Eden

Every time I look at the Reaper he's staring intently at me, making me grow increasingly more uncomfortable as we walk through the fruit and vegetable gardens. I'm not sure what exactly I'm supposed to be "showing" this male, so we've just been walking aimlessly in silence for the past twenty minutes.

He finally takes the initiative to speak first. "This forest is beautiful." I look at him out of the corner of my eye and respond. "We take great care of our surroundings. The forest provides all we need. Taking care of the land and animals that inhabit it is the least we can do."

He smiles at me with that same burning look in his eyes, the look that makes my heart beat faster. Knowing he has impeccable hearing accompanied by his other increased senses makes me even more anxious.

Can he hear the effect he has on me?

My anxiety grows and my heart beats undoubtedly faster.

Calm down, Eden. Why is he having such an effect on me? Why does he keep looking at me this way?

Not realizing I locked eyes with him I quickly look away, not knowing how long I was staring into his golden gaze.

We pass under the orange trees and he snatches a perfectly ripe one off a branch, peeling it quickly and popping a slice into his mouth. "Hmm, reminds me of our first encounter." He smiles deviously at me, and I involuntarily let out a small sound between a choke and a gasp. His cocky demeanor makes me want to smack the orange right out of his hand.

He chuckles at my reaction. "It was quite the impression you left on me, I spent the night thinking about you. The fiery look in your eyes, the cold blade you held at my throat, the smell of citrus on your hands."

He spent the night thinking about me?

I clear my throat before responding, trying to stay composed despite my embarrassment at the mention of our first meeting. "I'm sorry about that, Jericho, we've never had an unexpected visitor here, I was jumping to conclusions and focused solely on protecting my girls. I regret my actions."

Why was that like pulling out a splinter? I hate admitting that I was, in fact, being a fool. And have no one to blame but my own irrational self. Unless..

Unless it really was him in my dream. How would I know though? Maybe tonight I'll sleep without any magic protecting me, and see if he visits me again.

Jericho clears his throat drawing me from my thoughts. "I respect your determination to protect your friends, no matter the cost, Aries is wise to have you as her right hand."

I scoff at his words. "Aries may have given me the title, but she runs things alone and rarely includes me in important decision making, I'm by her side because I've been her only constant over the decades." I blurt without thinking about what's leaving my mouth.

I whip my head in his direction, his face is calm and free of any judgement I felt I would find there. "Some people struggle sharing positions of power, feeling that their choices are always best for everyone, instead of listening to others thoughts and opinions." He reaches out his hand with a couple slices of the peeled orange left, an offering.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about Aries in such a way, please ignore my rambling." I mumble to him, and he gives a slight nod in response. I take the slices of orange and pop them into my mouth without thinking about it, and out of the corner of my eye I can see Jericho studying my mouth as I clean the juice from my fingers. I try to fight the blush I can feel creeping up my neck as I finish the fruit and wipe my hands on my skirt instead. I turn away from him and continue with the walk we're supposed to be on.

He follows quickly, always staying right at my side, seemingly getting closer as the day drags on. Though maybe I'm imagining it.

Dinner can't come soon enough, because that means I'll be rid of this deathly beautiful male I can't seem to act properly around. I feel brainless around him, like I'm stumbling over my words and speaking too much of my mind aloud. Not the calm, levelheaded woman I usually am. I'm usually much more clear minded than this.

Lunch comes and goes and just as suspected Aries does not join us, the head of the table left empty as we eat. The table is full of it's usual chatter but I find myself uninterested in the conversations. My mind keeps going back to Aries. Why is she keeping things from me? Having me show this Reaper around our hidden village. All while not telling me a single thing. Yesterday she was worrying about leaked information. Now today she has him running around like the guest of honor.

I wish she would tell me what the hell is going on, I don't like this not knowing, and can't relax around this Reaper knowing his sudden appearance means something is going on, things like this don't happen for insignificant reasons.

Jericho is helping one of the girls do dishes, a serious expression on his face as she happily chats his ear off. I sit at the now cleared dinning table waiting for them to finish. Aries said he's a guest, but that didn't stop him from offering a helping hand after we ate and things needed cleaned up.

He's a Reaper though. Reapers are technically demons, a very high rank of them, but a demon nonetheless. There is no light in them. And I won't be so foolish to trust something forged in the pits of the underworld.

His presence can only signal something wrong, and the longer he's here the more I worry about what that something could be. Lost in thought I don't realize when he approaches me from behind. "Lilly told me today is your day to wash the clothes, I wouldn't care to help you with your chores." I gap at him, surprised he's offering to help do laundry with me. I've met many male's throughout my life, and none have ever seemed so eager to help women with their chores.

I look at him suspiciously. "Sure, I suppose you could help, it would definitely make things go by faster." He nods, "Lead the way then, Eden."

We gather the clothes that need washing and make our way to the stream, surrounded by wild violets growing on each side of it. Jericho insisted he could carry all the baskets for me, and I can't help but stifle a laugh that tries to erupt from me when I take in his struggling form, trying to carry four large baskets of women's clothing.

Male's, they always think they can do it all, don't they? I shake my head to myself as he sets the baskets down near the bank of the stream, looking up at me and then slowly looking around, all the sudden it hits me we're completely alone and a little bit away from any prying ears.

Why's he looking around like that? "So.. what do I do now?" He asks, looking sheepish. I realize he's looking around because he doesn't have a single clue what to do now. Of course he has no idea where to start with washing clothes. I internally roll my eyes at him.

Breathing a small breath of relief I didn't know I was holding. "Just dump one basket out at a time, rinse, then soap the garment up and scrub it clean, and rinse again." I toss him a bar of soap while telling him this, and his eyes widen slightly. "You don't just use magic?" He asks.

"No, why waste magic on such a simple task? Our magic isn't a bottomless abyss, it has limits, and can take a bit of energy out of us when we use it, so why use it on simple every day tasks?" I question, looking at him.

He gives me small grin. "I guess when you put it that way."

I nod. "Plus, I'd feel useless honestly. I like to feel I can accomplish things and help others. Be useful." I begin dumping the first basket full of clothes, emptying it. Jericho walks up and grabs an arm full of the garments, bar of soap in hand. "Those are admirable qualities for a person to have, to want to help others and be of use for others benefit instead of oneself." his eyes light up as he says this, looking into my eyes.

"Um, thank you.." I reply.

I turn away, feeling too open, like just by looking into my eyes he can see all my secrets, my fears. Desires. I swallow the lump forming in my throat.

It's all in your mind, Eden. He can't read you like an open book.

He turns towards the stream and kneels down and begins submerging a clothing item in the clear water. I swallow hard and grab a few clothing items myself and kneel down beside him to begin washing some of the clothes. Still, even as we wash and clean the clothes I can feel his eyes on me, any time I look at him he's blatantly staring, not caring to be caught.

We go to reach for the bar of laundry soap at the same time, our hands momentarily touching. My hand heats where his skin meets it and I instantly pull my hand back, this being the first time we've actually touched, and I didn't expect his touch to feel so warm.

Warm, like little fires trailing across the skin of my hand.

My face flushes at certain memories accompanied by the same feeling. I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

"Apologies, you can use it first, I'll wet a few more items while I wait." he says, completely calm, like he didn't just send my heart and mind racing. My words seem stuck in my throat as I try to think of a reply, finally I manage to squeak out a small. "Thank you." He truly doesn't know, does he? About my dreams. Maybe it wasn't him invading my mind, perhaps it was a vision?

Without thinking I squeeze the soap bar too hard while rubbing the suds into a pair of socks, shooting it out of my hand like a small arrow on a mission. A mission directly into the side of Jericho's head.

"Oh gods!" I jump up and over to him. "I'm so sorry! I did not mean to do that, I didn't realize I was gripping the soap that hard." He lifts his shirt to use it to wipe his face free of soap and I get a good look at his abs and the lines that disappear into the waistband of his pants. I flush and look away, not meaning to stare so obviously.

He lets out a laugh before answering. "It's fine, really, I've had worse thrown at me, I can assure you. No need to worry, it's just some soap. I'm sure I could use to bathe anyways after sleeping in that cozy cave." He looks at me after getting all the soap off of himself and continues. "Some grip you got there, though." He winks at me before returning to washing the clothes, now with the soap I accidentally shot at him.

I'm at a loss on what to say at his suggestive words and actions towards me. It's almost like he fucking knows. The thought makes my palms instantly cold yet sweaty.

He doesn't know, there's no way he could know, not unless it was he himself in that dream.

Things remain quiet as we wash the clothes, the sounds of the forest filling in the silence that lingers between us. Why can't I stop feeling this way? I can't relax around him, I can't act right, my mind feels clouded and unsure. But at the same time I want to be near him, I won't deny this fact. Something draws me to him, something that wakes me up in the dark hours in the morning to seek him out, something that has me stealing glances at him every chance I get.. just to be met with eyes already on me, every single time.

Once again I feel the urge to look at him, for once he's not staring at me, his back is towards me as he begins hanging the clothes up on a line hung between tree's to dry in the warm spring breeze.

I turn away before I get caught looking at him and get back to rinsing the last of the clothes free of soap. I wringe them out and grab the heavy, wet pile of clothes and make my way towards Jericho to help finish hanging the items up to dry.

As soon as I'm beside him I feel his eyes on me again. "Will we have to come back and collect these later?" He asks. "No, the girls usually come and collect their things themselves in the evening after dinner." I reply. "So after we're done here we can go clean ourselves up and actually get ready to head that way, dinner should be done in about an hour or so."

All the sudden he's no longer beside me, instead he's standing so close behind me I swear I can feel the heat from his body, though it sends chills through me. "So, where are 'we' going to go clean up?" He asks in a low voice, his minty breath hitting the top of my ear, filling my senses, making me momentarily lose focus. "I could use to bathe, as I said earlier." I can practically hear the smile in his voice.

'We'?

I feel my whole body warm at his insinuation, at the thought of bathing together. I quickly jump away from him without thinking it through and almost take down the line full of damp clothes hanging up. I hear him chuckle softly at the reaction he was able to get out of me. I shake my head slightly, annoyed.

"I'm sure Aries has made short term living arrangements for you by now, it should include your own bathroom to bathe in." My face and body heat at the idea. Fuck, what is he doing to me?

"Alright, I guess I'll have to wait then, since Aries is off hiding out and away from me it would seem." He says this and pretends to sniff himself and wrinkle his nose in fake disgust.

I assume he's right and decide to take pity on him. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to use my bathroom once." I pause. "By yourself, I mean. I've already bathed and just need to freshen up. So the bath is all yours." I make that part clear. After hanging the last item I turn and grab the baskets to leave, but Jericho swoops in behind me to gather most of them before I can grab them all.

I turn to see him looking intently at me, something about him still making me feel uneasy.

"Thank you, Eden." He says in a sweet, low voice that makes goosebumps erupt all over my arms.

We make our way back to the village and drop off the baskets, and slowly we begin the walk to my cottage where I'll let this male bath. Alone. He's just fucking bathing.

But I can't seem to fight this anxious feeling that grows with every step I take.

(Edited on 11/17/24)