Chapter 34
After burning the disgusting piles of rags that had once been clothing, Angeline visited the Postal-room, stopped by her own quarters to change into a proper, black-velvet dress, which was something she hadn’t worn since coming back to the Blue Fortress, then made her way back to Samuel’s room, though unfortunately a few moments too late, as he was already trousered by the time she arrived. But he’d shaved off the scruffy mountain-man-beard he’d cultivated, and besides the multitude of small cuts on his neck and cheeks, he was looking even more handsome than she could have remembered. “W-well… that looks much better…”
“Geeze… so does your dress… plain grey robes do nothing for you, by the way.” Finn offers a lop-sided grin as he steps over to the desk in his room to pick up a small rag, already spotted with the blood seeping from his self-inflicted shaving-wounds. “And this might look nice on me, once I stop bleeding on everything. Should fully heal over by the time we head over for dinner… I gotta say, this whole Curse-thing comes in handy…”
The golden-haired femme clears her throat softly as she feels a stab of guilt poke through her chest. There wasn’t any malice in his tone… but the un-said inference was still there. “O-only a couple of months until you’re Bound, huh? And, uhm…” she dips her head down and smoothes out the non-existent wrinkles at her stomach as she approaches the topic they hadn’t gotten into earlier. “S-so Ruthie… you, uhm… you don’t think she’d make a good mate? I got to see her in action a few times… she was quite impressive…”
Tossing the rag back onto the surface of the desk, the shirtless, long-haired apothecary then issues a heavy sigh as he moves to sit down on the only chair in the room. He wasn’t about to toss on his shirt yet, and create a new pattern on the pristine white. “Nah… uh… how much did you…”
Watching the blocky muscles in her former companion’s stomach shift and contract as he settles himself, the blue-eyed mage then quickly glances around the room before realizing that the only other place to sit was his mattress. “I, uhm… from… when Ruthie told you that you couldn’t just deny her right to Bond with you…” she issues a soft sigh, and steps over to sink down onto the mid-point of his bed. “She’s right, you know. As a trainee with the Eminent-ranking this year, she has the premier choice in who her mate can be.”
The wiry swordsman displays a pained smile as he shakes his head to dispel the notion. “No… she wouldn’t choose me now. As like-minded as we are when it comes to philosophy, she’s just not that type of person to force someone to do something against their will. And once she takes a couple of days to think through what I told her about the compatibility of our styles… she’ll fully understand what I meant.”
“M-maybe…” Angeline trails her gaze over the orange lilies on the windowsill, though peeks back every second or so to catch glimpses of the shelf of sparse black chest-hair overtop of the hard muscles of his pectorals. “But… I don’t really understand it. The two of you could probably take down most forms of Daemon in under a minute…”
Finn clears his throat loudly as he leans forward to set his elbows atop of his knees. “It’s… it would look good on parchment… but it wouldn’t work in practice. Think of it… you know how I move. My greatest asset is my speed, and to exploit the weaknesses that are right in front of me. Were I to Bond with Ruthie, I’d be forced to change my entire style of combat. I might not even have to touch another Daemon for the rest of my days. All I’d have to do is guide Ruth’s blades through that, uh… connection, and sit back to watch her do all the work. In time, I’d come to resent her, and that could only serve to hurt us both…”
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Aegis and Order: First Light
Fantasy"It’s shoulders were wide and powerful. At four metres in height, it was almost as large across as it was tall. The arms of the hulking beast hung nearly all the way to the ground, and were thick with rope-like muscles that bulged with even the sl...
