22

~Vaela

The sweeping motions of his brush against the rock are hypnotic, colours muddying together to create the base of a painting I know is going to be otherworldly.

Just for me to sit out in this part of the cave with Hale, I'm bundled in three thick jackets, with multiple blankets layered over me. Still, I'm cold, but Hale's skills are distracting enough.

He pauses suddenly, tugging his brush from the flat slab of rock.

"I wouldn't kill you during sex, by the way." He doesn't turn, leaving me to gape at the back of his head.

"What?"

He starts painting again, this smile evident in his voice. "Your conversation with Eyla."

I'm stunned.

I'm tempted to stand, strip off all my jackets and send myself spiralling down the mountain. Hale's shoulders shake ever-so-slightly from a faint laugh.

"Seriously? You have super hearing or something?" I snap, wilting against the rock, wondering if it would be a swift ending to just throw my head back against it forcefully.

He gives a half shrug. "Better than most, I suppose."

"Consider me mortally embarrassed. Mind the pun." Eyla probably knew Hale could likely hear, which is exactly why she isn't going to know Hale brought it up.

He glances over his shoulder at me. "Sure, I haven't fucked a mortal before, so I'm not sure I would even know my own strength-"

"If I hear another word from your mouth, Hale, I'm going to toss that green paint all over your art," I growl, motioning to paints in front of him. After I toss it onto his painting, some may find it's way onto him too.

He focuses back on his work, tilting his head back and forth. "I'm just saying, I would try my best not to kill you, or even to hurt you during-"

"We are not having sex, got it?" I snap.

Burying my head in my hands, I conceal my flushed cheeks. I'm mortified because he sounds so willing and ready to participate were I to approach him for it.

I don't think I'm going to get that out of my head.

"Loud and clear." I can hear the smile in his voice.

"And I could do without you calling me weak and vulnerable for one second," I mutter. I'm painfully aware of my mortality at every waking moment.

Just this morning I trimmed my nail too short to the point it bled, and it's bothered me for the rest of the day.

Hale half shrugs. "Understandable."

He stoops down, grabbing a bottle of green paint, carrying it over to me.

I stare blankly at it as he holds it out to me. "What?"

"You said if you heard another word from my mouth you would toss green paint over my work." He shakes the tin a little more, tempting me.

"I was just joking." I'm more interested in dumping it in his head, watching the green dribble down the perfect structure of his face. Maybe then I wouldn't have the sordid thoughts about him that I do.

I doubt it though. Those seem to be a permanent fixture in my mind at this point.

"Go ahead. I deserve it." His smile is faint, as he nods his head back toward the painting.

Huffing out a breath, I grab the paint from him, and approach the art on the wall. It truly is beautiful, in a style I haven't seen before. But this is too tempting of an opportunity to give up, and he did annoy me...

Flicking the lid off, I rear back, and let the paint splatter across the painting, green colour melting down the wall.

"I've just ruined one of the most beautiful paintings I've ever seen," I murmur, dropping the tin onto the cave floor.

Hale comes to stand beside me, looking up at his ruined work. "Now it has a touch of you."

"Glad to know I manifest in your mind as green paint," I grumble. I go to elbow his side, but he smoothly steps out of my way just in time.

"You've been a chaotic, random interruption to my life, Vaela," he murmurs, turning his attention to me, and then back to the painting. "Now, like in real life, I shall make this work."

I'm not sure how he will manage it, but if anyone can, it's him. "You're very talented."

"Or old enough to have infinite years of training," he suggests.

I grin. "That too."

Hale turns to face me, suddenly serious. I don't like seeing him serious like this. Usually he sports a neutral expression, but the last time he looked firm, he vanished, only to return with my friend covered in blood, and the news that Will had been murderered.

"I should tell you, also, that I have business to attend to elsewhere for a couple of days." He seems nervous, anxious to leave me alone here.

I rub my arm, shifting from foot to foot. "What kind of business?"

"It's with my siblings. I would take you, but I would rather they don't know about you just yet," he admits.

Good, I don't want anymore Sin's knowing about me either. And something in my stomach flutters, knowing I'm Hale's best kept secret. He's the only person who can protect me too, so for now, I'll stay here.

"Oh...That's okay."

"I head off tonight. I will leave you with plenty of supplies. If you need anything, you can summon me," he instructs.

He repeats the last part, ensuring I understand how firm he is on making sure I know that I can contact him at any time through dropping that stone, which is seated permanently in my pocket.

Sure enough, he leaves as he said he would, right after I claimed I was going to sleep.

I waited though, before creeping from my room. The place is entirely empty, Hale trusting me in his own personal space. I don't want to invade it though, by going into his room or office, so once I know the place is empty, I simply crawl into my bed, and go to sleep.

The next day passes quickly, until evening, when a very familiar feeling comes over me.

My head starts to ache. It starts of dull, and then the pounding against my temples increased in tempo, until I'm forced into bed, curled up in the darkness.

Waking the next morning, it's like I'm in a nightmare.

My head spins, so I can barely make it to the kitchen to make food. And I'm cold. So achingly cold, to the point I'm raiding my closet, tugging out any jacket and coat, wrapping them around me.

I should call Hale back, but I can't convince myself to do it.

My symptoms feel similiar to what I felt when I went back home for that time, but I haven't had a mortal sickness for so many years, so maybe this is just that?

By the end of the stay, I'm so overwhelmed with cold, I decide to draw myself a hot bath, clutching Hale's stone against my palm as I glide into the water.

I could hop into the hot spring, but I fear once I get in there, it may be impossible to get out. Although, now that I'm in this bath, I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm not getting out of this either.

My head spins, my blood is ice cold, despite the heat of the water, and my vision is starting to blur.

Resting my arm over the edge of the bath, I extend my fingers, watching the small stone clatter to the floor, just as unconsciousness seizes me.