Page 131 of A Soul to Guide

“What I’m doing is changing this plant’s natural state into one that can handle magic. To do that, I have insert some of my own essence and delve into it. I must connect with it, and that has its dangers; one of them being that whatever may be wrong with this plant could infect me. Another is that it could require so much of my magic for the shift that it drains mine completely. Don’t worry, though! Mine will come back over time, and it shouldn’t be too bad, but that depletion can be quite scary for those who have never seen its effects.”

When he didn’t say anything, she couldn’t help stepping towards him. “Merikh?”

“Is there any way for you to teach me how to do this, then?”

Her eyelids flickered, surprised he was offering to take her place in this role. She couldn’t help the way tenderness lifted into her expression.He cares enough about me that he doesn’t want me to come to harm.

To know he was willing to make that sacrifice meant a lot to her. He didn’t need to offer, he didn’t need to care, and he yet here he was, doing so.

She shook her head, even as the tender pang in her chest refused to dissipate.

“I’m sorry, but this is something that requires someone with years of experience in magical herbology, cell restructure, and just magic in general.”

“Don’t know why you’re the one apologising,” he grumbled. “But fine. Whatever you need from me, I’ll do what I can.”

Her smile brightened. “Thank you, and thank you for offering. That was really sweet of you.”

“What the hell?” he exclaimed, his tone flabbergasted as reddish-pink sparks flashed. With the way she heard his claws running through fur, she imagined he was awkwardly scratching at himself. “Sweet? I just didn’t want to take care of a sick person, let alone one who bitches and whines all the time.”

She stamped her foot at him. “I don’t whine!”

“She shouts as she whines.”

Raewyn rolled her eyes, wishing her cheeks didn’t ache in humour. “Oh, just grab me some food to cut up,Sir GrumpyBear.”

“I’m really starting to dislike you calling me that,” he said as he moved away. Raewyn stuck her tongue out at his back. “I saw that.”

She instantly sucked it back into her mouth. She’d thought he looked away.

Merikh held Raewyn’s form as he sat on his bed with his back against the stone wall. For someone so weak, her uncontrollable shivering was powerful.

From head to toe, she was covered in slick sweat. Though it was blistering hot outside, her little body was like ice in his arms.

Over the course of two days, she’d held the tulip flowerpot within her arms and never let it go as she fed it her own magical essence. Her usual lily of the valley scent had been saturated and overpowered by her magical, clary sage one.

During that time, she’d been almost incapable of doing anything herself. Sure, there were things on that list he’d rather not have done, like helping the woman go to the toilet in the designated spot she’d picked within his yard. Since he didn’t produce waste and absorbed his food completely, he had no other amenities for her.

He’d hand fed her, given her water, and even when she began to grow tired, he’d carried her wherever she wanted to go.

In reality, Merikh really didn’t mind doing all this for her. She needed his assistance, and what she was doing benefitted them both.

What he did mind... was this aftermath.

The tulips had required more essence than she thought, to the point she’d had to squeeze the last of it out of her body just to finish the task.

She couldn’t feed it too fast or she’d kill them, as proven by two of the five tulips he was forced to cut away. If she did it too slow, it had been ineffectual. Raewyn had found the safe balance, but they took more than she’d accounted for.

When the tulips began to faintly glow after two days, the transformation complete, Raewyn finally let herself collapse. Whatever she’d done, it’d been so toxic to her body that it was rejecting her current state. She’d vomited foam as she convulsed, before going non-responsive.

Since then, for the past night and day, she’d been feverish.

Her clammy skin had an ashen tinge to it. Her pulse was so slow and soft, he worried that at any moment, her heart would cease beating. He constantly had to put his fingers over her mouth to make sure she was still breathing, since it was so light.

He’d seen humans die from sicknesses not as terrible as the state she was in. Part of him fretted, Merikh having no clue on what to do.

He’d never cared for another through an illness, and he was utterly useless. When he tried to help, more foam had frothed from her blueish lips, and his orbs had turned orange in guilt.

The only thing he could do was hold her, since her chills lessened with his heat enveloping her.

---