Chapter 29: Luna(18)
Luna sighed. She had been staying at Marissa’s village for almost a month now. Her father had suggested she spend time with the new symbiote. To be honest, Luna didn’t like symbiotes. However, if she didn’t acquire one, her younger brother would take the throne, and both she and her father didn’t want that.
But every time a tentacle touched her, her body froze and convulsed. It was as if her soul was being ripped apart, her flesh torn asunder.
She liked Malus and Phoenix personally, but whenever they touched her in their tentacle form, her body would freeze, haunted by the trauma of her failed assimilation. The assimilation ritual with Dunir had almost cost her life.
Believing everything would go smoothly, Luna tried to connect with Dunir. When Dunir entered her through her hand, she felt her flesh being torn apart, as if something was eating her from the inside. She screamed as the corruption spread. Malus quickly intervened when he saw Luna’s hand begin to rot.
Thankfully, a healer mage managed to restore Luna’s hand before it was too late. She overheard the healer saying that the corrosion had almost reached her heart and nearly killed her. Ever since then, a trauma had been etched into her mind. The agony of Dunir eating at her body was hard to forget.
However, she didn’t want to part with Hiro now. Unlike the others, Hiro didn’t seem to mind her. She had fun playing here and with him. If she left, she might never be able to visit him again. Worst of all, she had heard that Hiro was compatible with any woman—surely he would bond with some other knight instead of her if she left. That’s why she wanted to get closer to him.
*poke poke
Hiro woke up as he sensed his tentacle being poked by Luna. He sighed at her childish behavior, then lashed out playfully with his tentacle, which Luna easily dodged. She didn’t mean to; it was all reflexes.
"Please stay still!" Luna scowled. Hiro frowned as Luna took another breath, then resumed poking his tentacle. It was rather ticklish, and considering it was the middle of the night, he wished she would stop with these games. In a way, he blamed himself for treating her like a cat—now, she wouldn’t leave him alone.
Hiro sighed as he let her continue caressing him. Of course, nothing alarming happened, as he wasn’t an actual symbiote. Hiro was surprised when he saw Luna’s face; she was perspiring heavily, and her breathing had become ragged, even though he hadn’t done anything. He could feel her hand tremble in fear. He then understood that Luna had some kind of PTSD worse than the past Hiro. Hiro had the same reaction whenever he wanted to go outside.
"It’s fine... he didn’t do anything. He didn’t do anything... I’m still fine..." Luna said to herself. It probably would have been wiser for her to do this under supervision instead of alone in the middle of the night. However, Hiro had never harmed anyone, and they were closer than it seemed, so she had disregarded that concern.