In Lost Dreams the Four Were Bound

49 - Elis - Love Comes at a Price

[Everything is going to be alright. I promise!]

Davnian's words rang through her skull as Elis lifted herself from the infirmary table. She felt numb, her thoughts meandering a distance behind her actions as she looked around the dim room. Sweat clung to her armpits and thighs as she shuffled atop the wooden surface. Her stomach gurgled as if bubbles danced in her belly. A manic smile crept across her face as she looked down at her pale nightgown, gazing at the wet cloth as it clung to her legs and breasts.

"Easy there, my dear," a dark voice called from beside her. The words were like echoes down a long corridor as they rattled across ancient stonework until they found their way into her sagging red-gold ears. Her flowers turned and cropped themselves toward the other as she tried to scooch off the table, but obsidian hands reined her in to prevent her from moving. "Please, Elis, try not to move too much."

"Neris?" Elis slurred her words, her grin not breaking as the syllables tumbled from her mouth. Her tongue was sloven and dry. Lifting her swaying head, she tried to fix on the Delvori maiden at her side.

"You're a stubborn one," Neris said, chuckling as she kept a firm hand on Elis's stomach and arms. The warmth from her palms permeated Elis's tummy. Butterflies and mosquitoes dueled in her bowels. "Please listen and stay. Just a moment, ne vindal."

"Neris?" Elis dragged her tongue around her mouth as she tried to speak. Then it hit her. The contents of her stomach spilled from her mouth, tumbled across her dress, and splashed upon the floor.

"Oh gods. Kadin? A towel and a change of clothes. Be quick, vivahr." Neris's words were at once distant and yet deafening as the last of the bile slipped from Elis's lips. She coughed and gagged, laughing as the burn of acid and the taste of vomit were absent from her senses. "Elis, lie back, dear."

"Neris, stop." Elis's skin tingled as her nerves misfired. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kadin shaking his weasel-nosed head as he lowered to the floor to clean up her chunks. Licking her lips, she snubbed one of his ears with her dangling foot. "Stop."

"Can you keep her from making a mockery of this?" Kadin's raised his voice, almost chattering like a small animal.

Elis tried to lift herself up to confront the talvuo, but Neris's dark arms held her back. With heavy hands, Neris pressed Elis back down to the table. Elis lifted her cleanest hand to Neris's face, reaching beneath dark furrows of straight black hair to the ebony-skinned woman's cheek. Fondling her skin with her fingertips, Elis groaned as she smiled.

"Keep yourself together, dear," Neris whispered as she drew closer. Elis's fingers wrapped and knotted themselves in Neris's hair as she looked up at the woman with large, dilated lavender eyes. "I gave you sentae extract mixed with valerian, my dear. You're feeling very aroused and numb, I know."

"Why would you do that?" Elis almost gagged on her own tongue as she tried speaking again, turning her head to the side as Neris planted her forehead against her skull.

"Because you were hysterical," Neris whispered. "Now, will you let me clean you and change your clothes?"

"Only if you—"

Neris interrupted Elis's rambling by pressing her fingers against her lips. Elis felt her heartbeat slow as the dark-skinned woman's touch eased her. As Neris pulled away, Elis wiggled her fingers through the knots in Neris's hair. She took several deep breaths as her heart raced up and down.

"Kadin, leave a rag and the clothes at the foot of the table. I've got her," Neris said as Elis felt the room sway. Everything around them hummed like the world should be glowing but wasn't. "I'm going to undress you now, Elis, alright?"