Blessed by Night

Chapter 40: Flames of Heaven

Malachi dragged his feet as he approached Rowan's farm.

The image of Melanie's bruises had seemingly burned themselves into his mind, giving him an even greater headache than the one he'd already possessed.

He'd kept trying to tell himself that he'd been mistaken, that what he'd seen was some sort of trick of the light.

No matter how many times he'd told himself that, it didn't change what he already knew.

Melanie was being abused, and Malachi was certain he already knew the culprit.

"It's none of my business anyway." He grumbled.

'So why am I so bothered?'

"She cheated on me with my fucking boss for god's sake."

'Yet I still don't feel like I can turn my back on her.'

"This is bullshit."

'I'm just not going to think about it anymore.'

While Malachi no longer held romantic interest in Melanie, that would not change the fact that he was a person with a compassionate heart who could not justifiably walk away from someone he knew being abused.

"You know if you have to make that kind of face when you visit, I think I'd prefer you not visit at all."

Malachi looked up from his thoughts to see Rowan standing on the porch, cigarette in hand.

"Sorry old man, it's not because of you." Malachi came to a stop at the bottom of the steps and gestured for the old man to give him a cigarette as well.

Rowan obliged him and soon the two were standing side by side, smoking leisurely as they watched the grass blow in the breeze.

"Wanna talk about it?" Rowan finally asked.

"No." Was Malachi's only reply.

They sat in silence for a bit longer before Malachi finally made a request.

"Can you teach me how to use my flames better?"

"The flames of heaven, huh?" Rowan became deep in thought, seemingly trying to recall what he'd read from textbooks and stories.

"For a power like that, you don't actually need my help." He said after a long silence.

"Pardon?"

"Show me a spark." Rowan asked.

Malachi obliged and a small ball of golden flames were created in his palm.

Rowan took a deep breath before he walked towards Malachi and stuck his hand directly into the ball of flames.

"H-hey, what're you doing you crazy old man?!" Malachi jerked his hand back and put his dark gold flames away.

Instead of answering, Rowan held his hand up and showed Malachi that it was completely unblemished, showing no signs or damage except for age.

That question seemed to be one Luna suspected and she showed no signs of being caught off guard. "No, there isn't."

"Are you sure? Seems like you've been avoiding him for some weird reason." Aisha prodded.

"Seems like you have a bit too much free time if you can worry about something as trivial as this." Luna poked back.

Aisha finally relented and she sighed before walking towards the door.

"I don't know what's going on but she never asks me for favors so it must be something serious."

"She who?" Luna asked.

Aisha did not answer and instead opened the door to reveal Sei standing outside timidly.

"She's all yours, I hope you'll tell me what this is all about later."

Sei politely bowed to show her thanks. "I will, thank you Aisha."

Sei entered the room and Aisha closed the door behind her, leaving only Luna and Sei alone to talk.

"What are you doing here?" Luna asked warily.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion!" Sei once again bowed apologetically. "But I felt I had to talk with you!"

Luna sighed as she could already guess where this conversation was going.

"Look, I am far too busy to talk about nonsense, I don't know why I said that to Mal at dinner but my guess is it was just the wine."

"You can't get drunk." Sei reminded her.

"Then I was high."

"You don't smoke, and nothing is strong enough to-"

"Alright fine!" Luna finally had enough and stood up in frustration.

"I said it alright? But I have no interest in being with that brat, okay!?"

Sei put on a sad smile and she moved to sit on one of the couches in Luna's office.

"I don't think that's true. I think you are just afraid to be vulnerable."

Luna scoffed. "What would you know?!"

Sei took a deep breath and then showed her a warm smile. "I know because I was the same."

"I should probably tell you… about my ex husband." Sei finally said.

Luna stared at the woman in front of her for a long time.

She could kick her out, but so far this woman had been nothing but kind to her.

Plus, in this moment, Sei seemed to be quite fragile.

Even though she was trying to hide it, Luna could smell the sweat pooling in her palms.

With a sigh, she sauntered forward and sat on the couch opposite Sei.

"Talk."

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