Chapter 33

As the last of the light drizzle faded, the sun eventually peeked through a few gaps in the clouds. The warmth was minimal, but Nathair's wet form soaked it in nonetheless.

It's been two days, he grumbled, mulling over the time span.

Two days of no answers.

No one had come to visit him, nor to inform him of what had happened to Linh. He took solace in the silence, hoping it was a good thing, rather than being told something dreadful. That his little female had died, and instead of pining over her, he should be mourning.

My chest hurts.It radiated with an intense ache constantly.

His orbs shifted between two colours that sat like acid in his gut. Blue as he drowned in the well of his sadness, and dark orange as he lay in the ice of his guilt.

I wish I could be by her side.

Rather than being stuck outside of this fortified village, he would have... entered it if they permitted him. The echoing loneliness that had never bothered him before gnawed at his mind in the wake of her absence. He would subjugate himself to the humans' chattering, and how it would batter in his skull, if it meant he could curl her on top of his tail while she slept, got better, passed away...

He wanted to hold that female more than he wanted his next breath. He needed to feel her warmth, while he took in greedy draws of her scent. He craved brushing the back of his fingers over her cheek, her soft brow, her jaw, or have his claws comb through the silky strands of her glossy hair. He longed to feel her slim curves moulding into the hardness of his body.

If she survives... I will rip my fangs out. They would return in a day, but until she gifted him her soul, he would remove them daily so as to not do this again. If she dies because of me...

He twisted, spinning in his coils. A snarl broke free, directed at himself.

How did I ever think I would be able to let the little female go?He promised her that she could leave him should she choose it, but that was no longer possible. He knew it, could feel it.

Like he had flooded her with venom, she had snuck her own within him. A sweet, enthralling, and tantalising venom that rippled his scales. Something that bled into his very veins and became necrotic now that she wasn't here to give him the sweet nectar of her entire essence as a form of antidote.

This wait is excruciating.

It persisted. Annoying him, making him itch with irritation. He'd already flaked off scales from the need to barrel his way through the gates and find her.

The gates clanked and clunked as they opened. Fuck! Finally!

He shoved just his snout through the coils of his lengthy limb and flicked his tongue forward to check the scents. He grunted. Two were unfamiliar, but the Anzúli's strong magic was undeniable.

It wasn't Linh. That's all that mattered to him.

Why has she not come to me?He shook his head as a whine threatened to break.

When the footsteps stopped just beyond him, Nathair slipped through the fold of his tail. He placed his hands on the ground and looked up at who approached him. The guards wisely stood back, whereas the Anzúli continued to approach.

"Well?" Nathair signed with one hand, hoping she'd just spill everything swiftly so she could either destroy him or finally remove the tempest in his chest.

"Linh is recovering," the female stated coldly, and the fucking breath that fell from him was like a balm to his being.

She's alive.Thank goodness!

"Where is she?" he asked, before placing both hands on the ground.

The Anzúli's mask followed his gestures, but she only tsked at him. Nathair tilted his head when he noticed her posture was much straighter, stern, and more defensive with him than a few days ago.

"You obviously care enough about her to have healed her," the Anzúli female bit out in a dark, snide tone. "If you hadn't, I don't think we would have been able to save her. Your venom is strong, and it was in her system for a long time. She hasn't woken, and her right leg still isn't responding properly, but we hope continued healing will save all her limbs."

Nathair leaned back and propped his torso upright so he could utilise both hands. "Give her to me. I will fix her."

If they removed the venom, then his ability to heal her would save her entire body. His magic was superior.

"Your venom is rather unique," she continued, reminding him that even if she could read sign language, he could not speak Austlan – only Nathair speak. "It doesn't fester in the organs, but is purely muscular. It completely cuts off the nerves and leaves your victims alive and aware. It's rather cruel."

Nathair gave a low, although dark, chuckle at that. Do you think I asked to be formed this way? To have the ability to envenom? It's not like he could choose what he became.

Neither had his mother.

She had no idea what she was doing when he was born. She fed him fish meat because it was easiest to capture. Weldir had informed him that Nathair, in his infant stage, had protected her by consuming a venomous serpent when it went to strike her. He, being indestructible, had been unaffected by its venom, and had shortly formed his skull and lost his two legs.

He'd started to become what he was now.

A Mavka, who was growing annoyed with this female's sudden hostility.

"Thank you for all you have done in helping her," the Anzúli stated, despite her tone holding not an ounce of gratitude. "Now that you know she is alive and recovering, I hope that means you will take your leave."

Nathair immediately parted his maw just enough to let his hiss be quiet and unnerving.

"We will not trade one monster for another," she bit out through obviously gritted teeth. "She has suffered enough, and if given the choice, I would rather she not endure more. Linh has always been kind-hearted. Her blissful ignorance of the cruelty of the world was something to be commended, and now that is lost."

He leaned forward to get an inch from her mask with a growl.

"Haven't you caused enough damage?" she shouted, seemingly unafraid of the way he menacingly towered over her. "First you... you..." She audibly swallowed, and looked behind her at the guards, only to shove her head forward. "You are more of a danger to her than anything else. You almost killed her. Is that not enough for you to put aside whatever deplorable need you have and let her live some kind of proper life?"

Nathair bared his fangs at her. I made one mistake! Okay, a few, but none as bad as this.

He pointed towards the village. I have protected and cared for that female for almost an entire month. I have never truly hurt her in that time, never done anything she did not want. A whimper threatened to crawl up his throat, but he shoved it down with all his willpower. I can no longer breathe without her.

I need her.

Although her voice chased away the fragments, this wasn't why he needed her. Even if she became as silent as he was, he would value and cherish Linh with all his might. From her hair all the way to her toes, he was enamoured by that female, that woman, that human.

No person nor creature would be able to steal his heart, not now that she'd forcibly shoved herself into it.

He did not ask her to do this. He did not even want her to. When she first came to his pond, he wanted her to leave! She climbed into his nest on her own. She took kisses from him, and showed him he could give them in his own bony way.

So, until his little nightingale came herself to tell him she did not want him, he was not leaving this fucking spot.

And then I will convince her otherwise.