Chapter 23 #4
Unlike me, Hendrix was keeping his eyes on the wall as if he were some kind of gentleman, so I quickly shuffled out of my pants and undergarments before pulling on the clean clothes I kept in my bag.
A ripping sound made me jump and I coughed as dust rose in the air, the ripe scent of mouldering grain pungent in my nostrils.
“What are you doing?” I asked, though I had learned my lesson and didn’t chance a look around again.
“I assume you wouldn’t be able to control yourself were I to remain naked before you, so I’m working with what we’ve got.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the wall where the Fox’s flames created dancing shadows and revealed Hendrix’s presence at my back as I was dwarfed in the darkness his figure created.
“You can turn around now.” He sounded amused and that only made me more on edge, but I turned to face him, a laugh bursting from my lips the moment I laid eyes on what he’d done.
Hendrix stood shirtless, his sodden hair dripping and leaving runs of moisture down his chest, but despite all the ways in which that should have been distracting, I couldn’t help but focus on the torn sack which he had tied around his waist as a method to cover his cock.
“I can take it off if you’d prefer?” he offered, eyes glinting with danger, and I shook my head quickly, knowing I’d just been all too tempted into considering that mistake while refusing to admit it to myself.
I didn’t want him.
I hated him.
He was vile, repugnant, arrogant and… and…
My gaze moved to the sculpted muscles of his chest, my thoughts fragmenting once more while again that deep and rolling laughter sounded in the back of my mind.
“Do you think you can swerve from fate, spirit singer?” A deep and ancient voice sounded in my head and I flinched. I knew now that it was the Dragon, but I had no idea how it managed to communicate with me in such a way and I found it more than a little disconcerting.
“Eat your berries,” Hendrix reminded me.
I was glad of the distraction, so I did as he’d commanded, the light from the Fox’s fire making it easy for me to ascertain that they were indeed safe to consume. I split my haul in half and offered some out to Hendrix, who accepted them with a thanks which only contained a little mockery.
“Lie down,” he said when I’d finished and again, I complied. Not because I was suddenly inclined to follow his commands but because there was little else for us to do now other than sleep or talk, and after what our conversation had almost led to already, I figured sleep was preferable.
I took my thin bedroll from my pack and laid it in the small space before moving to lie on it and shifting over to the very edge on my side, my back to Hendrix who still stood with his arms folded, leaning against the sacks of grain.
“There’s room for you too,” I said, not looking at him.
He said nothing and I ignored the urge to look at him while making a pillow of my arm beneath my head.
The light of the Fox dimmed, though its heat remained, and I wondered if he’d commanded it to do that, wishing I could have even half that control when it came to the Dragon.
“Control is the issue.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I shot back into the darkness of my mind, but once again, the Dragon seemed to find nothing but amusement in me and didn’t offer up anything more.
I stilled as Hendrix dropped down onto the thin bedroll at my back, my body tensing as he shifted closer to me, a grunt of irritation escaping his lips.
“What? I asked despite having decided against any further conversation with him.
“Most of me does not fit on your tiny scrap of a bed, especially while you take up so much of it.”
“You should have packed better then.”
“You should have thought twice before destroying our castle.”
“You were the one who told me to summon the-”
I cried out in alarm as his arm coiled around me and he half lifted me off the ground before his other arm moved beneath my head and his chest pressed firmly to my back.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I hissed.
“This is the only way either of us will have enough room to sleep,” he said, his voice a rough rumble against my spine, his stubble grazing my neck as he rested his head all too close to mine.
“I was perfectly fine before you manhandled me into this position.”
“You don’t appear to by trying to scramble away though,” he pointed out, and I quickly shoved his arm in an attempt to make him release me.
“Stop.”
“No.”
“You’re cold. I’ll keep you warm.”
“The Fox is doing that just fine,” I insisted, my pulse coming rapidly once more as I found myself trapped in the cage of his arms and despite my protests, I couldn’t deny just how well I fit there.
“Fine, I’ll barter you for it,” he sighed dramatically, his breath making my hair tickle my neck and a shiver run down my spine.
“For what?”
“For you to allow me to lay like this so that I have some hope of actually sleeping tonight and not waking in the morning to find every muscle in my body has cramped up.”
“Seriously?” I griped, though I couldn’t deny the delicious warmth of his powerful body where it was draped around mine.
“Yes. I’ll give you something – whatever you want.”
“Those spirits you stole from me,” I said instantly, and he broke a laugh.
“Be reasonable,” Hendrix chastised.
“One spirit then,” I conceded, and he laughed again, his breath hot against my neck, my skin heating in reply to it.
I squirmed in his hold and he shifted his hand to my hip, forcing me still.
“Do that again and this sleepover will take a very different turn. It isn’t only your mouth which has my mind wandering, lightwing,” he warned in a low growl, and I fell utterly still.
Some mad part of me wanted to squirm back into him again, to call his bluff, to make him act on that threat and-
Nothing. Because I hated him and I wanted nothing at all from him – and why was the fucking Dragon laughing at me again? I wasn’t even safe with my own damn thoughts anymore.
“The truth then,” I said quickly. “About your banishment.”
Hendrix stilled and said nothing for a long time.
“If you won’t give me that much, then you can just-”
“Some of the truth,” he said finally. “Because there are parts of it which even I cannot bear to recall and parts of it which would make you run screaming from me despite the night awaiting you beyond these walls.”
I hesitated on accepting his offer because his words were laced with the truth of his warning. There were parts of his past I was better off not knowing. But I couldn’t deny my curiosity when it came to the rest of it.
“Okay,” I said finally. “If that’s all you’re offering, I’ll take it.”
Hendrix fell silent again but I knew he’d accepted my terms. His truth was on the tip of his tongue, and I was all too eager to learn it.