Page 32 of Zel
Or perhaps he did not, if it was true that he had not rummaged for, found, nor removed Zel’s dagger, but had merely acquired it from a spell. A week had passed since that sparring match, which meant they were nearing the halfway mark of their time together. Zel couldn’t be sure when another “test” might present itself, or if every word, every action, every breath he took was under scrutiny.
His pleasant days with Ulrich had mostly been the same since then, yet never dull. They would go for walks, tend to the garden, share stories and music, dine together, spend time apart too in such tasks as reading, writing, and simple relaxation, and every morn, Ulrich would brush out Zel’s hair and help him to braid it with magic.
Their magic.
Zel continued to eat his daily lettuce with every evening meal, and maybe because he was in the tower, maybe because of the presence of Ulrich, and actually utilizing Zel’s inner magic more than simply having good health, he felt his magic more too. He felt invincible.
Invulnerable.
Immortal?
The thought struck Zel just as he was finishing his own letters to send back to Rudy and his parents. He had taken to keeping his dagger with him for whenever they might leave the tower. It rested next to him now since he had used it as a letter opener. He took up the dagger again and contemplated just what immortality meant.
Zel had not been able to prove whether a cut against Ulrich could mark his skin, draw blood, and then simply vanish, or would his skin be like stone, like steel, and deflect any blow against it the way others could not cut Zel’s hair?
With the dagger tip pressed to his index finger, Zel pushed it forward.
“Zel!” Ulrich was there, as if he’d manifested from the walls. He took the dagger from Zel to set it back on the desk and held his injured hand, where a small pool of blood oozed from his fingertip. “Why would you harm yourself purposely like that?”
Zel imagined Ulrich taking the finger into his mouth to suck the blood from its tip, but Ulrich did no such thing. He grasped Zel’s finger with his blackened hand and curled his own fingers around it.
Ulrich’s hand flared to life the way it did when in contact with Zel’s hair, and the pain Zel had been feeling vanished instantly.
Did Zel’s blood have the same effect on the curse?
Ulrich’s eyes said he was equally surprised. When he uncoiled his fingers, the blood and cut were gone. And for the first time, Zel noticed something carved into Ulrich’s palm, for just beforethe last of the blood disappeared, absorbed into Ulrich, it looked vibrantly red—a circle bisected by a horizontal line.
Zel knew that symbol from somewhere.
“I’m sorry, my lord,” Zel said. “I had always wanted to do that, but my parents wouldn’t allow it.”
“Injure yourself? Why? Surely, you have bled before?”
“Not that I can remember. Since only I could ever cut my hair, I always wondered if only I could pierce my skin. The thought occurred to me that I might be even more invulnerable now. Maybe… immortal?” He blinked up at Ulrich, who hovered over him at the desk.
“You are not,” Ulrich said.
“Yet? My lord would not take a bride without ensuring she would be by his side forever, would he?”
Ulrich’s concern faded to his more knowing look. “Our month has many days yet, Zel.”
Whatever that meant, for it did not answer the question.
Ulrich kissed Zel’s finger before releasing his wrist. It was not as desirable as the heat from Ulrich’s mouth encasing it, but enough to stir within Zel a flutter of southbound heat. “Now you know. You can injure yourself. So please do not do that again. And despite what may seem like magical luck up until now and the imperviousness of your hair, you are not invulnerable to outside harm should someone land a blow against you. Do not test that theory either. Unless you would like for me to prick you next?”
Oh, more than Zel could admit concerning another type ofprick, but he wisely shook his head.
“Good.”
“My lord, were you watching me?” Zel asked.
“Not actively spying, if that’s what you mean.” Ulrich shifted to lean against the desk. He appeared so ethereal to Zel, like it wouldn’t be possible to touch him without bursting. Zel couldn’tbe sure whether it was Ulrich’s magic alone that had healed his finger, his own healing intensified even if not to the point of immortality, or both. “But I can always see you, Zel, always find you when you are within the grounds of my tower, except for when you use the key and are in one of those rooms,” he added with a nod at the magical door.
“You cannot see me at all when I am in there?”
“When you are in my chambers with the full turn of the key, I am already with you.”
“Yes, and I had assumed as much for my bedchamber and the washroom, but you do not see me even when I am in the treasure room?”
