Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) Grayson Sinclair (book recommendations website .TXT) 📖

I myself didn’t know if I could love her back. My pain paled in comparison, but that's the thing with pain. It doesn't care what someone else can endure. It only cares about how much damage it can inflict on you at that moment.

If Eris can find the strength to live with her torment, maybe it's time I do the same? If only it was so easy.

I sat alone with my thoughts, but just as I was truly about to feel despair, a strange presence flicked through my consciousness. Whoever or whatever it was brushed lightly against my mind. It was gentle, and I felt kindness in the touch. The figure lingered beside me, close enough that its hot breath brushed the nape of my neck. Warm lips pressed themselves to my cheek. Incredibly soft, which left me feeling a sense of peace that had eluded me for many, many years.

The voice was familiar to me, one I hadn’t heard in a lifetime. It reminded me of my mother as the figure whispered in my ear.

“Save her, Sam. If you can.”

As the presence pulled away, tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t want her to leave me.

Not again.

It couldn’t have been my mother, but even a facsimile was enough. I tried to speak, but no words would come. I couldn’t say any of the things I had wanted to all those years ago, the things I never got the chance to. With one final brush of fingers over my cheek, she was gone.

Chapter 21 - The Compass Kingdom

When I came back to my mind, I was caught between the two states of being, and I jerked up out of reflex. I stifled my racing heart and wiped a thick sheen of sweat from my forehead. As I laid back, I sank into comfort; I was too comfortable to be lying on the floor.

I shifted, finding myself in Eris’s lap. She was staring at me with a mixture of confusion and concern in her eyes.

She was confused at my reaction, taking it to be shaking off the remnants of a nightmare. “Shh, it’s okay, love. You just had a bad dream.” She spoke softly, running her fingers gently through my hair, and trying to reassure me.

No doubt, she could feel my conflicting emotions through our bond.

Eris smiled down at me, but it was sheepish and filled with chagrin. “Looks like we got out of hand last night.”

“I’ll say,” I said as I sat up again.

I’d been lying in Eris lap, and as I looked at her, the events of the previous night flooded back to me. I froze and looked at her neck. The blood was gone, and she was wearing the same clothes she had on last night.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’m fine now. I drank the health potion you left out last night, and the pain went away quickly.”

Good. I stood from the floor and helped Eris to her feet. The room was still in disarray, and there was absolutely no saving the bed from the bloodstains. Eris went over to the mirror and inspected herself, trying and failing to fix her bedhead. I smiled as I watched her, but my smile quickly fell as she tilted her neck.

 The morning sun fell across her face and throat. It was plain as day and unmistakable; outlined roughly just above her collarbone was a silver-white scar in the shape of my teeth.

“Godsdamn it!”

We left it untreated for too long. Her body’s natural healing had already started by the time she drank the potion.

Eris turned, confused at my outburst. “What’s wrong?”

“Just look at your neck. That scar will never fade away completely, not for the rest of your life…which could be for a long time.”

Disgust writhed in my chest and sickened me. We’d lost control, and Eris had paid heavily for it. I didn’t know how long entomancers’ lifespans were, but even if it was the same as a human lifespan, it was too long.

Eris picked up on my words. “We live for about five hundred years or so. Longer than the dwarves, but not nearly so long as the elves.”

Five hundred years was a long time to bear such a noticeable scar. It wouldn’t be so bad in the shadows, or inside a building, but in direct sunlight, it would be hard to hide. I walked over to her and ran my fingers over her neck, tracing the scar. Eris shuddered at my touch and leaned into me, laying her head against mine.

“I’m sorry, love.”

It was all my fault. I’d hurt her. As soon as the thought entered my head, the ice-filled smoke inside gripped its talons into my heart. Ice water filled my veins, and pain radiated through my body.

“Poor knight. You brought harm to your queen. An offense punishable by death, but lucky for you, there’s no one left to dole out your sentence. No family left for the last cast-off wretch of the Hive.”

That’s your queen you’re talking about, Aspect. Watch yourself!

“Once, perhaps, but I find myself blissfully unburdened as of late, so I should thank you for that, knight. You have some use after all,” the Aspect replied, laughing darkly.

What are you talking about?

But whatever it meant, it refused to share, only to chuckle in the back of my mind before fading away. It stayed silent and left me in confusion.

Eris could sense the emotions inside me, and she was worried about me. I knew as soon as she looked at me that she thought that I blamed myself for what happened. She reached over and held my hand, intertwining our fingers.

“I don’t blame you for this, love. And you know, I actually like it a bit,” she said, grinning slightly.

I chuckled softly and shook