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I didn’t know how much time had passed before I woke up. The first sensation I became aware of was how soft and warm the ground was underneath me.
My head pounded furiously, making me loathe to open my eyes. I didn’t want to move a muscle. If I could feel this soft and warm, I felt prepared to assume that I wasn’t in any danger. I could just lay here until this splitting headache disappeared.
But finally, I gave into the curiosity. Wherever I was didn’t feel familiar, and I did want to know more. I peeked my eyes open slowly, trying not to move my poor head too much.
I was in a round hut, with a big, tall ceiling. The far end of the room had a hearth. To my left side, there was a big window with a long table, and several cabinets. To my other side, a curtain that closed off another room.
I ran my hands across whatever it was that I was resting on, realizing that it was fur and animal pelts. That explained why this little makeshift bed on the floor was so soft and fluffy. It really was cozy, tempting me to fall asleep again, but I resisted the urge.
The centaur was standing by the fireplace, looking out the window. Up close, I noticed more details. His eyes were golden and looked as warm and soft as the furs I was lying on. His face was square and strong, and his straight brown hair fell like a curtain around it.
He turned to face me, noticing that I was watching him. My eyes dropped to watch his four legs move as he hurried toward me. He bent down at the waist, his hand brushing gently across my head. The cool sensation on my skin alerted me that it wasn’t a gesture of affection. He was rubbing ointment on me.
“This will help you heal,” he explained. “I can give you something that will make the healing process faster, but I didn’t want to make that decision for you. It will have… other effects on your body.”
He stared at me, waiting for a response, and I remained speechless. I couldn’t answer him over the bubble in my throat. But what would I say anyway?
I didn’t know what he was offering me, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted it. Not if it had side effects. I wasn’t sure that I trusted this creature, even if it didn’t seem like he’d hurt me so far.
In all fairness, if he wanted to kill me, he would’ve done it already. I knew that, deep down. But I was still a bit scared since I didn’t know anything about him.
“Rest. I’ll get you something to eat.”
Chapter Two
Athos
The stew bubbled and popped loudly as it cooked over the stove. I didn’t know how long it had been boiling. I was staring off into space, only pretending to be watching it. A particularly violent eruption caught my attention. I shook my head, trying to focus, and stirred our meal.
Once that chore was finally tended to, my thoughts began to wander again. I glanced behind me, discreetly sneaking another peak at the woman who had abruptly crashed into my life.
I wasn’t sure who she was, or her connection to the men who’d attacked me. There was a lot of mystery surrounding her that I planned to unravel later.
But nothing was more mysterious than the energy that followed her, and the way it unexplainably drew me in. She had an aura that called to me, as though we were two opposite ends of a magnet. With our current proximity, I couldn’t avoid her pull, or think of anything else.
I couldn’t even keep my mind on our dinner, which was boiling over again. I stirred it once more, making sure that it was heated evenly. Then I used a spoon to scoop out a potato into a bowl, testing the softness. Satisfied with the result, I swung the iron chimney crane that the pot hung from out of the fire. With the heat removed, I added some last-minute spices and seasoning. The flavoring would settle into the food as it cooled, without being damaged by prolonged cooking.
As I waited for our meal to rest, I turned to study the woman once more. She was tall and curvy, her body trim and athletic. She had a certain sturdiness to her frame, but it was all toned and muscular. Her dark brown hair had been pulled away from her face with a fastening device, something like a band, though in her tumble down the mountain it had become disheveled.
Her eyes were closed as she rested obediently, as I’d requested. I was almost a bit surprised by how quickly she’d complied, because her face had a certain fierceness about it. She didn’t look mean, but… strong. Capable. She didn’t have the frailness that many of the human women I’d observed seemed to be plagued by.
In my eyes, she was an extraordinary specimen. I’d watched the humans, quietly, for some time. This was my first true interaction with one, but I’d seen hundreds of them over my years on Earth. None had been quite like her.
She stirred something inside of me, especially when those dark eyes opened and sucked me into her trance. Right now, with her eyes closed, she’d lost some of her power over me. But only a little. I still found myself mesmerized by her, absorbing every detail, learning every curve of her face.
While I’d brought her back here only out of kindness, knowing that she needed medical care, I found myself wanting her to stay. I’d lived here alone for so long that I was enjoying the company, unexpected though it was. I knew that I should feed her a hearty meal, make sure that she was well, and then let her go on her way.
But I didn’t want to. It felt like she belonged here, with me, though I couldn’t put into words why. I wanted to keep her here, to myself, at least for a little longer. Maybe then I could understand what gave her this strange allure. What was it that made me feel so irresistibly drawn to her?
I made excuses in my head, trying to justify it to myself. I was just lonely, having spent so much time in isolation. She was too injured to leave my care. I wasn’t going to keep her here forever, and I was only going to nurse her back to health.
My eyes darted across the room, to a jar of herbs on the table. I could’ve made her the drink I’d mentioned earlier, which would speed up the healing process considerably. But the side effects would be significant, and that reason was enough to give me pause.
If I was honest, the side effects were a big part of what the medicine did. From my point of view, they could make things quite pleasurable. I’d never tried it, personally, and now I finally had the opportunity and wasn’t going to take it. I couldn’t do it without her approval. It just wouldn’t be right. The effects might’ve sounded fun to me, but that didn’t mean she would agree. It was her body, and ultimately, her choice. I’d only mix it if she understood exactly what would happen and agreed.
For now, her head injury was bad enough that this wasn’t the time to explain any of it. She was too rattled by the earlier incident, and this wasn’t the time to seek her permission. I wasn’t sure that she was in her right senses yet, anyway.
