Page 34 of Hearts on Fire
The excited squealing in his voice made me burst with laughter all over again.
“That’s very much how it happens,” I said. “In my world, rings don’t carry any wards or protection for the wearer. They only have the meaning people place into them. Sentimental value, nothing else. How do people propose in Dakath?”
“Wait. Just let me do this first.” He piled up a bunch of pillows behind me to prop me in a sitting position, then got a silver tray with food from the low table by the unlit fireplace.
I realized he was going to feed me and stopped him by asking where the bathroom was first. He carried me to a spacious room by the entrance door to his bedroom. Once I was done, I washed my hands and walked out, holding on to the wall. My legs shook, and I was dizzy. It was a relief when Elex grabbed me into his arms again and carried me back to bed.
He placed the tray with food into my lap. “This was supposed to be breakfast, but it’s more like a midday meal now.”
The tray held the usual dishes that thesalamandrasgot delivered each morning—a large bowl with red plums, a basket with round flaky pastries, fragrant coffee with mountain goat milk, a plate with cold cuts and cheeses, and a few small metal dishes that contained honey, cranberry jam, whipped cream, and cherry preserve. Several trays like that were delivered to the women’s bedroom each morning.
The food looked and smelled amazing. Sadly, my appetite hadn’t returned yet. My body felt like it had been put through a grinder, and my hand shook when I reached for a plum.
“How long did I sleep? What time is it?”
Sitting on the bed, Elex handed the plum to me. “It’s almost noon already. You slept as long as you needed. I’m glad to see you’re better, Amber. You have no idea how happy I am to have you awake and talking.”
Shaking his head, he turned away. His chest rose and fell rapidly for a few breaths. When he finally faced me again, his eyes looked glossy.
It must’ve really upset him to find me passed out, hot and sticky with sweat. It felt rather scary to me, too, to know I’d lost my awareness for a while.
“I don’t ever want to see you sick, Amber.” He cut a pastry with a small knife from the tray, stuffed it with slices of cold cuts and cheese, then passed the sandwich to me. “Eat. Your hands are shaking. You need to regain your strength.”
I took the chubby sandwich from him and bit off a little. It tasted good, but the sandwich looked so big.
“If I eat all of it, I’d probably throw up. Sorry,” I said with a short laugh. “We humans are ridiculously delicate things.”
“That you are,” he agreed, continuing to fuss over me. “Do you want some coffee? It used to be piping hot, but it’s barely lukewarm now. I’ll have to take it back to the kitchen to brew a fresh pot.”
“Can’t you just warm this one up yourself?” Zenada routinely warmed up the rock of my perch to keep me warm through the night.
To my disappointment, he shook his head. “No. Only women gargoyles can do that.”
“Then, it’s fine,” I said, waving my hand at the coffee pot. I really didn’t want him to leave. “I don’t want it hot, anyway. Please don’t go. Tell me more about the gargoyle magic. How is it different between men and women?”
“Are you sure?” He hesitated. “No one drinks cold coffee.”
“Humans do,” I assured him cheerfully. “We even add ice to it sometimes.”
“Ice?” He made a face.
Dakath had great coffee, the kind that would be served in some fancy restaurants back in my world, in tiny cups with golden trim. Elex had every right to be a snob about it. Making an iced coffee out of this delicacy would likely be considered an insult in both worlds, his and mine. But I didn’t really care about any of that. I just wanted him to stay here with me instead of leaving to go to the kitchen.
“Yes, ice.” I nodded quickly. “But you don’t need to get me any ice either. I’ll drink it the way it is. Just keep talking to me.”
“You want to talk?” He smiled, pouring some coffee from a narrow pot with a long handle on the side into a small metal cup inlaid with tiny garnets. “About gargoyle magic?”
I nodded again. It was as good a topic as any.
“Some say women’s magic is weaker than men’s,” he said. “Because warmth is weaker than heat. But there is more than one way to look at it. Asalamandracould easily warm up this pot of coffee, for example. The best I could do would be to set this entire tray on fire. A man would also break most of the furniture in this room by shifting into a dragon to make the fire in the first place. So you see, strength is not always the most useful thing.”
He handed me the cup, then placed his hands around mine, helping me hold it. His hands looked strong and big compared to mine but were also deft and elegant at the same time. They could crush stones if needed but also use a tiny spoon to stir the milk into the coffee for me.
“You never answered my question.” I remembered. “How do gargoyles propose?”
“Oh. It’s nothing as specific as in your world. And if you are a Crown Prince, for example, you don’t get to propose at all. By the time you meet your future bride, all is decided and asking her to marry you is useless and way too late.”
The concept wasn’t entirely new to me. Arranged marriages happened back in the human world too. I just never knew anyone who married that way.