Chapter 14 – Serious Talk, Culture, and Good night?
I felt him squeeze my hand as he followed me into my room. I walked towards my bed and turned to him. I saw an intrigued expression on his face. I looked towards my bed.
"Please take a seat." I waved a hand towards the bed as I sat down. He followed my lead. I did not want to sit far away from him. "I would like to discuss something with you and away from prying ears." I watched his face as went from intrigued to a neutral expression. I felt my heart drop a bit at him hiding his expressions from me.
"You are aware that you have you own specialized AI." Eton pointed out with a small chuckle. At that slight sound I knew that I did not screw up whatever this is between us with a few words formed as a sentence.
"Orion turn off the sound to this room." I spoke out to the AI as I kept my eyes on Eton. I saw that he got a bit more comfortable on the bed waiting for the sound to be turned off in the room.
"Sound will be turned off in the next three seconds." Orion's voice called out as I counted down the three seconds. I took a hold of Eton's hand and felt him intertwine our fingers. I felt a smile forming on my lips. Then I looked away from his face as I bit my lip lightly as I tried to figure out how I would start the conversation.
"What are you scared to say?" I was started out of my thoughts as he said this. My eyes snapped to his and saw an apprehensive look in his eyes. I knew that this conversation will be hard for both of us. Mainly me cause I do not know how he will take it.
I took a breath and let it out slowly. "I am more uneasy about how I am going to start this conversation. Not scared." I saw his lower mandibles flex as he relaxed his face knowing that I am not scared.
"I can deal with unease as you figure out how to start this conversation." He brought out conjoined hands up to his mandibles and pressed the back of my hand against his left lower mandible. I felt a tingle start on the back of my hand. It felt right.
"I bet you can." I smirked up at him and saw a mischievous look come over his face. "I would like to know your thoughts on soulmates and soul marks." I asked and watched his face morph into a relaxed expression.
"I think that soulmates are a wonderous thing!" He spoke a bit louder. I moved back a bit and he noticed. "I am excited to have finally found my soulmate after all these years alone." His voice came out much calmer than the first portion of his thoughts. "Battle has not helped that predicament either." I knew how he felt. Battle is always a sad time to find your soulmate from what I have heard. "Soul marks are what define you to your soulmate. After the words are spoken the process is a glorious experience." Eton's looked a bit embarrassed as he said this. I knew that intercourse was a part of the process.
I looked up at him from under my eyelashes as I stated the obvious. "You do realize that I am your soulmate." This brought a laugh out of Eton as I spoke this bluntly. His head was thrown back as the sound of it made a smile come over my face. I loved the deep sound of the laugh that he willingly allowed me to hear.
"I am aware that you are." He shook his head softly with a chuckle as he looked at me with joy in his eyes. "It is the reason why I have been trying to spend more time with you." He placed my hand on his chest. I could feel the two heartbeats and I found it comforting.
"I am so not sure about this feeling." I looked off to the side ashamed. "I feel like the soulmate bond is forcing me to do something that I am either not ready for or do not fully understand." I felt him place his right hand on my knee.
"Not ready for or do not fully understand?" He questioned me. I nodded my head.
"Yes!" I exclaimed. "I do not understand everything about soulmates, and I am slowly coming to terms with my feelings. However, I am also not ready for intercourse." I looked back at him and saw an understanding look in his eyes. He nodded his head for me to continue. "I do not want to do it just because it is something that has been stated from other couples, laws, history, or just the bond pulling us further together." I saw a small smile form on his face.
"We do not need to rush into anything. We do not need to have intercourse to allow the bond to settle for us." He placed his forehead against mine. "I want the both of us to be ready to have intercourse."
I am so glad that he feels the same way as I do. I told him as much. "I still want to get to know you, but I have a need to feel your skin against mine." I felt his breath against my face softly and it was nice besides the smell of his breath. I looked into Eton's eyes with a serious look. "After we finish the full process in the future. I will not be one of the soulmates that allow you to wonder off."
His face changed slightly, and I saw that he knew what I was talking of. "I will never wonder to another, and I do not share my soulmate either. Even if I tried to. I would cause pain to both of us from the deceit of the soulmate bond."
I breathed a sigh of relief at hearing that from him. It was reassuring. I felt him move his head up and place it on top of mine. I chuckled at this movement. Making our position even closer to each other. My hand was still on his chest and his hand is still on my knee. I felt safe in this position. I pulled back from him and looked up at him.
"I would like to know what your culture thinks of foreign soulmates." I needed to know that there would not be an issue with me.
"my culture sees a soulmate as an extraordinary achievement in life. A blessing you would call it. There are laws put in place to protect domestic and foreign soulmates. Foreign soulmates are protected not just by my cultures' laws but their cultures' laws too." I felt relief sink into my heart at those words. "The younger generation always dream of having a foreign soulmate. It seems that they think it is a unique achievement. The only thing it does is inflate their ego." Eton chuckled and I joined. I could not believe that is what the younger generation believed.
"That is a unique view that the younger generation of your species think that." I smiled at the vision of the Sangheili younger generations dreaming about it. "Humans believe in soulmates, but they seem to actively go out of their way to find them." I saw Eton nod his head. I felt the pain in my eyes intensify and the headache come back with a vengeance.
"I have seen that" He confirmed to my observation. "Are you ready to turn the sound back on in the room?" I nodded my head and gave the hand signal to Orion turn the sound back on. Orion confirmed the sound was back on. I felt my head pound and I dropped my head down onto his shoulder. I moved my hand from his chest to wrap around his side and lay flat against his back. I felt him gather me into his arms and moved until our backs were against the headboard.
"The pain in my eyes and head are back." I whispered into his shoulder. He pulled me closer to him and watched over me. "Pain medication is in the drawer." I pointed out to him. I felt his arm shift and reach around me. I hard the drawer to the side table open and a rattle happen as something was being taken out.
"Valkyrie open your mouth." The soft whisper from the body I am laying on said. I opened my mouth and felt two pills fall onto my tongue. I swallowed the pills and buried my head into Eton's shoulder. I heard a soft purr coming from him.
"Do you want me to stay here tonight?" I felt my heart inflate with the need to have him stay here beside me. I mumbled a yes to him. He continued to purr. "Let me get us under the sheets before you fall asleep." I nodded my head to what he said. He crawled over my legs and stood up. He picked me up gently and leaned me against one arm as he used the other to pull back the bedding. He placed me in the bed gently and laid down beside me. I turned over and placed my head on his chest. I felt his steady heartbeats as my head pounded in time with them. I waited for the pain killers to kick in. I felt Eton wrapping his arms around me and letting me get as comfortable as I could with the pain that I am feeling.
"I have asked the Arbiter to bring over some food from the galley for you two when you wake up." Orion spoke softly over the intercom in the room. I felt Eton reply to Orion. I did not pay too much attention to it. I lost track of time besides the nice feeling of being in his arms. I found myself slowly falling asleep as I felt the pain going away. The last thing that I remember was nuzzling into Eton's chest and feeling a rumble in his chest.