CHAPTER#11:Discovery

A knock on the room caught her attention as she finished eating the breakfast served by the head butler himself. She fed half of it to the black wolf as it wagged its furry tail at the mouth-watering smell of meat.

She wiped her face in a hurry and hastily stood up asking who was at the door. Hearing Erebus's deep voice caused her to get goosebumps. His voice could pierce her wildly throbbing heart to its halt before she could manage to escape the hellish nightmare.

Leo ran towards the thick black iron door and howled in excitement.

She hesitantly walked to the big door where Leo stood and tried to open the heavy door which barely moved.

She wondered how a door that looked normal like any other was this hard to simply open it. Until now the only ones who opened the door were Erebus, Jafar, and the head butler.

She put in all her strength and finally it opened before her.

But to her dismay, it was Erebus who pushed open the door from the outside of the room.

She looked up at him without hesitation. This time this rough-looking face looked more refined up close. Despite his tanned skin, his features were well-defined. The sharp black eyes could draw anyone looking into the void. The nose well sculpted and a small scar near the lips. Hair with color deep as the darkness of the starless night that partially covered his forehead.

"Is there something on my face?" He ran his hand over his face to see if anything was off. He entered the room followed by his aide who kept his distance from them.

She regained her senses and backed away a little when she realized that Leo was sitting behind her patiently waiting for his arrival.

Too late as she stumbled over him into the fireplace.

She gasped in panic and closed her eyes.

A hand drew around her waist and grabbed her preventing the fall.

Shortly after she realized that she wasn't falling any further. She opened her eyes. He was too close to her. Where she subconsciously placed her hand on his broad shoulders. She suddenly felt something burning before her in that short moment.

He pulled her towards him to let her have a better stance and tightened his grip around her waist. This awkward moment filled the room with dead silence with only the noise made by the howling wind of death valley.

Meanwhile, Jafar retreated from the room with the wolf that leaped on Jafar and licked his face.

"Let's give those two some private time, shall we?" He scratched its head and quietly led the wolf out of the room.

"Thank you for saving me." She nervously looked at his chest which was exposed a little. She blushed as he gradually let go of her. The burn on his hand stung with pain. She was alarmed by looking at his burnt hand which he held onto with the other.

"Medicine! Your hand needs treatment."She stammered in a panic that left him stunned by her reaction.

"Why do you care about someone who caused you nothing but harm?" he stared at her as her silver eyes met his.

"I... Don't know."She replied as she looked for a clean cloth.

She tore off the piece of cloth from the black dress she wore and poured some drinking water from the glass onto it until it was damp enough. She brought forward the cloth near his wound when he suddenly retracted his hand and questioned her actions.

"Please let me treat your wound." She implored as a token of her gratitude.

He sat on the soft rug made of bear skin near the fireplace and leaned on the leg of the couch.

She slowly followed his gesture and sat close enough to be able to treat him.

"The old man can heal me so there is no need for you to go to such lengths for me." He again retracted his hand but she firmly held his hand which was quite larger than hers. She could feel the hardened callouses on his fingers that showed his experience with weapons and hard labor.

He gritted his teeth to not let out a sound in pain as she wrapped it carefully.

"Please bear with it for a bit. I've added some of the medicine that was left on the table."

"You what?" He blurted out in disbelief.

"T-the medicine..." She looked worriedly at him wondering if she had done something wrong.

"That was supposed to be for your recovery."

"Does it matter at a time like this?"

He was left speechless about how selfless this woman in front of him was. Treating her enemy was something that he'd never seen anyone do before.

"Almost there." She wrapped it and placed her hand softly in his and closed her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

She ignored his questions and began to sing in the low voice. The same melody that he heard from his office. It was like another worldly voice that he was unable to comprehend.

The stinging started to fade away and the pain vanished as she continued with her song.

"You're... Insane."

He took off the bandage and discovered how the burn had healed however it left a scar.

"I apologize... This is how far my ability can reach." she grimaced over her incompatibility.

"It's more than enough." He looked at her.

His hardened expression softened a bit after watching her perform a miracle in front of his eyes.

She looked down at the piece of cloth that she tore from the dress and apologized for ruining his possession.

"Who cares about it?" He shrugged and got up.

"Let's go back to business."