An Offering of Plums by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0000000000000
Published: 2022-01-14T00:00:00+00:00

“DO YOU EVER VISIT THE town?” Tristan asks on another day. The blindfold blocks his view of the perfectly blue sky overhead but the sun is warm on his cheeks. The days have grown shorter but they haven’t turned cold yet. “Or must you stay on this hill? Not that it isn’t a beautiful hill,” he adds quickly.

The demon doesn’t answer until they have finished the last of the day’s apples. “I can but I do not. There’s nothing for me there.”

It seems strange that a guardian doesn’t even visit the thing which they guard, but he says nothing to that, only nods. It was only a matter of curiosity anyway.

What he really wants to ask is how much longer he must wear this blindfold. Has he passed the demon’s test or failed?

“What is it?” The demon’s voice is nearer, almost close enough to brush Tristan’s skin. A shiver runs through him. What would it be like? Would their touch be gentle? Rough? Tristan has nothing to gauge it by and that too has been bothering him for days.

He drops his head, suddenly ashamed. He should not be thinking these things.

But the demon is still watching him, their attention so intent it feels as warm as the sun painting Tristan’s cheeks gold. And he is thinking these things.

His teeth tug at his lip and he can barely breathe again as the pressure in his chest builds up into a painful lump.

He wants to know.

His lips form the question, not the one he wants to ask the most, but the other, easier one. “Can I... see you yet?”

“No.”

Tristan had expected to be disappointed in the answer but it comes almost as a relief and, quick on the heels of that feeling, there’s irritation at how quickly the demon answered. Without thought. Without hesitation. “You said you would think about it.”

“And I have. The answer is no.”

“But...” He stops. Shakes his head.

“I think you would not enjoy the experience anyway,” the demon says in a slightly lower voice, almost like regret. “Few do.”

Tristan gnaws at his lip, aggravated and restless and reckless. “Then can I kiss you?” He lifts his head, chin jutting forward stubbornly.

The silence is thorny. It holds them both within it and Tristan can feel his anxiety bleeding into the air between them. Like poison. He wants to run away now that he’s said it and the demon hasn’t answered at all this time. An abrupt denial would have hurt but it wouldn’t have been like this.

He shifts, trying to rise before he makes a bigger fool of himself.

“All right,” the demon says.

Tristan almost falls on his face. “R-really?”

“Yes. If it will please you, that I can do.”

Tristan is still crouched awkwardly, caught between staying and fleeing.

“Sit,” the demon says and it isn’t until he hears those words that Tristan remembers how to move and drops gratefully back onto his knees. Waiting for whatever the demon will say next. He licks his lips and the demon makes a soft noise in response.

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