" She asked him.

He raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"This." She said pointing at the breakfast

"I am... sensing some anger again. I wonder who has a temper."

"You did not answer my question."

He grinned. "You sure like questions and answers, professor. I am doing this to be kind because you hate it."

She only had herself to blame. She had shown her weakness last night and now he wanted to use her emotions against her.

"You cried a lot last night." He pointed as he put cheese on his bread.

He had gone to sit on the bench near the window. Ravina wondered if he had gotten any sleep.

"Your sister, why do you think she is gone?"

She shrugged. "I haven't found her dead."

"And you think she is with dragons?" He took a bite of his bread.

"You don't think so?"

He chewed calmly and swallowed. "It is very rare for a human to be a breedmate. In all the years I have lived, I have only come across one."

She nodded. That was also the impression she got when reading professor Ward's notes.

"How long have you lived?"

"Two hundred and forty-two years." he took a sip of his coffee as well. "You are not eating."

"I am not hungry." She said.

"You don't have to be."

She picked the fork to eat the scrambled eggs. "Will you find my sister?" She asked.

"I will. I don't think I will find her with dragons but if I do, I can't bring her here unless I kill her breedmate. And why would I? I think I would like it more if I found her being a breedmate. Would you like it?"

"It depends."

"On what?"

"On whether it is one-sided like you and me or if she has feelings for him and is happy."

"Like you and me?" He chuckled. "Aren't you assuming that I have feelings for you? There is a difference between instinct and feelings. I thought you would know professor."

"I do. Instinct is an innate tendency, an automatic reaction that cannot be suppressed. That is why I am here with you. I can trust instinct but not emotions."

That was why he brought her to bed last night.

Ravina finished her eggs and put the fork down. Then she met his gaze. His coffee-brown eyes watched her intently.  She stared back at him, her gaze unwavering when a knock on the door interrupted their staring contest.

His mother stood at the entrance. "Good morning." She smiled.