26. Rukh

Annette and I are still occupying the cabin. I’m not sure how long we’ll stay here, but it’ll do for now. Annette seems to like it here, despite its former owner.

I roll over to look at her still sleeping face. Since we killed that witch, I’ve seen a change in her. She seems more relaxed, more vibrant. But I know it bothers her that we haven’t exactly talked about what our next step will be.

Whether we stay here in this cabin, or pick a new home, I’m determined to give her the life she deserves. Even if staying in one place isn’t my usual way of living.

Suddenly, her bright green eyes flutter open. When her gaze finds mine, her face instantly lights up. She scoots closer to me, nuzzling herself against my chest. I rest my head against hers, inhaling her scent deeply.

I’m amazed at how comfortable she is around me compared to how she was when we first met. She used to be so tense around me, so unsure. But now, it’s like no matter how much time we spend together, she can’t get enough of me.

“Want me to make us breakfast?” she asks.

“Sure, but first…” I trail off, taking her lips with mine.

I’ll never take this for granted. This thing we have between us, this love we have for each other. I’ve never felt anything like it.

When we finally pull away, Annette rolls over and out of bed. The sight of her naked body as she gets dressed for the day summons a growl from deep inside of me. I would spend all day, every day, taking her if only she’d allow me.

She puts on a small black dress that she found in the back of the witch’s closet. Luckily, they were the same size.

I follow her out to the kitchen, where she starts a pot of kaffo for herself. As it’s brewing, she gets a pan out and sets it on the stove. She seems to enjoy cooking. Sometimes she even dances around the kitchen as she’s making our meals.

I take a seat at the small round table, watching her pour some taura milk into her mug of kaffo and take a sip. Once she’s had enough, she sets it aside and starts taking things out of the fridge and stacking them onto the counter.

“What are you making?” I ask.

I’m always interested to see what she comes up with. Having lived my whole life in the wild, I usually just kill a taura or something, skin it, and then heat it up over a fire. I’ve never actually eaten food like the kind she prepares until now.

“I’m cooking some scrambled gallus eggs, and then adding some somana, cheese, and some crumbled dripir. You’ll like it.”

I’m just glad to hear that she’s putting some meat in it. Yesterday’s dinner consisted of roasted burgona and… that was it. But that wasn’t entirely her fault. We desperately need to go into a nearby town and do some shopping.

I stand up to join her at the stove. Sometimes I like to watch in case she ever asks me to cook her something. I’d like to not be completely clueless when that eventually happens. But as I approach, a loud popping sound occurs and Annette flies back a couple feet.

“Are you okay? What happened?” I run to her.

“I-I’m not sure what happened.”

She lifts her hand towards the stove, and the same thing happens again.

“What the fuck?” she whispers, looking from her hands and back to the stove.

“What’s going on?” I ask, feeling impatient.

“I tried to light the stove with my magic, like I always do. But I don’t know… It’s not working.”

“So that sound, and you flying back, that was because you tried to light a fire?”

“Yes. I don’t understand. I’ve never been the strongest, but I’ve always at least been able to light a fire with my magic. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Here, try again on some wood,” I say, leading her out into the living room where a fireplace sits unlit.

She does, and the same thing happens. Tears begin falling down her face. I pull her into my arms, but she dodges me, running outside. I follow her, watching as she puts her hands up. She flies back once more, and this time I catch her.

“What did you do?”

“I tried to summon some wind to move the leaves. I’ve always been able to do that. Every witch has that ability.”

“Let’s go back inside,” I say, my thoughts spinning. “Sit down. Just let me think for a minute.”

I pace back and forth for a while before sitting down in front of her, putting my hands on her arms, and closing my eyes. After a moment, I open them, my eyes widening.

“I can sense something on you. I don’t know what it is, but it feels… dark. Evil. Like when I come across an evil soul.”

“What are you saying? I’m evil now?”

“No, no. It doesn’t work like that. But that doesn’t mean something evil isn’t inside of you. I –” I stop talking. Stop breathing.

“What? Rukh, what is it?”

“The witch. She must’ve put a curse on you when we came in here that day. Before she died.”

“Before she died… oh, gods,” she says, covering her mouth. “Before she died, she said ‘you’ll regret this.’ Do you think this is what she meant?”

“Maybe.” I nod.

“What do we do? How do we get rid of it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never had to do something like this before. This magic I’m sensing, it’s unfamiliar to me.”

Annette begins sobbing, and I pull myself out of my thoughts to comfort her.

“It’s going to be okay. We’ll find a way to get rid of it. I’m sure the witch has some grimoires around here. For now, we’ll look through them and see if we can find anything in them.”

She nods, sniffling and wiping her tears away.

“You’re right. And if we can’t find anything here, then we’ll go track down some more, or ask another witch to help.”

She stands up, heading to the bookshelf that the witch had tried to throw at us that day.

“I’ll start looking through these books,” she says, grabbing a thick one that looks pretty beat up. “This one looks old, I’m sure it has something.”

Three hours later, and we’ve found nothing. But there are still more books to look through, and I’m definitely not giving up. I’ll tear Protheka apart to find a cure for this if I have to.

Annette has barely said a word since we started researching, and I’m starting to worry for her. I put the book I’ve been scouring off to the side and stand up, walking over to her where she sits in one of the chairs.

“Why don’t we take a break? You never did eat breakfast. Do you want me to get you some cheese or something? You can’t just run on kaffo all day.”

“You’re right. I’ll get it, though, you don’t have to. Just keep looking,” she says, standing up. But as soon as she stands, she starts to wobble before falling to the side. I catch her, setting her back into the chair.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I think I just really need something in my stomach,” she says.

“I’ll get something for you, hold on,” I say, walking to the kitchen and grabbing the taura cheese before heading back.

When I walk in, Annette is lying on the floor. I drop the cheese, running to her.

“What the fuck happened?”

“I tried to get up, I was going to come with you since you don’t know how to cook. But I don’t know what’s wrong, Rukh. I feel off.”

I touch the back of my hand to her forehead, feeling her temperature. “You’re burning up.”

“Do you think it’s the curse?” she asks.

I stop for a moment, running through everything I know about curses. “It could be. Let’s get you to bed. You should rest. I’ll get you some food, and this time you’ll stay put.”

“Rukh, shouldn’t we be researching?”

“You can’t research while feeling like this. But after you eat, I’ll get right back to it. I’ll find something. I promise,” I say as I lift her into my arms.

Once in the bedroom, I set her down gently and tuck her into the blankets. Before leaving, I press my lips into hers, savoring her taste. How did all of this happen so fast? The last time we kissed, which was only a few hours ago, everything was perfectly fine.

I head to the kitchen, feeling frantic as I look for something to feed her. This is exactly why I need to learn how to cook. I light the stove, and once it heats up, I crack two of the eggs she got out earlier into the pan. I saw her do this a couple days ago, so hopefully I can replicate it.

Once the eggs look like they’re done, I grab a bowl and add them into it with some cheese sprinkled over it. It looks like shit, but now is not the time to be fancy.

“Here,” I say, handing it to her while setting a glass of water on the bedside table.

“Thanks,” she mumbles.

I can tell by the redness around her eyes that she was crying while I was out of the room. If I could bring that witch back to life and kill her all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat for making my girl feel like this. Instead, I spend the rest of the night reading every book in the cabin.

I’ll do whatever it takes to lift this curse. Kill whoever I have to kill. Travel to whoever has the knowledge to stop this. I don’t care what it is, I’ll do it.