Eial's hands crossed one on top of the other and closed over Drokn's lips. Confusion first took hold of Drokn with the split of a moment awareness of how he ended up there, over the elf. In the flounder of flusteration, the demon spun himself off the elf. Heartbeats racing. Then, a wash of uncomfortable frustration edged him with the recollection that the elf did in fact stop him. Now, twice. But without putting his dissatisfaction into words, he let it drift and pretended it never happened at all.
The next morning, Drokn found Eial in a daze by himself in front of a tree. How he had gotten out without awakening the demon was a talent in and of itself.
Eial stroked the rough ridges of the tree, the bark scraping at his index finger until he added the rest of his fingers to the sensation. A melodic tune of a lullaby flowed out from his lips as his hair wafted in front of his ears, as if trying to hide him.
When his ears picked up the sounds of crushed grass coming towards him, he turned around with an, "Oh," and stood up, dusting off his fingers. "I'll get a meal ready," he said in a steady voice and walked past before the demon could respond, setting up the fire with a flick of magic and opening a pouch filled with herbs.
Despite the glumness in Eial's obvious mood, he didn't hesitate at all to trap a rabbit in sharp motions and prepare it. And Drokn just stood there, unaware of what to do or how to fix the situation.
It also became well apparent that the absence of a third being was noticeable. Although not many days with her presence, she was still almost always around after they'd left demon territory.
Ignoring the crinkled emotion he felt thinking about her, he grew more aware that their conversations had been intermingled. When he wasn't talking, she was. When she wasn't talking, he was. And now with her gone, the conversations with the elf relied on him alone. How did they manage at the elven territory?
Digging his hands into his pockets uncomfortably, he found an unfamiliar feel of fabric. Pulling it out, he recognised it was the braided ribbon Eial had given him. "I found it lying somewhere," the elf had said. Yet, he had thought to give it to the demon. With a barely visible grin, he tied the red on his hair right beside the base of his scalp. The braids dangled on either side, bright and well contrasted against his black hair.
On Eial's end, he had started roasting the meat, paying attention to place it around the perfect area in the fire at first, but then losing his thoughts to the orange and yellow and mindless sound of crackling. He had regained awareness just before the meat had become too overcooked. Placing it on a large, clean leaf, he realized that one side did indeed become charred. Dutifully, he used slicing air magic to cut off the charred side and serve it to himself, leaving the other 2/3rds for the demon.
He laid the demon's portion beside him and patted on the ground to silently invite the demon, who was already walking towards him, to sit down. The demon took a hesitant bite, eyeing the elf, but the hesitation was unnoticed by the elf. Vaguely seeing that the demon had started eating, Eial blankly bit into his own portion. A very small bite. An ant's bite.
"Eat more, Eial," the memory of his mother's voice drifted across his mind along with the image of her picking out fruit and handing it to him. And now, his eyes wandered to the woven basket of fruit. Picking out a purple fruit for himself, he peeled the thick skin and savored the sweet tartness that poured onto his numb tastes.
The whole morning was filled with a dark thickness oozing from the elf. Questions like, "Will she come back?", "How long do you think it'll take?", "Is she okay?" occasionally left his lips.
And Drokn could only bear to hear and see so much.
But not in the "I want him to feel better" sort of way. No, no. A great irritation bathed him. The demoness seemed to be the only thing occupying the tiny elf's mind, sparing him nothing but scraps. He felt a wall between him and the elf, and it felt like the elf couldn't see past the wall, or wasn't even willing to look over.
Click. Click. Long nails flicked against themselves and a burning enveloped his chest. The next time the elf voiced a concern about his mother, Drokn snapped.
"Is she all you ever think about? I'm here, too!" he grated, eyebrows pushed in tightly and a snarl wearing his teeth.
Eial paused for a moment. "I'm sorry. I didn't think about how you were feeling. You must be worried with her absence, too—"
"I don't care about her!" Drokn interrupted and clenched his fists, nails digging deep into his own skin. "But she seems to be the only one you care about. Whether I'm here or not doesn't matter to you, does it? I'm sure you wouldn't even make half a fuss if I was the one who left!"
Eial stared blankly at the demon, his words an unfair contradiction to the elf's reality. It was then that the elf also noticed the familiar red hanging behind the demon's neck, and the tip of a needle pricked his heart further.
Already in a vulnerable state, Eial didn't think to process if his words seemed careless. He felt hurt for the demon, but also fully felt hurt for himself. "If you— when you left," Eial said in a soft yet firm voice, "You weren't around to see how I felt."
Words caught in Drokn's tongue and he swallowed thickly, his eyes dancing away. He opened and closed and opened his mouth, attempting speech in vain through the guilt and disagreement.
"You and mother are the only ones I have. Of course I'd be sad no matter who left. You're a dummy, Drokn." Eial had his brows creased, looking upward at the demon with pouting lips.
Drokn was speechless. But he was speechless because Eial's face at the moment was just too precious, an innocent and pure pout that clutched at the demon's heart, bringing warmth in a cold conversation. Despite the insult and the tense air just a few moments prior, Drokn couldn't help quirk his lip, which he desperately tried to hide to match the dense atmosphere.
Yet again, the elf had managed to drain the anger out of him in just a moment, almost to the point he questioned why he was so irked in the first place. In spite of the demon's unwillingness to admit it, he had been unjust to Eial, especially when Eial was feeling hurt. And then guilt overtook him. He'd promised to treat Eial better. What was he doing? Yet again melting into his own misery without a care for others. "I'm... I'm sorry," he said, his voice deep and dark.
In the tense emotion, he drew out his ribbed and leathery wings, but the moment they came into vision, a sharp panic rose in the elf and his eyes shot wide. Shouting, "No!" he lunged forward and tightly held onto the demon's torso with his arms and wrapped his legs around his waist. Right before they both fell with the force of momentum, the air cleared. Where the grass should have been pressed with the weight of the two, there was nothing. No one. No demon or elf to be found.
YOU ARE READING
The Demon and the Elf (Book 1)
Fantasy[mlm] The lonely Elf had waited many years to meet his bonded mate, but reality was harsher than he would have liked when he finds out his mate is not only a Demon, but the Demon wants nothing to do with him. [Part 1/Book 1 complete. Follow the stor...
