envenoMATE

20. To A Close

Adina was doubled over in her seat at the wooden table, her face scrunched into a tortured ball and arms tightly bound around her midsection.

“Nooooo,” she cried through pursed lips. “No more, Chester!” she whined.

She squealed as heat consumed her so ferociously that her tightly shut eyes began to water.

Her nose was crowded with wet snot, forcing her to breathe through her mouth. She panted through slightly parted lips. She needed more air, but did not dare spread her jaws further for fear of Chester taking advantage of the opening.

“Only two more bites, my loved, little one,” Chester cooed. “Open up, for me,” he sang smoothly with his cajoling, timber voice.

Adina shook her head. Death would consume her to have one more bite!

She shut her mouth with a snap when she felt the warm metal spoon prod her lips. The soup was too spicy! There was no way her weak body could handle any more.

Opening her watering eyes, she looked pleadingly into Chester’s face.

Please?

Although he said the food would help her to recover her strength and lose some of the fogginess that had been clouding her mind, Adina felt well enough - if not slightly worse. Surely two more bites of peppery soup weren’t necessary?

With the tilt of his head, Chester’s eyes warned Adina that she would not often get her way, but for this once, he would grant her request.

Chester moved the spoon away from her lips and into his own mouth. Groaning pleasurably, he swallowed the last remains of the hot meal.

Adina bit her lips with a smile before turning eagerly to the glass of water on the table. Desperate to cool off, she chugged and chugged the air warmed liquid, thankful for anything that contained no flavor. The sweat that slid down her forehead and down her back was unpleasant at first and reaching unbearable.

Adina heard Chester gather the dirty dishes and stand from the two-person table. Clinking of ceramic let her know he had placed the bowls into the kitchen sink while she continued to greedily drink the last from her cup.

Finally finished and no longer under pressure to eat, Adina let her gaze trace the outdoors through the paned window. The sun’s dark red rays were no longer painful to her eyes as the orb sank beneath the horizon. Trees swayed softly beyond the slightly fogged glass and inside Adina heard the low whirring of the stirring wind.

What time was it?

Adina had awoken a few hours earlier to the beautiful face of an angel, though, he preferred to be called Chester.

She had been so weak, so scared when she first awoke. Chester held her through it all, providing greater comfort than she could have asked for.

Unable to move when he placed her head upon his chest, she let the hum of his steady heartbeat sooth her. She must have imagined it, but she swore she felt her heart rate slowing to match his.

She had to have dreamt it, after all, her mind had taken much longer to wake than her body. Even now, memories were still lost to her. Reality was a foreign concept of which she held no comprehension.

“And what is my bride looking so intently at instead of me?” Chester asked as he came back to Adina’s side. He sat down on the seat beside her, but leaned forward until he was close enough to kiss the side of her still warm head.

Adina turned to him with a compromising smile. She did not understand why he continued to call her such names. Her heart kicked whenever she heard the confusing terms he called her: bride, captive, love.