As the cloak fluttered to the ground and landed, Alicia gasped in horror. Her eyes went wide, as her body was paralyzed in utter shock.

  Zeres wore no shirt under his cloak and his torso was covered with deep and large wounds that seemed to pulse angrily with a life of their own.

  Alicia could not even form a word and she felt like she was going to faint now both from weakness and shock at the sight of Zeres’ horrendous wounds. How on earth did he ever get to this state? What had happened during those times that she was unconscious and weakened? Those wounds do not look normal and though witches do not possess the speedy healing abilities the vampires do, it would still heal given time and help with spells. They had not left the house the past couple of days, so where did those ugly wounds come from? They looked so raw and angry, as if only being inflicted recently. That could not be possible, right? Alicia’s head was spinning, and her heart shivered with a chill.

  After letting out a low groan, Zeres held her and made her sit on the bed. Alicia didn’t let go of the edge of his cloak as her weak hands were still hanging onto them, trembling hard. She finally realized that without a doubt his wounds were the result of a spell. A spell that could save someone dying from grave illness or life-threatening injury but would require something severe in return – the price the caster had to pay. The caster needed to cut himself and let their blood flow while doing the ritual. The caster will not die but the wounds inflicted as payment for the spell can never be healed until their death. The price the caster had to pay for performing this spell was too cruel that no one had dared use this secret spell for a very long time now. Because aside from the unbearable pain they must bear, the wounds will also grow larger when the spell is cast over and over again. The caster is also not allowed to cut and use the same wounded flesh twice. So, every time the spell is recast, the cut has to be made on wound-free skin.

  Knowing all these, Alicia cannot even imagine the physical pain he had to go through, much less the mental torture of enduring the ever enlarging wounds and agony of not having these wounds heal. Judging from the number of wounds that she could see on him; he must have been doing this many times now. Since that night she first fainted. And these were just wounds that she could see exposed. What about those unexposed ones? Her fingers grew cold, and she could not even bring herself to think of it.

  "Wh – why…… why…… why are you doing this?" it was so hard for her to speak. "How could…… how you…… could you……" she knew she was starting to trip over her words as she started to gasp harder, breathing heavily. Tears began to pool in her eyes as she looked at him. Pain and sorrow, guilt and anger, confusion and bewilderment – so many emotions were rushing through her – all etched on her pale face which was alarming Zeres who was looking at her. "How could you –"

  "Hush, please, Alicia." He fell on his knees and tenderly gathered her icy cold hands between his large, warmer ones. Even through her muddled mind and trembling heart – though small and currently being overwhelmed by the situation – she could feel the undercurrent of calm and care being transferred from his hands that were holding onto hers. His eyes flooded with worry as he stared at her. "Please don’t cry. I’m really fine. I’m an immortal. This is really nothing to me. Unlike the mortals, my body will eventually heal. It take a longer time, but it will heal. Look," he showed her his arms that were wounded from his wrist up to his shoulders. It was as he claimed that the wounds on his wrist, which appeared to be the very first wound he had inflicted to himself, were truly starting to heal. "They’re healing. It’s a very slow process. But they will eventually heal. So please –" Zeres kept reassuring Alicia that the wounds were on the mend.

  "So, this is why I always manage to wake up with some strength in me every day." She softly muttered between her harsh breaths, just loud enough for Zeres to catch it. Her face was miserable, and a bitter wobbly smile was on her lips. "You were casting a spell every day, hurting yourself, enduring excruciating pain……for me……" she trailed off and the tears that were pooling finally fell from her eyes like waterfalls as her lips trembled in anger and misery. "And you’re telling me it’s nothing…… how…… how am I supposed to…… how could you do this……"

  His hands came up to the sides of her face and his thumbs wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Enough please. Don’t cry." He said, his deep voice was shaken. And when she still didn’t stop – couldn’t stop – he pulled her in his arms and hugged her as she wept, not caring about the intense pain that electrified his body the moment her body rubbed against his wounded skin. All he cared about was to comfort and reassure this person who was crying in his arms.

  "Stop doing this…… never…… again…… please…… I beg you……" she forced those words out brokenly as she fought for consciousness.

  He knew her body was failing again, and she was already succumbing to it despite her struggles to stay awake. Watching her struggle like this every single day had been more torturous to Zeres than the wounds all over him. "Sleep now, Alicia. You need to rest. Do not worry about me. I’m really fine. I’ll take care of you." he uttered as he smoothed her hair as if to lull her to sleep. "I’ve done this before, so I’m pretty used to it already. Now that I think about it, it was more agonizing back then. I don’t really even feel the pain this time – not much anyways. But I can promise you this won’t even be enough to kill me." He continued, knowing that she wasn’t listening anymore, because she had finally lost consciousness again. "I don’t know why it’s not as painful this time compared to the last. Back then, I was screaming in pain every time and I never healed until the day I finally died. Maybe because unlike back then, I am willingly doing it this time……" he trailed off and pulled away to look at her face.

  He carefully wiped off her tears and an ironic smile curved on his lips. "I never thought you’d cry for me. The queen I suffered for back then never shed a single tear even if I screamed my lungs out all day."

  Standing up with Alicia gently cradled in his arms, Zeres pulled her hood up to cover her head and the two of them disappeared from the room before materializing at a small meadow in the middle of the forest.

  ____

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