Chapter 76 Chapter Thirty-Six Part One - Orenda
“You know, you’re going to have to get that boyfriend of yours to wave around a little extra magic and expand my closet space. He might be fine wearing the same three items on a loop, but some of us like variety,” Aya joshes, hanging clothes up in his new closet.
I roll my eyes. “He is not my boyfriend.”
“Fine,” he relents, drawing out the word. “Animai,” he corrects exaggeratedly.
“He’s not…” I trail off as Aya looks at me pointedly, leaving me unable to finish my sentence.
Technically, Azadou is my animai, but at the same time…he’s not.
“Why is everything always so complicated with you?” he ponders with mock sympathy.
“Oh, and you’re a walk in the park, are you?” I scoff.
“By comparison, hell yeah,” he snorts candidly. “Okay, so your bond is severed, whatever. I have watched you two acting very lovey-dovey for some weeks now. Which begs the question, are you a thing or not?” he bluntly asks, closing the closet door and staring me down like a parent reprimanding their child, his arms crossed over his chest for added emphasis.
I look down, picking at the clumps of fuzz on the duvet. “I don’t know what we are,” I mumble quietly.
“Well, gee. If you don’t, then that poor bastard definitely doesn’t.”
I look up at him, my eyes narrowed in vexation. “I’m starting to regret asking you to move in here with me.”
“I’m not,” he chirps, grinning as he slides his hands into his back pockets. “Now I can use the old house to entertain guests without you getting all uppity about it.”
“I was not uppity,” I object. “I just didn’t want to see or hear my brother’s many sexual conquests.”
“Because you were jealous?” he queries, looking at me with mock pity.
“No, Egozilla! I just think that stuff should be private. How would you feel if you heard or witnessed my sex life?” I counter.
“I have heard you, and all I could think was, no man or woman has ever made me scream like that,” he answers straight-faced.
I shake my head in bewilderment. This man is unbelievable, but it’s nice seeing him in better spirits at least. I can handle a little banter if this is the trade-off.
I slowly get up off the bed, supporting my back, and taking a deep breath as every joint in my body protests with throbbing pain. Aya is quickly at my side, holding my arms carefully for support.
“How about I take you to lie down?” he offers with a gentle smile.
“I was thinking we could explore the house, actually.”
He frowns in concern. “Orenda, this house is massive; there may even be several wardrobes that lead to Narnia here. I don’t think you’re in any state to be walking around and exploring,” he cautions, glancing down at my stomach.
I look down at my protruding belly. I’m so big now that I’ve forgotten what my feet look like. The only thing reminding me that they exist is the constant throbbing, which intensifies every time I stand up. I look like I could give birth any day now, which has me a bundle of nerves. I’ve been pregnant for at least 4 months, and it was around the 4-month mark that Yildiz gave birth to her daughter. But I have no idea if her being a Demi-Goddess had any influence on the timeline. I’m going into this completely blind, and I know there’s no point in asking Zarseti or Gabriella for a due date, though it certainly would be nice if they would take pity on me enough to offer it.
“Doctors always recommend light exercise for pregnant women,” I counter.
“That’s for human women carrying human babies that aren’t going through a high-risk pregnancy,” he argues back.
I take a deep, frustrated breath. “I appreciate that you care, but I’m getting really sick and tired of having my body policed by other people, regardless of the intentions. This is my body, and I know how it feels a lot better than you do, so if I feel I can handle some light walking in a house that has numerous places for me to stop and sit, then I’m going to do it. I’m in pain whether I’m sitting or standing, but honestly, lying down hurts a lot more these days than walking.”
“It does?” he asks in surprise.
“I can’t lie on my back, I definitely can’t lie on my stomach, and lying on my sides makes my hips hurt so bad as if I’ve been lying on cement for months. So, you can either walk with me or stay here and glare at your disappointing closet space.”
Looking from me to the closet, then back, he moves to my side and wraps my arm around his elbow. “It really is depressingly small,” he whines.
Rolling my eyes, we make our way out of his room and start exploring the house. “No one needs that much closet space, Aya,” I opine.
“I do!” he blusters, “Fashion is one of the greatest advancements of the modern era. It allows me to express myself. We’re finally stepping out of the dismal clutches of gender conformity and back into the embrace of expression and symbolism. I will not be caged by the confines of limited closet space when my fashion needs to be like my wings and free to soar,” he protests with Shakespearean-level theatrics.
“You’re like a walking one-man show, you know that?” I deadpan, staring at my brother with a strange mixture of awe and disbelief.
“I take that as a compliment,” he huffs, pointing his nose up.
“You would,” I snort.
Using Aya as a support frame, we make our way through the mansion, exploring its many rooms, each one more jaw-dropping than the last. The gothic style is not only intensely detailed, but luxurious, with a different colour tone in each room. Apart from my room, Aya’s room and the nursery, there doesn’t seem to be a purpose to the colour choices, and apart from architecture, there’s no cohesion either.
One particular living room is predominantly black with hints of warm browns and beiges as if he was testing introducing warmth to the room. The dining room is oddly erotic and vampiric in terms of style, with its gothic structure and blends of blood red and obsidian black colouring the décor. There’s the calm, yet sensual tone to the room where Azadou and I had our first real conversation, but then the drastic contrast of a tranquil, majestic hallway that leads to the most intriguing indoor pool.
Aya and I both stare, looking around the space as mesmerised by this room as we have been by all the others.
“Can this be my bedroom?” Aya asks, his eyes shining as he looks at the emerald waters of the lap pool juxtaposed with walls and columns of dominating black.
I chuckle, smiling at the way the sun shines through the clear, cathedral window and reflects off the water, intensifying the colour of the emerald tiles beneath. “Where the hell would you sleep?”
He shrugs, “Who cares? He could conjure me a bed suspended from the ceiling for all I care.”
“So you can what? Roll out of bed and drop into the pool every morning?” I tease.
“Best morning bath ever,” he grins. “And it’s big enough to fit our bird forms.”
“Yes, I’m sure Azadou envisioned turning this into a giant bird bath when he conjured it,” I remark playfully, smiling at the vivid and amusing image in my head.
Now that I think about it, each room we’ve seen does evoke a certain emotion or insight. Merlos is the embodiment of darkness, yet when you look at her home, darkness is something she actively avoids. She gravitates to brightness, leaning into the bright golden colour of her magic, filling everything around her with light. Azadou was born of darkness and confined to darkness, but only now is experiencing light and warmth. Each room may not have interior designers jumping for joy, but they tell a story…his story. A story of drowning in darkness, searching for light and warmth in all its forms, from the sensual to the tranquil and even the bland. I understand why this place is so important to him; it’s not just the first thing he created, but it’s the place where he first began to explore himself. I see it in every curve and crevice, and that realisation is making me emotional.
“Orenda? What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” Aya frets, noticing the change in my expression.
With a soft smile, I shake my head. “No more than usual. I was just appreciating what Azadou has built here.”
Aya frowns, not entirely convinced, but he nods and lets it go.
Our journey ends with the heart of any home, the kitchen. It’s in keeping with the rest of the house but has a touch more brightness to it. However, it has one vital flaw.
“What the hell? This thing is empty!” Aya exclaims, opening the refrigerator door.
I open a nearby cupboard, and just like Old Mother Hubbard, I find it to be entirely bare. My stomach growls, echoing my disappointment. All that walking made me starving, but there’s nothing for us to eat.
“AZADOU!” Aya shouts.
I frown at him with disapproval. I don’t like him calling Azadou like he’s our lapdog. He could at least use a friendlier tone. Nevertheless, Azadou appears in the kitchen, his expression more apathetic than annoyed.
“You don’t have to shout, I can hear you just fine,” he reminds my brother.
I jump in before Aya’s sharp tongue has me wanting to slap him. “We just noticed there’s no food in the kitchen, that’s all,” I gently inform him.
Azadou looks at me, his eyes wide in realisation. “I…I’m so sorry.”
Smiling softly, I place my hand on his arm in a comforting gesture. “It’s okay. Eating isn’t a necessity for you, so I can understand why it didn’t occur to you. If it’s not too much trouble, we’d love it if you stocked the kitchen with food,” I request.
His body relaxes, and with a soft smile, he places a gentle kiss on top of my head. “It’s not any trouble at all.”
With a snap of his fingers, the cupboard fills with an assortment of foods, the refrigerator almost overflows, and fresh fruits fill a large basket in the centre of the kitchen island. The room feels homier already, and I’m eager to dig in.
“Now that’s more like it,” Aya nods in approval.
Aya fills his arms with various items and carries them to the island, laying them out. I waddle over and start munching on a crunchy, juicy nashi pear while shovelling choc-mint cookies in my mouth – my version of a balanced diet.
Azadou walks over and gently rubs my back, his eyes apologetic. “I’m sorry I didn’t think about food. That was an unforgivable oversight on my part.”
“You’ve got that right,” Aya mumbles through a mouthful of black forest cake.
I narrow my eyes, and for the first time in months, I draw on my power, feeling that comforting electric buzz through my body as I flick a spark of electricity at Aya, hitting him right on the shoulder. He yelps and clutches his shoulder, his eyes wide and mouth open in shock, revealing the half-chewed remnants of cake. Gross.
“What the hell was that for?” he hollers, while Azadou muffles a laugh.
Before I can respond, I hear a popping sound inside me. I freeze, my mind going blank when I feel my panties begin to dampen, followed by the sensation of warm liquid running down my thighs.