Chapter 22
Walking back toward town with the bounty hunter hunting you was, Edith decided, an exceptionally strange experience, especially when said bounty hunter was annoyingly calm about everything as well as annoyingly attractive. Which was frankly the greater betrayal.
They walked side by side down the winding path from the park, the sea breeze curling around them as sunlight spilled across the cliffs in warm golden streaks. Below them, Krakens Hole stretched lazily along the bay, smoke curling from chimneys while the ocean glittered endlessly beyond it.
It should have been peaceful.
Instead, Edith was having what could only be described as an internal crisis. Because she did not expect Spencer to be so… nice, if that was a word she could use. And now that she knew his name, it somehow made everything worse.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she muttered eventually.
Spencer glanced sideways at her. “Like what?”
“Like you’re trying to solve me.”
“That implies there’s something to solve.”
“There absolutely is not.”
“You admitted you were the missing heir within five minutes of speaking to me.”
Edith frowned. “In hindsight, that was emotionally reckless.”
“A little.”
She pointed at him accusingly. “You have a face that encourages honesty.”
Spencer looked genuinely offended by that. “Take that back! I do not.”
“You really do,” she admitted again, the last word leaving her lips on a sigh.
He shook his head slightly, though Edith caught the faintest twitch near his mouth.
Because apparently, underneath all the terrifying stillness and bounty hunter energy, the male occasionally almost smiled. Edith hated that she noticed.
The path curved downward slightly, gravel crunching beneath their feet as the wind picked up again. For a few moments, silence settled between them, not awkward exactly. Just an awareness between them
Edith could feel him beside her constantly now. The heat of him. The quiet attention in every glance he gave her. It made her skin buzz strangely, almost similar to the time she drank Binky’s home brew.
“So,” she said abruptly, mostly to stop herself thinking about his hands for some reason, “if you’re not immediately kidnapping me, does that make you a bad bounty hunter?”
Spencer looked ahead calmly. “Possibly.”
“Hmm.” Edith folded her arms. “Love that for me.”
Another almost-smile. Gods help her, did she spot dimples…? She was done for. There was no hope.
The wind tugged her hair directly into her face again.
Edith made an annoyed sound, attempting to shove it away while continuing down the uneven path.
Unfortunately, human feet were stupid and apparently far less coordinated than dragon claws, her trainer caught awkwardly against a loose stone. “Oh, for…!”
Her world tilted violently as her feet slipped, Edith lurched forward with all the grace of a falling wardrobe.
Only to be caught a mere moment before she hit the ground with her face.
Strong hands caught her waist instantly, steadying her hard against a solid chest as Spencer reacted with terrifying speed.
Edith blinked as she looked up at him, and his face was extremely close. Close enough she could see the day-old scruff and a scar on his chin that looked almost adorable and made her want to kiss it.
Whoa, where had that thought come from? It was like her human form had been asleep for far too long and even bounty hunters after her were fair game.
Spencer’s grip tightened slightly instinctively as she pressed her hand against his chest so she was able to get her feet in a semi stable footing. Edith made the mistake of looking up and into his dark eyes… time almost froze
Oh… Oh no. This was a moment. A horrible, cheesy, terrible yet rom-com moment.
Edith could actually feel the romance novel energy happening around them, the wind a now paid actor, their proximity and the sunlight catching his dark hair. It was absolutely unbearable… or was it?
“You alright?” Spencer asked quietly. His voice seemed lower.
Edith became acutely aware that one of her hands had somehow moved from his chest and onto his shoulder, and her other hand had taken its place. Underneath her palm, his heartbeat felt steady and strong.
Her own, meanwhile, had apparently decided to become a percussion instrument.
“Fine,” she squeaked in a mortifying tone.
Spencer’s eyes flicked briefly to her mouth and Edith ceased to breath. The world narrowed around them as if everything else had stopped, even the sea and sunlight seemed to bow to the moment.
His hands felt warm against her waist, their size engulfing her smaller one, making her feel tiny and dainty… and the look in his eyes, it wasn’t a look a hunter would give his bounty. Well, not entirely. It was something else, something softer and yet more dangerous.
Edith swallowed as Spencer leaned in slightly. His eyes darkening as she flickered her own from his lips and back when suddenly…
“ABSOLUTELY NOT… TWAT.”
Binky’s voice cracked across the path like divine judgement and both of them jerked apart so quickly, Edith nearly fell over a second time. Binky landed aggressively on the nearby signpost, feathers puffed out in outrage.
“I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR ONE HOUR… BELLEND.”
Edith’s face burned and Spencer looked deeply unimpressed at the interruption.
Binky pointed a wing dramatically between them. “This,” he declared, “is how people end up in emotionally devastating subplots.”
“We weren’t doing anything,” Edith said immediately.
Binky stared at her. Then at Spencer. Then back at her.
“I may be small,” he said flatly, “but I am not blind.”
Edith opened her mouth, about to make a comment about how thick his glasses were, but decided at the last moment to keep her mouth shut. Binky huffed loudly before fluttering down toward Edith, glaring suspiciously up at Spencer the entire time.
“Well,” he announced, “the council has decided you’ve had enough unsupervised bounty hunter exposure for one day.”
“There’s a council now?” Edith asked weakly.
“There have been several meetings.”
“That explains nothing.”
Binky ignored her entirely, instead he turned his attention fully toward Spencer now, his tiny body somehow radiating genuine threat, despite being approximately the size of an annoyed loaf of bread.
“You,” he said sharply. “Back toward town.”
Spencer raised an eyebrow. “And if I don’t?”
Binky’s feathers puffed ominously. “I become extremely irritating.”
Edith snorted before she could stop herself, questioning how that would even be possible.
Spencer looked at her then, really looked at her, and for one deeply inconvenient second, everything else faded again.
The almost-kiss still hung there between them.
Like unfinished business, and that alone was dangerous because she had no business kissing a bounty hunter, especially one that was after her.
“Eyes forward, missy,” Binky squawked out.
“Stop saying missy.”
“Absolutely not.”
Spencer exhaled softly, dragging his attention away from Edith with visible effort. “I’ll see you around,” he said quietly.
The words settled strangely in her chest, warm and hopeful, and Edith folded her arms tightly to hide the reaction.
“Hopefully not while you’re trying to kidnap me,” she replied.
Something unreadable flickered across his expression. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Hopefully not.”
Then he stepped back, turning toward town, and Edith watched him go for far longer than she should have. Beside her, Binky made a deeply suspicious humming sound.
“Don’t,” Edith warned.
“Oh no,” Binky said immediately. “I’m absolutely going to.”