She shook her head. "I don't understand."
"It's all right. Come on, you've got to eat before you go. You've got a long drive ahead of you."
Again, Nicole frowned. There was something wrong with what he'd just said, but maybe she was once again overthinking things. She shrugged and followed him.
The building was truly gigantic. They passed through corridors and passageways. Fortunately, the room where they were going to eat was on the same floor, otherwise she'd have died of exhaustion before they got there, for they had to cross countless corridors and connecting rooms to reach it, and she could see in passing that all the walls were engraved with those drawings of fantastic and bloody tales as the one in the room where they'd slept and…
The table was set. It wasn't perfect, but the intention was there, and it touched Nicole right in the heart.
She couldn't give any names to the dishes he'd presented to her, let alone their taste, which was strange, but she still had to admit it wasn't too bad.
"Ozak, tell me this isn't your handiwork," she asked, falsely imploring, unable to finish the other half of her meal.
"And why's that?"
She gave him a cheeky look.
"Because it would destroy the image of a mighty loner that you are."
"So, no, it's not my work. But just to be clear, I possess myself a culinary gift."
Nicole nodded, mockingly. "Of course."
She looked around again. The dining room was as large as any room in this building could be, but it was just as empty and dilapidated. Apart from the table and chairs and obviously them, it was completely empty, oh no, she corrected as she discovered a huge dusty chandelier hanging above them.
"Does it work?" she asked, pointing at the chandelier with her fork.
"No."
"I see. And your wound?" she continued, remembering that it was a really worrying wound.
"It's not bleeding anymore."
"But it's still there?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed, sardonically. "Just because I'm magical doesn't mean I'm perfect."
She gazed at him with a falsely sympathetic air. "It must have cost you a lot to admit that."
"Then I deserve a reward, don't I?" he replied with a most eloquent blush in his eyes, his whole body.
She wanted him too, but she couldn't. She couldn't stay. She wouldn't stay. She'd lose herself.
"As long as the wound won't kill you. I'll be fine."
She'd deliberately put the brakes on what could have become another frenzy. She had to leave, but could still linger a few minutes. It wouldn't make any difference now anyway .
So, she stretched and took another sip of the indefinable-colored, indefinable-tasting juice—at least, she thought it was juice.
"I wonder what time it is?" she said, laughing. "It must be late."
Strangely, her host shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Still, we had to have slept quite a while. We were both wounded and broken…"
"I know that, darling. I was there."
Nicole gave him another stern look, but one just as radiant with desire.
"I can't imagine what I'm going to find out in broad daylight. I arrived yesterday in the middle of the night, and already the appearance of this kingdom left a lot to be desired, so to be illuminated by the rays of the sun…" And she concluded with a mocking sneer.
"Sun, eh…"
It was so inaudible that Nicole doubted she'd heard the words, so she insisted. "What did you say?"
"I asked if you like sunbathing."
She squinted. "Why?"
"Oh, just like that, to find out, make conversation…"
"Yes, I like sunbathing, satisfied?"
"Always dressed or sometimes completely naked…?"
Nicole rolled her eyes, a little annoyed by his words, although her whole body virulently betrayed her desire to answer him and let herself be taken.
"I have to leave as quickly as possible or I'll become as kinky as you."
"From what I can tell, you already are."
Nicole half rose from her chair, pointing a threatening finger at her lover. "You…" It was then that she noticed something rather disturbing. Her host hadn't touched his plate at all. "You haven't eaten a thing," she remarked with a worried expression. "You're not hungry?"
"It's just that it's not very good," he tried to joke. But Nicole didn't believe him.
"Is it your wound? Does it hurt?"
Seeing that his guest was really worried, the beast reassured her. "No, joking aside, it was because I already ate just before you woke up, but since it's not polite to not eat in front of someone else who is eating… " His eloquent gestures did the rest. "Still," he concluded, "I'm not a savage!"
"That remains to be seen," she replied.
He was convincing in his explanation, but Nicole had the intuition that he wasn't telling the truth. Or maybe it was her who was once again making a big deal out of nothing. After all, apart from the fact that he'd become her first lover, that he possessed the form of a gigantic black beast similar to a jaguar, and that he especially liked to play with people, but he had a conscience, she knew nothing about him. She wouldn't have time for that.
She had to get away. Quickly, before she became a prisoner, inside and out.
She stood up and approached him.
"Well, that was…exhilarating, though the word is not enough. But it's time for me to go."
"Yes, I know. You said that already."
They looked at each other, contemplated each other for a long time. Everything separated them, race, spirit, reason for being; absolutely everything except that wonderful, growing desire that Nicole hoped would never be extinguished.
Take me for the last time, her eyes said.