Page 42 of The Demon God's Desire
I let my skin soften again, the burns from the fire now aching.
“Turn around, let me put some salve on them before they get infected.”
I do as I’m told, wincing as she glides the medicine over my back. It stings for only a minute before slowly fading into a dull pain that I can easily ignore.
“Thank you.”
She kisses my shoulder. “We should wait till tomorrow to keep going. Just in case she decides she’s not done yet.”
“Good idea.”
I hope by morning, the Hearthkeep grows bored and moves on to the next pour soul that incurs her wrath.
But something tells me that we won’t be so lucky– and that she’s not out of tricks just yet.
22
BRIDGET
Exhaustion hits me the moment the shadows of the cave begin to move with the pattern from the sun overhead.
I don’t know how long we’ve been sitting here as I tended to the burns on Guilri’s back, but it’s been quite a while. He barely flinches as I rub the salve over his wounds, making sure to coat them generously to keep them from getting infected.
He’d only just begun to fully heal from his fight with those dark elves in his battalion and now he’s stuck dealing with burns that look painful, even as I run my fingers over them.
I feel awful that he’s being forced to deal with all of this because of me. If I hadn’t given into my feelings and kissed him back then, maybe he’d still be safe.
It’s hard not to think about the ramifications of such a simple act, leading to all of this mess. I never meant to cause strife between him and his goddess, nor did I think giving into the selfish desires that I’d been fighting myself over for weeks would harm him so badly.
A wave of guilt crashes over me, plummeting my mood.
Ever since I found Giulri wandering in the desert, my life’s never been the same.
Had I known that I’d fall in love with him and get him into serious trouble with his goddess, would I have still done what I had back then?
I’m not sure, honestly. I want to think that I’d do something different, maybe keep my distance… but the truth of the matter is that I don't think it would’ve mattered. Guilri has this magnetic energy about him that’s hard to ignore and I can’t help but feel myself gravitating towards whenever he’s around.
Thinking back on it, I had tried to keep my distance as best as I could. Not really knowing if I could trust him or not or if he’d even follow through with our deal in the first place.
And yet, this is where we ended up. Battling the wrath of a scorned goddess and trying to get to another one’s temple.
It’s all so convoluted that it seems ridiculous to even think about.
I cap the jar to my salve and put it away. “I’ll apply more in the morning, but you should be good until then.”
He rolls his shoulders a few times, cracking them. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
He pulls himself to his feet and heads over to the mouth of the cave. I stop myself from telling him not to go out there. He’s not stupid, and he had been the one to sense the fireballs in the first place. I’m sure if there is another attack, he’d sense that too.
I pack my things back into my bag, trying to keep myself busy. He has enough on his plate that isn’t me bothering him to be careful. Now that I know I’m completely head over heels for Guilri, it’s taking everything in me not to go over-protective mode.
It’s not like I could really protect him anyway. Not like he can with his own powers.
Eventually, I roll out our sleeping mats deeper into the cave and cover them both with the soft blanket I brought along with us. It’s thin, but it’ll get the job done at keeping us warm as long as we stay huddled together.
Being this far back in the cave, there isn’t any residual heat coming from the desert. It’s a nice break from it, but once the sun drops below the horizon, it’s going to get cold.