Daughter of Death -Chapter 14 (Patreon)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN 

Reina was crying. Ferdinand was undoubtedly dying. “I...can’t...save you!” she sobbed feeling terrified and helpless for the first time in her young life.

She could see him shaking his head some. The poor man was in denial as his body drained slowly with each pump that gushed from his wounds. She grabbed his free hand and sobbed over him before stealing bloody kisses from his lips knowing she didn’t have long until he would grow still.

Or, was it different with men of normal size? For Ferdinand spoke softly after several more moments passed, “Reina. Love do not cry.”

“I don’t want to lose you!” she cried desperately.

“And you shall not,” he replied with his voice still raspy as he spit some of his own blood off to the side, “Do you think a deer would ever come between our love, darling?”

Reina stared at him wide-eyed and confused. He reached up with his bloodied hand and tucked a stray lock of hair away from her tear-stained cheek. “I have my full power while you do not. My body is not so easily destroyed as yours, love.” 

He moved his neck and she could see through the blood that the wounds he’d obtained were barely visible any longer. With great effort Ferdinand sat up and stared into his lover’s eyes already looking calm and strong. She understood the extent of his power and kissed him in happiness and hungry excitement. She had even another thing to look forward to, then, for herself in a few months’ time.

“I’m going to need to wash up a little,” he muttered with a bit of a smile after gently kissing then calmly licking away the blood he’d tainted her cheek and hand with. She felt aroused by the gesture.

“I will come with you.”

“Ah but you will not enter the stream for despite your faculties you could still catch a chill when you do not dry off fast enough. I will allow you to accompany me, however, to the water.”

This she eagerly did and Ferdinand did not take long to wash off his neck and face and hair of the blood before pulling off his doublet and rinsing it and his shirt in the stream. She watched his bare chest with a longing and as he straightened and wrung the clothing out she almost came forward to meet him in the rushing water.

But Reina somehow held herself with restraint and he put the damp, somewhat stained clothing back on and returned to her side. “Let us return for dinner at the cottage, then.”

They did so hand-in-hand and as expected found the dwarves had set out a meal and were awaiting them; ready to serve.

Ferdinand sighed. “Where, dear Wilhelm, is Jakob?”

“Forgive my lord but he was not feeling well and is still in bed,” Wilhelm answered of his twin.

“A shame. You will have to do then. Come with me, Wilhelm.”

“But my love- won’t you join me in this tiny feast?” Reina pouted.

“Afterwards. I am much exhausted after our...expedition,” he declared meaningfully, “I will not feel better until I have Wilhelm’s assistance.”

With understanding, Reina nodded and began to partake in her meal.

“Shall I sing, Your Highness?” Errol asked timidly.

“Yes please Errol the song about the bird and the maiden of the sky if you please. Pause only if I tell you.”

As Errol sang, the other dwarves began to serve their Princess. “Where is Hulbard and Ulrich?” she asked the others as they milled about to please her.

“Into town, Your Highness.” She gazed back at Wendall for a few moments then frowned which invited him to go on further, “I required more food for a feast tonight for Lord Moravia and yourself, Highness, before His Lordship’s departure and Oskar requires a pomade for his fingers which are almost raw in the effort to finish your gown.”

“It was at my suggestion, Your Highness,” Rutger put in when she questioned the need for the last, “He needs something or they will not heal and it will delay your next gown in his prevention to bloody the fabric and inability to sew as quickly as he is used to.”

“Clever, Rutger. Very well,” she dismissed as she bit into a slice of apple she’d taken to her plate.

Several minutes later after Errol had begun a new song and the other dwarves had stepped back from serving, Ferdinand re-entered the room and sat down for a meal. He too wondered about the absence of two men and Reina let Rutger explain himself.

Ferdinand then enjoyed a small repast with Reina. “Dessert, love?”

“But we’ve already had it,” she mused looking at the plate they’d cleared of small puffed pastries.

He shook his head and dismissed the dwarves to have their meal. “Gus could you please follow Her Royal Highness and I upstairs?”

He gulped, feeling quite hungry for the meal they’d be sharing without him, but agreed to Ferdinand’s wishes.

“Ah! Dessert!” Reina chuckled as she realized whilst they climbed the stairs. Ferdinand smirked and eyed Gus greedily as they all entered the bedroom together.

The dwarf emerged a few minutes later looking dazed as the wounds he’d inflicted on his arms healed over and he joined his companions for dinner.

Ferdinand did not leave Brickwall Cottage after supper. Nor did he in fact leave after drinking in Princess Reina in her new gown that Oskar did finish shortly after the meal. Ferdinand did not even leave after the sun went down over the forest. He left only after Princess Reina was in her nightclothes and ready for sleep.

“I should get going,” he agreed when she pressed the matter again. Her heart sunk –for she had hoped he’d delay his journey until the morning or the next night even. “I sometimes do lose track of time and as you prepared for bed, I did see the clock’s time. Therefore I shall bid thee farewell, my dearest. Shall you see me to the door?”

She did, though a little dejectedly. “Your clothes are still damp,” she noted after he’d pulled her in close for a kiss and she’d placed her hands on his shoulders.

“I don’t feel the cold. They will dry by tomorrow night as I travel.”

“Won’t you stay until morning?”

“You would wait up with me. No, love. I will bid you farewell so that you may rest.”

She pouted but was appeased by another deep kiss. As he pulled away he noticed the disappointment in her expression over this gesture and the tautness of her nipples under the fabric of her nightgown. She pulled in for another kiss but instead he grabbed a hand and kissed her knuckles as he so often did. “In time, love,” he whispered which made her all the more eager to be taken by him.

But Ferdinand did depart and Reina did reluctantly go to bed. She closed her eyes and in the silence where the only sounds were of the even breaths of tiny sleeping men, she thought about her day with Ferdinand; how he’d almost died in the accident on their hunt and then with eager recollection she recalled his half-dressed form at the stream. With these soothing thoughts, she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

It wasn’t long after that a dark figure crept into the room almost soundlessly and strode to her bedside. The direct gaze of the figure pierced through the dark and gazed down on the princess.

The grand clock downstairs rang the time thrice that night before the figure moved and just as quietly as it came left Brickwall Cottage.