Chapter 8
Claws carving gashes across the bare stone, Thrasik surged through the tunnel after the guard. He was beyond livid. Rage massaged his mind while Griselda’s lingering scent on his maw drove him damn near into a frenzy. His tail thrashed against the ground as he lunged out of the cavern entrance.
Snorts of air puffed around him, his head whipping back and forth to find the guard.
Lucky bastard.
His lips ripped into a frustrated snarl, fists slamming into the ground. He wanted to scream. To growl and get it out of his system. Unfortunately, there was too much risk doing that this time of night for as loud as he wanted to get.
Thrasik couldn’t stand that damned guardsman. He saved his ass once and it suddenly meant he could show up to his sneaky little cave whenever he pleased.
“Next time save your own sorry ass,” he spat, releasing an aggravated hiss and turning to go back into the cave.
The tunnel seemed to go on forever. Regret washed over his scales in realization to how he treated Griselda once he noticed the guard.
Frustration ate at his own stomach too in not noticing fast enough.
What if the guard had slain her right then and there while he was too drunk off her slick to notice?
Get out of your head.
Thrasik reached up to run a cold hand through his spines. Their almost rubbery texture sending a soothing feeling between his fingers.
She’s still in there. She’s still alive. She might just be a bit mad at you.
Mad he could deal with. He’d dealt with plenty of his own people mad at him, what was the difference in this short elf having a tizzy?
Regardless, knowing how just the one guard acted meant he had to take her back to her village. Last thing he needed was a party going looking for her and finding both of them in another… situation.
Gods. She devoured his mind. He wanted to mount her in such differing positions and ravage every inch of her succulent body.
She was so soft.
So delicious.
His vision fuzzed for a moment at the memory of shoving his maw around her hips.
Quickly shaking his head, he hurried back to the pool room.
He didn’t need to think about her like that while he was hungry, or he might just accidentally eat her.
Then what would he have, nothing but questions as to how she had a piece of him?
Finally entering the room, he saw her fully dressed and covered on the floor. Seems she had put herself to bed. An interesting scent wafted through the room. One that almost made him want to sneeze but also comforted a deep frustration.
Curling up in the entrance to the room, Thrasik kept his eyes locked on her. He didn’t want to risk her waking up and thinking he had fully left. He could at least give her that after what she gave him.
His size easily made it to where no creature would try to sneak into the cave. A snoring, scaled, hulking mass between them and the water? Not a beast would dare try to slip past something with such a strange wheezing snore.
* * *
A tantalizing smell rolled Thrasik from his slumber.
Delicate sun beams drifted between the vines around the ceiling of the cavern.
Light groans slipped around his throat as he stretched and coiled around himself tighter.
He didn’t want to face reality today, despite knowing he absolutely had to.
Not just for taking Griselda back to her village, but to find out what that damn delicious scent was.
Raising his snout to the air, his half closed eyes tried to keen in on the source.
A few feet away, Griselda sat her rump on her ankles with her arm crossed around her knee. Squinting harder he noticed she had something skewered on a stick and was roasting it over the tiniest fire he had ever seen.
“Mmm,” the growl rumbled within his chest as he stretched toward her. “What treasure do you have?”
Griselda jumped at his voice. He mentally bit his tongue. He didn’t want her to be scared of him. Was he truly that monstrous?
“You probably won’t want any.” She shuffled herself around the fire in a half circle, completely blocking his view of whatever she was cooking.
This piqued his interest even more. Thrasik lifted himself onto his fingertips and tried to peer around her.
Instead, he watched with morbid curiosity as Griselda tugged whatever treasured morsel she had closer to her body and hunched around it.
“Share?” Drool pooled in his mouth at the smell of whatever treasure she had.
Quiet grumbles muttered from her. Her hands worked back and forth in her huddled ball.
“Is this how you treat someone who provided shelter?” he sneered in hopes she understood his meaning.
Her language was a hard one for him to understand, let alone translate from his own knowledge.
Griselda stood, whipping around to face him. He dropped to his palms and rested almost nose to nose with her. For how fast she stood, she sure didn’t seem angry.
He stared into her vividly green eyes. They glittered like shining emeralds. Like the treasures that decorated his kin’s throne room.
My treasure.
His pupils dilated at the thought. He shouldn’t be claiming her. Yet.
“Don’t you dare talk about providing when you just up and left me!” Her words weren’t angry, instead an hint of a sadistic laugh twirled around their edges.
“I didn’t leave you! Well. Maybe I did leave to make sure the guard was gone. But,” Thrasik leaned closer and reached a curled claw up to touch one of her snowy braids. “I came back to make sure you were safe.”
A slight blush built across Griselda’s cheeks. Something kindled in Thrasik’s gut with the knowledge that he could pull such a color from her with such a simple gesture.
“Besides, today you go back to your village before more guardsmen show,” he huffed.
Her face sunk for a moment. He barely noticed her features twitch downward.
“What about finding another fruit?” Her hands kneaded the morsel between her palms.
She was now avoiding his gaze. Thrasik swiveled his head around to follow her face despite this.
“We will find fruit. But you leave the village tonight.”
Griselda’s mouth gaped at him. His tongue curled behind his teeth at the desire to lick those peachy lips.
“What do you mean? Why take me back there if you’re just going to steal me away regardless?” Confusion furrowed her brow.
“I have my reasons.” Thrasik pulled himself back onto his tail, coiling into a slouch and crossing his arms.
Like keeping you to myself. Taking you to a place we can call home, together, while I figure this mess out.
He sneered at her, lifting his top lip into almost a snarl. “Besides, I still want to know why you have my scale.”
Griselda’s cheeks sunk in as she chewed on their insides. Her hands lowered to her stomach before suddenly obtaining a stern air.
“You’ll give me until tomorrow. Do that and I’ll go with you for whatever mission you’re on, but you’re going to let me fulfill mine first,” she blurted out, face tinging with red along her cheekbones.
Thrasik cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. How she went from feisty to sullen in moments confused him. He didn’t mind though, at least she had emotion compared to those steely snakes he’d dealt with for ages.
“That depends,” he hissed, tongue flicking on the final word. “What is your mission? Tell me yours, and I’ll tell you mine.”
Griselda’s hands wiggled around, molding something between her nimble fingers before making a ripping motion.
A soft texture bounced around her palms as she held half of the form out to him.
He slid forward and grabbed the item between his claws in a weary fashion.
The item had a brown bulbous top and tapered to a white nub.
Dark frills curled underneath the bulbous end.
A mushroom? Really.
The secretive creation she’d focused so hard on keeping from him was nothing more than… a mushroom.
His eyes flickered up to hers and widened as she shoved the morsel into her mouth and chewed like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.
Her gaze stayed averted, but not in embarrassment.
It was as though she was playing a children’s keep away game of pretending not to have any more of the desired item.
Griselda rocked on her heels, her white braids swaying in the air around her shoulders.
The steady sway of her hips teased tendrils in the back of his mind.
“Thank… you?” Thrasik pulled back and licked at the mushroom before tossing it into his mouth. He wasn’t a fan of the earthy flavor, but would play her game.
“You’re welcome. As for my mission, like that guard from before told you, I’m renowned as ‘sacred’ to my village.
Not for any reason other than to clean the altars and provide availability to the High Priest and his people when they visit.
Whatever that means truly depends on the day, but I’m not sacred by any means if you were hoping you found a ‘pure maiden’.
” Griselda’s expression furrowed and sank the longer she spoke.
“Hm, I like mine with some scars and arrows sticking out.” Thrasik threw a glance at her from the corner of his eye, logging the scar along her jawline to memory and how she almost glared at him after his comment.
“Uh huh, noted. Anyways.” Her eyes rolled.
“I can’t stand the fuckers. They’re the bane of my existence and I want to know why they’ve been treating our village like shit.
Something isn’t adding up and it’s been making me uncomfortable for a while.
We have to prepare the altar and sacrifice all our food reserves to them each time they show up.
So, I want to travel to Silyre. Take me to the High Priest’s castle and I’ll go with you wherever you want once I finally get my answers.
” She crossed her arms and tucked a hip, emerald eyes staring Thrasik down in anticipation.