The Grandeur

Chapter Seven - Hunter

After we went to the room with the carved names, we sit on the bed and he asks me a question I’m not sure I’m ready for.

“Maria, who’s Tiff?”

      I look up at him, startled. “What?”

      “You said her name a lot when you had that nightmare last night.”

      “Oh,”

      He puts a hand on my knee and says, “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me-”

      “No, no, I do. I need to get it out.”

      I get up off the bed and slowly walk to the clock. I cross my hands over my chest and take a big breath in; slowly letting it out.

      “My parents died when I was young, so it was me and Tiff. Just me and Tiff. We migrated south, looking for work nearer the Metropolis and found Hill. Tiff could hunt, and when we met Butcher he said he’d pay us for the catch.”

      I stare at the hand on the clock, ticking away.

      “When I turned sixteen, she got taken from me.”

      I feel a tear fall down my cheek.

      “Soldiers came round the village, looking for any recruits suitable for the army. I was only fifteen; she was nineteen.”

      I feel him behind me.

      “She said to stay where I was. That she’d come back for me.  All I did was cry, I didn’t move an inch to try and help her. She gave me her ring, and as she was forced into the truck, I still stood there like a coward crying.” I’m crying now again, just thinking about it sets me off.

      He comes up behind me, both hands on my shoulders and even his touch calms me.

      “Maria. It’s not your fault,” he says just inches from my ear. I like how he says my name.

      I turn round and say: “Yes it is.  Every day I make myself believe she’s alive, but how do I know she is? It’s my entire fault.”

      “No,” he says firmly. “No, I do not, for a second, believe that. They were soldiers-”

      “Silas. Stop it-”

      “No, you stop it Maria. Stop downing yourself and you don’t realize that you’re so capable of many things. You’re amazing and certainly not a coward. You’re inhumanely beautiful; I feel shy just standing in front of you.”

      He lifts my chin, wipes a tear away from my cheek, leans in and says: “You are Maria and you are remarkable.”

      He leans in and kisses me. His lips are so soft, and his hands are so warm. One of them holds my chin up, as he is quite tall, and the other is hanging on my lower back. I feel so light and like I might just melt away. Unfortunately, he pulls away and says: “Now, we have work to do tomorrow, and I need a bath, because I’m surprised you didn’t tell me I stank.” I smile vaguely; though I’m sad he pulled away so fast.

      “Okay. Night.”

      As he walks over to the bathroom he turns and shows a huge grin. “Night.”

*

      As I begin to drift away in the warm, comfortable sheets, I hear a sound.

      The lights are out and the room around me is pitch black. I get up and tiptoe in the direction of the light switch. As I reach up something furry sweeps across my hand. I let out a yell and punch into the direction the strange thing came from.

      “Ow!”

      I flick on the switch and in an instant, the room illuminates.

      It was Silas and it was only a towel. Shock covers me from head to toe. Me blushing at the fact he has no shirt on doesn’t make it better. But I must say, he is so beautiful.

      “I am so sorry!” I squeal.

      “It’s okay. Now I know never to go into a room, where you are sleeping, when the lights aren’t on.” He’s tilting his head up, to stop the blood that’s already pouring out from his nose.

      “Quick. Into the toilet and get some tissue.” I pull him into the bathroom and rip off some tissue from the roll.

      “Damn, princess. Didn’t think you could break my nose!”

      “Neither did I and I’m so sorry!”

       I fold down the toilet seat and guide him to sit on it. I splash some water on some more tissue and give it to him to wipe his face.

      “Sorry, I thought it was someone else.”

      “It’s okay. And stop apologising,”

      “Sorry,” I say smiling.

      “Oh, thy majesty thinks thy is clever now, does thy?”

      “Cleverer than you.”

      He puts his head straight and I burst out laughing at his face; he’s stuffed tissue up both his nostrils.

      “Oi! Laughing at me! This is your fault!”

      I carry on laughing till I fall to the floor. He rises and throws me up, over his shoulders.

      “Hey! Put me down!”

      “Nope. I think you need some sleep. You also need to get it into your brain that this cleverness doesn’t suit you,” he says, as I hang upside down over his bare back.

      “You started it.” I point out.

      He flings me on the bed and I roll over laughing.

      “Ladies and gentlemen, make room for the most majestic, the most fabulous diver of all time,” he says as he looks around the room, pretending there’s an audience. “Three, two, one!”

      He jumps on to the bed, face-planting it. I roll up on my side, laughing so much it hurts.

      “Oh, how I’ve been waiting to do that.”

      “Yes, that was amazing! Though, there was no water.”

      He lies on his side facing me and says, while smiling: “Well, I promise you, when we get to a river, far, far from here, I will show you how I properly dive.”

      I put my pinkie out to him and he wraps his around mine.

      “Promise?” I ask.

      “Promise,” he smiles effortlessly and I see a single dimple in his left cheek.