The moment the lamplight revealed his bare upper body, Talia unconsciously drew in a sharp breath.
The bandages she had replaced for him the previous night were already gone.
She walked over and carefully examined his shoulder.
Only the faintest trace remained where the wound had been.
"What happened? They said it would take another day before it healed completely."
"The ointment that healer prepared worked better than expected. As soon as I confirmed the poisoning symptoms had disappeared, I had a priest finish treating it."
She swallowed hard.
"Th-that's... good."
She awkwardly stepped back.
Then gloved fingers touched her face.
"Are you finally relieved now?"
Varkas quietly asked as he gazed into her eyes.
For some reason, an icy sensation swept through her, as though the obedient hunting dog she had always believed she could handle had suddenly sunk its teeth into her throat.
Turning her head aside as if to shake off his hand, Talia answered curtly,
"Yes. There's nothing left to worry about now."
An awkward silence settled between them.
Staring at his shadow stretching across the carpet, Talia slowly lifted her head.
Eyes filled with quiet contemplation were looking down at her from only a short distance away.
Brushing the hair away from her forehead, he asked,
"What would you like me to do?"
Talia tightly gripped the folds of her skirt.
Her lips felt painfully dry.
"I..."
She couldn't understand why she kept avoiding the subject.
Wasn't this exactly why she had rushed his recovery?
Now she simply had to ask him to share her bed, just as she had planned.
Clutching her dress tighter, she moistened her parched lips.
Then a soothing voice drifted down over her head.
"If you don't wish it, I'll wait longer."
Yet even as he said that, his large hand slipped around her waist, as though he had no intention whatsoever of allowing her to leave the room.
With trembling eyes, Talia looked up at him.
If we aren't going to sleep together, then there's no reason for me to stay here.
So why can't I push this hand away?
And why... why do you want me to remain beside you?
To be satisfied simply because we're together, even if nothing happens.
Isn't that... almost like love?
At that moment, something frightening enough to resemble terror crawled down her spine.
It felt as though she were standing naked in the middle of a grand banquet hall.
She clasped her trembling hands together.
Don't expect anything.
You mustn't expect anything.
Repeating the words obsessively to herself, she forced out a strained voice.
"Put... put out all the lights."
Even if she suffocated to death, all she wanted at that moment was to hide inside the darkness.
She urged him in an anxious voice.
"Right now."
"...Are you certain you're all right?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
Talia answered with a mocking laugh.
"That's the only thing I want from you. I don't want anything else."
Something subtle flickered across his face.
She didn't want to know what it meant.
Keeping her eyes fixed on the floor, Talia endured the knife-edged silence.
At last, he turned away and extinguished every light in the room one by one.
But moonlight pouring in through the windows still bathed the chamber in pale brightness.
Suppressing the tremor in her voice, Talia urged him again.
"Close the curtains too."
The man walked toward the window with excruciating slowness.
Yet instead of drawing the curtains, he simply stood there, silently gazing at the brilliant moon.
Overcome by an unidentifiable fear, Talia stared fixedly at his straight back.
Then, after standing perfectly still as though lost in thought, he suddenly strode back toward her.
Startled, Talia instinctively stepped backward.
Varkas reached out, effortlessly lifted her into his arms, and carried her straight to the bed.
She struggled on instinct.
"No! I told you to close the curtains!"
"I won't look at anything you don't want me to see."
Setting her down upon the bed, Varkas whispered into her ear.
Talia looked up at him with frightened eyes.
Bending over her, Varkas pulled the blanket up, wrapping both of them beneath it.