Daevas -I- ✔️

Chapter 9.3: Ardor

Ari noticed how visibly upset Sai was getting. He would have never asked if he had not thought they were lovers.

"But still... I should have never abandoned him even at his worst. What right do I have to call myself a friend? He hurt me, but I know I hurt him deeply when I turned away from him just as everyone else had done. I was no better than a human then."

"I am sorry for asking... "

"We can hate one another from a distance, but we are emotional things who feed off of another's emotions. We cannot stand to see one of our own in pain. We feel it as if it is our own. It makes you want to hurry and find the cause and put an end to it right away." Ari knew the truth in those words which gave him some more clarity to how he felt that day. That time when Cyrus had such pain his eyes and Ari could not bear to see it.

"Is that why you are not on good terms?" Ari said.

"Good terms? If I were anyone else, Auovin would not have been so... calm."

"Calm? He was covered in blood."

"You have yet to see him at his worst. That is nothing. And he had right of it. I had not been keeping up with things as I should have been and some humans meant to do us harm had come in... " Sai took Ari's arm and began assessing it. "With some blood, you will be fine. It has been more than three days and the effects of it still had not shown in you. It is surprising considering how young you are."

"Those blue stones," Ari murmured.

"Auovin does care a great deal for you, Ari," Sai went on to say. If it had not been for that, I am sure he would not have been able to find you as fast as he did."

Ari looked at his arm before looking back at Sai.

"You took his blood and said his name... you formed a bond between the two of you. If you get hurt or if you are in pain, a simple slice of your palm will lead him to where you are. But there is more to it than that. You like him and you already placed him so near your heart. It is no wonder he is so lenient and patient with you."

Ari looked at the palm of his hand, remembering all the times he had it cut open and his blood poured into a goblet. The similarities were uncanny, but their practices would make sense if they truly once worshiped them as gods. They offered their blood up to the demons and cut their palms in order to garner their attention, Ari thought. It lost its meaning, as Ylanan had said and just became a practice of the religion. Ari shook those thoughts away and focused his mind back onto Auovin.

"He becomes angry with me for things I was incapable of knowing. What reaction would you have if some of the lesser demons tried to drag you away from a place you thought of as your home? You would run, would you not?"

Sai smiled.

"He bit me here." Ari pointed to his ear.

"Do you want me to kiss it for you... " Ari looked at him. "To make you feel better?"

Ari knew he was toying with him again. However, now that Ari had him, somewhat, figured out he could use this to his advantage.

"Kissing me here..." Ari pointed to his lips, "would make me feel better."

"Honestly," Sai laughed. "Why can you not see me as anything other than something sexually appetizing to you?"

"I like you."

"You like me? For what reasons?"

"You are...--"

"Pretty?"

"--Affectionate. Even with the man who had raised me, he was not the most affectionate man towards me. It was not until everything came spilling out how true his love and care for me became... " Everything from the night before came running back to Ari, causing him to close his eyes at the very thought Freir would ever do such a thing. He did not want to think about it.