Chapter 50: Water of healing

Once the excitement in the house had subsided, I made my way to Nicholas’ room, taking care to creep into bed as quietly as I could. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep, and when I awoke the next morning, some part of me wished everything that had happened, had all been a terrible dream. But Nicholas’ snoring state and the unfamiliarity of the room around me, only seemed to remind me of how nightmarish reality had become.

I found Theo in the kitchen, dressed and sipping a cup of coffee as he stared out the window, seemingly deep in thought.

“You’re quite scary when you’re serious,” I said, breaking the silence in the living room.

He turned to me and offered a small smile, “I’m sorry, there’s just a lot to think of.”

His face then fell into a look even more serious than the one he’d worn before and it was followed by the question, “I must ask you though… have you and Nicholas had sex?”

I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks, and I began to choke on my saliva.

Theo rushed towards me and gently hit at my back, a look of concern on his face. “I should have given a warning about the question…”

I nodded and cleared my throat before saying rather softly, “No… we haven’t”

Sex hadn’t even really been a conversation. In fact, we’d barely had the time to delve into our feelings for each other. Each time we grew closer together, something would always freeze us in place for a while.

“I see… then it’s going to hurt.”

My eyes widened and I shook my head vigorously, “What is? The sex?”

Theo shook his head and tried to hide a chuckle, “No… no… okay a little yes but I’m talking about what I asked you to help me with today. I’d like to get Nicholas better as soon as possible. And so I’ll need you to help me with it because your mate bond is really powerful. However… since you haven’t fully strengthened it, the process will be taxing on your body. You think you can handle it?”

I nodded. I was no stranger to pain.

Theo smiled and then walked over to one of his cabinets before retrieving from it a mug. “Can I interest you in some coffee and a few cookies?” he asked.

It was then that I realised just how hungry I’d been and so I nodded eagerly and took a seat at the table. Once the cookies and coffee were placed in front of me, I wasted no time in gorging on the food and gulping the coffee down. There was something familiar about the taste of the coffee, something almost homely.

“Ophelia said you like that kind,” Theo said. I placed the coffee down, now noticing that he’d been watching me the entire time.

“Ophelia?”

He nodded, “She saw the news and called me earlier this morning, worried sick. Although I assured her that you are well, she insisted on coming back. She’ll be here later on in the day.”

It would be good to see her again, especially after everything that had happened. But some part of me hoped that it would perhaps mend the broken relationship between her and Kiyan.

After finishing our coffee and cookies, Theo and I began the preparations to wake Nicholas up from his deep slumber. Theo placed upon the bedside table a bowl filled with water from the pond, a few herbs from his garden and some leaves from the passion fruit tree. The surface of the water shifted from gold to the ordinary blueish tinge of water. Next to the bowl was a knife, some cotton, gauze and antiseptic spray.

“I’m going to need you to sit right beside him,” Theo said, grabbing the knife and walking towards me. I obeyed, suddenly slightly nervous.

Next, he asked for my palm, warning me first about some discomfort before swiping the knife across my palm. I took in a sharp breath between my teeth at the sudden slicing pain. He gave me an apologetic look before holding my hand and placing it over the bowl.

“What the hell are you two doing?” Kiyan said from the front of the door.

Theo frowned deeply, placed the bowl directly under my hand so that it could still catch the red blood, and then walked up to the door, slamming it in Kiyan’s face.

Once he returned to the bed, he shook his head and let out a deep sigh. Once again, I couldn’t contain my curiosity. “Something wrong with the two of you?”

Theo proceeded to take my hand and turn it over before pressing the cotton down on the wound, spraying some antiseptic spray onto it and then wiping it down with some more cotton. Then, he carefully wrapped it up in some gauze and place my hand gently in my lap.

“We had a one-night stand,” he said softly.

My eyes widened immediately, and I let out a small gasp. I had suspected some romantic tension between them, but nothing as intense as the sexual tension of a one-night stand.

“Oh…” was all I could say.

Theo chuckled softly, “Let’s just say it ended on weird terms.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

The bowl had now stopped shimmering in gold and instead was fully blood red. He carefully placed it atop Nicholas’ chest and then asked for me to place my hands against the bowl before placing his over mine.

“You may feel a little sting at first… then your body will feel like it’s about to burst into flames. But no matter what happens, you cannot let go of this bowl. If you do, you’ll end up back in limbo and this time, your soul will go straight to the netherworld.”

I shivered at the thought. Although I was happy to see my grandmother and my parents, I did not want to end up back in that cold, dark place. At least, not yet. And so, I gripped onto the bowl a little tighter, and braced myself from what was to come next.

Theo began to mumble something under his breath and the moment he did, it felt like there was some sort of strange stinging sensation right in my bones. I winced and Theo held onto my hands a little tighter. His mumbles grew louder and more intense and that was when the stinging sensation morphed into something I’d never felt before. It was an intense, unbearable burning sensation that engulphed the whole of my body to the point that I could feel tears streaming down my face. But at no point, did I let go. At no point did I even think of relenting. Soon a warm goldish glow surrounded the room ebbing and flowing towards the windows. Even my golden thread bracelet was glowing. Suddenly the bowl shook and the water sprayed up like a red geyser. When the water fell it only touched Nicholas, disappearing into small golden glows on every inch of his body. This lasted for a moment until everything completely stopped. Finally, the pain subsided, and Theo’s mumbling stopped.

That was when Kiyan burst through the door, a look of concern on his face. “The fuck was going on?”

Suddenly we heard a sharp breath and a deep groan from Nicholas. His eyes fluttered open and he had a confused look on his face.

“I had the weirdest dream that Dante’s brother was actually Dante and then he tried to burn the house down…” and then his eyes roamed around the room and his face fell, “So I’m guessing it wasn’t a dream.”

Theo placed a hand on Nicholas’ shoulder and then gave a loud sigh, “You don’t know the half of it.”

Then he passed by Kiyan, shoving his shoulder slightly. I could see the hurt on Kiyan’s face, but he brushed it off the moment he saw that I’d been watching the interaction.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded and then offered him a smile. He then looked at Nicholas before saying, “You look like shit.”

“Thanks, that’s exactly what I like to hear after saving someone’s life,” Nicholas said sarcastically.

“I saved you afterwards, so I guess we’re even… but I’m glad you’re okay,” he said before immediately leaving the room.

Nicholas gave a soft chuckle before noticing the bowl on his chest. His face fell and he gazed up at me saying, “Please tell me you didn’t…”

I smiled awkwardly, lifted up my bandaged hand and then shrugged, “I did… but I feel fine!”

He shook his head, removed the bowl from the bed and then he grabbed my other hand and tugged it hard, sending me falling on top of him.

“You okay? Emotionally?” He asked softly as he wrapped his arms around me and brought me closer to him. He was warm and his presence was extremely comforting. In that moment it felt as though everything had slowly started to creep up on me. The daunting discovery about Dante, the fire, the lies. And so, I started to cry, not able to pinpoint what exactly I was crying about.

Nicholas gently stroked at my hair, allowing me to just cry and let my emotions out. Once I’d calmed down a little, he wiped my tears and then smiled deeply.

“I have something for you,” he said before reaching deep into his shirt and retrieving from it a small stack of papers.

“I couldn’t save everything, but if I remember correctly, this is your more recent piece.”