There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)

With help from Jock, they brought Bassena to the guest lounge in front of them. They put the esper on the couch, with Zein cradling Bassena’s upper body to guide the man.

For some reason, the white rabbit was following Zein, and perched on top of Bassena’s chest, curling calmly there while Zein stroked the bronze cheek, cleansing the man.

"Cloudy can make you sleep really well, you know, without nightmare or anything like that," Elena explained. "It will healed your esper faster."

Zein didn’t know which one amused him more; that Cloudy had healing properties or that Elena called Bassena his esper.

"Thank you, Cloudy," Zein patted the white rabbit gently. He was sure its name wasn’t supposed to be ’Cloudy’, but the rabbit didn’t seem like it minded too much. "You too, Elena."

The young girl grinned. She had been secretly observing the Serpent Lord from afar for a few days; the Saintess and everyone had told her to stay away. But she asked around about the esper, and found out that he was an esper under Zein’s responsibility. One of the priests also whispered that they might be lovers.

So when the falcon told her that Zein was awake, Elena immediately rushed to the Sky Garden to tell Zein about it. "He waited for you for so long," she whispered, crouching beside the couch and propping her chin on Zein’s armrest.

"Sounds like him, alright," Zein patted the bronze cheek, stroking the black scale beneath the closed eyes.

Elena watched in fascination at the way Zein’s cold and nonchalant face turned soft when he looked at the esper, wondering if that was what people in love looked like. Zein had been gentle with Elena and Cloudy, but there was something different with the way he treated Bassena that made Elena feel warm and comfortable looking at it.

And then she gasped. She leaned closer and whispered to Zein. "Is he the reason why you don’t want to be a Saint?"

Zein raised his brow at her perceptiveness. While he also had this deep-rooted distrust toward the Temple, Bassena was indeed his biggest reason. "Yes," he replied, a smile came out almost automatically to his lips.