Garrison Fawkes’ POV

I was very surprised when Uriel handed me their gloves again. The same pair that they were wearing when they tried to leave. The same pair that when I checked, was gone from my pack. “Why did you take it back?”

“I was going to leave you.”

They didn’t, only because I stopped them in time. But if I hadn’t, I would have been left alone without a single reminder of Uriel save my memories. The frisson of hurt in my chest made me look away.

“I’m sorry.” 

It felt like they had more to say. But I waited and nothing else was said. No explanations of intent or reasoning were forthcoming. I was disappointed. 

“Close your eyes,” Uriel said quietly as they took my arm. When I opened them again, we were standing in a desert. 

In mimicry of our arrival in Silvermoon lake, Uriel was almost instantly incapacitated yet again. Amidst my panic was anger. We had not taken more than two steps on the dunes when they slumped heavily into my side. 

Frantically, I looked around for someone or something that could help. Why had they brought us here? Unlike the last time though, they had not left us stranded. Fifty paces away, there was a doorway carved into the walls of sand. Such a feat didn’t seem possible without magic, but as it was, I probably needed some kind of magic to save Uriel.

The entrance was guarded by a sentinel that shook the sand off herself at our approach. “Speak your name and your aim.” 

“Please, I need help. My friend needs help.”

The sphinx blinked slowly at us. “If you wish to enter, you must answer.”

I’d heard of this. Sphinxes that guarded passageways and denied travellers who could not answer their riddle. I nodded. 

“You cannot see it even though it is in front of you. Tell us and I will let you go through.”

I looked around, thinking hard. There was a trick to riddles. One could not be too literal or too figurative in their answer. There was a logic that only those whose thought processes were flexible could get. 

The riddle said I could not see it. That meant the answer could not be something physical. It had to be abstract, a concept. Was it time?

In my arms, Uriel stirred. “Future,” they murmured into my ear, too quiet for the guard to hear.

“The future,” I answered.

The sphinx steps aside. 

I fully expected to be led underground, but as I stepped through the doorway, the end of the corridor led to an open courtyard in an oasis. When I turned around to look at where I had come through, there was no corridor. 

Everyone in the courtyard stopped to stare. “I need a healer, please.”

“Come with me,” says the sphinx closest to us. She leads us through an archway, golden tail swishing behind.

We are taken to some sort of healer’s courtyard, I think. Most of the cots are empty, save one with a woman. A closer look tells me that she is not quite human either if her pointed ears are any indication.

All the healers are sphinxes. Someone takes one glance at Uriel and fetches Gabriel. Diligence, if I remember right. 

Gabriel shakes her head when she sees Uriel. “There’s nothing we can do for them.”

“Why not? What’s wrong with them?” I ask.

“You don’t know?” she says with surprise.

“Know what?” I was angry. And this wasn’t the first time I didn’t know how to help Uriel. No one would tell me. “I don’t know anything!” I cried, frustration leaking from my words. “No one will tell me anything. All of you keep acting all surprised when I’m clueless, but no one will answer me when I ask for answers. Just tell me!” I slumped into the chair beside Uriel. 

“I suppose I will have to if you want to help Uriel.”

The outburst had drained my anger, leaving me resigned. “What must I do?”

Gabriel dismissed the other healers with an inclination of her head. Once they were gone, they asked, “You are, at least, aware that Uriel is an Incubus, yes?”

I nodded. 

“Good. Then you must have an idea of what incubi require.”

“I do,” I agreed. “But Uriel does not require that. I have not seen them feed and they refused my offer when I asked.” 

“I see.” Gabriel sits by me. “Slight concept misunderstanding. You think sex with Uriel is necessary for them to feed. I believe that is simply a preference.”

“What do you mean?”

“Now, I want to warn you that I am, by no means, an expert on the incubi, but I believe they absorb the energy released when one does.”

“So, Uriel just needs to be around people who are, you know, doing that.”

Gabriel nodded. “I believe so.”

It did explain a few things. Like the reason why they had a ‘Harem’. They were feeding off the excess energy to sustain themselves, I realised. 

“I will arrange for you to have some privacy.”

My cheeks warmed. To save Uriel, I would have to—I would have to do…that. It felt shameful to even think about it, which was strange, considering I’d done it before that time on Charon’s ship. Doing that unknowingly was somehow less mortifying than taking myself in hand to magically feed them. 

Uriel was taken to a private chamber, and I followed behind. I couldn’t look any of our hosts in the eye as they left me to my own devices. I couldn’t do it. Uriel slept on the bed, and I sat by their side, keeping watch. No matter what I tried, it just didn’t feel right to touch myself without their knowing. They would wake soon, they had to.

It was almost night by the time Uriel awoke. “Garrison,” they murmured.

“I’m here.” I took their hand. “I’m right here.” Uriel looked pale and tired, no different since my return to Edenis. With ‘The Harem’ empty upon my visit, it certainly explained why they were already fading. “How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted,” Uriel whispered. 

The veil covered their eyes as it always did. Still, I felt seen. “Why didn’t you let me help?”

“What I need is not something you can give,” they answered quietly. 

“That’s not quite true, is it?” I returned. Why? Why would they still turn from me? “Gabriel told me what you need. And I’ve told you I’m willing. Why won’t you take it?” The frustration bled through my voice. “Is it me? You would prefer someone else?”

“It doesn’t matter what I would prefer,” their voice sharp. “I would not ask that of anyone.”

I pulled away, aggrieved. “Why not, Uriel? Why not? You need to feed, or you will die. I can’t let you waste away when I can save you!” 

“Garrison, listen to me.” Uriel had pushed themselves up as I paced. “You are someone I care for. I cannot risk your safety.”

“What are you talking about?”

They looked away silently. 

“Stop it. Just stop doing that. Stop keeping things from me just because you think I’ll get hurt. You can’t protect me the way you want to if you keep me in the dark, Uriel.” I knelt by the bedside, looking up at Uriel. “Please.”

Uriel sighed. “Every time you got hurt, it was my doing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Silvermoon Lake. You almost drowned.” 

“That wasn’t your fault. You were exhausted.” They send me a raised eyebrow. “That’s too much of a stretch. It doesn’t count.”

“Very well. The time after that then, in the village.”

“You mean the pneumonia?” I asked incredulously. “How is that your fault?”

“You were fine one day, and then you were not. Did you not wonder why?” 

“How can you possibly give me pneumonia overnight?”

Uriel groaned in annoyance. “You’re not thinking this through, Captain! Recall what happened in the night.”

What had happened? I had a dream about Uriel. “That was you?” my eyes widened.

They nodded guiltily. “I did not mean to. I was severely weakened, and I lost control of Lust.”

“Then it’s not your fault.”

Uriel frowned. “How can you believe that?” they asked self-effacingly. 

“If you didn’t do it on purpose, it doesn’t matter.” I got on the bed and sat beside them. “It’s alright, Uriel. I’m fine now, aren’t I? And this time, you’ll be conscious, and you won’t lose control.”

Uriel wouldn’t look at me. 

“You’re worried,” I noted with concern. It felt like a different issue from the one we’d discussed. “What is it?”

“I have never done this.”

“Let anyone help you?”

They shook their head. “I’ve never fed. Physically.”