This love is like a curse (62)
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When the uninvited guest left, Thalia hurried the healer, and she filled the room with thick smoke.
Taking a deep breath of the acrid, swaying air, she felt the emotions seething inside her begin to subside little by little.
A deep wave of relief washed over me.
Нужно было подождать ещё немного и дымчатый туман окутал бы даже мысли.
Then there would be no need to think about anything at all. Всё, чего она хотела, — спать, как мёртвая.
Talia stretched out on the bed and closed her eyes. But no matter how much she waited, one thin thread of consciousness still did not break, clung to her and did not allow her to fall into oblivion.
The girl moved closer to the brazier and tried to breathe even deeper, hoping that it would help. But instead of sleep, she was overtaken by a coughing fit.
The exhausted body shuddered, Thalia coughed so hard that even the last remnants of sleep disappeared without a trace.
She stared irritably out the window. The sky had already turned a deep blood red.
Thalia didn't know how long she spent looking at that frightening, unsettling sunset that sent a chill down her spine. At some point, as if succumbing to a call, she swung her legs off the bed and stood up.
It seems that the drug worked - there was almost no pain.
Thalia took a few tentative steps. The left leg lagged behind, dragging along the floor, but the usual aching pain in the joints disappeared. That was enough.
Putting her bony feet into slippers, she took a cape with a hood from the closet and, throwing it on, staggered out of the room.
By this hour the nanny was most likely lying in her room.
The healer, having finished her work, had long since returned to her chambers, and the maids had gone off to rest.
As she had expected, she met no one on her way through the long corridor and down the stairs.
Having passed through the hall, the girl exited through the back door intended for the servants.
The cool wind gently touched my face.
Inhaling the air filled with a mixture of herbal and floral aromas, she wandered aimlessly.
It is unknown how much time passed before she realized that she was near the training ground.
A faint question stirred in the clouded mind: “Why did I come here?”
Thalia looked around the open space, flooded with crimson light, and, catching some movement, instinctively disappeared behind the bushes.
At the edge of the parade ground, several knights were training with swords - apparently, they were practicing techniques.
Thalia watched them indifferently and moved on.
Not knowing where, she staggered, until her vision began to swim. It looks like the sleeping pills have finally worked.
Talia dragged her feet along the ground like a worm, without strength, without stopping.
Suddenly she noticed that her long shadow had disappeared, swallowed up in thick darkness. Raising her head, she saw that she had entered some gloomy building.
“Where am I?”
She wrinkled her forehead, trying to figure out how her eyes fell on the door at the end of the long corridor.
Approaching her, Talia knocked hesitantly.
A moment later, a deep voice was heard from behind the door:
- Did something happen?
Thalia blinked slowly.
Hearing this voice, she finally remembered why she came.
Thalia whispered incoherently:
“I... wanted to talk to you.”
There was a cold silence.
Thalia decided that she might have spoken too quietly, cleared her throat, and opened her mouth again.
At that moment, heavy footsteps were heard and the door swung open with a bang.
Thalia looked up.
Longboat, apparently, was resting after the day's activities - he was wearing dark cotton trousers and a loose linen shirt.
The girl absentmindedly looked him up and down, and at that moment a cold voice was heard above her head:
-You came here like this?
Talia looked down and looked around herself. The summer nightgown in which the nanny had dressed her was visible from under the open cape.
What's wrong with this?
She frowned, but at that moment something large and warm was thrown over her shoulders.
Thalia looked up in confusion. Longboat wrapped her in his cloak, completely hiding her body, and with a gloomy face he looked around the corridor immersed in twilight.
-Where are the guards?
- Guards?
His gaze became sharp as a blade.
He lifted her chin slightly, leaned down and looked intently into her eyes.
- How many sleeping pills did you burn?
Thalia squinted, trying to make out the face, which was becoming increasingly blurred before her eyes.
His face took on a strange expression—Thalia had never seen anything like it before.
Although maybe she's the weird one. If the whole world is distorted, why should it look normal?
Talia rather rudely removed his hand from her face and spoke:
“I told you I came to talk.”
Longboat's eyes narrowed. It seemed like something didn't suit him.
He looked at her silently for a while with a cold expression, then straightened up and turned his gaze to the darkening sky outside the window. Then, as if thinking about something, he turned around and looked around his room.
His thoughtfulness began to irritate her.
Maybe I spoke the language of elves or dwarves? Why is he silent?
-Can't you hear me? I said I want to talk...
And at that moment her body fell sharply to the side.
Talia grabbed the doorframe in panic. Apparently, after a long walk, her leg cramped - she felt a slight cramp in her left thigh.
Bracing her hands against the wall, Talia shifted her weight to her other leg, trying not to sink straight to the floor.
The next moment, her body suddenly found itself in the air - Barkas picked her up in his arms and carried her into the spacious bedroom, where candles were already burning.
Thalia looked down again and looked around the room. The view is familiar, but at the same time alien.
She had come here many times to see him, but this was the first time she had entered the room.
Her lips twitched in a smile.
Apparently, only after becoming a cripple did I gain the right to enter his sanctuary.
“We’ll talk when the effect of the herbs wears off,” Barkas sighed, lowering her onto the bed. There was fatigue in his voice.
Talia grabbed his sleeve harshly as he tried to move away. Through the thin fabric she felt how his strong, flexible body tensed.
Did he really guess what I wanted to say?
Talia struggled to focus her gaze and clung to his clothes like a lifeline.
- No. Now. If I come to my senses... I won't be able to...
-...
“You said you would marry me if I agreed?”
He didn’t answer, he just continued to stare into her eyes.
Talia moved her tongue with difficulty, which became as if it were cotton wool:
- Okay. Then do so. Give up Ayla Roem Girta and take me as your wife.
A heavy silence hung in the air.
Something unclear flashed across his face, illuminated by the reflections of the sunset light.
Is he confused?
Maybe Thalia surprised him with her answer. Or maybe he feels awkward because he expected rejection.
But instead of being confused, he said coldly and frighteningly calmly:
- So it will be.
Talia ran a dull glance over his face. There were no emotions or feelings on it - only emptiness.
She smiled weakly.
Because of this man, Ayla was forced to humiliate herself in front of her half-sister, whom she despised so much.
Talia herself was tormented by the desire to destroy everything around her.
And he... why is he so calm?
Looking at this cold, almost bored face, she felt something break inside.