Trifecta: Ice [Complete]

Ch 46: My Master

Serge's words echoed in the night air around us.

My heart beat with the same rapidity it did when I woke from my nightmares each morning, but I was not feeling fear, or at least not just fear. I barely spared my pounding heart a thought while I tried to comprehend his words, to process what it was that he had asked me.

I forced my gaze towards the one who had harmed me and protected me, my master, my pack leader, my roommate, my non-hostile ally, my fellow traveller in a world forever altered by the curse.

I glanced at into the eyes made dark by the shadows around us, while my mind still tried to sort his the sounds that had come out of his mouth into something a human would propose.

Because Serge could not have just said what I thought I had heard. "Would you consider marrying me?" he had asked.

The honest first response of my scattered thoughts was, "Yes."

I turned my burning eyes away as I tried to gather my thoughts. I ignored the way my heart pounded and the way the curse brushed over my skin and dove down into my body, washing me in cold.

My motives for considering agreement were far from pure. I wanted a way out of the curse and it knew that. I did not want Serge to die an untimely death and I did not want to wait sixty years or for some unlikely scenario where I could save his life.

His question was a life preserver. I was drowning and I was not feeling particularly picky.

Yet still, I knew he was driven by his guilt. It was clear he would sacrifice himself on the altar of restitution and that was not what I wanted.

"I d-don't want y-y-you to throw away y-your l-life, Ser-Ser..."

"I'm not planning to throw away my life, Elise."

I closed my eyes. I wanted to simply agree and see what would happen, but I would not be ruled by my baser nature. I forced myself to ignore the punishment of the curse to argue with him. "I kn-know y-y-you feel g-guilty, b-but that d-does n-not mean y-you have to s-sacrifice any more f-for me."

"I'm not sacrificing anything," he said.

"B-but," I protested. The curse was pulling me in two conflicting directions. It wanted me to fully submit to his proposal, but simultaneously continued punishing me for getting out of line again. Perhaps it would be satisfied when it finally ripped me in two.

"Elise, it's not a sacrifice. Not in the slightest."

There was something in the certainty of his tone that struck me dumb. I waited for him to say more, because I could not muster another word.

"I shouldn't, but I want you." His words sounded like he was making a shameful confession.

I glanced at him again and saw that his face was turned slightly away. In that moment, I did not feel any of the fear of the curse. The future felt like something else, like something beyond my current terrors.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, still not looking towards me. "After what I did, I should not and I've tried not to see you like that, Elise. But I've tried and I can't keep myself in line."

My heart felt odd. It was still pounding far faster than even my curse normal, but at the same time it felt oddly empty, but in a good way, not sorrow, but... Longing?

"Y-you're sure... Y-you're sure y-you're not j-just p-punishing y-yourself?"

He chuckled harshly. "It would be far from punishment." He paused. "And for you, it's neither an order, nor an obligation. You don't have to accept. You don't even have to give me an answer. I don't want you to agree, if you don't want to. I would rather have you spit in my face and walk away than be forced by the curse."