Chapter 100: 100-Much time left
Aeltharion woke up feeling exhausted down to his bones. He found himself lying in a large bed neatly made with brown silk sheets.
The blanket covering him was light, also made of silk and stuffed with cotton. It was so soft and warm that he had no desire to get up.
The careful preparations immediately brought one name to mind, ’Sseraphis.’
No one knew how to take care of him quite like his mate. Aeltharion pulled the blanket over his head and inhaled its scent. Just as he expected, it smelled of gold.
Haha! He laughed. The world could stop turning, and the sun could rise from the west, but Sseraphis’s love for the scent of gold would never change.
"Now I know for certain that you’re back," he murmured.
Cough... cough... cough... Blood accompanied the cough, staining the blanket. The happiness immediately vanished from Aeltharion’s face.
His complexion turned pale as he stared at the blood. It was a cruel reminder that he was sick and moving closer to death with every passing day.
He sat up, allowing the blanket to slide down to his waist. Before his thoughts could consume him completely, his eyes landed on the breakfast tray resting on a nearby table.
Every kind of food had been prepared, and beside it sat a platter filled with assorted fruits.
A smile slowly appeared on his face. ’Nythe,’ he thought. No one loved food as much as his other mate.
And beyond simply loving food, Nytherael knew how to cook surprisingly well despite not particularly enjoying it. Every so often, on days like this, he willingly prepared meals for both Aeltharion and Sseraphis.
His parents had taught him that one way to win the hearts of one’s mates was through their stomachs. By cooking for them every once in a while to get them addicted to his taste.
"This reminds me so much of the past. Can our lives ever return to that?" he asked the empty air as tears slipped down his cheeks.
After a year and a half apart, they had finally reunited. They had believed their love could overcome every war they faced.
Now he was dying, and that faith was beginning to crumble. "Why now?"
Golden tears fell from his eyes. For the first time in many years of remaining strong, he finally broke down inwardly.
He was tired of carrying everyone’s burdens. His body was exhausted from illness, and from realizing, there was nothing he could do to restore his family to what it once had been.
His fingers tightened around the blanket. His vision blurred with tears. He had no appetite, but he forced himself to leave the bed and walk toward the table.
He picked up a grape and placed it into his mouth. When he bit into it, he could feel the natural essence within the fruit, but he couldn’t taste its sweetness.
It was as though his tongue had forgotten how to recognize flavour. Pain gripped his heart when he realized what that meant.
The desire to eat the food his mate had prepared vanished instantly. He had lost one of his senses.
The little happiness he still possessed abandoned him, leaving him standing motionless like a statue.
He didn’t know how long he remained there before soft hands with a delicate complexion wrapped around his waist.
"I’ve been calling you for a long time, but you haven’t answered," Nytherael said. "Why are you pretending not to hear me?"
Aeltharion grabbed Nytherael’s hand. He waited for Nytherael to continue speaking, telling himself that he would match his mate’s energy so Nytherael wouldn’t worry about his health.
"Why aren’t you saying anything? Didn’t you like the food I prepared?" Nytherael asked.
Aeltharion remained silent. Nytherael released his waist and walked around to face him.
Aeltharion quickly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth before Nytherael could notice it and forced a smile.
"Why haven’t you even tasted the food?"
Aeltharion’s eyes widened as he stared at Nytherael. He had been waiting for Nytherael to continue talking so he could follow along, but to his surprise, Nytherael was talking.
Aeltharion simply couldn’t hear him.
Watching Nytherael’s lips move without hearing any sound made him realize that his sense of taste wasn’t the only thing he had lost.
He wished the earth would open beneath him and swallow him whole before he had to live through a day where he could no longer hear his mates’ voices.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nytherael asked.
He couldn’t understand why Aeltharion was staring at him as though he had suddenly grown a second head.
He hadn’t done anything unusual, yet Aeltharion’s reaction was enough to make his heart skip a beat.
"I can’t hear you," Aeltharion said, wanting Nytherael to understand why he wasn’t responding.
Nytherael blinked. Aeltharion’s mouth moved as though he had spoken, but Nytherael heard nothing. No sound came out from his parted lips.
"What did you say?" Nytherael asked.
Aeltharion tried to read Nytherael’s lips to understand him, but he couldn’t follow the movement. He couldn’t understand why Nytherael insisted on talking to him when he’d informed him that he couldn’t hear a single word.
"Why do you keep talking when I just told you I can’t hear you?" he asked.
Nytherael found himself breathing harder. He couldn’t understand what sort of game Aeltharion was playing. Moving his lips and not letting out a sound.
"Wait here. I’ll call Sseraphis..."
He never finished the sentence because at that exact moment, Sseraphis entered the room.
"What do you need me for?" he asked while carrying a set of freshly washed clothes for Aeltharion, carefully perfumed with a pleasant fragrance.
Nytherael didn’t wait for Sseraphis to put the clothes down before grabbing him and dragging him over to Aeltharion.
"I don’t understand what kind of game Aelthie is playing with me. You’re more used to him than I am, so try playing along with him," Nytherael said, feeling unsettled by the suspicion that Aeltharion and Sseraphis were sharing some private joke without him.
He had no idea that Aeltharion wasn’t playing a game at all.
"A game?" Sseraphis found himself confused. He couldn’t remember any games he normally played with Aeltharion.
"Tell me," he said, turning toward Aeltharion.
Aeltharion closed his eyes. He had spoken loudly enough for anyone to hear that he couldn’t hear them, yet Nytherael still didn’t understand and had now dragged Sseraphis into the situation as well.
His heart ached. The thought of having to tell Sseraphis that his ears no longer worked was almost unbearable.
"I don’t understand either of you. Why do you keep bothering me with words?" he found himself saying, his frustration spilling out far more harshly than he intended.
Sseraphis frowned. From Aeltharion’s expression and body language alone, he could clearly tell that the dragon was angry. Yet he heard no sound whatsoever come from Aeltharion’s mouth.
"Can you hear me?" he asked, the healer within him immediately awakening.
"Why would you ask him that?" Nytherael questioned.
"I don’t think this is a game."
As he spoke, he caught the scent of blood. He walked straight to the bed and picked up the blanket stained with crimson.
"And I don’t think he can speak either. I think Aeltharion has lost all of his senses except sight."
He held up the bloodstained blanket for Nytherael to see. The moment Nytherael saw it, he felt his heart shatter. It was as though he could actually hear the sound of the break. For a moment, his soul seemed to leave his body.
"Aeltharion doesn’t have much time left to live."
"What are you saying?" Nytherael asked, his voice trembling in disbelief.
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