Page 22 of A Waltz with Lord Death
His hand found his cheek where Meira had slapped him. He wasn’t sure she ever could. But still, worry slammed into his gut as he thought of her alone in the frigid woods. He needed to return to her.
After making sure Betha was fine and after he cleaned the soot off himself, he returned to the snowy woods with a shadowy flash. Darkness had descended upon the land, a chill racing up his spine that his power quickly put out. He hardly felt the cold, the snow a mere nuisance.
He entered the snow-removed clearing and found Meira huddled against a tree, her back to the rough bark and the tarnished knife clenched inside white knuckles. Her body shivered uncontrollably, her blue eyes wide with fear as if the smallest noise might make her jump out of her skin. The fire had dwindled into near embers, casting dark shadows across the clearing. Her gaze jumped about, distress clear in her beautiful features.
Not wanting to startle her, he entered the clearing within full view after gathering a stack of wood. She jumped at his appearance, but otherwise remained where she sat.
One by one, he fed the embers pieces of wood until the flames were satisfied and full. They climbed their delicious meal, popping and snapping like a belch after a hearty supper.
“Y-y-you found a new L-L-Life then?” Meira asked, her teeth still chattering from the cold.
His posture turned rigid as he stared into the flames. So bright and destructive. Who needed shadow hounds when flames consumed just as quickly? Yet, the screams and the fear burned him as if he had touched fire itself. So much death. Too much.
“Nearly,” he answered finally with a jesting tone. “Until I realized I would have to kiss him to give him his power.” His grin fell as he turned his head to glance at Meira. “Not really. He was killed by people who wanted to eradicate the plague from the town. I was too late.”
“I’m s-s-sorry.”
“Yes, well, such is my luck.” He unnecessarily stoked the fire. “I feel awful for him and his wife. But perhaps they can find happiness in the afterlife.”
Meira shook her head and touched her cheek. “N-n-no. I’m sorry for s-s-striking you.”
“Oh.”
Words failed him as he tried to come up with a reply. He knew she’d been in a decent amount of shock after the incident with the ruffians. Not only that, but he had acted like Death, and not like a mortal. Yet, she had still wounded his heart.
Shadow hounds slinked out of the darkness of the trees, one with a rabbit between its teeth. “Good boy,” he said quietly as he took the rabbit and began preparing it for Meira. He felt her gaze on him, as if she still waited for him to speak. He didn’t mean to allow them, but his thoughts gushed out of his mouth, and he was powerless to stop them.
“If you think the burden of Life is too heavy, you have no idea what it’s like to be Death. People cower away when they see me. They try to banish theevilfrom their homes. They call me demon, devil, witch. They hide from me in fear. They die from my touch. They attack me with fire pokers and slap me across the face.” His mouth twitched in wry amusement. “It’s heartbreaking and lonely. I just wish…” He sat back on his heels as the rabbit meat roasted on a spit over the fire. “I just wish to be looked at, to be touched, the way people do Life.”
He recalled uncontainable smiles, bowing, gratitude, and more wherever Barret had stepped foot. They’d called him a god, an angel, a saint. For himself, he’d been cursed, spat upon, and attacked. No one would ever look at him differently. It was a vain hope.
His shoulders slumped in defeat. Why was his heart pursuing Meira? He knew how it was going to end. It always ended the same way—either in scorn or in death.
Meira shifted behind him, and he tensed, bracing himself for another slap or for her to spew hateful words at him. So his heart jumped in surprise when her gentle hand caressed his face and turned his head to look at her. She dipped her head, teeth still chattering, and placed a kiss upon his cheek.
A relieving warmth spread across his skin as he gazed into Meira’s eyes, the blue hardly visible in the flickering light. She touched the top of his head hesitantly, and then with more confidence when he didn’t flinch away, she ran her fingers through his hair. His eyes misted when she cradled his face in her hands and kissed his forehead, his nose, and each cheek. She avoided his lips, but within good reason.
Not wanting her to see his raw emotions, he pulled her down to his level and embraced her. He wrapped her small frame in his arms and buried his face into her hair. Her teeth stopped chattering, and after a couple of minutes, she stopped shivering.
Happiness of a thousand degrees burned within him, a joy he had not felt in such a long time. His heart dared to start beating for another person again, each thump in his chest full of hesitant hope.
“Shoot,” he muttered when he remembered the rabbit. He reluctantly released Meira and turned back to the fire. “I hope I didn’t burn it.”
Thankfully, the rabbit was only overcooked a smidge, and not yet burned. He took the skewered meat and handed it to Meira when the stick was no longer too hot to handle. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“This is for me?”
A laugh escaped him, and he nearly jumped at hearing it, such was the unfamiliarity of it as of late. “Well, it’s not for me. I don’t need to eat. I don’t need to sleep. I don’t get cold or hot. You haven’t eaten in hours. I’m sure you’re hungry.”
She smiled with gratitude, and as she picked apart the meat, his gaze traveled to his hounds lying opposite the fire. One of their ears twitched and it lifted its head for a few moments, only to rest its chin on its paw once more. If his hounds started to growl, then he would know Meira was in danger.
After she ate, she began shivering again, and when he gathered her in his arms a second time, she didn’t pull away. He rested his back against a tree and twisted her cloak so it draped across her like a blanket.
“Get some rest,” he murmured into her hair. “I’ll keep you safe. And when the sun comes up, I’ll help you get to the palace.”
“But don’t you have work to do?”
“My work is endless, and there’s plenty of it. But even I need to take a break once in a while.”
