Dust (Of Dust and Darkness) - By Devon Ashley Page 0,53
watching him cringe with guilt I wasn’t trying to embed, “you hid out up there without making contact. Just kept to yourself and brought my rations when you knew I was asleep.” I shrug and sway my head. “What changed? You’re feeding me and giving me medicine. Not that I’m complaining, but you’re doing the complete opposite of what Finley wants.”
“Well, Finley’s a jerk. He can punish me and make me stay here to watch over you, but nothing he says or threatens is going to get me to hit a female. And a tiny one at that. No offense.”
“None taken. In my defense, I was a decent-sized pixie before I came to this hell-hole.”
“You mean…” He bounces his arms out wide from his body. “Plump?”
Laughing, I answer, “No, not plump. Let’s just say…curvy.”
The smile fades from my lips and I feel a daze in my head try to pull me under its spell.
“What?” Jack questions.
“It’s just…I think that was the first time I’ve laughed since I was taken.”
The light-heartedness fades from his features as well, my words bringing us back to the reality of our situation. He slowly stands and the inside of my head moans. I ruined it. For the first time in a long time, I was beginning to enjoy myself. I got to converse with someone actually willing to converse back. And I blew it.
My heart aches as his wings shake and prepare for flight. “Drink, Rosalie. I’ve got part of a banana up top I want to get for you. It was the most fattening fruit I could find in our home. We’ve got a long way to go to get your curves back.” He smiles, lifting his eyebrows, but it all seems a little forced this time.
“Oh, finally!” I’d been awake for awhile, unable to fall back asleep. Flippin’ rock floor. I have no sense of time down here, especially when Jack’s not around. My body swells with sweet relief watching him descend towards me, bathed in glorious light. I rock my body a few times to build momentum, then climb my way up the wall and on my feet.
Jack lands fast, thumping his feet harshly against the rocky floor. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t take it anymore. My muscles constantly ache,” I whine. “I have to use them before they completely waste away.”
“Stop. At least let me check your feet first.”
“What?” I’m at a complete loss when he picks up my right foot to examine my sole. The weight of my body shifts to my left and I can’t support myself. I tumble forward onto Jack and my weakened leg shakes wildly. “Jack!”
He rubs the padding of my feet before he allows it to drop. “Let me see the other.”
“Jack,” I whine, but obey his request the moment I feel he’s reaching for my left foot regardless. Both my forearms rest over his hunched back. The sparkly glimmer coursing through the veins of his wings hypnotizes me with envy. His magic glitters the softest blue. How I long to see the shimmer of yellow that shines off mine. I pray I’ll get to see it again.
His hand scrapes against the rough, dead skin on my heel and I moan from embarrassment. My poor body is absolutely disgusting right now, parched of the necessary nutrients to quench my body’s thirst, and the thought of someone examining even a small part of it is humiliating.
“Alright.” He lets go of my foot. My hands slide down his back, over the curvature of his bicep and latch onto his arm as he stands. “Looks like the salve’s gotten your cuts to close over. They’re still pink though, so you may feel it pinch if you walk on it. Do you want me to numb your feet first?”
“You’ve been putting the salve on my feet?”
“And your forehead. Don’t you remember slamming your head against the ground?”
“No.” I cock my eyebrows when I add, “But I remember the broken glass from the lantern cutting up my body while I searched for scraps in the darkness.”
His cheeks flush and his lips press tightly into a thin line.
Speaking of…I don’t recall cutting myself these past few days. I search the ground with my eyes but nothing on the ground catches and reflects the light.
“I picked everything up a few days ago,” he glumly explains. His soft mossy eyes look down to me. “Sorry about that. I feel really bad.”
I sigh, closing my eyes and shaking my head, completely annoyed with myself