Epilogue 2 - Yoth's Diary

Yveth flicked through the pages of the book in her hands. She reached the end and threw it into the ever increasing pile beside her. It is definitely here, she thought as she picked up another book. The skinseer told me I would find a clue here somewhere. Where is it? The crackle of moving pages echoed through the dim room as the pages turned. Every so often there would be a grunt of pain from Yveth but for the most part the room would be in near silence.

She threw the next book and grabbed a small book from the pile at random, but before she opened it she looked at her waist and sighed. “Dayel! Come in, my love. My bandage needs changing”.

There was a clunk as the door opened and a tall man walked into the room. Since she had first noticed the man he had become a staple part of her life. He was a useful tool and a decent companion, even if he was not the most attractive person in the world for her. Wordlessly he removed her bandages revealing the sinews of flesh and clotted blood around her waist.

“Was it worth it?” He said, looking at the deep wound and missing skin as he rubbed a mixture of herbs to dull pain over the bandages. Yveth winced as she felt the rough cloth touch her skin, but soon after a cooling sensation fell over her side and she relaxed. The herbal remedy worked.

“I don’t know yet. I’ve been here for days and nothing seems to be worth looking at honestly. If the seer lied then I can always go back and skin her, but I feel like she was right. There’s something in this mass of stupid old books”. She stretched out her legs slowly so as to not aggravate her side, and gave Dayel a crooked grin. “Rub my legs, Dayel. Perhaps if I’m more relaxed I will be able to find what I need to with more clarity”.

“As you wish, my lady”. Immediately she felt the man’s solid palms caress up and down her calves. She relaxed, allowing the sensation of him touching her sink into her skin before she picked up the book she had just put down. It was a small one, half the height of the other books she had been reading for the last few days. It was what had attracted her attention to it in the first place. It was smaller. After several days of reading doss that she had no interest in Yveth was tired of the big things. She wanted something smaller to deal with.

She turned the book over, looking for a title embossed on the book cover anywhere, but it was blank. Perhaps it was a journal of some kind. She stretched out her foot, indicating to dayel that he should begin to move lower than her calf before she opened the first page of the book and looked at the front cover. ‘The diary of Yoth the third, matriarch of Hephaistia’. Immediately Yveth’s eyes went wide, her heart beat quicker and she squeaked out loud. Dayel looked up at her, confused by her sound, but did not stop his massaging. Only when she smiled and beckoned him over to her did he release his grip on her foot and slid over to her.

“I found it,” she whispered, kissing Dayel deeply. Yveth bit down on his lip as their kiss prolonged, hard enough to eventually feel the heat of her lover’s blood trickle down her chin as her teeth broke the skin of his lip. She broke free, blood covering her lips, chin and teeth. “I might still skin the whore anyway”.


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