The Monster and the Witch

⚜︎ Ep 56: Moth to Light ⚜︎

The brightness of the room pierced Carmine's eyes. She blinked in order to get used to the light. A brief movement from her body brought pain beyond measure that it felt like her bones had been broken over and over again. But she forced herself to sit.

Carmine sighed slowly through the pain.

Relief entered her as soon as she saw Darius and Damian. She looked straight at Darius. "Are you okay?" her voice was so hoarse, and it hurt her ribcage just to talk. Instead of answering, the boy cried. Tears streamed down his cheeks rapidly.

Eh? What's wrong? Why is he crying?

Darius immediately climbed over the bed and sat by Carmine's side. His little hands hugged her body, and he put his face on her chest. The boy's shoulders shook. Soon Carmine's clothes were wet with his tears. It hurt when she felt the boy's weight but Carmine disregarded the pain.

"Hey–" she had to stop her voice because of the pain it brought to her throat.

Her eyes met with Damian's instead. Without the need for her to ask, Damian brought a glass filled with water from the bedside table. Carmine received the glass, but upon immediately realizing that her fingers were still too weak, she dropped the glass from her hand. Luckily Damian deftly caught the glass before the water could wet her blanket.

Damian then drank the water in the glass in one sip. Before Carmine could protest, he had already closed her lips with his. Soon, water flowed into her mouth. Carmine swallowed the water slowly but some had slipped from their lips and trailed down on her chin. Her throat felt better afterward.

Feeling that Carmine had taken it all in, Damian pulled away and instead, put their two foreheads together. Up close, Carmine could see the fatigue in his eyes. She also noticed that he had not shaven for quite some time. The hair buds on his face tickled her.

"How many days had I been asleep?" she asked.

Damian frowned. "Carmine, you weren't sleeping. You were unconscious for eight days. You..." His voice choked. Carmine could see his forehead puckering as if he was holding back a great pain.

"Never do that again," Damian said. He kissed her temple gently. "I'll call Bray."

When Damian was about to step away, she hastily pulled his sleeve.

Her eyes glazed over to Damian. "Damian ... I want to stay..."

The Duke widened his eyes in shock at her statement. For a moment, the man just fell silent. It made her feel like she was being a fool. What if Damian doesn't want me to stay any longer? She removed her hold from his tunic and looked down to the floor, not wanting to see Damian when he was about to turn her down.

A bud of hurt emerged from inside her chest though she was sure there was no visible wound there.

But a second later, Damian clasped her hand. The sudden movement made her return her gaze to him. "Say that again," he asked. "You want to stay here?"

Carmine bit her lower lip. Then she nodded.

Right then and there, Damian smiled, his eyes brightened with sparkles of tears. The man brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. "I'm happy, my wife."

That bud of hurt inside her had turned into a warm feeling that spread to her entire body. That abstract feeling resurfaced. And this time, Carmine accepted that feeling completely. She found that the feeling she once rejected was not that bad after all. The feeling made her chest feel tight, but it also spread a warm feeling down to the tips of her fingers.