Lyra's POV
We landed in a secluded alley in the city. The stones were scalding hot against my bare feet, and the sun was beating down on us with a million years supply of sunniness. But that was the least of my problems.
Inside me, my stomach still refused to stop protesting. Though its grumblings had been reduced to a low growl—the churning part, not so much. I felt like I was being ripped apart in two, my intestines curling and twisting inside of me.
The bread didn't solve my hunger then; rather, it made my stomach desperate for more.
Draziel's gaze dropped fast to my feet as I lifted them one after another to cool from the hot stones, while I was crunched almost like a half ball from the ache in my stomach.
"You should have told me, Lyra. I'd have gotten you a boot in the castle," he cried, his eyes wide on my feet.
I stared at his large boots, with the little spiky demon horns around them, and I shook my head. Demons had larger feet, and my feet were little. I'd just be slugging about the boots as I am doing his robe already. Besides, I'd rather walk barefoot than put my feet into something so dreary.
I stared down at the boots again. Still not convinced, I shook my head. "No, it's okay, Draziel. Just like your demon foods, I'll pass also with your demon shoes." I said, and then my voice trailed off into a low, wincing pain as I lifted another foot from the hot stone to let it cool.
"I can't let you. With this sun, you'll burn your feet." He looked up straight into the sun, like his eyes had built-in sunshades. I, on the hand, had to cover my eyes from the sting of the scorching sun with a palm as I raised my gaze up to follow his.
Before I could bring it back down, he had cleared my legs off the ground, lifting me fully to his broad chest in bridal style.
I looked up to him, but his gaze was thrown forward, beyond me. He carried me down the street, his boots hitting hard on the stone, making his footsteps noisy.
If it were the future Draziel, I would have slumped against him, rested my head over his heart, and let it pulse gently beneath my ears. But this Draziel, I didn't know what to do. I had no idea where I stood with him.
I had no idea if he loved me or disliked me. I had no idea if I was just a random stranger to him or the woman he loves. Sometimes he was kind, carrying me in his arms like this. Other times he was dropping me to slam hard against a bathtub. Sometimes he held me in his arms, as if I was his world. Other times, he looks away from me like I were a stain to his sight… I just didn't know what to do around him, and that I had discovered hurt more than the fact that I was in a world where the man I love doesn't love me—it fucking hurt.
The confusion was tearing me apart from the inside. But of course I can tell him that. I just sat in his arms quietly, my spine straightened against his arm so that I wasn't fully rested in his arms or on his chest.
Soon market stalls took shape on both sides of the road. The voices of market vendors were loud as they haggled and invited the passing people to their wares.
I spotted an open-air restaurant, on our far right, with people seated on small wooden stools around large, equally wooden tables. Most of them had their backs to us as they ate. "I think that place is okay, Draziel?" I said, pointing at the restaurant.
He swerved gently, changing course towards that direction.
My senses picked up on the delicious aroma of the chicken and soup even from far away. And as if in agreement with my nostrils that the food would be delicious, my stomach growled noisily again, almost like a mini thunder roaring.
His face lit up with a bit of amusement as he steered it down to me. "Is that how humans' stomachs behave when they are hungry?"
I heaved my shoulders lightly, returning his smile. "Sometimes, especially when we are seriously hungry." I answered.
Suddenly, his face darkened, his features tightening until he became impassive. "I am sorry, I shouldn't have asked," he said, his voice emotionless.
I felt something tug at my heart as I caught that look in his eyes before he lifted his head back to the road—that look that always reduces me to nothing—that look that told me I would never be anything more to this version of him than a random stranger. I shut my eyes for a moment to keep back the hot moisture staining my eyes. I should stop crying. I wasn't a baby. He might not love me, but I know a version of him somewhere in the future did. And I would do my best to get back to that version of him.
I blinked my eyes open just as he sat me gently on a stool and called out for the waitress. A fat woman with an apron sewn into her pinafore dress waddled up to us.
"Get herrrr—" he drawled on the word, struggling for what to say next.
When he began looking around furtively at the other customers for a clue, I helped him out. "Chicken soup, ma'am. Two bowls." I said.
The woman beamed at me, then she turned away to get it. "Make it there," Draziel called after her. Like an afterthought, he turned to the woman again. "Make it four, four bowls," he said.
I snatched his sleeves across the table. "Four, Draziel. We can't finish that.
"We," he cocked his brow at me, the impassivity of his face dissolving fast into an amusing expression, and he chuckled. "I don't eat human food. The food is for you alone."
"What, Draziel?" I screamed, my eyes stretched like two large 'O's on my face. "I can't finish that."
"That's too bad, because she is already bringing it." He grinned, then I followed his eyes in the direction of the approaching waitress, who brought four bowls of the soup on a large wooden tray, carried below her breast.
He brought his eyes back to stare straight into my eyes, the crimson pair of his brightening, his cheeks bulging from a suppressed laugh. "I guess you will have to finish it some way or another." His lips lifted in another slow, easy grin.
Hell, how was I supposed to do that? I grunted, grinding my teeth gently, as I dropped back to my stool and the waitress began laying the food on the table between us.
I lifted my gaze to him to see him still grinning. I grunted again, my fingers folding tight under the table. He was obviously enjoying this—enjoying my misery.
Well, two can play this game. I pushed two bowls to his side of the table. "You made the order, so you are going to have to find a way to eat human food." I grinned at him.
The look he gave me now was indescribable, but I just kept grinning at him.