The Rules of Blood-Volume Two ; Chapter 55 (271) - Beast and Man
Their instincts took hours to settle, keeping them locked in motion well past midnight. Beyond muffled moans and whispered groans, little else stirred the silence.
They didn’t speak.
Only glances and guttural sounds passed between them. In those moments, they were more beast than human. And it showed.
In the way they moved, in the way their eyes met, as if each saw the other as nothing else but as prey. But when the instincts finally faded, sleep claimed them without a word.
Just before dawn, Blanc’s eyes opened slowly.
Hay pressed against his skin, making every small movement feel coarse and uncomfortable. His vision was blurry, his mind foggy. The whispers had faded, replaced by a deep and strange sense of rest.
It almost felt like the start of a good day. But he knew what had happened the night before.
Even as he tried to lie to himself, as he tried to think of it as only a dream, the memory of last night was as clear as the faces of his wives. And he couldn’t quite tell if the sting on his abdomen was from hunger or disappointment in himself.
But when he looked, it seemed to be just scratches and kiss marks left there by Velakia.
A Velakia who, when Blanc looked, slept naked on the hay next to him, her chest pressed on the hay below, her head pointing in his direction.
He stood there, watching her for a moment, his expression as torn as the rest of him, body and soul alike.
Her skin was darker in hue, yet beyond fair in its beauty; still pulling something in him. His hand rose to his lips, brushing them faintly. But the touch only sharpened the memory of last night.
The things he had settled into his brain were... too vivid, too exciting.
He drew his hand away from his lips, quickly, as if it burned him. Then he got up, hay still catching onto the scratched skin on his back. Whether it was from Velakia or from the hay itself, it didn’t really matter.
Their madness was now complete and over with.
But he gathered his clothes and quietly stepped away from the sleeping Velakia, dressing in silence as he slipped out from behind the stacked bales of hay, worried that if Lendros or Tahreni saw them like this, naked and exposed, they might very well attack him.
After all, despite what happened last night, she was still the princess of an entire Kingdom.
Luckily for him, it seemed the wine and the lack of sleep had put the two in a deep slumber, as they looked very peacefully while sleeping, despite all the sounds that echoed a few feet away from them for hours on end.
Blanc could only sigh in relief at that, his head moving towards the ceiling. But to say he was not worried would be a lie. Since the question of ‘What was to come next?’ echoed in his mind.
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Their road remained the same, their journey having the same end in sight.
He could only hope Velakia would be willing to have a conversation about this later on.
With that out of the way, he let his head move downward as he turned around towards the ladder, wishing to find a place to relieve himself of at least some of the things building up in him.
But just as he left the barn, the man whom they helped yesterday was approaching, basket in hand.
“You’re awake already?” the man asked, surprised.
“And you are still awake,” Blanc replied, looking at the man, “You’ve been crying. Silvia?”
“Mhm,” the man nodded, a sad smile on his face, “She was like a child of my own, so playful at times, and so sassy at others, there will never be a horse like her.”
“I’m sure she loved you just as dearly,” Blanc returned the smile, before changing the subject, “We will leave soon.”
“I hoped the wine would make you stay for breakfast,” the man chuckled lightly, “But I knew it wouldn’t, so I made you this.”
The man put the basket forward; inside were grapes, apples, and three fresh, still steaming, loaves of bread.
“You made this bread?” Blanc asked, surprised as he looked at the basket.
“Just took them out a few minutes ago,” the man replied, kindness overflowing in his voice, “Please, if you are to leave, at least have these with you. Last night, my wife did not prepare more food than they needed.”
“No need to explain yourself, my friend,” Blanc replied, accepting the basket, “We will leave the basket before we leave.”
“Call me Brendon, friend,” the man smiled, “And if people ask, I will not tell them anything, Gray Man.”
“You knew?” Blanc’s eyes grew wide at Brendon’s last remark.
“Well, the hair, the eyes, and the way you wanted to leave so soon gave it away,” Brendon explained, “But I promise to the Vita I will not say anything, friend, so be at ease.”
“Thank you, Brendon,” Blanc offered his hand, “You are a kind soul.”
“And so are you, Gray Man,” Brendon replied before taking his leave.
“Wait!” Blanc stopped him, an urgent question in his mind, “Any idea where I can find a toilet and some water?”
Brendon could only smile as he turned towards him.
After relieving himself and washing away the fogginess, he bid Brendon goodbye and went back inside the barn, up the ladder into the loft where the three were still sleeping.
Until he was up the ladder, he could only wonder who he was supposed to wake up first, but as soon as he set foot inside the loft, he knew that he first had to wake up Velakia, despite the gap that formed in his stomach.
A gap he knew damn well was not there due to hunger.
And so, basket in hand, he moved slowly, crouching down near the naked, snoring princess.
He placed a hand gently on her shoulder and shook her lightly, despite the pounding heart in his chest.
“Velakia,” he whispered, placing the basket down, “Wake up, I have some food.”
“Hm?” Velakia murmured, still caught in the grasp of sleep as she slowly opened her different colored eyes.
Only for the memories of last night to flood her brain, making any resemblance to sleep vanish in a second.
Panic overtook her.
But before she could speak or leap to her feet, she froze, her eyes fixed on Blanc.
The man she had pinned down the night before, dragging him past the edge of reason in the moment she lost her own.
The same man she felt she should be furious at for not stopping her, but she couldn’t be, because deep down, that was the very reason she wasn’t. That same man, who instead of lashing out, instead of recoiling from what she’d done… what they'd done, stood there with a basket of food and a warm, awkward smile on his face.
“Here,” he said, “Eat up.”
Volume Two ; Chapter 55 (271) - Beast and Man
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