The Flower Buds

Kenric watched as Valerius placed a sleeping Annalise on her bed and adjusted her in a comfortable position.

The tension in the air was clear and the look on Damien's face screamed that the man was about to lose his shit at any moment.

"Try not to destroy her room. She has worked hard to change its gloomy and broken appearance." He said those words softly but knew that the Second Dark Lord had clearly heard every word spoken by him.

"I'm trying," Damien muttered back in response as he took a deep breath to calm himself down a little bit.

Kenric took his time to survey the room and he noticed the new things that their wife had added in the past few days. A few portraits were hanging on the wall, and the bookshelf had a couple of more books that she had retrieved from the library.

There were also a couple of candlestick holders sitting around the room with some new and some half-used candles sitting on them.

But the most surprising change was the vines that were covering a major portion of the room - there were flower buds peeking from behind some leaves.

"I have never seen flowers on these vines ever before." He couldn't help but say out loud as he moved closer to take a look at one of the flower buds. He was curious to know what kind of flower would bloom from it.

"We have been seeing so many impossible things ever since she came here," Valerius spoke as he spared a glance at the vines. His eyes took in the newly formed buds. "Only here," he added after a while before returning his attention to Annalise.

The other two didn't need him to specify what he meant by those two words as they already knew what he was talking about. The flower buds had only developed inside Annalise's room but there wasn't even a single bud visible on the vines outside her room.

"She's injured." Damien suddenly spoke, bringing everyone's attention back to their wife as he closed the distance between himself and the bed and took a seat on the edge next to her feet. The hem of her skirt was torn in several places and blood spots were covering the dress.

"Probably those vines," Valerius added as he helped Damien in taking off Annalise's shoes that were in an even worse condition than her dress.

Kenric also moved to help his brothers. But instead of her injured ankles, he pointed his attention at her wrists. Though they weren't in as bad condition as her feet, they were still scratched and bruised.

"She must be scared." He couldn't help but say as he recalled the scene when they found her. That rogue beast was merely a breath away from attacking her. If they had been even a single second late, the consequences would have been drastic.

"Who told her to step outside the castle grounds? She's both stupid and reckless!" Damien stated as he removed the hem of the dress from her injured ankles.

"I would love to hear you say the same to her when she will wake up." Kenric couldn't help but challenge his brother in a teasing way. After all, he still remembered the worry-filled face of Damien when they first sensed the danger surrounding their wife. The Second Dark Lord was ready to shed blood.

Damien stopped for a second to spare an unhappy look in Kenric's direction as he questioned, "Do you think I won't dare?"

Instead of answering, Kenric just ignored Damien, knowing fully well that the latter hated being ignored the most.

"Brat!" Damien muttered in a gruff tone as he returned his attention to the task at hand.

The three Dark Lords worked in silence for the next few couples of minutes as they tended to their wife's injuries.

"How about changing her clothes?" Damien asked all of a sudden as they finished healing Annalise's injuries.

The three men shared glances and Valerius finally broke the silence after a couple of seconds, "Are you going to do it?"

A rare scene occurred at that moment as Damien's ears started turning bright red. He hurriedly looked away while muttering, "I was talking about her servant."

Now, it was Valerius' turn to feel embarrassed. "Well... y-yeah. I'll tell Sera on my way downstairs."

Kenric watched as both his brothers hurriedly tried to leave the room but then Valerius suddenly stopped and turned around while making Damien stop in his tracks too.

"Kenric, let her swallow this pill," Valerius said as he handed out a pill to Kenric while the other stared at the pill and then at his brother in question.

"She's fast asleep because of your spell. How am I supposed to make her swallow it?" He asked.

Valerius was silent for a few moments as if he was thinking of a solution and then he finally answered, "I'm sure you will find a way. Make sure to give it to her as soon as possible."

Neither he nor Damien waited for another moment and just left the room. The only person left behind was Kenric... and of course, Annalise.

Kenric first stared at the pill for quite some time before turning his attention to the sleeping form of his wife.

He once again resumed his seat beside her on the edge of the bed as he tried to wake her up even though he knew that it was futile.

When he failed to wake her up even after several attempts, he tried to open her mouth and push the pill inside but it too didn't work.

"Why did he assign such a difficult task to me?" Kenric murmured before he put the pill in his mouth and moved to pass it to Annalise.

Their lips touched and he felt the familiar sparks running through his body. He changed the pill into energy form before parting his lips slightly to let the energy pass into Annalise's mouth.