—"What if I don't listen to you?"
He suddenly lowered his voice.
Talia felt the muscles in her shoulders tighten hard. Her own image, frozen by nerves, was reflected in his eyes, which had suddenly drawn close.
Varkas continued to speak unhurriedly as he wound around his finger the strands of hair he had been caressing indolently:
—"Will you come to scold me again, just as you have done today?"
The heat flushing her cheeks moved to the back of her neck and her earlobe. There were no nerve endings in hair, yet she still felt a chill at the base of her head, as if he had bitten her neck.
Talia concealed the traces of her agitation and purposely feigned indignation; she wanted the flush on her face to pass for anger.
—"Yes. If you come back injured again, I won't leave you alone. I will make it hurt you to death."
At that moment, the corner of his lips turned up slightly. Talia opened her eyes wide. However, the smile that appeared for an instant vanished in the blink of an eye.
He stood up slowly and picked up the shirt he had taken off. Then, he responded in his usual distant tone as he slipped his arms into the linen sleeves:
—"Since you frighten me to that extreme, I will have to be especially careful in the future."
Talia glared at him.
—"Are you not taking my words seriously?"
—"I have taken them very seriously," Varkas replied indifferently as he adjusted his shirt and fastened the buttons. "Doesn't the meaning happen to be that this body now belongs to you, so I must treat it with care so it suffers no damage?"
—"I didn't say it that way!"
—"You said it that way."
Talia stood up abruptly.
—"I'm leaving."
She looked at him with her face burning with anger and walked toward the door limping, but he grabbed her by the wrist immediately. Talia was about to push him away, but withdrew her hand suddenly upon feeling the texture of the bandage through the thin shirt. She looked at his face fearing she had hurt him, and Varkas took the opportunity to pull her naturally toward the bed.
—"You still haven't given me the medicine."
His soft breath brushed her forehead.
Talia gazed at him with her face completely flushed. Varkas seemed to be asking for something entirely natural. For a moment, an absurd worry overcame her, fearing she had instilled in him the distorted notion that giving medicine from mouth to mouth was the normal way.
While she lost herself in those foolish thoughts, he opened the drawer and extracted the medicine bottle.
—"Here it is."
Then he sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped an arm around her waist so she wouldn't escape.
Talia looked at the man, who lately was behaving in a shameless and extravagant manner, with eyes full of astonishment. He tilted his head with an inquiring air.
—"Is it that you don't want to?"
—"...Who said I don't want to?"
She took the bottle reluctantly and removed the cap, revealing a concentrated purple liquid inside. She brought the bottle close to her face and sniffed it. There was no trace of the bitter smell characteristic of mandrake extract, but rather a strong aroma of honey combined with a slight hint of mint.
—"Are you sure it's the right medicine?"
—"It is the right one. I was told it is a solution to purify the blood. I kept it because it is also effective for eliminating beast poisons."
Despite his explanation, Talia did not abandon her look of skepticism.
—"This medicine was given to you by that healer, right? Can that woman really be trusted? If she prescribes something wrong again..."
—"I received this medicine from Darín," Varkas interrupted her. "If it worries you, you don't have to put it in your mouth."
Straight away, he exhaled a short sigh and tried to withdraw the bottle from her hand. Talia hid the container behind her back out of pure instinct.
—"Who said I won't do it? I'm just worried..."
She admitted it inadvertently and watched him to see his reaction. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice that her worry was for his health.
Varkas looked at her, furrowing his brow with seriousness, and declared with total sincerity:
—"No medicine prepared by that healer will ever touch your mouth again in the future, don't worry. She was dismissed from her main duties after that incident."
—"You should be careful too! What does it mean that she was dismissed if she still works as the Duke's personal physician?!"
When she demanded an explanation harshly, he let out a slight sigh.
—"I summoned her as an exception only for this occasion. It is said that there is no one in the East more versed in pharmacology than she is. Since she has treated numerous wounds on which magic had no effect, I decided she should handle my injury only until the poison disappears."
A pang of discomfort tightened her stomach at his calm response. Talia evoked the image of the healer: she was a young woman with large, clear eyes, like those of a cow. Although she knew perfectly well that Varkas, who didn't even blink before the most celebrated beauties of the imperial palace, would never notice a woman of humble condition, jealousy would not dissipate. And that was despite knowing that, to him, most human beings were nothing more than inanimate objects in motion.
Since she was very young, Talia could not stand the presence of another woman hovering near him, to the point of having dismissed all the maids who dared to cast ardent glances at him. In the end, she surrendered to that unpleasant wave of jealousy once more.
—"I don't trust that woman. The first mistake leads to the second, and the second to the third. On what basis do you trust your body to her?"
Varkas gazed at her intently and then nodded slowly.
—"If you insist, I will expel her from the castle very soon."
Talia was taken aback by his docile response and hurried to say:
—"Who told you to do that? It's obvious I will end up looking like the bad guy in the movie again. They will say I am the ruthless villainess who threw out a loyal servant of the ducal family without compassion."
He narrowed his brows and directed a puzzled look at her. He must have thought: "Since when do you care about your reputation?".
Talia looked at him sternly.
—"If that woman can really heal your wound, I will allow the treatment. But the whole process must be carried out before my eyes. If I see you alone in my absence..."
Talia stopped abruptly upon realizing how fast she was speaking; her words had exposed her stark jealousy all too clearly. She observed his expression out of the corner of her eye and added in a hurry:
—"If something happens to you, my position will also be in danger. This affects my own safety as well."
Varkas looked at her with an indecipherable expression. His eyes were piercing, as if trying to decipher what was going on in her head. After a long moment, he opened his mouth:
—"If that makes you feel more at ease, I will do as you wish."
His response, strangely submissive, caused her anxiety instead of calming her. She bit her lips.
Why does he endure all my reproaches? Does he treat me with such kindness only out of a sense of duty being his wife? Or could it be that he has started to care for me a little? Does he want me to stay with him?
She crushed and banished that endless stream of questions from her mind. That would be begging, and she would never descend to that level. She would not expect any feeling from him again.
While she clung with difficulty to her own broken lies, he drew her toward his chest. Talia made her body rigid to avoid any contact with his wound, but Varkas didn't seem to care about his injury at all.
Varkas took the medicine bottle naturally while wrapping his arm tightly around her back.
—"Open your mouth."
She obeyed his instructions unconsciously. He brought the rim of the glass bottle close to her lips and tilted it cautiously. Straight away, the liquid, so sweet it seemed to melt the tongue, began to flow little by little.
Varkas tilted his head while contemplating the scene with his eyes submerged in the shadows. His soft tongue gathered the sweet, concentrated nectar in her mouth.
Talia wrapped her arms around his neck with complete naturalness. She felt her mind fade away before the intense sensation of the brushing of their mucous membranes.
—"Ah..."
Varkas pulled his lips away after absorbing for a long moment the liquid, which barely amounted to a sip. While she tried to catch her breath, the glass bottle pressed her lower lip once more.
When she opened her mouth at his silent request, the fluid, viscous as honey, slid inside, and his tongue followed it as the natural next step.
The kiss, which had begun with the excuse of the medicine, did not cease until the darkness of the night completely devoured the last vestiges of twilight.
—"...When will the wound be fully healed?" Talia asked with feigned indifference as she rested her head on his healthy shoulder to catch her breath.
His gaze, so dark it took on a deep blue hue, swept across her face. He replied with a voice that carried a metallic edge:
—"Four days."
His long, elegant fingers brushed away the strands of hair stuck to her face. She felt his eyes, heavy as lead, fixed on the back of her neck, damp with sweat.
He added:
—"If the medicine is effective, the treatment will end in three days."
She hid her eyes under her eyelashes, unable to look at him straight on.