Take from an enemy...
In this scene from Bringer of Chaos: Forged in Fire, the not-quite-human Six offers water to the immortal king.
Six slid their canteen off over his head and held it out to Pietas.
Accepting anything from a human, an altered one at that, had violated every instinct at first. To take from an enemy, yes. Always. Let one give you something as if you needed it? Admit a weakness before an enemy?
Never.
But this was Six.
Pietas took it.
Ultras could go days without water, but they consumed it when they had it. He wiped one dusty hand across his mouth. The satisfaction of assuaged thirst never failed to please. What simple things in life brought pleasure! In captivity, he'd dreamed of even a drop to cool his tongue. He'd sworn he'd never take water for granted again.
Six had offered it to their companions during the climb, but the entire lot refused anything a mortal's lips had touched. Yes, Six was a quasi-immortal, but to the others, that gave him even less status.
Pietas wavered on few things, but on this? Should he call the man human, mortal, quasi-immortal, or ghost? He'd elected to choose as the mood struck. But one in particular annoyed Six.
"Thanks, ghost." He thrust the canteen against Six's chest.
I read it and loved it! I will never see Pietas as cold and having no heart. I love Six!.The new banners of Nik Nitsvetov stunning.and Julia at -cosphoto is magic behind the camera.
Oh that’s a great description of Julia! So true. Thank you 🙂
I enjoyed the excerpt and the book. Six is such a great character
Thanks Janet. I love him too!
liked the fact that Pietas is not too proud to accept something if its needed, even if if was only from a ghost.
True. Six is worthy of the exception. 😉
The whole snippet is great, saying a lot about Pietas and his relationship with Six, but I particularly liked this line: “What simple things in life brought pleasure!” I constantly find myself thinking the exact same thing.
Same here. It isn’t the fancy things, is it? Even a luxury hotel in an exclusive place follows this same rule. Why is it so restful and beautiful? Not because of the ornate surroundings but because of the simplicity. Too much can be cloying. A recent visit to Vegas showed that to be true. It’s too much detail competing in one place. The result is a view so complicated you can’t see the picture.