Page 37 of Soulmateless
This is a nice place to stay. If there is one thing I miss about Somnia, it's having my personal bedroom. Sleeping on metal benches and concrete doesn't satisfy my needs. “How long do I have here?" I murmur as Amias leans against the wall of the little entryway.
"As long as you need." His smile seems genuine.
So I can stay for a while before heading to Caelestia, though I suppose I can't take too long. Another day in Amara is another day surrounded by killers of my kind. At least I'd be safe from death in Caelestia.
This place seems way too good to be true though. I guess I am lucky to have encountered Amias. He's not as bad as I thought he would be, considering what I know about his grandmother. His persistence certainly surprised me, especially after he almost died for me today.
But this situation would be a lot different if he knew I was a dreamscreecher.
"Thank you." I bow my head. “I really appreciate this.”
He waves a hand bashfully, as if shooing away my comment. “Oh it's nothing. I'm just glad you have a nice place to stay.” He brushes by me to stand before the wooden cabinet next to my desk. “Now you just need a proper meal.” He opens the closet, revealing four metal shelves with a somewhat transparent barrier of blue, billowing like lake waves across them. "We need to fill this up."
I perk a brow. "Can you magically make food appear too?” Seems plausible after everything I’ve seen.
He snickers. “If I were the grandson of the Gift of Life, I could. Only she and her kids can do that.” He drops his smile suddenly and scans me up and down. “We should get takeout for the night and go shopping tomorrow. That's the quickest way for you to get a meal.”
“Takeout?” Is it another kind of strange magic?
Amias cocks his head, before moving his slightly puckered lips sideways. “We order food from a restaurant.” His eyes widen for a second as if a realization hit him. “There's a restaurant down the street with authentic Caelestian food. Maybe we can try that.”
Getting a taste of Caelestia before I go would be interesting. My stomach growls at the thought. “What do they have?”
We spend the next few minutes on that glass “phone” device thing and scroll through the options. I get something called a lamb pila against Amias’ warning about spices. It's supposed to be a fried ball of lamb, black beans and some grain called rice. Black beans and lamb are the most familiar ingredients to me so it seems like a decent choice. Meanwhile, Amias gets a custom spira which is a flatbread topped with many things I haven't heard of, like “artachokes” and lentils.
We wait for the food to arrive, and soon enough, there's a knock on the door. A box with mechanical wings flutters outside the door before Amias takes it. Apparently, it's another insane technology from the Honestus kingdom to make delivery easy.
The pila ends up being delicious but it burns my tongue. Even the outside of the pilas are slaughtered in red sauce as if to warn me. It's harder to handle two pilas in, but thankfully, it came with a free cup of milk. Amias laughs and mentions they started providing milk after most Amarians couldn't handlethe meal. Despite the pain in my mouth and my teary eyes, I willingly suffer through it just to get that beautiful crunch and delicious savory taste. Maybe I would've gotten through easier with a spira which Amias eats smugly with no issues.
After that, Amias goes off to find the needle and thread. It isn't that long before he comes through the door with the items.
I reach for them, plopping on my bed. A pout forms on his lips as I take the items out of his hand. He's hesitant to loosen his grip.
I dip my head respectfully. "Thank you.”
"You're welcome…" he says almost skeptically. He crosses his arms, his pupils growing. "Just…if you need my personal doctor-"
"I'm fine just doing this on my own," I roll my eyes. "I've done this enough times." I put the string through the needle before pulling off my shirt and pointing the needle to my wound.
Here goes nothing.
"I…I should give you privacy." Amias starts to walk away.
"What for? I’m not naked." I look down at my black bra. It's not like my breasts are hanging out.
“Well, here in Amara, we tend to like our privacy when we're in our underwear," Amias says, keeping his back towards me. “Do you just strip down to your underwear in Lluvia?”
I curl my lip back. “No but it's no big deal. How is this any different from what those women wear out there?" It seems to be a part of the culture. I've seen many drunk women wearing bras around shirtless men.
“Those are crop tops. There's a difference.”
“Really? Because I don't see it.” I shrug before looking down to the needle. Dread weighs my heart down.
I can do this.
"You seriously don't mind?"
"Seriously. Just as long as you can control your hands and keep them off me. I have better things to worry about." I stare down at my wound as my hand trembles.