The next morning saw Schuler even more spirited. Anax noted that his fever was breaking, but some phlegm still coated the man’s throat. Despite the circumstances, Patience thoroughly enjoyed being in Schuler’s domestic company. Every stolen glance at him filled her a bit more with hope. After a light lunch of beans and greens, Schuler settled in for a nap. Patience hovered, making sure all his needs were met.

“I’m fine, Patience,” the man said, a wry smile peeking under the skeletal helm. He brushed the quilt over his navel. The light streaming through the window graced the bare skin of his chest, illuminating it like alabaster.

Against the white sheets, Schuler appeared as a classical sculpture. A pang of guilt tore Patience’s gut. It was her fault he was cursed in the first place. He could have died. This current image of serenity could have been just a dream. She choked back burgeoning tears.

“Hey … hey, come here,” murmured Schuler, motioning to the spot beside him. “It’s all right.”

Patience crept atop the covers.

“I’m all right.”

She slumped into his outstretched arm.

“You’ve done so much for me,” he cooed. “Lay down and rest.”

Patience obliged, settling into the crook of his elbow. Schuler gently touched his hand to her back. Her gaze shifted upward to see Anax’s iridescence gleaming. Below the skull, Schuler smiled warmly at her before closing his eyes to sleep. Surrounded by warmth from the sun, from the bedding, from Schuler’s body, the girl snuggled into the sheet. She gently rested her cheek against the man’s arm as a nap befell her.

The room was a rosy peach when the girl awoke to the rustling of bedcovers. Having rolled away from Schuler in her slumber, she lifted her head in bewilderment. They had slept through most of the afternoon. Schuler freed himself from the bedding and stood, without Anax’s aid. Patience startled upright.

“Schuler—”

“Thought I’d draw a bath,” he creaked as he stood. Bringing a hand over his mouth, he coughed to loosen some phlegm.

“Should Anax be helping?”

“He said he can handle it,” Anax interjected.

“I’ll help, then,” declared the girl. She swung her legs over the bed, planting her feet on the floor.

“I’ll be f—” Schuler wavered as he took his first step. Patience reached out a hand to steady him and rose to stand by his side. “Just a little groggy from the nap.”

Refusing to hear any excuses, she guided him to the bathroom. The bath’s knobs twisted with a squeaking protest. As the water flowed, Patience sat on the rim of the tub, searching the shelf for packaged soap and shampoo among a collection of toiletries. She did not even realize Schuler had removed his drawers until the water splashed behind her. Her face flushed.

Even though she had seen much of his form as she washed his skin in bed, he still had on his underwear. Now he was completely nude. Patience slowly extracted the soap and shampoo from the shelf, prolonging the time before she would have to face him.

“Anax, can I take you off? I’d like to wash my head,” said Schuler.

“Of course,” Anax grunted.

“I’ll take him!” volunteered Patience. Anything to hide her embarrassment. Refusing to turn around, she cranked her arm behind her to receive the skull.

Anax graced Patience’s head as she bathed Schuler. The man limply sat back in the bathtub. She scrubbed at his scalp, washing away layers of sweat from his hair. Anax assisted in holding up his arms as she rubbed his skin with soap.

“I’ve dreamt of being bathed by lovely women before,” Schuler sighed with a chuckle.

“I’m sorry your reality falls short of that,” snickered Patience.

“I’ll still take it.”

Anax slid a slimy tendril under the man’s armpit. His body folded in a spasm, splashing water onto the girl and skull.

“Sorry!” seethed Schuler, “I can’t stand being tickled!”

“Oh, good. He has strength enough to react,” Anax mused, surreptitiously sliding another tendril to the other armpit. Schuler jerked again.

“Stop it, Anax! We’re washing him, not us!” Patience admonished. The man in the tub burst out laughing and Patience could not help but giggle as well. Without thinking she brought a hand up to Schuler’s cheek as the final rumbles of laughter abated. He rolled his head into her caress and met her gaze under dark brows.

He seemed to have aged years over the course of a week. The lines of his face carved deeper. His eyes sank into deep depressions of waxy skin. The silver in his locks shone brighter wet. Disheveled and wiry, the hairs of his mustache and chin grew long. Grizzled stubble raked her palm. And yet, he was beautiful to her.

“I should probably shave and trim later,” he commented, “I bet I look a mess.”

“A few snips here and there and you’re thoroughly presentable,” said the girl, patting his cheek before lathering up more soap.

When the time came to clean below the belt, Schuler insisted he do it himself. “I don’t want to risk embarrassing myself,” he said.

“I could do it,” Anax flatly offered.

“I’d rather you didn’t.” Schuler reeled, imagining the tickling he could receive from the creature. “Go on and rest. I can finish up here myself.”

“Are you sure?” asked Patience.

Schuler nodded, sliding into the bathwater. The color had returned to his face. “I’m feeling a lot better, thanks to your care, and Anax. This bath’s washed away much of my fatigue too.”

Patience smiled and left to let the man soak and relax. She realized she had worn her braid for days now. Setting Anax on the nightstand, she let loose her hair. Her fingers combed through the oily tresses. The strands still carried a hint of fragrant soap from the hotel in New Amstel. Her mind drifted to Valon. She pictured him in the middle of the ocean aboard a large ship, Iasis gleefully watching a whale breach in the distance. It was a pleasant image. She accepted it as truth.

Lying on Schuler’s side of the bed, she nuzzled into his scent mixing with that of her hair flowing down her neck. Sleep had almost claimed the girl, but the slap of feet called her attention to the bedroom entrance. Schuler leaned against the doorjamb. He had only a towel wrapped around his waist.

“I feel as though I’m having a fever dream,” said Schuler, smoothing his wet hair over his scalp.

“You weren’t lying about feeling better, were you?” Patience asked with a start.

“No! I meant I still can’t believe you’re here … and in my bed, no less.”

She teased, “Surely the extent of your dreams reach beyond me just sitting here.”

“Would you like to find out?” he drawled, leaning against the doorjamb, a slim yet toned arm bracing his lithe body. A few wet strands of hair fell over his wry grin.

Patience flushed. “Schuler! But you’re still weak!”

“I can’t say I feel weak right now.” He smirked. “How about it, Patience?” A slight bump in his draped towel affirmed that he was not teasing. “Come now, we can fool around, relationship or not.”

Her eyes traveled from his hips up to his face. The better half of her brain flashed a warning. This could completely change the dynamic they had, the dynamic she was comfortable keeping. But admittedly she was curious. Deep down she had wanted this for a while.

Patience coughed. “Are you certain, Schuler?”

Looking her straight in the eye, he tugged to readjust himself. “If you’ll have me.”

Her mind flashed to two days ago when Schuler appeared to be on death’s doorstep. He was better now. They were on good terms. Her heart tugged her to act before the moment slipped away. Patience swallowed, and nodded.

The man sauntered to the foot of the bed. He leaned over and reached his hands up to Patience’s waist. His fingers found hold of her pants and drawers, and began to slowly slip them from her body. They landed upon the floor, abandoned. He then removed his towel, exposing his nodding length. Her nerves sizzled.

Schuler clambered over her legs, running his hands up her thighs. A lascivious tongue escaped his mouth, laving the crest of her hipbone. Patience quivered. As he worked his way up, he removed her top clothes as well. Once free from the trappings of cloth and thread, she surrendered to him. Settling on her chest, Schuler brought his mouth around her nipple and sucked. She let out a soft moan.

As he licked and played with her breasts, Patience carded her fingers through Schuler’s hair. The man flicked his gaze up at her, his hungry stare curtained by strands of wet tresses. A deep blush blossomed over Patience’s face as a heat bloomed between her legs.

“Hm, may I?” asked the man, gliding his hand down to her mound.

Patience nodded. His cock twitched against her leg.

Schuler’s fingers crept toward her gap, stopping short of entering. He gently stroked her folds, teasing out warm slicks. Patience closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Schuler’s neck, holding his head against her chest. As he resumed sucking and nipping, his fingers moved faster. Patience’s breaths quickened while her hips rolled up to his hand. He feathered kisses down her stomach, but as his need grew they became more deliberate and sharp.

Just as she was losing herself to his touch, Patience noticed he ceased all action as he left entirely. Bereft of his presence, the cold air washed over her, causing her skin to prickle. Her eyes blinked open to see Schuler standing at the foot of the bed. A lustful smirk passed over his lips before he grabbed her ankles. With a surprising amount of strength, he pulled her to the edge. Her bottom rested on the plush bench, her back on the fluffy bed.

Enthralled at first, Patience stifled a giggle. Schuler towered over her, taking in her supine form. He could see everything in the blaze of the sun’s dying light. Suddenly Patience felt exposed. Weak. Vulnerable. Her smile waned. A hand drifted up to cover her scalp while her face scrunched in an attempt to hold back nascent tears.

“What’s wrong, Patience?” asked Schuler, concern coloring his face.

Refusing to meet his gaze, her hand spread over stinging eyes. “W-wouldn’t you rather lay with someone prettier?” she croaked.

Schuler chuckled and fell onto the bed. He stroked her jaw, bringing her face to his. Her hand fell away as he locked eyes with her. “This burn made you who you are. The strength you grew to deal with it, overcome it. You wouldn’t be you without it.”

He kissed her tenderly. His lips were hot and chapped from illness, but it did not diminish Patience’s first kiss with him. It was gentle, restrained, and pleasant.

“And right now …” A smile beamed under his mustache. “I.” His hand ran down her neck. “Want.” Fingers traced a clavicle. “You.”

Patience broke into a ridiculous grin. Schuler lifted her hair and curled the length over her chest. The ends tickled her collarbone. She leaned in for another kiss, which he accepted in earnest. His black and silver tresses cascaded over her own deep umber locks.

Springing back, he cleared his throat. “Allow me to prove it.” His hands gripped her ankles again and pulled Patience right up to his torso. She flushed as she gingerly folded her legs around his waist. His cock slid against her gap. Without hesitation Schuler inserted himself.

The thrusts came hot and rough. The energy radiating from Schuler seemed unnatural considering he was so recently bedridden. Perhaps Anax did expedite his healing at an incredible rate, sparking the man’s libido as well. Currently Schuler had all the skull’s vigor, to which Patience was not opposed.

He took great care of her aching chamber, but she needed more. She wanted as much of him as possible. Out of embarrassment, Patience tilted her head to the side, letting her hair veil her heated face. She then shyly lifted her legs, prompting Schuler to release her thighs for a moment. Her feet extended past his shoulders. She shuffled closer, swinging her hips up slightly to hook her ankles around the man’s neck comfortably.

Realizing her intentions, Schuler smiled darkly. His cock kneaded into a new curve of her sleeve. It elevated her moaning to a higher pitch. Encouraged, Schuler jacked away with abandon.

An intense shock of friction and pleasure seized her loins with each thrust. The fervency shuddered Patience’s breath. Before long she gasped for air. This seemed like her own fever dream. Schuler above her, drinking in her body, giving her his all. Her moans joining his grunts in the air between them. A fantasy made real.

For now he was hers and hers alone. She wished this moment to last forever. Forever. Her eyes shot open through her veil of hair. Schuler paid no particular mind. He continued pleasuring them both. The heady presence of his cock drove her concerns out of her mind for now. All Patience could do was let the ecstasy of lit nerves hum through her body.

“God, Patience,” Schuler heaved as he leaned into her chest, “you—”

Patience put a thumb to his mouth. She did not want another word to leave it. Not now. It would only make her heart ache for him more. She craned upward, wrapping her lips around his. His tongue slid inside as his mouth cupped against hers. Joined at their heads, he plowed into her hole. When he could go no further, he ground his hips in circles, retracting in the slightest to gain leverage.

Patience ran her hands along his sides, feeling the taut muscles flex beneath her palms. Schuler’s mouth departed from her lips to kiss her chin, her jaw. His hair brushed over her face. She reached a hand up, gently twining a few locks in her fingers, and gripped a fist to his scalp. His grunts became more aggressive. His lips drew back to expose his teeth in his kisses. He bit down on her jaw. Patience gasped, holding his head in place.

Desperately rubbing into his pelvis, the pressure mounted in her loins. She imagined his cock packing her flesh denser and denser with each ensuing thrust, squeezing that ball of nerves. More and more compact it became. Closer and closer. Then under insurmountable force and pressure, it cracked. And from it burst forth beaming rays of bliss.

She moaned into Schuler’s mouth. He held himself as tightly against her body as possible, letting his cock bathe in her inner undulations. As her clenching peaked, the man briefly shirked his face away, choking out a groan. He could not help but issue a few pumps, losing himself.

Once the intervals between each throb lengthened, Schuler continued to grind in an attempt to resuscitate that glorious feeling and extend its life. Patience, on the other hand, had the wind knocked out of her. Her heart raced and she stilled in the hopes of regulating its pace. She arched up into Schuler’s pelvis, encouraging him to use her body as he pleased.

On the verge of climax, the man pulled out with a gasp. He desperately kneaded the base of his cock against her mound, his sac sliding into her juices. With a couple more jerks, he released. Streams of his seed lashed across Patience’s torso, a few pearls reaching her throat. Schuler panted, rubbing the last ounces out. It pooled at her navel, the final strings finally breaking away from the tip of his cock when he stepped back. He swept the hair from his face as he admired Patience glistening in the dimming light. He smirked, content with the job he had done.

Patience returned a coy smile, but quickly sat up, not wanting to linger in that euphoric feeling cementing his name in her heart. Schuler politely offered her the used washcloth from the bowl of water. She wiped the mess from her skin.

“So …” said Schuler with a bastard’s grin, “was I any good?”

Patience snorted and threw the cloth at him. He caught it amid a flurry of their laughter. “If I may take Anax with me? I’d like to wash up,” she said with regained composure.

“Oh, right, of course.” He handed her the skull from the nightstand.

Patience took Anax to the bathroom for his post-coital duties. Even though Schuler came outside, she had to be sure. Additionally she drew a bath, her first in days aside from cursory daily washes with a cloth. The bath could not come soon enough. She wondered if Schuler had noticed her musk. If he did, it did not seem to have deterred him. Patience applied Anax to her head and sat upon the toilet.

“Patience?”

“If you could clean me out, please,” she requested.

“You—”

“Yes. I’m sorry. It … lifted his mood I’m sure.”

Instead of a snapping remark or rumbling growl that she expected, Anax wordlessly slipped in a tendril and began his work. To her continued surprise, he remained silent throughout her entire bath. He even lathered and washed her hair without her having to ask. Patience wondered if he was simply concentrating on flushing any fever-causing germs from her body. Or if something else was on his mind.

That evening they filled their bellies with Mr. Well’s gift. Schuler even had the energy to regale them with stories from his time working odd jobs around Keaton, leading up to the point where he met Patience’s father. It was altogether very pleasant and Schuler and Patience agreed to an early night.

As Schuler got up to use the toilet, Patience took the dishes to the kitchen. She came back with a newly filled pitcher of water for the stand and turned to make her way to fluff the pillow and blanket on the sofa. Returning from the restroom, Schuler met her in an awkward dance outside the bedroom door. Schuler gripped her arm. He nodded over to his bed.

“You can’t keep sleeping on the sofa. It’s not good for your back.” That was all he said before he led her to the bed.

With Anax returned to his crown, Schuler settled into his side of the mattress. He pulled back the quilt, inviting her to the other side. Patience hesitantly shuffled under the covers while keeping a hand’s width away from the man. As her eyes closed, she felt another tug in her heart. Try as she might to deny it, her love for Schuler fully engulfed her heart. And she nestled into this love as sleep overcame her.

***

In the warm darkness, a voice came.

“You won’t leave me, will you?”

Dripping, feeding one word at a time into a black pool.

“Don’t leave.”

It echoed.

“Please.”

Patience’s eyes peeled open. The pale dawn enveloped the bedroom. Everything just as it was, everything except for a gentle seething. Alarmed that it could be Schuler fading again, she whipped her head around. But to her surprise, the noise was coming from the skeletal helm he wore.

“Anax?” she whispered, careful not to disturb Schuler’s rest.

“You’ll leave me once you go with him.”

Patience scoffed. “What? No!”

“It’s inevitable.”

“I could never leave you! You’ve given me so much. I fought for you—to keep you from Valon.”

“Still, you would consider giving me up.”

“I only thought you’d want a better life than the one you had with me.” Patience looked into Anax’s orb with pleading eyes. “I thought of you above all else. Didn’t I?”

His eye dissipated. “Now you may have a better life with Schuler.”

“Don’t be stupid, Anax.” Patience twisted the bedcover with her fists. He seemed so dull and lifeless without the faint glowing marble floating in the socket.

“I’m attached to him at this very moment. I know how he feels about you,” creaked Anax. “I know how you feel about him.”

The girl mentally traced the lines and curves of the skull. Her skull. Heat flushed the apples of her cheeks. “And you know how I feel about you.”

A glimmer in the dark hollow.

“I’m sure you’ve sensed it. You may search my brain later if you haven’t already.”

His eye reappeared.

“Anax. There will always be room for you in my life. You’re ingrained in it.” The girl placed a hand to his jaw. A smile flashed across her lips. Her bloodshot eyes shone. “I’m yours, aren’t I?” Slowly Patience leaned up toward the skull. “I can’t escape you.” Meeting his gaze, she placed a gentle kiss on Anax’s snout. “I don’t want to.”

“A-and him?” asked the skull as he peered down.

Patience’s mouth dipped. Fluttering eyelids dispelled burgeoning tears. “What do you wish to do with him?”

“He clearly means much to you. I won’t ask you to cast him out of your life.”

Patience’s life. It was uniquely intertwined with Anax’s own now, but that did not mean they were completely isolated from others. One of the others being the man under Anax’s shade. The girl heaved a sigh. She began measuring the potential regret. If she would regret spending the rest of Schuler’s life with him, and lie by his deathbed, much as she was now. Or if she would regret not being with this man and letting the distance between them forever remain at an arm’s length. Which future would pain her more.

“Supposing Schuler does want to wed me still …” Patience’s breath hitched as she came to an idea. She was not certain how sound it was, if it was even any good. But it was an idea. Only it would rest on the decisions of two souls.

“Supposing you don’t mind being with him … as you are now …” Patience wrung her hands. “You may not want your territory taken from you, but how about sharing your territory—perhaps even expand it?” She stared into the orb. “W-would you take Schuler?”

Anax crackled into a peal of hissing laughter.