Morana

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I managed to get a cup of the tea into Alejo, though it was far from the easiest task. His eyes kept falling shut and even standing up, it seemed like he was moments away from falling asleep.

Once he had drunk it all, I got him to his bed, though that was barely. He leaned on me the whole way and was almost not conscious anymore. It honestly was more like I dragged him into bed than anything else.

I tried to pull away after he had laid down, but at that, his eyes shot up.

"Where are you going?" he asked in a slurred voice before he sat back up and rubbed his eyes. He looked absolutely adorable doing it, and my heart swelled with warmth.

"To my own bed to sleep," I answered, and ran my hand through his messed up hair.

"But I want to cuddle," he then said, and I was completely stunned.

While I still processed what he had said, he got his arms around me and pulled me down to lie next to him. He cuddled up behind me, spooning me, with both arms and legs wrapped around me. His nose nuzzled into my neck and he took a deep breath.

"Much better," he mumbled.

"Can you loosen your grip a bit?" I asked and tried to squirm away somewhat, but his hold tightened instead.

"Then you might disappear," he said in a voice that sounded much more asleep than awake.

"I promise I won't."

"Can't risk it."

I let out a sigh and accepted my faith for the evening. And it was very comfortable. And safe. Though I still wasn't sure I wasn't at fault for turning people bad, it felt much more manageable now that Alejo was with me. The repeating images in my head of what had happened also stopped with his arms around me. I knew I was safe. Alejo would protect me, no matter what.

His breathing had been slow and even for a while, and I believed him to be asleep when he spoke again.

"How far did he get? How much did he hurt you?"

Considering the tiredness Alejo had exhibited, I was certain he was half-asleep, if not completely, and talking in his sleep. Even so, the anger was unmistakable in his voice.

"Not far. He didn't..." I swallowed, unable to say that one word.

"Good," Alejo murmured and his lips pressed against my neck. "I'll still kill him for daring to lay a finger on you."

"Please don't. If you do, you might end up in prison. Then who will I call when I need protection?" I laughed lightly and tried to make it a joke. I didn't want to be upset anymore. Not when I felt so safe in Alejo's arms.

But his arms tightened, and he drew in a sharp breath. "I will never let anyone hurt you again. Even if it'll cost me my life, I'll protect you."

His mouth was right by my neck as he spoke, and it caused shivers to run through my body. I smiled and lightly kissed his arm. He really had to be basically asleep to say such nonsense, but it warmed my heart nonetheless.

*****

I was the first to wake up. A soft light came from behind the curtains. I tried to get out from Alejo's arms, but he still held me to him much too hard. So I gave up, and I was still very tired.

Sleep quickly took me again.

*****

"Ask us," the slithering voices told me. "Ask us, and we'll come."

"Ask us, and we'll help."

"Ask us, and pay the price."

I bolted to a sitting position. My heart beat so fast and hard I was sure it was going to come out of my chest. My mind spun, tried to catch up with what had me so scared.

"Ssssh, it was just a nightmare. I'm here. You're safe," Alejo said to the side of me while rubbing my back.

I turned to look at him. Wondered how he could know what I had dreamed. Then slowly, ridiculously slowly, I realized what he had to be thinking I had dreamed of.

"I won't ever let him get near you again," he added, confirming my suspicion.

I nodded, having no intention of correcting him. My head still tried to make sense of my own fear.

I hadn't ever before been scared of those voices, so why now?

As my heart rate had evened out, I thought I understood.

Pay the price.

I couldn't say what the price was or what it was it would give me. But instinctively it made me scared. Though it also wasn't in the way I would have thought. Whatever the price could be didn't scare me. And the voices still didn't neither. 

We'll help.

It was the reason behind why I would need their help, why I would need to pay them. A reason I had no idea what it was, but that all the same had me terrified.

Alejo just sat quietly next to me as I calmed down and when I had, we both laid back down.

"I'm going to kill him," Alejo mumbled and hugged me to him. "I swear to the Goddess that I'm going to kill him."

"Don't," I answered and suppressed a shudder at the menacing tone in his voice.

"He'd deserve it."

"Maybe so. But he's not worth it."

"You are though." He snuggled up closer and took a deep breath of my scent again.

I wanted to refute him. But I had a feeling it would be pointless. He would just continue to claim I was.

We were silent for a long while. He didn't hold me as tightly anymore, but instead his arms were very loose around me. They also lay in such a way that I could clearly see his wrists and see the dried blood which was still there.

It looked a bit strange, to be honest. It seemed to have come from a spot on his wrist, from the blood vessels which were visible through the skin there, and that it then had created rivers down each side. But there weren't any signs of that his wrists had been hurt.

I moved a finger up to feel the skin, to make sure there wasn't any unevenness which indicated a healed wound I just couldn't see. But his skin was completely smooth and soft. If it hadn't been for the dried blood, I would never have suspected anything.

"What happened?" I asked, still moving my finger over the spot the blood seemed to have come from.

He stiffened. His body had been completely relaxed next to me and from his breathing, it had sounded like he had been close to falling asleep again. But my question clearly brought him out of that calmness.

I tried to move to turn around. I wanted to see his face to know what he felt. But he held me harder in an instance, held me in place.

"I'll tell you, but... But can we be like this while I do it?" he said and I could feel him lean his forehead against my back.

"Okay," I answered, and his hold loosened a bit.

I stared out into the room, waited. He still had his forehead against my back and remained silent. To show him I really was there, and that I was going to still be no matter what he told me, I moved a hand to hold one of his. As our fingers interlaced, he let out a shaky sigh.

"I... It... It's silly really," he said and finally seemed to gain confidence in what to say. A bit too much and a bit too suddenly. "Always during holidays, I'm basically just treated like a servant by the coven. I was cooking some food and was a bit careless because I wanted to get back here as quick as possible, so I cut myself. I healed it with magic, but didn't think of washing away the blood. I'm sorry if it got you worried."

I knew that wasn't the truth. The anxiety he had had over telling me was far too great for it to be something like that. And the way the blood had dried also looked highly unlikely to come from a cut caused while cooking. Neither did the placement. I was certain it was an intentional cut, but, for some reason, Alejo didn't want to tell me who had done it.

For a moment, I got upset over that. Did he not trust me? But then I realized it was hypocritical of me to be upset by it. I still hadn't told him about the voices, and that wasn't because I didn't trust him. It was just that I... I couldn't bring myself to admit to him how fucked up and weird I was. I didn't think he would treat me any differently, but I also didn't want to find out.