Heart of Darkness

Roxana stared at the bathtub with hot water and the towels and soap beside it on a stool.

“Did you also bring this from the castle?” She asked.

“Yes. I don’t know how to prepare a bath.”

“And you said you could do more than the average person.”

“That I stand by.” He said.

She shook her head at him with a smile.

He dipped his fingers into the water. “It isn’t hot anymore. I think It is fine.”

She dipped her fingers as well. It was fine.

He motioned for her to get inside. She dropped the sheets and stepped into the water before sinking her whole body into it.

“Oh,” she shuddered at the warm comforting feel.

Alexander came to sit beside her on the stool. She felt a bit shy about having someone take care of her. She wasn’t used to it.

“This is the magical royal soap.” He said rubbing it against the wet cloth.

“Oh, no. Don’t give uncle Ben and Fanny high hopes.”

He chuckled as he took her hand and began to rub the cloth against it. Roxana allowed herself to relax as he washed her arms, shoulders, back, and neck. He traced the scars on her back with his fingers, reminding her that she still had them.

“They might disappear.” He said.

“The scars?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Once you take my blood, it will heal you.”

“It will?”

“Yes.”

“Then will it heal me everywhere else?” She said thinking of the soreness between her legs.

“Yes. It will help with that too.”

“Then give me.” She said taking his arm and biting him playfully.

He chuckled but then he became serious. “Do you want to do it now?” He asked.

She nodded. “Yes.”

He held back a smile then lifted his arm to his mouth and bit himself. Roxana gasped, thinking it looked painful but he didn’t flinch. He made it look so easy. He held his arm for her and she grabbed it, looking at his punctured skin and the blood that seeped out of it. Feeling hesitant she lifted it to her mouth and then decided to just do it quickly.

Closing her mouth over the wound, she let the warm blood seep into her mouth. Wanting to drink it fast and get rid of the taste, she sucked and felt Alexander shudder a little. She sucked again and felt him draw in a sharp breath.

Did he like it?

“God Roxana, I do,” he said grabbing the rim of the bathtub tightly.

She forgot the metallic taste for a moment and pulled the warm liquid harder into her mouth. After a few gulps, she felt a strange energy spiral through her. She shuddered as well. The taste became somewhat different. She couldn’t explain it but it didn’t taste as bad as when she first tasted it and then it suddenly stopped.

Pulling his arm away she looked at his wrist which was now healed. She licked her lips feeling strange about all of this, then she looked at Alexander. His eyes had become darker and his fangs grew longer.

That looked like it would hurt but…

“I feel strange.” She said.

She couldn’t explain how.

Alexander nodded. “You will feel stronger and more energetic.”

Oh well, so many benefits it seemed.

“Will I be able to fly?” She joked.

He chuckled with a shake of his head then went to sit behind her.

“Wet your hair.” He told her.

She leaned back and dipped her hair into the water and then she enjoyed the most relaxing thing ever done to her. Roxana wanted to sleep as he massages her scalp with his fingers.

His strong hands continued to roam down her body, first with the cloth and then stroking her with his bare palms. Roxana kept her eyes shut as he slowly awoke the desire in her back to life.

“Are you not teasing me again?” She said.

“Maybe.” He raised a brow. “I need you restless by the time the sun sets.”

Oh, Lord!. Would he tease her until then? Her heart would seize to beat before the sun sets or maybe she would just throw herself at him.

She looked up blushing hard thinking that he could hear her thoughts when she remembered she had taken his blood.

“Are you having some naughty thoughts? Too bad I can’t know now.” He said, gliding along the rim to come close to her. “Tell me so I can fulfill that fantasy.”

“Oh no,” she shook her head. “Now I will let you wonder.” She gave him a mischievous smile.

He just took that as a challenge and continued with teasing. Once he was done, he held a towel open for her and she stepped in front of it before he wrapped it around her. He took another one to dry her hair.

“What about you?” She asked.

“Today is all about you.” He told her while drying her hair gently with the towel.

Without warning, he then lifted her bridal style and carried her over the short distance to the next room.

“Oh, don’t make me get used to this.” She told him.

“I want you to because it won’t be a one-time occurrence.”

This couldn’t be real. This had to be a dream.

As he carried her she took notice of the dress on the bed before he put her down.

She turned to look at it. A beautiful rosy dress, decorated with creamy lace around the neck, chest, and sleeves.

“You look beautiful in this color.” He spoke standing behind her arms with his hands on her shoulders.

“You didn’t have to buy this.”

“I wanted to. Besides you need to wear something if we are going out.”

“Where are we going?” She asked.

“Nowhere specific, but if you have somewhere you want to be then I’ll take you there.”

She nodded. “Alright. I’ll get dressed.”

“I’ll go find clothes for myself.” He said and then left her to dress.

She dried herself and then slid into the new gown. She looked at herself in the mirror. This color did look good on her. She also notices that the scars on her back began to fade. After such a long time, she would finally get to know what not having scars felt like.

Alexander came back dressed casually. He took a moment to look at her. Pretending to be very feminine she made a swirl for him and he smiled. “You look beautiful.”

She did suddenly feel more beautiful than she knew she was.

“Where do you want to go?” He asked.

“Where do you go when you sneak out of the castle?” She asked in turn.

Alexander took her hand and teleported them to a place she recognized. This was the river where she almost died had he not saved her.

“I used to spend a lot of time here alone. In many years no one had ever disturbed me until you.” He said. “You are such a nuisance.” He added playfully.

She gave him a sideways look before turning to the hill she jumped from. “Did you see me jump?”

“Yes.”

“Where were you sitting?”

He pointed at one of the trees. She imagined him sitting there alone.

“Well, now you won’t sit alone there. Every time you came here you must bring me with you.”

“Of course.” He said drawing her close and placing a soft kiss on her lips. Then he took her to sit with him under the tree and listened to the river flow and basked in the soft sunlight of spring morning.

“Alexander.” She suddenly thought of loneliness for some odd reason, resonating with why he would like the sound of the river. It was calm and desolate. “I wonder… what does it feel like to live as long as you have? What was it like when you were a child? What did the world look like?”

Now she asked too many questions at the same time but she was curious. From what she had gathered, some bad things happened to him but she hoped he would have good memories too, and maybe sharing the bad ones would make him feel relieved as well.

“I might ruin the day if I tell you all of that.”

“You won’t. You won’t ruin it for me but I understand if you don’t want to talk about it.”

He was quiet for a moment. “You should know.” He said. “What happened before is important to understand what I am now and what we might be facing.”

What they might be facing?

It felt like he would tell her something heavy and she prepared herself for it.