When Eli woke up, it was late in the morning. She was alone in bed, but it took her seconds to find Malkan standing by the open windows to her right.
His elbows rested on the windowsill, pinching a cigarette roll between his fingers. The mild breeze took the smoke away the second he exhaled it. All he wore was his black pants.
Peculiarly enough, that reminded Eli of the mage and his scheme, and she felt immediately tired. Her life was tragic before him, yet the mage somehow managed to put Eli into another hell.
Malkan's enormous bare back was to Eli, hiding most of his face. She could only see the thick and thin black lines of ink on his back, circling and dancing from the nape of his neck to his lower back. The lines disappeared into the rays of sunlight on his muscles, but Eli knew it would continue to his arms and down on his knuckles. They would disappear around the shoulder, coating his body like a cape. Some lines were erased and replaced with new white and pink scars.
Eli knew the origin story of most of his old wounds. She was to blame for some of them. She was a lot feistier before Malkan tamed her. Or, at least, that's the word he would use. And Eli was reluctant to ponder much about her past, so she didn't have a better word for it.
Eli sighed and closed her eyes again.
She was lying on her chest, hugging her pillow. Daylight had warmed up the room, and she was not ready to get up.
"Good, you're up."
Eli heard Malkan as his footsteps neared the bed. Eli opened her eyes again, hesitant, and saw him standing at the foot of the bed, staring down at her, holding his cigar between two fingers. It was burning slowly, the smoke dancing around his fingers. Malkan had tied his long hair into a loose man bun, and from the looks of it, he had enough time to clean his beard. Eli must have been sleeping most of the morning.
"I'm not," Eli closed her eyes again.
She planned to sleep the whole day, trying to forget her crises.
"Care to explain what's on your ankle?"
His voice was accusing enough to make Eli open her eyes. Only if her problems could leave her alone for a few more minutes...
Eli rubbed her eyes and sat on her elbows; her nipples popped up.
"I don't remember..." Eli tried to buy more time to think this through, looking vaguely down at her right ankle. It looked awful.
"You have blisters as big as my fucking thumb."
Eli pressed her lips; he had a point.
"I don't know; I must have kicked a burning log on my way out of that hunted house." Eli blabbed.
"And you burned your whole ankle? All the way around?" He took another puff and flicked the rest of his cigarette out the window.
He grabbed Eli's calf and lifted her leg, making her collapse on the bed. She yelped.
Now his whole attention was on Eli, looking at the burnt marks closely. That was no good. Definitely not good.
"Since when do you care about my well-being?" Eli protested. Changing the subject was an effective method. However, she felt ridiculous with one leg up in the air in Malkan's grip, naked.
"I don't." Malkan reminded her. "I want to know what the hell that is. With this burn, you must be fucking limping. Aren't you in pain?"
She was.
She was also good at ignoring her pain, whether it was physical or emotional.
"Not much." Eli lied and gave Malkan an innocent smile. "You wanna go for a run?"
"As if you can run." Malkan chuckled. He seemed suspicious, but his eyes softened a bit.
He let go of her leg and threw himself on the bed on his stomach, grabbing one of Eli's breasts in his hand. "You did a good job, you know," he said. "I thought you weren't coming back."
Eli turned to examine him. "I didn't know I had that option," Eli snorted, but Malkan was still serious. Even though his fingers were tracing around her nipple, making it hard.
"Why did you think that?" Eli found herself asking.
Malkan huffed. "I don't know. That fucking mage got me thinking."
Eli turned on her right side and fully faced him. "Did you know him?"
Was he hiding something from her?
"No, I told you that."
"Then what?"
"Fucking mages, Eli. They're creepy enough to set traps on their houses in case someone tries to trespass." Malkan's hand slid down her abdomen, circling around her belly button.
Eli frowned. "Well, that's some shit you could have mentioned before! And here I thought you told me everything you knew about him."
"I don't know much about him. Just that he was on house arrest, and I did tell you that."
Eli was suddenly fully conscious. "Yeah, about that..." She did her best to hide her curiosity. "What did he do?"
"He attempted to murder the high mage. It was years ago."
Eli's mouth fell open.
Why did the mage want to kill the high mage?
Eli had little data about mages. Still, she knew enough that the high mage was the one actually ruling over Oxyn, whispering in the king's ears since the king was ill enough to die any minute. He's been sick for many years, and if there wasn't for proficient healers of Oxyn, he would have visited the god of death many years ago.
"Why you didn't tell me that?" Eli was offended.
"How the fuck could that help you rob his house?" Malkan slapped Eli's butt cheek, forcing her to roll and sleep on her chest.
Eli gave him a side look but said nothing for a few seconds.
"It was terrifying, you know. The look on his face, the scent of him..." Eli's voice trailed off.
She shouldn't have talked more about him, although she wanted to. Not the lies the mage instructed her to tell, the absolute truth. She was dying to figure out if Malkan knew anything about that little army the mage had, but according to the mage, she had to stick to the plan if she wanted to live.
"So..." Malkan pulled himself up, putting his weight on his left elbow, interested in the new subject. "What you said about him last night… was true?"
Blood rushed to Eli's face. He was big enough to shadow her, taking most of the sunlight. Yet somehow, Eli was on fire. She could feel her heart speeding up its beat. Maybe talking about the mage was not wise. Maybe Eli had to learn how to shut her big mouth. A sheen of sweat coated her back, and her mouth was suddenly dry.
She had to be convincing. One wrong word and the mage would end her life in a bat of an eye.
"It was...he was horrible... I've never seen someone so unalive and... yet, umm... breathing." She said precisely what the mage ordered her to say.
"Hmm," Somehow, Malkan found this information understandable. "Mages can not easily die."
Eli fought the urge to grind her teeth. There he was again, excluding her of another vital information. All her anxiety turned into rage.
She took a leash on her fury and softly respired, "He must have been ancient then." She suggested.
"No," Malkan was lost in his thought, "He was so young."
Eli snapped, "You did know him then!"
Gone was the leash on her anger.
Malkan looked at her for a second, confused, before his thick brows tangled with each other. "You sneaky little bitch!"
Eli sat on the bed, "Malkan, I could've fucking died!"
"And I'm glad you haven't," Malkan barked.
"Why you didn't tell me you knew him?" Eli was furious enough to risk angering him.
"Because I knew him in Towj," Malkan yelled. Eli blinked. She went rigid as if Mlkan had slapped her. Hard.
Malkan cursed under his lips as he rolled and left the bed, running his fingers into his man bun. "Fucking hell, Eli. You drive me crazy."
He turned his back to Eli once more and stood by the window. This time, Eli followed him. She stood beside him by the window, naked. From there, she had a fine view of the capital city of Oxyn, Ray.
Children were brabbling in the streets, cursing and punching each other. Eli could hear the merchants advertising their wares in the Grand Bazaar from a few blocks away. There was the sound of the chickens nearby. Emad had probably left the chickens to roost in the backyard.
Eli faced Malkan, who was apparently ignoring her.
"Was he with you when you came to Towj?"
Was he involved with Oxynish mercenaries raiding Towjian mines and villages years ago?
That was Eli's actual question.
That could explain why he was suddenly curious about Eli, interrogating her past.
"No," Malkan's voice was distant. "He used to live in Towj before we..."
Before Malkan kidnapped Eli and many more children from their village while other mercenaries killed their parents who were working in mines, including Eli's.
But Eli didn't mention that. She realized now why Malkan wouldn't want to chat about the mage.
Part of Eli knew he felt guilty about what he had done in the past. Part of her who loved him wanted to believe he had changed.
The other part wanted to leap forward, pushing him through the window, hoping that would break his neck and end Eli's dismay. But she didn't move. She had a firm leash on this part of her. Stronger than the leash she had on her anger.
"He was a powerful mage." Malkan suddenly added. He was just as lost in his thought as Eli was. "He was a boy back then, but everybody knew he would be named as the next high mage."
"Did he help you and the others?" Eli couldn't stop herself. She had to know.
"In a way..." Malkan turned to her, abruptly realizing he voluntarily gave out facts Eli was excluded for years. He sighed deeply, heaving his chest.
"Enough about the past." His gaze roamed Eli's bare body hungrily.
Yet Eli had other ideals. "I agree; let's talk about the future," Eli said before she could stop herself.
Her heart was her throat. It was time.