Chapter 33 Chapter 33
Chapter 33 Chapter 33
His claws were large enough to tear through flesh without effort, yet not once did they dig into me. He held me like I was something fragile.
The realization made my chest tighten strangely.
“Careful,” he said quietly.
The low roughness of his voice sent warmth rushing straight into my cheeks again.
I swallowed hard.
The servant creature looked between us before slowly taking a few awkward steps backward like it wanted absolutely nothing to do with whatever this moment was.
Honestly, I felt the same.
I quickly looked away from the beast and cleared my throat awkwardly. “Your horns are in the way.”
One side of his mouth twitched slightly.
“I noticed.”
My face somehow became even hotter.
Great.
I quickly climbed off the chair before I embarrassed myself any further and pointed toward the large wooden table in the middle of the room.
“Sit there,” I said. “That chair is way too small for your giant structure.”
To my surprise, he didn’t argue this time.
The beast walked toward the table slowly and sat down on the edge of it with a low grunt.
Even sitting, he still looked massive compared to everything else in the room.
I grabbed the bowl of warm water and the cloth before moving behind him.
The moment I saw his back properly, my stomach twisted.
The wounds were worse now that I see them up close.
Deep claw marks ripped through his dark fur and skin, some still slowly bleeding. Angry red marks spread around them, and I suddenly understood why he was burning up with fever.
He should’ve been resting. Not fighting monsters in hallways because of me.
Guilt settled heavily in my chest again. I dipped the cloth into the warm water before gently wringing it out.
“This is going to hurt,” I warned softly.
The beast huffed. “I have endured worse.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”
“I can handle pain.”
“Good for you.”
I carefully pressed the warm cloth against one of the wounds. The beast immediately tensed beneath my hands, and a low growl slipped from his chest before he could stop it.
My eyes lifted slightly. “Thought you could handle pain.”
His tail flicked once behind him in irritation. “I can."
“Mhm.”
Another growl rumbled from him, but weaker this time.
I tried not to smile while carefully cleaning the blood away from the wounds. Up close, I could see scars covering his back beneath the fur. Old scars. Some looked like claw marks.
Others looked much worse.
How many times had he gone through this alone?
The thought made something ache strangely inside my chest.
The room stayed quiet for a moment except for the crackling fire and the servant creature grinding herbs nearby.
Then the beast suddenly spoke.
“You are not afraid of me right now.”
The question caught me off guard. I paused slightly before answering honestly. “I think I should be.”
A quiet silence followed that.
I carefully dipped the cloth back into
the warm water before cleaning more blood from his back. The beast stayed still this time, though I could feel the tension in his muscles every time the cloth brushed over the deeper wounds.
The silence in the room felt heavier now.
My eyes drifted over the old scars covering his back again before the question slipped out.
“Is there a way to lift the curse?”
The beast went still. Completely still. Even the servant creature slowed its grinding.
A low breath left him before he finally answered. “There was supposed to be.”
I frowned slightly. “Supposed to?”
He gave a humorless huff. “Stories. Old magic. Ancient nonsense.”
I carefully folded the cloth in my hands. “So there is a way?”
His jaw tightened slightly.
“Yes.”
Hope flickered inside me before I could stop it.
“Then what is it?”
The beast went quiet again.
That annoying quiet he did whenever he clearly knew something but didn’t want to say it.
“It does not matter,” he muttered.
I narrowed my eyes instantly. “That means I’m definitely going to keep asking.”
A low growl rumbled softly from his chest.
“What is it?” I pushed again.
His glowing eyes shifted slightly toward me before looking away again.
“Such a thing does not exist.”
Well that wasn’t suspicious at all.
I crossed my arms slightly while still holding the cloth. “That literally answered nothing.”
“It is impossible.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it is.”
I stared at the back of his head in disbelief.
“You’re terrible at explaining things.”
“And you ask too many questions.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know, normal people usually answer questions with actual answers.”
“I stopped being normal a long time ago, little hunter.”
Something about the way he said it made my chest tighten again. He didn’t sound angry, just tired.
Like somewhere along the way, he truly stopped believing there was anything left worth saving inside himself.
The servant creature came over to my side with the bowl of crushed herbs, gesturing toward the beast’s wounds.
I took the bowl from it’s little hands and start applying the green paste gently to the big wounds.
"Fuck, it burns!" he growled, clenching his fists, causing his claws to dig into his paws.
If it wasn’t for the fur covering his paw-like hands, I'm sure I would have seen the claws piercing his skin.
"Sorry."
That was all I could say. But sorry wasn’t going to take away the pain.
When it came to the last bit of paste in the bowl, I noticed the tension in his shoulders relaxing and his fists opening.
"Is the herbs working?"
"Like always." He said shortly.
" Wow, that is amazing. Remind me to get the recipe.."
"Now why would you want a recipe for healing herbs?"
I was thrown back by his question, because why wouldn't I wan't a healing herb that works as fast.
"For when I go hunting, of course."
"There will be no need for that little hunter. I do all the hunting here."
"You do?" I asked surprised.
"Yes.