Siblings who nearly die together, stay together (cult of the Lamb x reader)

Chapter 26: Spending Time With Death

At some point Narinder did enter his tent for the night, you know this because you did not in fact sleep that night, your nerves crept up your spine all through the night, you turned once, and that was in the direction where Narinder's tent is.

You only decide to leave your tent when you hear the morning birds sing, you start on your morning chores at a steady pace, and when you begin to cook for the morning meal Lambert comes and greets you.

"Morning (Y/N), you're up early, something wrong?"

"Morning Lambert, I just didn't sleep well last night".

"Didn't sleep well, you mean you didn't sleep at all".

You hate how he can read you so easily, you look to where the tents are, Lambert follows your eyes, he squints to one tent in particular.

"Is he bothering you?" His voice is low, you could have sworn there was a red tint in his eyes, and you panic slightly.

"Oh, no no, if anything I'm the one bothering him!" You hope you can prevent any discourse that may occur between the two, you manage to distract Lambert by asking him to help you prepare the meals, which he gladly accepts.

The first one to leave their tent is Narinder, his ear twitches in annoyance when he sees Lambert, you wave him over to give him his meal, he is reluctant at first but gives in to his hunger.

"Good morning, Narinder" He looks away acting as though he did not hear you, "I hope you're hungry, I made plenty of food" you tried to fill the awkward silence.

"Whatever you say, you damn little lamb" Not knowing how to respond you add the last ingredient into the cauldron and stir it in. You can see that Lambert is already starting to get fed up with Narinder.

You begin to separate the food into bowls, you hand one bowl to Lambert to pass on to Narinder, he looks into the bowl to inspect it.

"This better tastes better than it looks, little lamb."

"Listen here. I don't care how you treat the other Followers, I don't even care what you do here, but if you know what is good for you, you will treat (Y/N) with some respect, because if it's not for them, you would not be alive right now" Not wanting to stay a second longer, Lambert leaves to the temple, no doubt to prepare for today's sermon.

The Followers finally decide to wake up, and they all gather around for their meal and sit together, Narinder is still left out by being ignored by everyone. He is the first to finish his meal, he hands you his bowl, you catch a glance at his wrist again, and he makes his way back to his spot on the tree stump.

When you finish clearing all the bowls, ready to be used for later, you make your way to the temple and see Lambert writing in his book.

"You ready for the sermon?" Lambert asks.

"About that, I don't think I'll be attending this one".

"What, why not?"

"I have a feeling that Narinder won't come, and I need to talk to him".

"I refuse it".

"What?"

"I'm not allowing you to miss the sermon because of him".

"Lambert, I don't think you get it, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you".

"No, you don't get it, I'm the leader and you will do what I tell you to do".

"You may be the leader, but just in case you forgot, I'm not one of your Followers".

"After everything that he caused you want to give him a chance? He captured you and if I didn't defeat him, he would have killed you!"

"I know, but at the same time if it wasn't for him, we would both be dead!"

It is quiet at first, you both are thinking about what to say next to the other until Lambert caves in.

"Fine, but if he does or says anything to you, you come to me, and I will sort him out".

Before you step out of the temple Lambert calls out to you one more time.

"Keep your guard up, alright?".

As soon as you leave the bell rings, you never realise how loud it really is until now. You make your way to the healing bay to make an ointment out of camellia flowers and hops, it is not the most effective, but it will have to do.

Just as you expected, Narinder did not go to the temple and stayed on his stump.

"Excuse me, Narinder?" you choose to be polite, not wanting this interaction to go wrong.

"What do you want, you damn little lamb?"

"I wanted to give you something for your wrists."

Narinder's ears shoot up to attention, you wait to see his expression when he turns to face you, but he never looks back.

"Fine, do whatever you want".

You go around and sit next to him, you hold out your paw wanting his own, he gives it to you but not once looking right at you, you take out some ointment and carefully place it on his wrists.

"OW, THAT STINGS!"

"Sorry, I should have given a warning!" you continue to rub the ointment in as gently as you can but still receive a few hisses of pain.

"I hope that feels better".

"It's adequate" he huffed out, you take a moment to take in the quiet, no Follower around to make a nose, it is peaceful.

"So, the damn lamb is your brother?"

"Heh, unfortunately".

"My siblings and I are not as close anymore" You do not say anything and wait for him to continue. "I always felt that I was left behind, they have so much control over their power and could change it however they see fit. I couldn't do that, my domine couldn't be changed and I was punished for trying. I was doomed to be left behind".

You start to feel sorry for Narinder as he speaks, you can even see yourself in him.

"I understand how you feel about being left behind" Curiosity reached Narinder, "Lambert and I may be close, but I can't help but feel that he is leaving me behind, he is so much more now, he is now a leader, and I still hate to say this, but he is a good leader. He has changed so much, but not me, I'm still his younger sibling".

Narinder could not think of a response to your statement, but he did take a long up-and-down look at you, you can feel your face grow warm with the intense look, his eyes finally landing on your cuffs. He takes hold of the metal and rubs his thumb pad over the rusting lock.

"Can you trust me?" The question confused you.

"Is that a trick question?"

"You damn little lamb" he grumbles to himself, "I'll change it then, I need you to trust me!"

"Ok ok, what is it?"

"I need you to close your eyes" With hesitation you do as you are told, even covering your closed eyes with your free paw, you feel some shuffling but resist the urge to look, that is until you feel something hard bash agents your cuff, you look at what was happening and feel a cold chill on your now exposed wrist, your confusion prevents you from forming a sentence.

Narinder got hold of your other wrist, you notice he is holding a sharp rock and was raising it you cover your eyes again to not jump at the sight, feeling the impact, you take a look again only to see Narinder hit the cuff again casing you to flinch, feeling the air on your wrists gives you shiver down your spine.

"I...thank you, thank you so much!" you take a closer look at your wrists, there is some damage on them, not to the extent of Narinder's, but the wounds will not fully disappear.

Narinder brings one of your hands close to him and the ointment.

"Let me finish what I started".

He picks up some of the ointment and rubs it on your wrist in a rough manner.

"OW, that really does sting!"