His reply wasn't what she had expected.
"I'm not going to betray her."
Her heart felt like it had been sank in a bucket of cold water.
"I'm sure she will understand, if you tell her, your Majesty." She said quietly. "Besides, this is necessary."
He threw her a look that she couldn't interpret but it was nothing pleasant, nothing like the way she wanted him to be looking at her.
"Understand what?"
She took a slow step back, her bare feet rubbing against the small smooth rocks beneath them, the silent sound blending with the sound of her breathing, as his frame slowly towered over her like an uprising shadow backing the moon.
He was standing up.
Why was he standing up?!
"Tell me. Understand what? Understand that I have to lay with my Right hand woman consistently because I survived on being intimate with her. Isn't it enough that I am cursed?"
"This is also one of your curses, Eli." She responded, her voice low, a frown etching into her face.
He blinked, the words although soft spoken, still slammed right into him with force.
It was part of his curses, that was true.
One that he had discovered at a completely different time from the rest of the dread he had to live with. If Kestra had not convinced him that it was indeed one of the curses, he would have thought the cause of it to be something else.
He could still remember that night. The first time he had been taken over by pain and lust, the way he had tumbled into the room of harlots to satisfy his painful urge, but found no relief, till the friend he had separated himself from due to a fight, had found him and he had fallen straight into her arms.
She was his temporary cure to this curse of his, and over the years, he had taken as much of her as he could. But now?
Now, he was tired of having her as his antidote.
He didn't want her anymore.
It just didn't feel right anymore.
He opened his mouth to speak but the pain that sliced sharply through him had him clenching his hand.
It wasn't until he felt a slight cold temperature underneath him, that he realized that Kestra had helped him sit on the ground.
This weakness was really choosing the wrong time to attack him. He had something to do asides from this.
His breathing was loud and he couldn't find the ability in him to move his head from her shoulder, until he channelled all his strength towards that one action and pulled himself away from her. She was kneeling by his side, her fingers moving delicately on one of his gloves and pulling away the leather shield.
Her tongue come in contact with the zig zag lines, and the sheer relief that seeped through him as she swiped her slithering warm muscle over it, knocked his tongue to the roof of his mouth, as he let out a groan and his eyelids fluttered shut.
Seeing that she still had the same effect on him, she eased herself onto his thighs and reached for his other hand, repeating the action.
Then she stopped briefly and looked at him.
His breathing rhythm had increased and his eyes had changed from those brown orbs she knew, turning into black, fixed on her like a child waiting for directions.
She gulped.
There it was.
The longing.
She moved his hands to the part of her thighs that the slit of her red gown left exposed, pushing herself further over his thighs to get closer to him. The warmess from his palms made her eyelids flutter short briefly as she took in a deep breath, her heart was racing out of her chest.
This was finally happening.
After all this time.
"You really have to feed." She whispered, observing how his fingernails had now turned into claws and were pinching a little painfully against her skin. It was a kind of pain she welcomed.
She had missed that, missed him when he was like this.
She had never thought that a time would come when he would go so long without her.
It was a good thing that the time was coming to an end tonight. Staying away from him had been tiring, not having him had been agony.
In fact, it felt like she was the one bearing the curse instead of him.
She leaned closer, her lips just an inch away from his right hear as she whispered.
"Your body knows you have to feed."
Her actions were slow and delicate, as if she was afraid that if she moved too fast, everything would get ruined, it would bring him out of his pain and draw his back to his logicality.
She loved the little groans of torment that made it past his lips, the sound of the lake behind as the water moved to the shores and back, all accompanied by the silent noise of the wind.
This was perfect.
Like a complete euphoric spell.
Nothing could be more perfect than this.
"You are starved, Eli." She pulled away and cupped his face in her palms.
"I am the only one that can give you what you need."
There was pause, her forehead slowly glowing red.
"We are compatible, Eli."
She leaned in further, her eyes zeroing on his lips.
"Take from me."
She was closer now, her lips hovering over his.
"Feed from me."
With urgency, her lips pressed against his, a feathery touch she immediately came to regret.
His claws dug into her thighs.
The pain, this time, was unwelcomed.
It was sharp and there was no desire behind it, it was a clear sense of attack to someone that was crossing his or her territory.
A clear sign to stay off, a warning that came at the expense of blood and pain.
She yelped, a strange sound that tore through her throat as she scrambled away from him, teared welled up in her eyes and her lips quivered with a plead of pain that blended together with a cry of agony.
"Let me go!" She protested at the beginning, but the man that looked up at her with black souless eyes seemed vengeful, and angry.
Although it looked like a souless depth, she could see the beam of her red light reflect in the orbs as she tried to make him stop hurting her.
"Do not touch me again." His voice sounded unlike him.
She nodded, words rushing out of her mouth.
"I won't. I won't!"
The thick sharp claws underneath her skin sent pain to every nerve, she could feel the warm metallic liquid trickled down her thighs from the cuts.
"My Donna." He gritted. "She will not happy."