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One would not think that there was any way to fall in love with someone who was barely conscious, but one would be wrong. She was so strong, even when she wasn’t aware of what was happening to her when she was confused, and near-death.
Fifteen days ago…
Her lips are chapped. I am trying to get sips of water into her. She’s delirious from the poison which is spreading through her body. Mehdic stripped her down and found a scratch. It’s from one of the Eponite arrows, and it must have contained just enough poison to make her slowly ill.
She is sick now. Sweat beads on her brow, and her pulse is fast and shallow. She looks at me with desperation, when she looks at me at all. I am the only one who can save her if I can save her at all. Mehdic has told me that her body must fight the poison on its own if it can.
Fortunately, she still has a basic swallow reflex, which means I can get meds and fluids, and some nutrition into her even if it is only a little at a time. This is a true fight for survival, one I have seen many of my warriors lose, but one I refuse to see her lose.
She takes several sips and opens her eyes. She's not really focused on me. She’s looking at something much further away, through me. This is the effect of the deliriant. She is living in a world of mirages generated by her poisoned brain.
“Daddy?”
There’s a moment in which I could tell her that it’s not me, but there’s nothing to be gained by upsetting her. It’s better to go along with these lapses in understanding. She’ll come through it or simply pass back out soon enough.
“It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Her fingers grip me with surprising strength. “Don’t go again.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here.”
“I’m going to follow you, Daddy. I’m going to take my pony and I’m going to be right behind you…”
By her twitches and wiggles, I suspect that she’s reliving an old memory. I’ve seen this in my warriors when they’ve been tagged with one of the Eponite arrows. The affected warriors rarely remember what they’ve experienced, but they relive the very worst events of their past in sometimes excruciating detail. It is said that the Eponites take this poison on purpose as a rite of passage, but I cannot imagine anyone willingly going through this.
“Shhh, it’s okay. I’m here. You don’t need to follow, I’m right here…”
“I’m comin’… I’m comin’…”
This doesn’t end well. I can tell. The Eponite poison finds the root of whatever pain is at the core of a warrior and it draws it out. It makes the afflicted relive the very worst moments of their existence again.
“Daddy! No!”
She shrieks suddenly, her voice fraught with anguish and pain. I don’t know what is happening to her, but I know that whatever it is, it hurt her badly. There’s a loss in that shriek.
“Daddy.”
She whimpers the word one last time and sinks into exhaustion. I hold her, feeling a deep sense of helplessness. She’s so delicate, and so very far out of her human depths.
This girl has me. From the moment I first laid eyes on her, she had me. I was intrigued by her, then surprised by her, and now I am touched by her. She has lost much and fought for more.
I was supposed to keep her safe. That is the underlying chivalry of all creation. The strong and the male must care for the young, the female, and the weak. I have treated her like an animal, and a toy, a curiosity to breed with. But she is more than any of those things. I swear now if she survives this, I will make her my bride.
Back in the present day…
Blaire
He’s just staring at me. I don’t know what the hell he is thinking, but there's an intimacy and a fondness to his expression that I don’t understand. Last I really remember, we were on two different sides of a single issue: whether I was put in the universe to be bred by him.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m just remembering how brave you can be.”
I guess I can be brave, I don’t know. I know I don’t want to be sweet-talked into some underground lair. He’s not going to get me down there. Not with a rope. Not with a whip. Not with a pocket of treats.
“I might be brave. I’m not going down there though, you can take that to the bank.”
“You’re still weak, you know, and even at full strength you wouldn’t be able to stop me taking you where I want you…”
“And you’re still an asshole, and even if you kept me chained up, you couldn’t keep me contained,” I bite back. He keeps pointing out all the inequalities in our relationship, the ones foisted on me by biology and used against me by him. But I have more going for me than he thinks.
