Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
MAL
Clayton’s face was a mixture of curiosity and irritation once Mal reached him.
Instead of fully exiting the hole, Mal leaned to one side, draping a lazy arm over thin air and propping his chin in one hand, using essence to hold himself up.
Why? Because it was comfortable, that’s why. Plus, it didn’t hurt that he knew it would make Clayton flustered.
Clayton was so pretty when he was flustered.
His cheeks turned a beautiful shade of red, and it made the freckles on the bridge of his nose stand out.
It also added an extra something to the green and gold chaos essence swirling around him.
If essence could sparkle, that’s what getting flustered did for Clayton’s.
“How did this hole get here in the first place?” Mal asked before Clayton could say one of the dozen snappy comments Mal could practically see forming on his tongue.
He watched as Clayton visibly deflated, took a breath to reboot, then reoriented himself for the conversation. It was precious. Could a nightmare find something precious? Apparently so.
Mal was learning a lot about himself recently, and he was here for it.
“Okay, first of all, I need you not to judge me,” Clayton started, and Mal leaned backward, forming his essence into an invisible chair because he knew the story was going to be amazing.
Everything Clayton got involved with was fascinating. Not that Mal had looked into him or anything. It just paid to keep an eye on global politics, so if he’d happened to hear stories about a certain redhead, he could hardly be blamed.
Mal was still brimming with the energy he had gotten from feeding off of Clayton, which meant he had no need to conserve essence at the moment, so he sent his invisible seating arrangement a nudge to make it permanent.
It allowed him to take his mind off of it and focus fully on Clayton.
Most magic users would consider such a thing wasteful, but now that he was fully powered, Mal could drag the entire boat up out of the water, hide it from casual onlookers, take it for a spin around the city, and still have plenty of essence to spare.
Mal created a permanent invisible footstool, propped both feet up on it, and motioned for Clayton to continue, saying, “This is a judgment-free zone.”
Clayton rolled his eyes in an I don't care what you do to show off, I’m not asking you what you are kind of way, and it made Mal want to bite him. Again.
Mal’s eyes lingered on the thigh still bearing his last bite, and Clayton wrapped his robe around himself tightly before continuing.
“A few years ago, my foster grandfather died and left me a boat.
My foster sister, his real granddaughter, was quite put out by this and took the boat for a joy ride.
Since she's not my biggest fan, she didn't bring it back in the best condition.” Clayton tried to gloss over how he felt about his foster sister, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Mal.
“Serena thought it would be funny to see my face when I saw the boat submerged next to the dock. She even brought all her friends to watch me when I made the discovery. They always enjoyed the chance to come and poke fun.” Clayton looked away, blinking rapidly.
Serena. Mal would remember that name.
“The joke was on her, though. The water sprites thought it would be even more funny if the boat appeared perfectly fine, even though she had wrecked it. The look on her face was priceless when she realized. I had no clue what was going on until one of the sprites warned me before I got on the boat. It allowed me to brazen my way through the situation entirely. I thanked her for taking such good care of it and decided on the spot that I was going to live in it just to piss her off. Any attempts I've made to fix the hole have failed, whether I use magical or mundane means, but it’s always worked perfectly fine.”
“Why would I judge you for that? Why would anyone?”
“Well, it wasn't a very mature thing to do, was it?” Clayton smiled sheepishly and smoothed down the lapels of his robe.
“Not only did I move from the main house to live on a boat, but I also chose to leave England to become Samantha's assistant at her chapter house in Boston. In hindsight, it was a very catty thing to do.”
“Catty?”
“Serena wanted that position, and I was going to give it to her even though Samantha asked me to do it.
It's always been easier to give Serena what she wants so she'll stay off my back. When she's mad at somebody, she and her friends make sure that person knows it.” Clayton sighed and played with the silk belt holding his robe together, causing his robe to fall open enough to reveal his chest. All of that smooth, freckled skin made Mal’s back teeth ache, and he realized that he was hungry again.
“But Serena has no power over here, and if she came, Samantha would make her life a living hell. It pays to have a boss in high places, I suppose.”
“What are Serena's friends' names?” Mal asked.
“It doesn't really matter. It's been a long time since any of them have caused trouble for me.” Clayton’s fingers played with one of his lapels, and Mal saw the flash of a nipple. If Mal’s body hadn’t been a mental construct, he would have shattered his back teeth from clenching his jaw so hard.
“Hmm.” Mal nodded, deciding not to push.
He doubted it would be difficult to find out their names.
Besides, it would give his mind something to chew on to distract him from his desire to chew on Clayton.
Mal’s new fixation was going to take some getting used to.
It would probably be a bad idea to feed off of Clayton every ten minutes, so he needed to rein it in.
“I don't know why I'm telling you this. It's none of your business,” Clayton said, shaking his head like he'd snapped out of a trance. “I'm going to go get dressed now. You stay put.” He held out a hand to forestall Mal before he could follow.
Mal hadn’t realized he’d left his invisible seat and tried to follow in the first place. Why was his control so difficult all of a sudden?
Mal obeyed Clayton’s order sullenly, both to prove he could control himself and to appease his flustered redhead. Contrary to Mal’s previous behavior, he understood that he needed to act like a decent person to get Clayton to warm up to him.
Of course, that was half the fun. Getting his prey to come to him of his own free will was going to make everything so much more delicious in the end.
Mal watched the gentle, elegant lines of Clayton’s form move under his robe until he was out of sight. When Mal realized he’d taken a step to follow Clayton without realizing it, he shook himself from his trance.
Distraction. Mal needed a distraction. His gaze panned over the living area until it caught on the hole in the floor. Perfect.
First, he removed his invisible furniture so it wouldn’t take out an adventurous child on their way down the hole, and then he put up an invisible barrier around the whole thing. It wouldn’t prevent anyone from jumping in, but it would stop anyone from falling in by accident.
Mal was so happy with himself that he decided he would focus on being proactive until his redhead came back.
He would inspect the entire boat for dangerous defects—starting with the hole in the hull he’d seen on his way in.
However, when he turned around to get started, he jumped back in surprise at the figure in front of him.
Mal formed a long blade of essence on reflex, ready to rip through his assailant without asking questions, and only stopped at the last second when he recognized the person.
“What in the ever-loving fuck are you doing here?” Mal demanded. He cleared his throat because nightmares didn’t squeak, even when surprised, and it wasn’t happening again.
Not that it had happened in the first place.
“Nice to see you too, sunshine,” Holly said, completely unfazed by the weapon at her throat.
“How did you get in here?” Mal hadn’t had a hint of her presence, and that was unprecedented for him.
He always knew when people were around him. Within a ten-meter radius, Mal knew exactly how many creatures, sentient or otherwise, were around him. His senses were infallible, and he should have had warning of her approach well before she’d gotten so close.
Holly shrugged and said, “The usual way. Do you have anything to eat here?”
Eira entered the room just as Holly spoke and bulldozed her way into the conversation. “Did you bring a friend, Mal?”
She didn’t wait for him to clarify that, no, he hadn’t brought a friend, he’d brought a stowaway, and also, he didn’t have friends, nor did he want any.
Instead, she continued on, talking over him like she didn’t care that she might offend a creature capable of destroying a small city on his own if he put forth a little effort.
“We’ve got plenty of food, love, and an extra bunk if you want to stay the night. It won’t be much, but any friend of Mal’s is welcome here.” Eira gave a kindly smile to Holly, unmindful of the tiny fit Mal was in the process of having.
How had Holly found him, and how had she gotten so close without him noticing? Fucking brownie magic. It had to have something to do with that. He couldn’t imagine how else she could have snuck up on him like that.
Brownies were devastatingly powerful in their own homes, but Holly didn’t live here, which meant she must be from a line of exceptionally talented brownies.
Holly hefted her bag on her shoulder and said, “Thanks! Where should I put my stuff?”
“Follow me, dear, and I’ll show you. The name’s Eira, by the way…”
Mal stopped paying attention as they walked away because he was distracted by the trail of order following Holly in her wake. The battered, faded carpet was becoming brightly colored and hole-free before Mal’s eyes, but only in the area Holly had walked through.
Why was everything around Clayton so chaotic?
Oh right. Chaos magic. Clayton was never going to come close to having a normal life.
That was probably a good thing. If Mal was going to be with someone for an eternity, he wanted them, at the very least, to be interesting.
Mal felt Grampy enter the room, and he gave a grumble of grudging satisfaction. At least Mal hadn’t lost all ability to sense his surroundings.
Grampy went on his toes to clap Mal on the shoulder. “Now I see why it took you so long to return, my boy. You had your own family to bring back to us.”
Mal raised an eyebrow at the old man. “I have no family, and even if I did, I have no reason to bring them here.”
Grampy patted him a second time before letting his heels touch the floor again. “Sure, sure.”
Mal’s eyes drifted in the direction Clayton had disappeared, and he had to stop himself from following after him again.
He cleared his throat and asked nonchalantly, “When do you think Clayton will be back?”
A broad smile split Grampy’s face. “Soon enough, my boy. Until then, how about I make you something to eat? I’ve got a new recipe I’ve been working on that involves pairing chocolate, lemon, and seaweed, but so far, no one has been willing to give me feedback. What do you say?”
Mal’s eyes flicked toward the direction Clayton had gone, and then back to Grampy, face glowing with the joy of having someone to share his dark cuisine with.
Mal sighed and braced himself. Food was food, right? Even if it tasted horrible, if Mal could ingest Grampy’s food, it was worth getting used to so he could carry it with him for emergencies. Today had been far too close for his liking.
“Sure, why the hell not?”
The wrinkles lining Grampy’s face nearly swallowed his eyes from the smile he gave Mal. “Wonderful! Let’s get started.”