Black Blood

-B2- Chapter 18

Heyy all, before we start I want to mention that Black Blood is now also available to read on Inkitt. The link is in my bio and I would really appreciate it if you guys leave a review.

The man raises his hand once more. I expect to feel an even more intense burn on my skin. Walmoet seems to be going to meet my expectations. His hand slides a little further away from my skin to strengthen his hand more. I close my eyes, waiting for the pain that never comes.

I stand for seconds waiting but nothing comes, the hand stays away. I hear a sigh, a loud slap and footsteps running away before I open my eyes. Walmoet is standing at a table a few metres from me today, pouring a glass of liquor. The brown liquid looks like rum, swirling in the engraved glass.

He grabs the overflowing glass from the wooden table and immediately knocks the contents back. He puts the glass back down and starts pouring another quantity. I stand staring at the scene, perplexed, not knowing what to do or think. My hand is still on my cheek as the fire begins to die down.

Walmoet turns around with two glasses in his hand, both filled with the rum-coloured liquid. Slowly, he walks to the green couch standing in the left corner of the room. The couch is no bigger than for two people, dark green and stands against the wall. Opposite the bench is a green chair. In front of the sofa is a small empty wooden table on which he places the glasses. He himself takes a seat on the sofa with a deep sigh. His hands slide through his grey blonde hair before he turns his gaze to me.

'Sit,' is all he says before grabbing a glass from the table and taking a sip. Slowly I shuffle myself towards the chair. Without saying anything, I take a seat on the chair, cross my legs and fix my gaze on the glass. It is silent, glacially silent. I wait for a clue, shouting or violence. He called out to me for a reason and that slap can't be it.

'My brother Missa was older and in line to take over the crown. I married Nalu when I was sixteen. She came from a wealthy family that could provide strong new ties. The young lady was quiet, introspective and observant. Nothing could be made out from her behaviour, nor what she said. We hardly knew each other, never spoke and saw each other only in the nights. When I was seventeen, my father died and Missa took over the crown for a day before dying an unexpected unexplained death.'

Slowly, I let my gaze slide to the man opposite me. A story is the last thing I expected when I walked into this room. The look, the smile, he gives as he talks about his brother's death. The sympathy in his eyes at the mention of Nalu's name. None of this meets my expectations. He takes another sip of the drink, sighs and continues his story.

'I was given the crown in my hand. Nalu became queen and that raised a certain fire in her. It took a long time before she really started interfering in what I was doing. She contradicted me only when she saw the need and was always right. Sometimes it seemed as if she knew what was coming, as if she could see the future.' My memories seemed to return in a storm flood. Nalu knew I had stolen that banana without seeing it, she was the one who told me to let go of Rave. We had enough conversations between my work to know that this woman possessed a certain knowledge.

'We slept in separate rooms except one night. We had both fallen asleep after our nightly tasks. I woke up to mutterings. Riosis will lead the way dead, or something along those lines. A week later, a riosis outbreak broke out,' he narrates further as he takes a sip from his glass.

'Nalu indeed turned out to be able to see the future. She was half nymph, a bastard. Her father turned out not to be her father and her mother turned out to be a liar. She had dreams that predicted the future, sometimes saw dead people and possessed magic. It gave us a gigantic advantage on many levels, brought us closer together. Nevertheless, I was forced to marry another wife, Minerva.' Everything I seemed to know about the man is a lie. All my preconceptions can go out the window. Everything I thought I knew about Nalu is fantasy. It almost seems like a joke, a lie.