Chapter 96: 96-A rare sight
"You promised to protect me and keep me safe," Sseraphis circled his hand around Nytherael’s waist, leaned close, and went on, "You promised to fight my enemies for me... you must keep that promise, old fox!" he demanded.
"Old?"
"Aren’t you older than me?" Sseraphis blinked innocently.
Faced with such an innocent face, the intended jab at his age felt like he was overthinking the statement.
"Not that much older," he defended, brushing his hair. The silver tone of his hair with soft pinkish hues glowed with youth.
Being a nine-tailed fox, he was bound to remain youthful forever. Nytherael stared at him. For several long seconds, he looked completely speechless, which was a rare enough event that even the wind seemed to pause in curiosity.
Then he slowly raised a finger. "First of all," he said with remarkable patience, "I am not old."
Sseraphis immediately opened his mouth. "No?" He teased. "You haven’t even heard what I was going to say."
"I know exactly what you were going to say," Nytherael argued, thar statement hurt his feelings.
Sseraphis kept up his innocent expression. "How can you know?"
"Because I’ve known you for years, and you’ve already called me old seven times."
"Is this the seventh or the eighth time?" Sseraphis asked him.
Nytherael’s eye twitched. "That is not helping your case."
Sseraphis smiled brightly.
The fox narrowed his eyes. The smile on Sseraphis’ face somehow became even brighter. The worst part was knowing whether Sseraphis was doing it intentionally or not. He genuinely looked innocent.
Completely innocent like a celestial creature descended from the heavens whose only purpose was spreading joy and absolutely not driving him toward an early grave, which was difficult because foxes didn’t actually die from old age
Nytherael sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You’re impossible. An impossible, cunning snake."
"I’ve been told that before."
"Whoever told you that was right to do so."
Sseraphis looked entirely too pleased by that statement. His arm remained around Nytherael’s waist, keeping the fox trapped against him.
Ordinarily, Nytherael would have removed it immediately because the snake looked mischievous. Yet somehow, he found himself allowing it. A fact he absolutely refused to examine because he’d long missed being close to Sseraphis.
The snake’s venomous violet-black eyes sparkled as he leaned closer. "You didn’t answer my question."
"What question?"
"You promised to protect me."
"You remember that?"
"Would you wish I didn’t. Are you hoping to get away from taking responsibility for your promises?" He questioned, his cold fingers sliding up and down Nytherael arm.
"I did, and I intend to keep my promise."
"You promised to keep me safe," Sseraphis added, getting a strange feeling that he had once trusted those promises.
Nytherael let out another sigh. "Yes, and you can count on me."
Sseraphis’s smile softened. "Then keep your promise this time. You can’t falter for any reason." The teasing vanished from his voice. The sudden seriousness caught Nytherael off guard.
For a brief moment, the snake looked younger like the first time they had met. At that time, Sseraphis had placed his best foot forward, doing his part to make their relationship work.
Fairy Zarathia had shown him the truth that she had spotted on Nytherael’s memory. As a renowned snake who was good at manipulation, he found it laughable that the three of them together hadn’t noticed that Nytherael was charmed and manipulated.
"Why are you so affectionate today?"
"That scarlet-eyed beast manipulated me," he said, a little displeased to admit that he had fallen to a state of being taken advantage of. "I am not sure about the circumstances by which he managed to get me with my guard lowered and be able to pull off such a trick... but it’s made me a little less judgemental about your situation."
His anger had disappeared after he learnt the truth. It was hard to stay mad at the fox when he too fell prey to manipulation and doubted his mates, which is the same thing that happened to Nytherael.
Going through the same thing presently, he could put himself in Nytherael’s shoes and let go of his anger. That or the fact that his memories were blocked so his feelings were easily swayed.
He knew he’d be a lot less understanding of Nytherael if his memories were fully intact.
"You sound like the old you," Nytherael smiled, happy that finally, Sseraphis’ anger had dissipated, and he was ready to start understanding him. Even though the understanding came while their world was on fire, he couldn’t be happier about it.
"The old me and the new me are still just me..." The words lingered between them.
Sseraphis wasn’t smiling when he said it. Nytherael found himself staring. The playful snake who enjoyed provoking everyone around him was still there. The dangerous manipulator feared across realms was still there. Yet beneath both versions existed a softer beast. Someone Nytherael had not seen in a very long time and one he had thought he had lost.
"Perhaps you are right," Nytherael said quietly.
The answer seemed to surprise them both. Nytherael looked away first, his mismatched eyes drifting toward the distant horizon where dark clouds gathered beyond the mountains.
"Beasts change," he continued. "Memories, experiences, pain changes them. But there are some things that remain."
Sseraphis watched him carefully. "And what remains of me?" he asked.
Nytherael hesitated. ’You. All of you.’ He thought. The word nearly escaped before he caught it. Instead, he folded his arms. "Your inability to cause trouble for me," he let out playfully.
Sseraphis burst into laughter. The answer sparked a fit of laughter from him. He was genuinely pleased by Nytherael’s response that tears of happiness flowed out from his eyes.
Nytherael rolled his eyes. "You were being sentimental. It was disturbing," he let out as the reason for his earlier remark.
"Disturbing? Me?"
"Extremely," Nytherael said without hesitation.
Sseraphis laughed harder. The sound echoed through the garden. For a moment, it almost felt normal, like the world was collapsing, and ancient darkness was awakening under the ground.
Just the two of them standing beneath flowering trees while arguing over nonsense. It was a dangerous illusion that neither of them wanted to break it.
Nytherael pinched his arm to make sure that he wasn’t daydreaming. Having a rare moment of sharing laughter with Sseraphis was a blessing he’d prayed for and couldn’t lose again.
Sseraphis’s laughter eventually faded. His hand remained around Nytherael’s waist as the fox still hadn’t moved it. That realization made something warm settle inside his chest.
It was strange, comforting, and dangerous because he imagined losing that feeling, and the emptiness that would be left would break him beyond his imagination.
His gaze dropped briefly to the silver strands brushing against Nytherael’s shoulders. ’Beautiful,’ the thought appeared unexpectedly.
He immediately blamed the manipulation or the missing memories for such a thought appearing in his head, anything except himself.
"You know," he said.
Nytherael immediately looked at him, full of suspicion. "I dislike that tone that you are using."
"What tone?"
"That tone."
Sseraphis grinned. "You are beautiful," he complimented.
Silence enveloped the two of them. It was absolute to the point that the wind, birds, and the entire garden seemed to stop.
Nytherael stared blankly. A compliment was far from his expectations. He had anticipated a mischievous remark or a provocation.
Sseraphis stared back at him. Enjoying the sight before his eyes, every inch of Nytherael was like a treat for his eyes.
Then the fox’s ears slowly turned pink. A sight so rare that Sseraphis almost forgot how to breathe.
"You..." Nytherael pointed accusingly. "You said that deliberately."
"I did," Sseraphis admitted.
"You are teasing me."
Sseraphis shook his head. "Not this time."
The pink hues deepened. Nytherael looked genuinely horrified. "Don’t look so pleased with yourself after unsettling me."
"I can’t help it," Sseraphis said. It’s not like he couldn’t help it. He wouldn’t.
"You absolutely can."
"I don’t want to."
Nytherael groaned. Then, he buried his face in one hand. Sseraphis looked delighted.
"I should compliment you more often," Sseraphis noted down, loving the upper hand it gave him to see Nytherael so flustered.
"You should not," Nytherael leaned back, taking deep breaths to recompose himself.
"I think I should," Sseraphis insisted. It was something he intended to do more of in the future.
Nytherael pictured the horror and felt terrified. "You absolutely should not."
"It appears very effective."
Nytherael glared at him. Effective at doing what? Getting him flustered? Making him blush? He absolutely couldn’t have that.
Sseraphis smiled. The glare from Nytherael only intensified, which caused the smile on Sseraphis to widen.
"You are insufferably annoying."
"You know you missed me," Sseraphis poked at his stomach while laughing heartily.
Nytherael looked away. He didn’t wish for his reddened face to encourage Sseraphis into teasing him even more. But Sseraphis didn’t notice as he laid his head on Nytherael’s chest, closed his eyes, and tuned out every sound except for Nytherael’s heartbeat.
"Have I always loved the sound of your heartbeat?" He asked.
’Very much,’ Nytherael’s face burnt. Sseraphis loved Aeltharion’s gold scent, and with him, it was the heartbeat. Those two things always made the snake feel whole.
"It sounds good. Let me listen for a while. You don’t mind, do you?"
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