Chapter 7

• Tezy
• _____
• “What’s eloped mean?” I whispered to Delta Garro, who actually had another name, according to what I had just heard.
• My eyes swept the interior of the small house. It had dull yellow walls and ceilings. There were framed images on the walls of a family. There were landscape paintings as well. They were all quite beautiful. A set of seats of different sizes was arranged neatly in front of something like a black flat box.
• We entered a smaller room with a couple of glass windows to the left. Delta Garro pulled a chair at a small table, where he sat me down. He also pulled another chair and looked at me.
• “Seriously? You don’t know the word?” he asked quietly.
• His mother put two cups of tea in front of us. Her glances bounced from me to him. “What is going on here, Garridan?” she asked again. She sat down to my right, facing us. “Aren’t you going to tell me at all?”
• “It’s not what you think, Mama,” he replied gently. “I’ll explain later, all right?”
• She took a breath and nodded, glancing at me. “Are you all right, dragă?”
• “I’m fine, thank you,” I answered softly.
• “Her name’s Tezy Hebbia, not dear, Mama,” he introduced me to his mother. He then turned to me, saying, “She’s my adoptive mother, Smaranda Codrin. She’s human.”
• She held my hand and pressed it a little. “I’m glad to meet you, Tezy dragă. Tell me, what happened? It’s just past four in the morning.”
• “Mama, I said I’ll tell you later, okay?” Delta Garro reminded her.
• “I can’t wait, Garridan! You showed up looking like this. If I were not an early riser, I wouldn’t even know you’ve arrived looking like this. What else must I think?” She looked at me pointedly, emphasizing somewhere at my chest. “So, can either of you tell me?”
• I glanced at Delta Garro. He kept his mouth shut. I looked at his mother, saying, “I’m sorry. I may not be able to explain it well as your son would.”
• His mother stared at me for a long moment and chuckled. “All right. You both can go upstairs and have a rest. You look like you need it so bad right now,” she uttered. “Drink the chamomile tea first, and I’ll let go both of you.” She looked at her son meaningfully. “Don’t worry, I won’t disturb you. I’ll be in the cellar and count the bottles until you’re awake.”
• Delta Garro chuckled, while I had no idea what she was talking about.
• We both finished the drink quickly. True enough, I was dying to lie down. I hoped their bed was as comfortable as mine back in my underground palace in Benzai. Otherwise, it would be difficult for me to sleep.
• “So, aren’t you going to tell me what eloped means?” I asked him, as we mounted the wooden stairs. A few of them creaked due to our weight.
• I could tell that he held up his laughter. Still, I looked at him earnestly.
• “You’re serious all right. Elope means you run away secretly, so that you can get married.”
• My brows knitted. “Married? What’s that mean?”
• His jaw hung. “Don’t you have that in your realm?”
• “Would I ask if there was?” I shot back.
• We stopped in front of a wooden door. He crossed his arms, looking at me intently. I had no idea why my heart jumped by the way he raked my face with his blue-black eyes.
• “That makes me wonder if you don’t have any mating ceremony in Hebbiza,” he muttered gently.
• My lips parted. “W-what? A mating ceremony? I’ve never heard of such a thing! But mating, yes. In fact, my sister mated with my two brothers not so long ago.”
• A profanity got out of his mouth. “Is that… is that your way of living in Hebbiza? You⸺”
• My eyes went wide. “Of course not! I don’t do that! I don’t mate, at all! Why would I mate with my brothers or my worshippers? That’s sick!”
• He burst out laughing, amused eyes dancing at my expense, obviously. “What did you say? Mating is sick?” He looked serious, as he advanced closer to me.
• I could feel the heat emanating from his body. I naturally stepped back. I never liked heat, blame it to my nature.
• “I promise you, one day, you’ll not think of mating as sick, sugar tits. You will enjoy every little bit of it, every moment of it, when I lick your body and kiss your lips,” he whispered in my ear. His warm breath tickled me; however, I remained where I stood, holding my breath. My heart did a somersault before it beat so fast and hard against my rib cage.
• I dared not recall, at least tried not to, how Kigga mated with our brothers. But the acts played in my mind. Those memories rushed into my head as naturally as water flows into the river, when Delta Garro whispered in my ear. Something deep within me stirred, which I could not comprehend.
• What is he making me feel? Did he do this on purpose? Don’t tell me this is what he means by serving him!
• I looked at him in panic. No! I wouldn’t let him touch me ever! I would crush his body before he could do anything to me.
• He opened the door and signaled me to go into a small room. I reluctantly did so. There was a window on my left and a closet with a rectangular built-in mirror on my right.
• The room was indeed way smaller than mine in the palace. The bed was small, too. It had a blue cover. The pillowcases had the same color. The smell of the room was clean and fresh. I hardly expected it after smelling the tea in the kitchen. I was not so fond of that smell, but it seemed that it was the appropriate thing to do, to oblige my hostess.
• “Is this your bed?” I turned to look at Delta Garro.
• “It’s king size, anything wrong with it?” he asked pointedly.
• “I think it’s small,” I complained. “Even you will not fit in it well.” I eyed his tallness, looking at him from head to toe.
• “Don’t tell me you’re going to shift in your sleep!” he said, eyes widening. He must be imagining by now if I shifted in my giant self and destroyed his mother’s ancestral home.
• “Of course not! It never happened,” I informed him truthfully and bluntly.
• He huffed. “That means we can even sleep here together.” He gestured a hand in the air carelessly. “The bed is enough for both of us.”
• My eyes grew bigger. “Excuse me? No way! Search for your own bed! I don’t share my bed with anyone,” I told him.
• A nasty, flirty smile appeared on his lips. “Don’t worry, sugar tits. I don’t have time to violate your body right now.”
• I was left astounded as he turned on his heels and shed the silk robe off to enter a smaller room. I followed him there out of curiosity. Was he going to sleep in there? Was the bed bigger than mine?
• He suddenly turned around. “Coming to have a shower with me, sugar tits?”
• “A-a shower?” I gave him a confused look.
• I could not see any bed in that room. Instead, there was sort of a rectangular cubicle in it, with a light green rectangular human-size basin. There was also a small covered seat, a mirror on the wall, and a smaller basin-like ceramic attached to the wall.
• Delta Garro just smirked and moved away from me. I saw him turning a pair of valves, and warm water ran from overhead.
• “I can share it with you, if you wish, Goddess,” he mocked, gesturing his hand.
• I stepped back once again. “I don’t clean my body with warm water. I hate anything warm.”
• “But you just drank tea.”
• “That’s because your mother made me drink it.”
• He chuckled. “I see. Then, how do you clean your body?” He narrowed his eyes, regarding me intently. His left eyebrow piercing was emphasized. Even more so, the thick-faced shifter appeared oblivious of his being naked in front of me. All the while, I refused to look down. Instead, I stared at the running warm water. I must admit it was fascinating. There was nothing like it in Hebbiza.
• “I swim in the cold river or lake, anywhere that fancies me,” I told him. The water did not accumulate on the floor. Instead, it was drained by small holes.
• He went into the cubicle and started to take his shower. He took a bottle and rubbed its content against his skin, creating some bubbles, and it smelled quite nice.
• I was about to reach out for the said bottle to inspect it when he pulled my hand. I squealed, as the warm water hit my body, wetting my thin clothing.