The Bell of Freedom (King and human romance)✔

Chapter Forty

"You turn into such a monster when you're in the kitchen, you know?" Cain grumbles as I make him wash his hands for the fourth time. "Touching my hair isn't a crime."

I smile as I lean down to study the pork loins inside the oven that Cain placed in there twenty minutes ago. "There's six in here," I say.

"Really? How mysterious."

I rise up and place a hand on my hip. "Cain."

"Aurora."

"Why is there an extra portion of meat in the oven?"

"Because. . . I'm joining you?" He smiles at me as he dries his hands with a paper towel. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah of course but since when did you...?" I can't even finish the sentence. He laughs at the confusion on my face.

"I've been craving food for the last few days. I've been eating secretly because I knew you'd give me that look. The smell of human food is suddenly delicious to me."

"Why did you keep that from me?" I say. "Did you think I'd judge you?"

"A little. I'm probably judging myself more."

"Why? Marina eats."

I look back to him with amusement but he has a serious look on his face, like admitting it is something that is affecting him deeply. He can't stop these changes that are happening to him, it's as though my soul is doing more than just giving him human qualities, it's as though it's turning him into one. I think he believes that too but he's too afraid to talk about it. I know what it feels like to lose myself and Cain has the same look. I approach him and slide my hands up his black shirt.

"What's on your mind?" I whisper.

"This connection would be so much easier to understand if you started turning into one of us," he says.

I laugh, my hands falling behind his neck. I smile at him. "I think it's more one-sided. Sorry. But if I start growing wings then you'll be the first to know."

He doesn't smile back. "What if that's the next thing that changes? What if I lose them?"

"This is really worrying you, isn't it?" I say. "I thought the completed soul makes you more powerful, not less."

"Aurora, I've never come across a soul like yours. I don't know what it can do to me. Apart from being unkillable, I don't feel powerful anymore. I feel the opposite. I feel vulnerable."

"When did this change?"

"After your attack. When I had to watch you in pain and struggling without being able to help you."

I back away from him, turning my back to him as I approach the stove. I stir the vegetables and potatoes.

"You know why I feel this way," he says.

"Yes."

"Would you like to tell me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I whisper.

"No." He stands beside me, silently pressuring me for an answer. "Aurora."

I throw the wooden spoon onto the side and I turn to him. "You're becoming human, Cain. When we. . . when we meet someone that we have a strong connection with, that we have desires for and share feelings for, we feel vulnerable. They make us vulnerable."

"Why?"

"Because that's what love is, Cain. It's what it does. It opens us up to being hurt and sharing things and experiencing fears we've never had to consider."