## Chapter 131
It felt as though she were a fish caught in a very tight net.
When Talia began to wave her limbs instinctively, attempting to escape from the bed, Varkas gently immobilized her body and exerted slight pressure over her while framing her cheeks with the palms of his hands.
—Shh... It's okay.
A warm breath brushed against her sweaty eyelids, and she felt her frozen body melt instantly; however, her mind remained rigid with tension.
She tilted her head to one side and managed with difficulty to pull the upper part of her body out of the blanket.
—Moon... hide me.
She stretched her arm toward the window like a shipwreck survivor trying to reach the shore, just as long, firm fingers slid through her hair.
She was no longer capable of thinking about anything.
Talia clung tightly to his shoulder and let out a tense sigh.
—Lift your waist.
As soon as she involuntarily obeyed his instructions, the hem of her delicate dress slid down.
The last barrier between them disappeared, and her mind, which was melting like candle wax, woke up and triggered a sudden alert.
As she stretched her neck to make sure her legs were not left exposed outside the blanket, Varkas took her by the face and forced her to look at him.
—Don't think about anything else.
His blue eyes, flooded by the moonlight, completely filled her field of vision.
Talia forgot how to breathe and began to count the silver glints hidden in his pupils. His ash-blonde hair, which shone with a soft bluish hue, brushed her forehead with warmth.
While she gazed at him as if spellbound, his eyes remained fixed on her face.
Talia realized that Varkas was observing her reaction intently, so an intense wave of shyness washed over her and she closed her eyes tightly. However, she did not dare open them again and endured that overwhelming sensation, until a damp breath moistened her eardrum.
—Open your eyes, Talia.
His soft voice felt as sharp as a blade. At that moment, she knew he was trying to tear away what was left of her heart with the edge of a knife.
"What will become of me when everything has been taken from me?"
—Look at me.
Before the intense insistence, she finally opened her eyelids.
Talia clung tightly to his shoulder, white and radiant like a sculpture. Varkas pressed his weight over her and, with his thumb, wiped away the tears accumulated at the corners of her eyes. Then, he stubbornly locked his gaze onto her clouded pupils, as if his eyes were searching into the deepest depths of her soul.
A vertigo so strong overcame her that she felt as though her retinas were being torn by a sharp object, but he did not allow her to look away. Talia murmured words of pleading unconsciously, without even knowing what she was begging for.
—Varkas...
From her throat broke a constant moan that sounded like a cry. Everything, her mind and her body, was crumbling. And Varkas was witnessing it.
His gaze, sharp as a knife, traced her cheeks flushed like fire, her damp eyelashes, her lips releasing nervous gasps of air, and her eyes that had lost their focus.
In the end, she could not bear it any longer; she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face in his smooth shoulder.
She felt his warm fingers caress her damp cheek. It was a touch that felt as if it were squeezing her exposed heart.
Talia closed her eyes tightly and was enveloped in a strange dizziness. Then, at some point, she lost consciousness.
---
Talia woke up tossing and turning, trying to free herself from a suffocating heat caused by a force tightening around her waist. The bedroom scene, shrouded in a dim bluish light, entered her blurry field of vision. She blinked in bewilderment and then turned suddenly upon noticing the heat radiating from her back.
She saw Varkas sleeping deeply with his face buried in the pillow.
Talia raised the upper part of her body cautiously and sat up to contemplate him. The bright and pure moonlight glided over his fine cheekbones. She came close to touching him with the tip of her finger unintentionally, but she held back. She did not want to disturb the tranquility of his night.
Talia lowered her feet from the bed slowly. It was not difficult to distinguish objects thanks to the radiant moonlight. She found the dress crumpled chaotically in a corner of the bed and pulled it over her head to put it on.
She pulled down the wrinkled hem of the skirt and, lifting her head, saw the full moon illuminating the black sky behind the large arched window. She felt as though the pouring moonlight was going to blind her.
—Don't go.
While she contemplated the night sky like someone who has lost consciousness, she felt warmth behind her back. Talia shuddered under the weight of a sharp chill.
Varkas wrapped her in the blanket, which had already grown cold, and rested his face against her temple.
—Stay here, just for tonight.
She closed her eyes tightly. She felt she should pull away, but she could no longer remember why she had to do so. She had longed for this embrace since the first time she saw him. She wished for him to hold her with warmth and not let go.
"But why do I fight against my own desire?"
In the end, Talia shook her head weakly.
—...It's okay.
—And tomorrow as well.
—...It's okay.
—And the day after that too.
As she nodded her head as if spellbound, he guided her back to the bed. He wrapped his warm arms around her, protecting her body, which had grown cold. Talia hesitated for a moment and then placed her hand on his waist.
A faint flash of relief crossed Varkas's indifferent face. Talia lifted her head to look at him and then buried her forehead in his broad chest.
---
The windy season was about to end.
Varkas was reading a report in his office when, feeling a cold brush on his cheek, he turned his head. Behind the wide-open window stretched a blue sky that captivated the senses.
He remained absorbed, contemplating that scene for a brief moment, until gusts of cold wind scattered the documents across his desk.
He sighed with annoyance, took a paperweight to secure the parchment, and stood up to close the window. In that instant, radiant golden strands caught his attention behind the glass.
Varkas directed his gaze downward.
It was Talia. She was wearing a new white coat that had just finished being tailored, and she was strolling through the garden alongside her nanny. Every time the strong wind harshly brushed her reddened face, the strands of her golden hair fluttered like the wings of a bird.
He narrowed his eyes and stood watching her for a while. Seeing her wearing the fur of the animal he himself had hunted produced a strange sense of satisfaction in him. He felt as full as if he had eaten abundantly, despite having fasted since morning.
However, shortly after, a sense of unease began to invade him.
The woman had looked noticeably exhausted for several days. Had the slight fever that attacked her in the early hours of today not already made him tense enough?