Where Ashes and Oaths Collide

Chapter 39: Breakfast

The next morning Amelia was woken up by happy cheers outside the tent. Luz was still deep asleep, but curiosity got the better of her. She slowly stood up, careful not to wake him and she quickly put on his big white shirt. Carefully she stuck her head out of the tent to look around. The Corrompido in the camp we excitedly moving around and chattering. Salvaxe spotted her and approached with a platter, as he neared, she could smell the cooked chicken. “Breakfast?” he asked with a rough voice. “Smells delicious,” Amelia said carefully. “Patrols found a supply caravan,” he said gruffly. “Oh,” she said stepping out of the tent more comfortably. “Is that why everyone is excited?” Salvaxe nodded and took an apple out of his pocket and offered it to her. She took is with a smile.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “You should keep your strength up,” he said quickly, handing her the platter and turning to leave. Amelia went into the tent and placed the platter on the table and took a bite of the apple. She quickly ate the apple, as if starved and then she went over to Luz and lightly shook him, while calling his name. He stirred slightly and rolled onto his back, before he could open his eyes, Amelia straddles his waist and when he opened his eyes he saw her, wearing his oversized white shirt. The morning light filtering through the tent flaps cast a warm flow across her features, highlighting the way his oversized shirt draped around her frame. The sight was so domestic, to entirely out of place in the midst of war, that it took Luz a moment to fully process where he was.

His eyes adjusted to the brightness, taking in the familiar black canvas of his command tent– the same one he had slept in almost every night for six years. Now it felt different. It felt like home. “Morning,” he said, his voice still rough with sleep but carrying that familiar warmth from last night. “You look better in my clothes than I do.” His hands move to rest on her thighs where they bracketed his waist. Amelia’s eyes widened slightly, and her gaze roamed down his chest. Her fingers tracing his muscles. “Luz,” she started hesitantly. “The marks, their…” The black veins that used to run down his chest and stomach had receded and now only crawl up his neck and down his right arm.

Luz’s own eyes followed her gaze down his chest, where the black veins that once covered his chest now seemed to have retreated significantly. The pulsing black veins still visible along his right arm and creeping up his throat, but the majority of his torse was free of the marks. “What are looking at?” he asked gruffly, though his tone lacked its usual edge. His fingers tightening slightly on her thigh watched her trace the new boundaries of the black veins. “It… it is like it is afraid of you,” he observed quietly, his voice carrying that older, more vulnerable tone. “And your eyes…” Amelia said as she cupped his cheek. “They are not red anymore…” Luz’s breath caught as her fingers cupped his face, the simple touch sending a jolt of warmth through him.

He blinked slowly, sitting upright to see his reflection on the armour on the floor. He realized she was right– the crimson glow in his eyes had completely vanished, replaced by the familiar amber he had not seen in what felt like forever. “f**k,” he breathed out quietly, his own hands coming up to cover hers. “I have not seen myself look like this since the city of Dourado fell.” The black veins down his right arm remained visible but appear less aggressive than before. “You are doing this,” he said with a mix of awe and resignation. “Your presence is actually pushing back the darkness.” She leaned forward to kiss him softly on the corner of his mouth and happily said, “I told you; love is the opposite of darkness.” Her movements caused her to grind against his erection under the thin worn covers.

The soft pressure of her lips against the corner of his mouth sent a jolt of pure human warmth through his entire system. His hands slip up from her thighs to grip her hips more firmly, guiding her movement as she ground against him. The familiar heat of arousal mingled with the unfamiliar sensation of his own body responding to someone other than duty of battle. “You have no idea what you are doing to me,” Luz said roughly, his voice dropping to that deeper tone she remembered from last night. “Six years of fighting this darkness inside me, and all it takes is a few nights with you to make me feel human again.

“That is just because you are stubborn,” she said playfully. “Oh, Salvaxe brough breakfast. Apparently, some of the guards patrolling the perimeter came across a caravan of supplies. So, we have freshly cooked chicken.” The mention of food and the playful tone in her voice brought a genuine laugh from Luz– a sound he had not realized he had missed so deeply. “Salvaxe,” he repeated with a shake of his head, referring to his second-in-command. “That bastard probably thinks bringing us breakfast is some kind of sick joke.” Despite his words, the prospect of proper food after years of campaign rations sent a pang of hunger through him. “We should eat,” he agreed, sitting up carefully so as not to dislodge Amelia from his lap. “But first…”

His hands moved to grasp the hem of his oversized shirt on her, pulling it up just enough to reveal the smooth skin of her stomach and hips. The spider wed-like black veins on her lower abdomen were still there. Luz’s fingers brushed gently against the black veins making her lower abdomen, his touch careful and reverent. They had not spread since yesterday, a small miracle in a world ruled by darkness. “It is probably because you are so pure and kind,” he said quietly, his voice carrying that older, more sombre tone. “Amelia,” he began, his amber eyes meeting hers with newfound seriousness. “Whatever this connection between us is– it is changing both of us. You are carrying my darkness on your skin, and I– I am becoming something closer to the man you remember.”