Bound by Devotion

Chapter Fourteen

I don't want it to end :(

Four days later and Eve was feeling the burn. Not quite out of water, she was rationing like her life depended on it. It probably didn't, but that wasn't how it felt.

All her lovers, with the exception of Kornae, was lucky. The 'dinner' Fallon had brought was a pack of... dogs? Wolves? A cross between them and something that wasn't remotely earth-like, as their eyes glowed silver. But, what ever they were, they were easily mind controlled and so long as the vampires were careful and didn't kill them, they could sustain them.

Fallon told them, after the extracurricular activities against the tunnel wall, that while he and Gabe were out scouting, they heard something off in the distance. Turns out, it was one of the four-legged feasts beside them. They tracked them for miles before catching up with them. Fallon had almost killed one out of hunger, but Gabe made the brilliant suggestion to not kill them and instead, bring them back for everyone.

They were taken care of. That left the two Fae that couldn't live off blood.

"So," she said, ignoring the dryness of her throat. "What do you suppose is going to happen when we finally get there?"

"Are you certain you wish to speak?" Kornae asked.

And again, it wasn't fair that he was faring better than her. Then, he wasn't carrying a separate life inside him either. She ran her hand over the slightly bigger swell. She couldn't help but wonder if she would have been larger had she not been throwing her magic around all willy nilly.

"I have to." He looked up at him as he eased back to her. "If I don't, if I have to pay attention to that beating, I'm going to throw myself in a spider's nest. Between that sound, the nothingness of this place and the lack of water, I... Ugh."

His slight smile brought out her own.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, glancing down at her belly.

"Aside from the fact that I want to cry about everything, I'm fine." She let out a little laugh. "Now that I'm on a no-magic diet, I'm not sick and I don't have the dizziness and all the other things that I managed to explain away so easily."

"You didn't know." He took her hand.

She made some noise and his hand tightened on hers.

"How about you?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," he said.

"Do you hate me now?"

"Will you please explain to me as to why you think I should hate you?"

"Well, because you were so anti-baby and look where we are."

"I already told you it wasn't your fault, Eve. I can't hate you." His eyes were calm and she believed him. "I remember what you said about always ending up at this moment. That things wouldn't have changed if I had been able to hold out longer. But, I've never been one to make excuses for the things I do." He looked back out over the expanse of gray. "I'm aware that my actions were dictated by another. I'm aware that by claiming that, it wouldn't be an excuse. It would be fact. But those facts mean nothing to me when I hear the screams, when I look at Naiel, when I look at Gideon." He stopped walking and pulled Eve's hand, making her look at him.

"And then there is you. Forcing me to feel things that I don't want to feel." He tilted his head, the look in his eyes almost sad, but curious. "You asked me something once. You asked why them. And I said because I couldn't. You never ask why to that."

"I didn't have time to process what you had said before you moved on with your question. Then, it was about finding out who hurt you."

He was silent for a moment, his lip curved and she wanted to melt into that smile. But there was something deeper going on here.