Page 35 of Ruby
Instead of questioning the weirdness, I wait for Szhe’ka to beckon me over and when he does, I walk to the edge of the stream, wash my hands in it and begin to drink. The water is cool and doesn’t have any kind of taste so I hope it’s clean. Painful death by waterborne disease would be pretty much how my life has been going lately.
After I’m done drinking, I wash my face and immediately feel better, though a full dunk would be great and I consider it for a moment before I notice the reflection of my face in the water. The droplets from my hand fall back in and disturb the image but I move away just a little so that I can see what caught my eye and made my heart pound.
I haven’t given the changes to my body much thought in between trying not to die and fussing at Szhe’ka.
My eyes are red. Full on, demon possession red… over every surface of my eyes. After my mind is done stuttering over that development, I notice the furrow between my new demon eyes. A moment later I am making every face I can think of, hands going to my face as I marvel at how smooth it is. And fully functional. Lips evenly full like they were in my youth. I barely stop myself from groping my breasts when I see the reversal of dozens of procedures on my face, moving my hands at the last moment to discreetly push at the side of them.
No silicone. Another discreet brush to the front and a low moan escapes when the movement across my nipple sends darting signals to my core. Those nerves were cut out long ago, the lost sensation just another cost of fame.
What the fuck?
Before I can fully take in this new development, a large foot splashes in the water and takes my reflection away.
“We leave. Before they find,” he sings to me.
I look up at him and see that he is looking pointedly in every direction to make sure that there is nothing harming us. The gesture is calming but to think the reverse is quite terrifying.
“Yes,” I agree and dip my hands into the stream one last time, as if to say goodbye, before getting on my feet and standing beside my giant guardian.
We begin our walk, and this time I walk ahead of Szhe’ka but I cannot help but feel his eyes on me. Coupled with the silence, and the thoughts flitting around in my head about how to use the newly revitalized nerve endings in my breasts, it is uncomfortable.
Can he tell some of those thoughts keep including him?
“Something on me?” I ask, wanting to know if I had picked up a parasite or something without realizing.
“Nothing,” he sings back but the look in his eyes is still weird.
Perhaps he can’t see it but he can feel that something is wrong? Or maybe, it’s this absurd idea that he knows something is off with me.
I move so Szhe’ka and I are walking beside each other.
“Why keep looking?” I ask, this time letting the Bitch surface a bit in my discomfort.
He turns his face away, a hum of confusion following, and walks ahead, seemingly scouting in front of us to make sure nothingis trying to harm us. Probably. Perhaps all my abrasiveness has made him uncomfortable.
That’s the whole point of the Bitch, but for the first time it makes me feel… sad maybe?
I don’t expect him to answer. Some part of me doesn’t even want him to so I can be proven right about him wanting something from me. After all, nobody can babysit an angry, full grown adult and make sure they’re safe if there’s nothing in it for them.
After a long huff, I find an interesting stick to quell my mind from going places. Except it doesn’t really work.
I almost forgot that I asked a question until I hear him start to warble with the beginning of a song. “I promised, you mine to watch. Protect.”
I blink at him, confused. “Yours to… watch and protect?” I reiterate, hoping I heard him wrong.
What the hell is that supposed to mean and why am I not angry about it? He looks at me a little too long and I look away from him, unsure of how to feel or even what to say.
“Did I speak wrong?” Szhe’ka asks me and I turn to look at him and stare until he looks away from me.
I know what the Bitch would say, but I keep her in check, heart pounding to not have the protection of her anger.
“No,” I respond,
I don’t like how it feels to be harsh with Szhe’ka. It’s not like I’ve gotten much thrill from being the Bitch, but at least it felt like armor before. Now it just feels… dirty.
All he has done since our meeting is make life as easy for me as he can manage, while I have done nothing but be a burden. My mind goes back to what he said only a couple minutes earlier about being his to watch and protect and although I don’t want to, my brain instantly links it to danger.
I have heard versions of those words before. Since I was thirteen. “I’ll take care of you, baby,” he told me as he undressed me, ignoring my shaking, taking the word of my mother for my consent.
