“Maybe they just don’t know how to descend?” I asked, and hope sparked up inside of me.
“That’s what I thought, too, and started watching out for signs, but there were none.”
“You didn’t see me burning at the stake either,” I said.
His laugh quaked the bed. “Who do you think caused the storm that night?”
“You let it happen!” I shouted and pushed him away. “You watched them rape me and did nothing.” I jumped up from the bed and distanced myself from him.
“Ho, ho,” he breathed while pushing his hands down, calming me like a horse. “I couldn’t help you, it’s not that easy anymore.”
“I don’t understand.”
Was it me who drank the wine, or was it the loss of blood? It seemed like all my energy was escaping my body at once.
He caught me as I collapsed to the ground.
“There’s no power to wield when no one is worshipping you,” he said, stroking through my hair. “I had to convince Wymin to make it rain that much.” When he confessed it, he frowned. It gnawed on his pride.
After I sobbed in his arms, he picked me up and laid me on the bed.
“Wymin?” I asked.
“The God of all water. You should read your smart books, Mage.” He laughed and made me chuckle, too.
Cuddled up to him, he made no advances unless I initiated them, and I began to trust in his sincerity. “I don’t want to leave,” I said, clawing myself into his chest.
“I see,” he said, “but we’ll meet again. Now that you bound yourself to me, I can appear to you here, as long as you keep the portal.” He pointed to the chalked star.
“B-bound?” I stuttered.
“You offered me your blood in wine, I accepted it. We’re bound. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be visible to you.”
“But does that mean,” I hesitated, “that I can’t bed anyone anymore?”
Veymor’s roaring laughter confused me. “I wish you wouldn’t, but I already know why you’d ask. I didn’t claim you yet since it’s too early. So, you’re free to bed whoever you want to bed until you beg me to claim you.” His tone became dull. I sensed how sad it made him. If he was cursed to love me, it would explain his changes in behaviour.
“Why would I beg you?” It seemed ridiculous, whether he was a God or not.
“Let me keep one secret. It’s about time for you to go back.” He made excuses not to answer, and I shrugged it off. I wouldn’t hurry to give up the freedom of choice.
“I tell you what, though,” he added, “you’d want them less after trying me once or twice.”
My earlobes flushed with heat. He led me to the chalk portal where I spread out. Placing the chalice between my legs, he nuzzled it against the junction of my thighs.
“Bring white wine next time,” I heard him say in the distance while I travelled back into my dimension.
Time had passed at an equal pace. The sun had begun to set and went to pick up my meal. I bandaged my hand and hid it in my pocket before I left.
On return, a large case was sitting in front of my door. It would be the clothes Claire mentioned. I found them neatly folded and took them out one by one, hanging them inside my closet. The case must've been cursed since unpacking never seemed to end. By the time I was done, it was overloaded to the point that I couldn’t close the doors anymore. Finally, I understood why she had a vault for them. But I couldn’t comprehend how she filled it up to such an extent.
After I heated water for my bath, I enjoyed my dinner and smoked the place once more, just to be sure that I got rid of unwelcome energy.
Pouring the water cauldron by cauldron, I got exhausted and made it worth the work by adding some chamomile essence into it. Afterwards, I filled the chalice with the leftover wine and placed it by the tub. The vapour transported a flowery odour through the room and freed my stuffy nose while the hot water enclosed me.
That’s what his body felt like. Damp, even in the Underworld. I should’ve asked further questions about it, but was too excited to focus on anything else. Veymor was mesmerising and flooded my mind. Before him, I’d never seen a man fully naked. The picture imprinted itself in my head. I had been taught that my body was something to be ashamed of, something that needed to be hidden. But watching him move confidently in nothing but his skin made me doubt it.
I concluded my body to be worthy of appreciation and respect, while I ran my fingers down my neck, to the chest and around my belly. Veymor’s body appeared in front of my eyes when I reached my legs.
For the first time in months, I pleasured myself without pain.
9. Mage
That night, I’d gotten a marvellous sleep. I grinned while enjoying breakfast cake and tea in the early morning, though chamomile bored me, and I began trying fruit flavours.
There were few of us eating in the cafeteria at the crack of dawn, and I figured the rest must’ve collected as much rest as possible for the festival.
Back in my room, I shuffled through the books, and after an hour, they were all laying open as I tried connecting their wisdom to one another.
‘Who says you aren’t a Mage?’ Veymor’s voice echoed in my head, and I grabbed Four Wonders of Gods in the attempt to either confirm that I was a Mage—or figure out how to make me look like one. Either way, I had pushed this task away from me long enough in order to not get disappointed by the result.
‘Lao-Endras — The second born, Father of Magicians,’ I read the section’s title and ran through the introduction until I stumbled upon
