Coffee House Writers

Top Menu

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Article Categories
    • Creativity
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fiction
    • Food
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home
    • Lifestyle
    • Memories
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Relationships
    • Sports
    • Style
    • Technology
    • Travel
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder
  • Meet Our Admin
    • Chief Editors
    • Editors
    • Poetry Editors
    • Advertising Team
    • Recruiting Team
  • Testimonials
  • Apply
  • Login

logo

Coffee House Writers

  • Home
  • Article Categories
    • Creativity
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fiction
    • Food
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home
    • Lifestyle
    • Memories
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Relationships
    • Sports
    • Style
    • Technology
    • Travel
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder
  • Meet Our Admin
    • Chief Editors
    • Editors
    • Poetry Editors
    • Advertising Team
    • Recruiting Team
  • Testimonials
  • Apply
  • Login
  • I’ll Never Live Up to the Call

  • Skinchangers Chapter 2.2

  • Behind Your Mirror

  • A Gap In Time – 1

  • Saying Goodbye to NCIS: Los Angeles After 14 Years

  • Where the Soul Lies Part 2

  • Love’s Cut

  • A New York Summer

  • Welcome to Hell: How Can I Help You?

  • Paradise Falls: Chapter 1

  • Cloaked Miracles, Part 3

  • Becoming a Mother

  • A New Home

  • Unlock Your Hidden Potential: How to Tackle an Extraordinary Challenge with Ease

  • Appreciate Your Talent

  • Writing With ADHD: How Hard Could it be?

  • Southern Ways – Part 1

  • Where the Soul Lies Part 1

  • Skinchangers Chapter 2.1

  • The Book

  • The Familiar Mask

  • The Mystery of Cash Castle: Part 14

  • Shivering Leaves

  • Calming the Chaos of the Heavy Mental Load

  • Paradise Falls: Prologue

  • May Flowers

  • New Diagnosis, Same Person

  • Pierce

  • The Deadline

  • Cloaked Miracles, Part 2

FamilyRelationshipsFictionMemoriesHomeEnvironmentEntertainmentCultureCreativityLifestyle
Home›Family›Found – Part Twenty

Found – Part Twenty

By LM Hernandez
March 30, 2020
1506
0
Share:
Lovers
Image by RENE RAUSCHENBERGER from Pixabay

Parts One through Nineteen can be read here.

Cyrus ordered me to remove my clothes. His voice was gruff and tinged with contempt. The ache in my body made my movements slow and tight, and I could feel him losing his patience with me. When we first met, he regarded me with curiosity and a smirk that alarmed me. Now he looked at me with the eyes of a competitor. He saw me as a threat.

“There’s nothing going on between us,” I said as I managed to get myself out of my shirt.

“Removing your shirt is enough. Lie flat against the bed,” was his reply. The scent of lavenders and sunlight enveloped as I laid back into Dasha’s bed. It brought me a comfort I’d only known once before. My body let go of a breath I didn’t realize it was holding. My eyes closed, and I let myself sink into the bed. For the briefest moment, I had peace.

“You like that?” Cyrus said, his voice full of venom. My eyes flew open, and he was hovering over me. His eyes pierced me with ire. “Smells like her, doesn’t it?”

“Cyrus, I—”

“As much as I’d love to poison you or damage you further, I won’t. Besides going against my Magic and becoming Afflicted, she’d know it was me, and she’d hate me more than she does now. So, she saves you. Again.”

“Why does she hate you? I didn’t think she was capable of hating anything.”

“Let’s not continue this now, or else I will poison you,” he snapped. He closed his eyes and hovered his hands over me.

I said nothing else, but my mind swirled with questions. I never had the luxury to wonder about the minutiae of people’s lives. It was fascinating to think that people lived day to day, not having to fight for their next breath, wondering if they would make it for another hour. They didn’t know endless hours of torture. Their lives weren’t black holes they wished they had the strength to escape from. Mara does. She suffered at your hands. Her agony is your doing. You are the conductor of her torment; his voice hissed in the back of my mind. Shut up.

Cyrus’s hands began to glow a faint shade of amber. He glided them along the length of my body. Though his hands never touch me, I could feel them dragging across my skin. He stopped every few seconds. His face would scrunch up as if he was smelling something unpleasant.

“Hmmm,” he mused, “There is a myriad of old injuries. They are extensive.” He continued scanning, and I wanted him to stop. I could feel his reach under my skin, and I didn’t want him there.

“You can stop now,” I whispered.

“Hush, now. I’ll be done soon.”

“Please stop,” I tried again. Cyrus ignored me and continued scanning me. I squirmed in discomfort as I felt his reach extend deeper, and I couldn’t help the tears that welled up in my eyes. It was sudden when Cyrus’s hold dissipated. I looked at him and noted the shock in his face. His face was angry, but it was a different anger. There was fury, but it was dampened by sadness. It was an emotion I didn’t understand.

“You have known…true horrors. Your flesh has known…veritable cruelty. It is as though fear, and not blood, courses through your veins.” His previous grudge with me seemed forgotten.

I sat up in the bed, and he stumbled back and fell into a stool.

“In all my years as a Healer, I’ve never encountered so much pain. How are you alive?”

“I don’t know.”

“What happened, and who is responsible for such atrocities?”

“That’s a story for another time.” I used his own answer against him. “Can I be Healed?”

“Does Dasha know you’re Magical?”

“I don’t believe so. I’ve not told anyone.”

“Whatever Magic you have, it’s powerful. It’s a wonder you’ve been able to suppress it.

“I’ve had practice. So, can I be Healed?”

“I’m afraid not. You’ve been Afflicted for a very long time. I’m astonished it hasn’t taken you sooner. The Curse is more recent, but I’m still not able to lift it. Though it’s not been with you long, it has sunk deep into the old wounds in your soul.”

“What can you do for me?”

“I can Heal the wounds to your flesh. I should be able to ease your pain.”

“Sometimes, I have episodes…the Affliction manifests, and it’s violent. I lose control, and things happen. I have a potion, it works, but I don’t have much of it.”

“Was it made by a Healer?”

“No, just someone who wanted to help.” Just someone whose life you upended, then abandoned.

“Bring it to me, and I’ll do what I can to make more of it.”

“What happened between you and Dasha?”

The look of contempt flashed in his eyes but then chuckled with a melancholy that could have rivaled Mara’s. He laced his fingers in his lap and hung his head.

“You’re going to keep pressing me on this, aren’t you?”

“If you’re going to hate me for something, I should know what for.”

“Fair enough. But I’ll warn you; you won’t like me much after.”

He took a deep breath and seemed to collect his thoughts.

“I arrived in Haven’s End after Dasha did. I’ll spare you the details of my journey. It’s nothing remarkable: Magical purges, destroyed village, a few survivors, yada yada. She and her father had just built The Willow. I was smitten with her right away. Flawless skin, buxom, amazing figure…she caught my attention at first glance. She’s a breath-taking beauty. She helped me become acclimated to town life, set me up with a room until I was fit enough to live on my own. But during that time, we began our courtship, and I daresay things progressed much faster than we both wanted.” He smiled, not at all upset with how fast things progressed.

“Did you love her?” What do you know about love?

“I do love her. She lit up all the dark corners of my life. We were consumed by each other. It was obsessive and passionate. I couldn’t get enough of her, nor her of me. But she became afraid of how much we’d fallen for each other. She said it was too much too fast and began to pull away from me. I was desperate for her not to leave me. I begged her not to. I promised we’d slow things down, but she said things were too heavy already. And to be honest, there was no going back from how far we’d gone. So, I did the unthinkable and tried to give her a love potion.”

“Is that real?”

“Oh, yes, very real. And very forbidden. But I was willing to pay whatever price not to lose her. She found out, of course, and she’s been angry with me since. She believed I’d been giving her the potion the whole time and that I fabricated her feelings. She doesn’t believe in my love for her, and that’s what hurts the most. It’s why I was so angry with you. She was so tender and caring with you. I’d do anything to feel her touch again. Even though she won’t have me now, I hold onto the hope that one day she’ll understand that what I did was an act of desperation. How could I not do whatever I had in my power not to lose her? I had to try.”

“Even though you knew she’d disapprove?”

“Love is not rational. It distorts logic and transcends reasoning. It is the strongest and oldest Magic there is. And if you tell anyone I said that—I will poison you.”

“Do you think she’ll ever forgive you?”

“It’s the only thing I hope for.”

Tagslove potionmagiclovefantasypassionsorceryfictioncurvaceous oranges
Previous Article

Why The Shower Is My Safe Space ...

Next Article

March Is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month: Here ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

LM Hernandez

Related articles More from author

  • pexels-flora-westbrook-3576112
    EntertainmentCreativityRelationshipsFictionHome

    Roadside Flowers

    September 14, 2020
    By Heather Dowell
  • Favorite Dinosaur
    FictionEntertainmentRomanceCreativityRelationships

    Favorite Dinosaur

    December 13, 2021
    By Mel Hartman
  • RelationshipsPoetryMemories

    Unnoticed Deception

    August 1, 2022
    By Calpernia Charles
  • stage
    CreativityFictionEntertainmentMusicCulture

    Boogie. Man.

    October 28, 2019
    By Adele Z.
  • Magic Tools
    PoetryLifestyleEnvironmentCultureCreativity

    A Spell For Hope

    April 13, 2020
    By Shannon Meyers
  • Grayscale photo of two roses, one with deep red petals, the other white with red stained petals
    EntertainmentCreativityFamilyRelationshipsFiction

    The Blood Rose Assassin – Part 4

    November 5, 2020
    By Valeria Silva

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You may be interested

  • Hallway
    CreativityPoetryMemoriesEntertainmentEnvironmentHealthLifestyleCulture

    The Hero

  • Underwater
    CreativityFamilyRelationshipsPoetryMemories

    The Clutching Rocks

  • CreativityThrillerRelationshipsFictionMemoriesMysteryTravel

    The Mystery Of Cash Castle: Part 3

Timeline

  • May 29, 2023

    I’ll Never Live Up to the Call

  • May 29, 2023

    Skinchangers Chapter 2.2

  • May 29, 2023

    Behind Your Mirror

  • May 29, 2023

    A Gap In Time – 1

  • May 29, 2023

    Saying Goodbye to NCIS: Los Angeles After 14 Years

Latest Comments

  • Reblog: Why You Need Realistic Writing Expectations- Andrea Lundgren - E. M. Sherwood Foster
    on
    May 24, 2023
    […] My serial publication The North Wind at Coffee House Writers! Part 1 is here. […]

    The North Wind – Part 1

  • How to Write Dual Timelines - E. M. Sherwood Foster
    on
    May 22, 2023
    […] My serial publication The North Wind at Coffee House Writers! Part 1 is here. […]

    The North Wind – Part 1

  • Writing and Mental Health - E. M. Sherwood Foster
    on
    May 20, 2023
    […] My serial publication The North Wind at Coffee House Writers! Part 1 is here. […]

    The North Wind – Part 1

  • Qalupalik: Child-Snatching Water Hag Of Inuit Folklore – LoreThrill
    on
    May 18, 2023
    […] - Astonishing Legends Alaska’s Qalupalik - Coffee House Writers The Inuit Sea Monster, The Qalupalik ...

    Alaska’s Qalupalik

  • Ian
    on
    May 14, 2023
    The background of the world is interesting and subtle. A nice little twist. I look forward ...

    Pierce

Find us on Facebook

About us

  • coffeehousewriters3@gmail.com

Follow us

© Copyright 2018-2023 Coffee House Writers. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s administrator and owner is strictly prohibited.