Chapter 20 #2
Her cheeks flushed as she glanced at my cock, then leapt to her feet, grabbing a towel and hurling it at me.
I caught it with a mocking laugh as she backed away, flustered yet trying to act as though she wasn’t as she raised her chin defiantly.
I held the towel in a fist so it hung down to cover me from navel to calf.
“You’re a pig,” she snapped, her hair shimmering with magic and her amulet gleaming against her chest.
The Dragon wanted to come and join the fight but that would do me no good. I had to keep it together so I could get her on my side.
I took a breath, calming my thoughts, wondering why this human got under my skin so deeply. I should have been able to manipulate her as easily as breathing, but instead she riled up a storm in my soul and shook the foundations of my plans practically before I’d laid them.
“Enough. Come now, a truce. There’s no use in arguing over whose life is shittier.”
“That’s not the argument I was making,” she growled, her gaze dipping to take in my dripping wet frame before her eyes shot back up to mine again, looking all the more furious.
I smirked, telling her I knew I’d distracted her, and her scowl deepened.
“The point is, life and loss go hand in hand. But between it all, there’s hope. Hope for better days. Hope for things that were lost to be found again.”
“What things?” I questioned, narrowing my eyes as I sensed she was hiding something from me still.
“Things that don’t concern you,” she said firmly, her jaw ticking, but she hadn’t run away yet, she remained there to swap barbs with me and in doing so, it gave me the chance I needed to convince her to trust me.
“Oh but they do, pretty one. We’re in this together now, you and I. So what is it that’s making you shiver like that?”
She glanced at the goosebumps which had risen along her arms. “My reason for being here is none of your business, as your reason is none of mine.”
“And what if I told you I’m here for the good of the world? Would you believe that?” I asked her.
“Not a chance.”
I laughed darkly. “Good, because of course I’m not. My reasons are purely selfish. What boon do you seek, Ferris Creed? Perhaps our wants align? You spoke of the Necromancer before, the Hollows must bring on a riot of fear in your fellow humans.”
“What does the Necromancer have to do with this?” She frowned.
“Perhaps I wish to stop him.”
“Liar. You said you’re here for selfish reasons.”
“Maybe I want him and the Hollows gone for motives of my own.”
“That’s not why you’re here,” she accused. “And if you think I’m here to wish for that too, then you’re dead wrong.”
I tilted my head to one side, intrigued as usual. “I thought you might be here to save the world.”
“Well I’m not,” she breathed, a hint of guilt to those words, but mostly there was conviction. “I know what I want.”
“Which is?”
She shook her head, eyes shining with her refusal to utter the truth.
I waited but she didn’t break.
“I gave you my truth,” I pushed.
“You’re a liar.”
I smiled, striding toward her but finding myself weak by the time I got there. She slinked into the doorway and I leaned against it, dipping my head toward her face, devouring her personal space and declaring it my own dominion.
“What’ve I got to do to earn your trust, lightwing?” My knees threatened to give out as stars burst before my eyes, highlighting her face like a beacon.
“I will never trust a Fae,” she whispered coldly.
“I see,” I growled, swaying forward as I leaned closer and throwing out my arm to catch myself on the doorframe behind her. I was consuming even more of her personal space, but she didn’t run. Perhaps if I was in a less weak state she would have.
“Well do me a favour at least,” I exhaled.
“What’s that?” she hissed.
“Don’t stare at my cock for too long when I hit the floor.” The blackness swept in and I staggered out into the hall, slamming down onto my back, losing my grip on the towel as I went.
My skull rattled as I woke up, blinking at the fire in a nearby brazier as it came into focus. I was in bed and one look down showed that I was covered with a blanket and my wounds were dressed with strips of what I guessed had once been a white sheet.
Ferris was curled up in an armchair across the room, her nose buried in the diary. The darkness beyond the window told me it was night, so I’d been out of it for at least a few hours.
“How did you get me into this bed?” I muttered, still dazed.
Ferris didn’t look up from her diary as she pointed to a rusted wheelbarrow across the room.
“How did you get me into that?”
She looked up reluctantly, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. “You don’t remember?”
I shook my head.
“I found the old thing in the kitchen store, so I brought it upstairs, and after trying to lift you into it for spirits only know how long, I gave up and prodded you in that gash by your neck instead.”
I touched the wound with a frown, some vague recollection coming back to me now.
“Then you reared up with a cry like a dying goat and called me a ‘ravishing silver unicorn’ before you passed out again. When you fell, I shoved you into the wheelbarrow. I let you sleep in that for a while, and when you started moaning and mumbling about the Hollows, I steered you into your bed.” She shrugged like it was nothing and went back to reading.
“What did I say about the Hollows?” I asked lightly, like the question didn’t weigh a thousand tons.
“You kept saying ‘they’re waiting’ but I don’t know what for.”
I grunted.
“What did you mean?” she pushed, and I shrugged.
“Fuck knows.” But I did know.
Her eyes roamed over me, a slight frown pinching her brow as she assessed me all too keenly.
I wasn’t used to anybody looking at me the way she did and I certainly wasn’t used to be surveyed in such a weakened state.
I shifted in the sheets, waiting for her to call me out on my lies but even though I suspected she knew I’d been less than forthcoming with her, she didn’t push.
“You need to rest,” she stated finally, and I bristled at the assessment.
“Aw, have you been watching over me all curled up in your chair, pussycat?” I taunted.
Ferris snapped her diary shut and got out of her seat. “Just rest so we can get back to the task at hand,” she said cooly.
“Yes, your highness,” I mocked dryly.
She stalked from the room and kicked the door shut behind her, the space feeling altogether too empty in her absence, and I had to bite my tongue against the urge to call her back.
I was left with my own thoughts and a plate of food that had been provided for me to snack on. So snack I did. Because my little Dragon slayer needed me alive and kicking. And far be it from me to go dying on her. Not while I had a boon to claim.
It took another full day for me to feel strong enough to begin training Ferris in the ways of Summoning. But I was finally able to walk around freely without the assistance of my pet human and it was time to show her how to wield the Dragon.
We had spoken very little, so I’d had plenty of time to think on how I might sway her to work with me fully.
Perhaps I was a little rusty on wooing others since I had been outcast for so many years.
I didn’t keep the company of strangers often but the old me had been likeable enough.
At least for a time. Maybe there were still sufficient pieces of him left in me to gain Ferris’s favour.
She was only human after all, already easily glamoured by our kind.
She may have hated us but she couldn’t help but be enraptured by us too.
I found her in the lounge, poring over that damn diary again.
I was pretty sure she must have had it committed to memory by now, yet she continued to study it tirelessly as if it might offer up another secret with each turn of the page.
She took notes too, sometimes comparing the writings in the diary with those in her precious book on the spirits of the forest. She was plotting, scheming, planning…
I just wasn’t certain what precisely she thought a weak creature such as herself might achieve for all her efforts.
Though the sting of her victory over the Dragon prickled against my attempts at dismissing her entirely.
But that had been a fluke. I’d been the one to weaken it.
The spirit should have been mine in truth.
I crept up behind her, noting the silken pink dress she wore.
It hugged her figure and hung gracefully around her legs to caress her bare feet.
Clearly she held no hostility towards the Fae-made items in this castle.
Though I supposed she might have found amusement in stealing from those she despised so heartily.
She didn’t notice my approach and didn’t stir at all until my shadow fell over her.
Ferris jerked around at the last moment, snapping the diary shut as if I might claim some of its secrets with a single glance, then she leapt from her seat.
“Well?” she prompted, glancing down to take in the fine linen shirt I had matched with trousers and shoes fit for a ball. She wasn’t the only one of us who could play dress-up in this pretty castle.
“Well what?” I drawled.
“Are we getting started at last?”
“It seems we are.” I offered her my hand and she glared at it like it was a viper about to strike. I moved it closer to her and she folded her arms in answer to my demand.
I fought the urge to snatch her hand and decided to play the part of someone more mannerly.
“I only wish to guide you in the skill of Summoning,” I offered.
“Stop.”
“Stop what?” I balked.
She waved her hand at me. “This. This weird act. I know what you’re doing.”
“I’m not doing anything but repaying the woman who saved my life. But if you don’t wish to learn to Summon, then so be it.” I turned my back on her, meaning to stride from the room, and smiling when she called out to me. Just as I’d known she would.
“I want to learn,” she insisted. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”