I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 83 - A Pause for Stew

Evangeline woke up with a start. Her head pounded, like she had drunk too much of the wrong things and not enough of the right things.

"You alive still?"

Valerian sat next to her on the bed, facing the window. He played with something in his hands, focused on it instead of her. They were in the "servants" room. She had been tucked into the last bed, and from wiggling her toes, she could tell she was still dressed except for her boots.

"What happened?" Meta asked, closing her eyes again, wishing it would do something to help with the headache.

"We don't know. What does your status say?" Valerian asked, the thing in his hands clinking gently.

"Ugh, can't you look?" she asked, "It hurts when I open my eyes."

"Of course not. Only married people can look at each other's stats. Unless you are preposing?" Now he looked at her, arching leading eyebrow.

She slitted open her eyes to see his expression. "Is this your way to get a reverse proposal?"

His other eyebrow popped up to meet the first one in an expression of genuine surprise. Then he chuckled. "You're right. I'm not really the marrying sort. I'm the kind you have a good time with and we part amicably as friends. Not the sort to bring home to your mother."

"I wouldn't be able to bring you home to my mother even if I wanted to," she said, slipping her hand out from under the quilt, to gesture in the air, calling up her screens. "It says lethargic."

"Okay good. That will go away after a long rest," Valerian said, and went back to playing with whatever was in his hand.

"So you were concerned for me?"

"Of course I was. I got a lot invested in you," he answered as if it were simply a matter-of-fact.

"Right," Evangeline said, pushing herself up to sitting, his words rolling in her head. The kind you have a good time with. "Where is everyone else?" she asked.

"Next door," Valerian said, "They all had dinner and things are getting set up for the baths." He pointed a finger to the side table. There was a plate sitting there, with a napkin draped over it. "Don't get too excited. It's beef stew. There's a biscuit too."

Evangeline's stomach growled and she really didn't care that it was just beef stew.

Draping the napkin over her lap, she picked up the deep platter and tucked into the food. "Oh this is good," she said, tearing apart her biscuit after taking the first bite, so she could sop of some gravy. Even though it had gone room temperature, it tasted rich with flavors.

"If you say so," Valerian said. Click, click, chinkle went his fingers.

"What are you doing in here with me, any way?" Evangeline asked, her heart fluttering a moment with a little hope. "Were you worried about me?"

"What did he tell you?" Valerian asked instead of answered. "Your God Meta?"

Evangeline paused mid-mouthful. "Oh right." She gestured at her screen and checked her special skill points. They were all burned out. "It was about this area. What could happen, you know with First Lady Enrichetta and all."

"Is she going to stop us from getting to this Green place that Harrowheart was talking about?" he asked.

"Uh, there are a couple ways around her," Evangeline said then took another mouthful so she could buy herself time to think. Something felt off about Valerian, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. Her gaze dropped to his hands again.

Thieves Skill: Perception. Success.

She couldn't clearly see what was in his hands, but based on the way his hands moved, she realized he was running his nails along a very small chain. A necklace. The only necklace that Valerian had was the one that held his Midnight Sun pendant.

Which meant he wasn't wearing it.

"Valerian, look at me," she said, her voice low and controlled. The hairs on the back of her arms rose up.

Valerian sighed. "Alright, alright. I'm in here because I"m hiding from the others," he admitted. He turned again and this time, with her eyes wide open, she could see what slitting her lids had obscured before.

His eyes glowed in the dimmer light of the room. The only source was from a lantern a few bunks down. He held out the pendant in his hand to her, letting her take it from him.

"Ow!" Evangeline exclaimed and dropped the legendary item straight into her cooled stew. It immediately began to bubble. "Oh crap!" she cried, trying to pluck it back out, only to burn her fingers again. "Ah Ouch!"

"You got to pick it up by the housing or the chain!" Valerian scolded, managing to do just that. The stew coating slipped off the surface of the pendant for a second, then hardened and crackled with a distinct burning smell. "Oh well that's just great. How am I supposed to clean this!? I'll set the cloth on fire if I try!"

And then the hardened brown stuff turned black and then to ash, dropping off the pendant until even the smallest particles were eviserated.

Evangeline and Valerian met eye to eye, then she laughed. "Well that works."

Valerian huffed annoyed and looped the chain back over his neck, tucking it under his shirt, and adjusting the chain so it sat under the unremovable collar. Immediately, his eyes dimmed back to human-like normal.

"How is that not burning you against your skin like that?" Evangeline asked, blowing on a spoonful of her now hot soup.

He shrugged a shoulder. "It is." He sighed again, seeming like the pendant had added more to his shoulders than its weight. Then he turned and pulled his shirt and the necklace away from his chest, showing a patch of reddened skin. "The back is supposed to protect the wearer, but I've been wearing it too long so I can stay in the sun without dying."

Before Evangeline could touch it, he let his shirt and the pendant fall back into place. They sat in awkward silence for a moment.

"Hey, you want a taste?" Evangeline asked, offering him her next bite.

This earned her an annoyed glance, but she persisted holding out the spoon.

A third sigh and he opened his mouth and let her feed him. Rolling the stew around in his mouth, they sat there in more companionable silence now.

"Yeah," he said, licking his tongue over his lower lip. "That is good stew."