I hadn’t considered where I wanted myhouseto be. It was hard to imagine. Only one possible preference came to mind.
“Can you build it on the border of my field? On the far side maybe, so it’s closer to the alcove and garden beds?”
“Within the border?”
“No,onthe border. Like half the bedroom on each side.”
“Then half of your bedroom wouldn’t be safe,” he argued flatly.
“We can put up charms around it, like Ida has. I just want the option to choose if I want to be in my field or not while inside.”
“Why does it matter?”
He was staring at me, waiting for a response. Water ran around each horn and dripped from his strong brow onto my breasts. His deep brown eyes searched for an answer I wasn’t sure I should give. My tongue found itself tied in a knot, like every other time I tried to find the confidence to flirt with Theo.
Quiet mouths don’t get fed.
I summoned all my boldness. “I can only get pregnant inside of my field. So, unless you have demigoddess birth control, this is how I can choose what happens with my body.”
His eyes darkened. “How do you know that?”
“It was in ‘Hitchiker’s Guide to being a Demigoddess’.” Theo cocked his head curiously, unblinking. “The book I was given covered baby making.”
His head shot up, staring ahead to avoid locking gazes for a moment longer during this conversation. “I’ll see what I can do. It has to be safe.” His deep voice vibrated against my ribs.
I was kind of hoping he’d take the opportunity to flirt, banter, volley… anything. His focus had returned to the hike up the mountain. It might have felt like a swing and a miss, had I not seen the torrent concealed under the surface of his rapidly blackening eyes.
The man who was holding me was feelingferal.
Theo
It was an honor to bleed for her.
Twelve days had passed since we returned from our trip. Vivian’s cabin was half-completed. I stared at the wooden spikes freshly buried in the ground, soon to host fresh charms.
As requested, the bedroom sat partially outside of her field. Just enough for a bed. Of course, I needed to place a protective border of stakes around that portion. The rest of the house probably didn’tneedthe same safety measures, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Might as well surround all four sides just in case. That method had worked for Ida her entire life. I trusted it.
Vivian had insisted on “moving in” the moment I started on the roof. I explained what was laid down wasn’t sealed; it would drip water. Not to mention, only about half the floorboards were placed. The front half—the soon to be kitchen—was only dirt and exposed log. Tripping hazards. But she didn’t care.
She’d been circling the construction project like a hungry scavenger around a rotting corpse for days. I couldn’t keep her away any longer, based on the simple fact that I didn’t want to. She was soexcited. And so, the time had come to bleed again.
I watched crimson stream from my palm into one of the twine-suspended jars, then applied pressure to stifle the flow and moved onto the next. Working quickly to finish before Vivian woke from her nap.
I knew she was assuming we only needed the six charms I’d already made… But six didn’t feel likenearlyenough for an entire cabin. She would be upset with me when she realized I’d reopened my palm. Too bad. I wasn’t fucking around with her safety. Frankly, I was becoming a little obsessive about it… because I was becoming obsessed withher.
Those feelings were starting to make me think differently about this whole ordeal. We were halfway through summer, and it would be time to return to Virylan sooner than later. Had I done enough to leave her protected in my absence? My concerns tormented me.If they find out she’s here, they won’t stop until they have her. I tried reminding myself it would be okay. She was about as far away from civilization as she could be. E.A.R.T.H. wouldn’t bother coming this far south without a good reason. Right?
But it wasn’t just her safety I was concerned with. What would leaving her at the end of summer even be like? I hadn’t been here long, but it felt strange to imagine doing anything other than this.Life with her.
We’d settled into a routine together. Every third day we visited Ida with supplies. Those trips gave us a chance to catch up, eat some of Ida’s delicious cooking, and rest. Otherwise, we focused on establishing Vivian’s “homestead”.
Wake up at the crack of dawn. Fuss over Nurghle. I build while she gardens or crafts objects for the house.Then lunch, during which she addresses the small scrapes, cuts, and bruises from my morning activities.
Vivian often tended to me like I was a child. Asking what hurt. If I’m bleeding. If I’m hungry or thirsty. It took time for me to identify those feelings and answer her. It was strange, thinking about how my bodyfelt. But saying “no” repeatedly only pissed her off, so I compliedsometimes.
After lunch, it was back to work for the day until the stars set. Then, dinner and taking turns bathing in the small waterfall running over the edge of her alcove.
Dinner was followed by another healing session for any injuries collected midafternoon. Finally, we ended our evening by comparing our worlds. Discussing the creatures, technology, societal complexities, anything really. On nice nights, we stretched out in the native Trebianna grass Vivian called “clover” and watched the galaxies swirl in the sky. She liked finding shapes in the shifting patterns, remarking a couple of times that she’d never “seen the stars from New York”. Too much artificial light. That was hard for me to imagine—so much electricity the sky becomes hidden…
