Chapter 27 - Thank you for doing this
Adela was heading towards Nuada's cell with dread. She had no idea what to expect, so she feared the worst. She was ready for any insult or any amount of rage; after all, she was the one that brought Nuala to him. Being in pain could tempt him to release all his frustration on her. Adela opened the vault door and reluctantly stepped in, only to see Nuada close to the bars, staring at her, as if he was waiting for her to make an appearance.
This cannot be good.
For the first time, he was the one to break the silence. "You talked to my sister", he said, in a rough voice. "…so you must know the situation by now." His expression shifted to show a sinister smile, his eyes still angry. "Does it make you happy, woman?"
Adela looked at him sadly, but she was slightly hurt by his assumption.
"Happy? You think I know nothing better than to take pleasure from your pain?" she said, as she started to unload the casseroles on her tray, pushing them through the bars.
He used that moment to grab her hand again, squeezing it almost painfully. Pulling her closer until her shoulder hit the bars, he grabbed her neck with his other hand. Lifting her to a standing position, he stared at her with the same eerie expression in his eyes.
"How does it make you feel then? Relieved? Hopeful?" he sneered. "You hope that you will benefit from my sister's refusal? You think that a disgusting beast like you can come even close to her?" he continued, giving her a glance from head to toe.
She wanted to cry at that, but she chose to manifest her hurt in another manner. She felt her powers overwhelm her, as red overtook the dark color of her eyes.
"Let go of me", she sneered, in the eerie voice he already knew. Grabbing the hand holding her neck, she managed to untangle his fingers. Her strength was, if not equal to his now, enough to break his hold. Giving him a low growl, she kept her hand locked around his wrist, then, staring into his eyes, she continued "You forget who you're talking to, elf. Mind your manners or this disgusting beast will send you flying into the wall with no remorse" letting go of his hand, she took a step back. "Don't be so quick to step on my tail just because my alter-ego has a crush on you, prince, I don't take that sort of behavior too kindly."
He took his hand back and rubbed his wrist, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Alter-ego? So you are a different person when you transform?"
She laughed at his curiosity.
"Far from that. We are the same person." He seemed confused and that made her feel too well. She decided to enlighten him.
"We are one and the same. Same feelings, same beliefs, same woman. We just control different aspects." She grinned, looking at him. "She controls most of the feelings while I rule upon the instincts. She's the human side while I am, as you very well said it, the beast". She stepped closer to the bars. "You might realize now why I took what you said as a personal insult and felt the need to set things straight", she said.
"Interesting…"
"Why, I'm glad to entertain" she smirked.
"Which one of you saved Wink then?" he asked, his curiosity seeming to untangle his tongue.
"Both of us did that. I was actually quite pissed about your way of expressing your gratitude. We never act individually, prince, it's just a matter of which side is dominant", she continued. "It's quite rare to see me like this. I now have full control, your attitude made it easy for me to push back the human side. But, you talked about me, so…here I am," she grinned.
"The fact that your pathetic alter-ego is dominant most of the time says a lot about your power," he smirked.
"You're on thin ice, elf. Kudos for insulting us both in the same sentence," she grinned. "I'm like this because she managed to tame me. Most of our kind cannot do that and they end up being rampaging monsters. If it weren't for the lame alter-ego, you would be lying dead in the army chamber and the troll market would still be in ruins after our first encounter." She paused, staring at him.
"I don't see beauty and an anguished soul with chances of redemption when I look at you, elf. I only see a good fuck and some delicious blood on the side. Keep that in mind the next time you want to bring me forth".
With that, her eyes lost the redness, getting back to their original black shade. Her fangs retracted and her skin gained a more natural color. She kept her eyes on him as she regained her control.
"Hn. I see that you're back" Nuada said, watching her transformation end.
Her eyes focused, as she replied. "I was never gone. Forgive my lack of control." I guess it's a bad moment to tell you that I need to change your bandages. "It will not happen again!" she mumbled, leaving the cell as fast as possible and leaving the prince slightly confused.
Adela sat outside, on the ground, her back resting on the outer wall of the building. The air was quite cold, and her breath mingled with the smoke she slowly exhaled. Beside her, on the concrete, were her pack of cigarettes and three empty plastic cups of coffee. Eyes closed, she just rested and silently thought about their situation. Lost in her thoughts, she failed to see Red approaching. The demon grinned and then not so gently sat next to her, putting a heavy hand on her shoulder. Adela jumped and gave a short "Eeep!" followed by a growl, as soon as she saw her friend.
"Hey there brat! Watcha doin? Hiding out here to smoke?" he grinned. "What would your boss say?" he said, pretending to be scandalized.
Adela turned towards him with a bored expression, and then smiled. "You're either drunk, which would be quite sad, since the sun is still up, or…happy because you know something…" she grinned. "Or both happy and drunk because you know something…" her grin turned into a laugh as he nodded enthusiastically.
"Congratulations, future daddy! Now that you'll have brats of your own, maybe you'll stop treating me like a kid!" she smiled.
"Heh, maybe. But the next months won't be easy for you, since I have to train for my future father role!" he laughed, ruffling her hair.
"Mind the pretty fur, demon," she growled playfully. "And get a dog if your many cats don't play the kid part that well".
"I'll think about that. Now really, why did you come all the way here to smoke? It's chilly!"
"I'm sunbathing!"
He glared at her so she told him the truth. "Well, it seems like you are the only one allowed to smoke in this building. I tried to light up a cigarette earlier and I was not so gently asked to "get my ass out"," she smiled. "Apparently, my cigarettes stink, while your cigars smell like spring flowers or something."
"There there, don't be grumpy. I brought you something…" he smirked.
That gained her attention.
"Is it chocolate?"
He laughed at her "Neah, I wouldn't insult you like that! It's liquid, and quite old," he said, taking a half-full bottle out of his coat.
Adela gasped "NO! You didn't! Aberfeldy? Red, you opened THE bottle?"
"The occasion just seemed right!"
"Red, you keep this bottle of scotch for years and you open it now, just when Liz can't drink? You bastard! Give it here!" she said, taking the bottle and smelling it before taking a sip.
"The Sun isn't up anymore, huh?" laughed the demon.
"Any time is a good time for a 21 year old beverage."
"Yeah, it's old enough to drink itself," he smirked. "I know you're not one to care about glasses, so we'll share the bottle. The others had their part. Aaaanywho, how's your elf?"
"Oh, he's fine. He hates me, he's in love with his sister…the usual," she said, taking a larger gulp of scotch.
"Hey! Give it here; this is celebration booze, not 'drink yourself into a stupor to forget the misery' booze. The fridge is full of beer for that!" As if just registering her words, he stared at her with a crestfallen expression. "Huh?"
"Yep, he loves his sister, and not in the nice way either, but in the gross way!"
"I'll be damned!" he said, looking disgusted.
"Well, apparently, for the other elves, wanting to sleep with your sister isn't that odd. We're just reacting like this because, in our society, it's taboo."
Red glared at her. "Stop talking like a psychology teacher. This must hurt you! I'm tempted to pour beer down your throat myself."
"Well, it's not making me happy, that's for sure! Last night, when I told you I needed some air, I walked like a maniac all night, killed my music player because of some Placebo lyrics and decided to fuck all and at least pretend I don't care."
"So what are you going to do?" he asked, passing her the bottle again.
Adela took her sweet time lighting her cigarette and then relaxed again, closing her eyes against the sunlight. "Absolutely nothing! I'm going to keep my word and try to help, but I'll keep my fair distance. The guy hates my guts anyway…"
"This is fucked up, kid…" he said.
"Yep! It most certainly is. And, to resemble a soap opera even better, his sister isn't feeling the same for him. And yours truly, like the idiot she is, had the wonderful idea to take her to him and 'make him feel better'…"
"You took the princess to his cell?"
"Indeed…Looks like Nuala took that exact moment to set things right between them, so now he hates me for bringing her. I don't know why the hell, but he thinks that I had something to do with that decision…"
"I don't think so, Adela. The guy is anything but stupid."
"Well, in his anger, I wouldn't be too surprised if he also blamed me for the fate of his people, global warming, destroying the ozone layer and everything else that is wrong in the world. He called me a 'disgusting beast', Red," she mumbled.
"That idiot!" muttered Red, putting an arm over her shoulders. "What did you say to that?"
"Well, I kinda lashed at him…The other part of me wasn't very happy with his words and put him in place. I just don't understand how things got so screwed up. After he woke up we had a decent conversation and I thought things would be better, but they are not! They are worse than two days ago, when he had me in a leash!" she moaned.
"Kid, I think the idiot is an idiot!"
"Very articulate, my friend!" smiled Adela, but her face still showed sadness.
"Yeah, it's one of my qualities," he grinned, managing to make her laugh. "I think the royal ass is under a lot of stress right now, not that it gives him the right to act like this. Unleashing his anger upon you might work like a defense mechanism. He lost his army, his freedom and now his hopes with his sister…give him some time, he's not made of concrete. He knows you want to help him."
"Wow, you really are articulate," she grinned.
"Were you expecting anything else? Now, drink your scotch like a good girl and don't be so upset, it's going to be OK!"
"I need to change his bandages later. That will be fun!"
"You'll be fine, I trust you. I talked to Abe about what you asked me, we will be able to meet tomorrow morning, at 7, in the library; All of us, meaning you, me, Abe and Liz."
"Thank you, Red! I don't know about Agent Krauss yet, we need to see if we will include him, but we certainly need to consult each other before we bring Manning into the equation."
"We will. Now go bandage the elf before we get too attached to this bottle," he grinned. Helping her up, he pointed to the empty plastic cups.
"Take those to the bin, kid, he might blame you for all the garbage in the world!"
"God forbid, pal. Must recycle!" she laughed.
Entering his cell was already a common occurrence, but going past the bars was a different story. The idea of being so close to him and having to touch him made her nervous, especially after their earlier encounter.
She entered the room, her eyes nervously searching for the prince. He was sitting on his bed again, but this time he rose as soon as he heard her enter and walked closer to the bars. Eyeing the bandages in her hand, she started to play with the key to the cell, trying to delay the moment as long as possible. How could she begin…'I know you hate me with a passion, but please strip and let me touch you for a few minutes'. This was going to be difficult. Just when she was planning her strategy, she heard Nuada's voice.
"Is it true, what you said earlier when you transformed?"
What? I hope you don't mean the 'good fuck' part. Adela was afraid to answer, so she tried to dodge the question.
"I said many things…"
"You know what I am referring to!"
Unfortunately, she knew too well. He was practically forcing a confession out of her with that question, and she could either lie to him, which would be useless, since he could read her like an open book, or tell him the truth and be over with this awkwardness. She made the obvious choice.
Looking straight in his eyes, she took a deep breath and said. "It was true, ok? At first I was only feeling attracted to you, because…well, take a look in a mirror and you'll see why…" She could feel her face burning and a vein pulsating on her temple. "…But then, you just had to show me your feelings that night! I…I don't love you!" she said, almost shouting that part.
Not giving him any time to interrupt, she continued. "But I do have some feelings for you! And I'm not asking you to return them or see me any differently, I didn't have anything to do with Nuala's decision, I won't try to force myself on you, I won't try anything. So, please," she almost begged, looking into his eyes "Do you think we can get over this awkwardness and just focus on the problem at hand? We need to work together to make things better and we can't do that if we fight all the time!"
The prince was staring at her with an awkward expression on his face and that was unnerving her even more. She wanted to dig a hole in the ground and crawl in it, never to face him again. Now knowing what to do, she kept talking.
"Right now I have to change your bandages and I have no idea how to do that without touching you. Please don't make this even more difficult for me than it already is!"
After a few moments, she finally got a reaction from the prince. Nuada nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off her. With a sigh of relief, she broke the eye contact and, trying to control the shivering of her hands, opened the door to his cell.
The situation was becoming awkward again. Without a word Nuada took off his shirt and walked to his mattress, sitting down. Adela tried to control the beating of her heart and distract her thoughts. She kneeled in front of him, all the time trying to keep her mind busy with complicated math problems. Not even logarithms managed to distract her from his presence, so close to her.
Breathing deeply, she started to remove his bandages, trying to touch his skin as little as possible. However, she made the mistake of looking at his face. He was looking down at her with such an intense expression in her eyes that she blushed and broke eye contact as soon as possible.
How the hell was this supposed to chase away awkwardness? At least he knows where I stand. He still doesn't care, but…Who am I kidding, I hoped he would.
She took away the old bandages and checked his wound. It looked much better now, it was healing nicely. However, they had to keep it bandaged to prevent infection. Taking some antiseptic lotion from her bag, she warned him in a low voice
"This will be a bit cold" she said, noticing that her mouth was suddenly very dry.
Nuada nodded and she cleaned his skin gently, making sure she didn't cause him any pain. As she was putting the new bandages on, she remembered
"The team will meet tomorrow morning and we will plan our common approach. We want to ask the government to give some lands to your people. We need to discuss the details, so I will tell you all about it in the morning, when I will bring your breakfast." With that, she finished her work and got ready to leave. Before she reached the door, she could hear the prince:
"Adela…" The sound of his voice calling her name made her heart jump and she almost tripped.
Turning around, she looked at him, expecting anything but what came next.
"Thank you for doing this…" he said.
Adela was speechless and she wanted to pinch herself . It was surreal!
Not trusting her voice, she nodded and gave him a smile. On her way to the elevator, she couldn't stop replaying his words in her mind and could not hide the goofy grin she had on her face.
A.N. I'm sorry for the long delay, I guess real life got quite intense and I didn't have time for this anymore. I have a new job and it's taking a bit to adapt, so I can't promise quick updates anymore. I was planning on quitting the story, but I changed my mind. Some of you seem to like it so I can't just leave you hanging like this.
