Page 76 of Goldilocks

“Do not be upset,” Goldilocks said. “I enjoy your forwardness greatly, but we must treat this before we enjoy each other.”

Sudden fear, followed by sharp relief, left Sam mentally unprepared for Goldilocks to keep talking like he did. Sam angled his face away, trying to hide that the almost condescending way Goldilocks had just spoken to Sam honestly relieved him. Sam was inexperienced in everything to do with relationships, and being told that he hadn’t just embarrassed himself by giving into the feelings that had been swelling within him was frankly a comfort.

“Do not worry,” Goldilocks insisted. He nudged Sam’s chin toward him and pressed a kiss to his lips again. “You have not displeased me.”

Sam huffed. The extent of his relief at the reassurances had quickly been met. “You know, you keep saying stuff like that, as if my top priority should be pleasing you.”

“You are naturally very talented at doing so,” Goldilocks told him in a tone of total reassurance. “Do not worry about your inexperience; it is no barrier.”

Sam blinked in surprise. A self-conscious thought darted through his mind, a worry about how, despite Sam having never mentioned his experience level, Goldilocks could tell it was minimal. But then the next thought was about how practically nobody in the world had experience getting physical with a merman, and he didn’t feel quite so worried anymore.

A knock at the door drew Sam from his thoughts.

“Enter,” Goldilocks called.

Vi stepped into the room in a full-length dark-red dress, this one made from a billowy and light fabric, with a white apron like a cook’s uniform tied to her front. At her side trotted in the woman who had brought them the trolley, now carrying a tray of vials.

Vi inclined her head toward Sam. “Goldilocks told me what happened.” She strode forward. Goldilocks stood from the chair, and Vi slid into his place. She removed the rag from Sam’s hand, examining the angry red skin.

She indicated for Sam to show her his other arm, and she examined the small puncture wound on his wrist. At least, she looked where there used to be a puncture wound; now there was nothing.

“Goldilocks mentioned you studied ghouls?” Sam asked.

“Yes, and I have experience with ghoul wounds. I’m the one who tended Goldilocks back to health, and his injuries were far more severe. This one” – she squeezed his unblemished right hand – “is where it would have tried to feed from you. Those injuries never infect and disappear within hours.”

Sam looked at Goldilocks in surprise. “You were injured by ghouls?”

A glance showed no trace of any injury on him, so the injuries were probably before Sam had known him. Unless someone had healed him the way Adonis could. Goldilocks had made that remark about Adonis’s line and others sharing the same gift of healing. But even as Sam considered, it seemed unreal that something like that could manage to hurt Goldilocks. A worm? Something that had left his own skin shredded and Goldilocks’s unblemished?

Vi studied Goldilocks’s expression before she nodded. “In the past, yes. A well-fed and powerful ghoul preyed upon him.” There was a hard note in her voice. “They can be very sly. Dangerously intelligent. And depending on what they eat, incredibly powerful. Look at me, Sam. Let me see your eyes. You recall the entirety of the attack?”

“It’s not something that I’ll forget in a hurry.”

Sam itched to cast his gaze aside but held still as Vi stared into his eyes. “One of their nastier tricks leaves their victim with no memory of an attack even occurring,” Vi said. “It must not have had enough time to properly feed on you.”

Sam broke eye contact to look at the smooth skin of his wrist. He didn’t like the sound offeed on youone bit. It didn’t sound like she meant ‘eat’. “Feed on what part of me, exactly?”

“Everything it can. They erode the mind, the spirit, and eventually, the body. If they do not kill their victims outright, they are left as empty husks.” Vi stood, and the other woman stepped forward, opening the top lid of the case she held. Vi’s nails clinked over sea-green glass bottles nestled in among cloth. “There’s discolouration in your pupils and agitation around the rim of your eyes. I’ve studied extensively to always recognise even the smallest of signs. It may not have stolen your memory of the attack, but it took something from you. Drink this today. This one tomorrow, and this one the day after. Your case isn’t severe, so this will be enough to restore your energies.”

Sam took the bottles he was handed without complaint. She was saying that the worm fed on him? But Sam didn’t feel lacking in ‘energies’. If anything, he was feeling good, despite the drama at his house. He’d slept well the past two nights on the boat with Goldilocks. And he’d woken today without even the glimmer of a headache in sight, simply an ache in his hand.

Sam tuned back into the conversation at his name leaving Goldilocks’s lips. “Sam’s sire requires a guard to search his property inland. I will be taking Jasper.”

Vi nodded her approval. “He is more than up to the task and eager for the chance to see more action than guarding a house that a merman frequents can provide. And I have nurses here to be interviewed if you have time before you depart. I have begun instructing them in English so that they can properly tend to your mate’s sire when he arrives.” Vi inclined her head toward Sam. “Keep the bandages clean on that hand. The wound isn’t deep enough for stitches, and I’ve provided the balms needed to keep the infection at bay. And,” she hesitated, “I am glad you are unscathed.” Despite her brisk manner, there was genuine warmth in her voice.

“Thank you, Vi,” Sam said.

“Goldilocks.” Her attention moved quickly back to the merman. “I have what you requested. I will fetch it after greeting our guest. Food will be served in the garden shortly.”

Vi and the woman left, and Sam turned his attention to the glass vials in his hand. He set them down on the table and held down a feeling of revulsion to see that the liquid inside was thick like honey. “Today was the first time you suggested my dad move here, so why are there already nurses?” He couldn’t have sent a message ahead. Not when they’d come together right after Sam told him about the intruder.

“I requested Vi find some after your last visit,” he answered, “when you told me of your difficulty in finding suitable help in caring for him.” Goldilocks picked up the vial Vi had instructed he drink today and uncapped the top. He placed the small cork on the table and poured the syrupy liquid into a glass. Sam’s revulsion grew as a sickly sweet scent reached his nose. He scrunched it and leaned back. Even outside the sea-green glass vial, the medicine was still a ghastly shade of green.

Sam didn’t reach for the glass.

“You were hurt in the past?” Sam watched Goldilocks’s expression carefully as he asked, ready to change the course of the conversation if he didn’t want to talk about it.

That muscle in his jaw said he didn’t wish to discuss it, but Goldilocks nodded and slid into the chair opposite Sam. “When I was a child. I was fed upon and weakened. I was not tricked, more so trapped. I was swimming along the coast, and I felt the presence of my parents up an estuary. I followed the feeling through the wider parts of a river, then through many branches. I reached a point where there was a house, in from the river. Resting against the door was a piece of canvas. Drawn and painted the way my mother used to do; I could sense her touch on it. I waited, and I watched, but not for long. I did not have patience then. I took on legs and approached.”