Chapter 8 #2
He mimicked her stance. This was a predicament.
He wanted to avoid Silyre as much as possible until he had more control under the situation and possible leverage on the very person he thought screwed him out of his rightful position, but this elf might be just the ticket he needs to make it in and out. Alive and in one piece.
Thrasik cleared his throat before speaking.
“Funny you bring up Silyre. I want to avoid going there. Honestly, it’s the last place I want to be.” He scratched at the spikes on his chin in absent thought. “Griselda, if we are to travel together then you need to know something.”
He watched her shoulders stiffen when her name left his lips. Doubt suddenly ate at him. Would she be able to handle the knowledge of who he truly is? Who he was?
“I was stalking you… for food. When I first found you.” Thrasik’s internal thoughts scorned him the moment his word changed right when they left his lips. He would regret not telling her in this moment that he was actually royalty to his kind.
“You and who else?” Griselda threw her hands in the air and scoffed, oblivious to the alternate words he actually meant. “I swear every damned day I enter this godforsaken forest I end up on someone’s shitlist or menu.”
“Well, I got to eat you in a different way.” Pushing the screaming voices in his mind away, Thrasik slid up to Griselda and wrapped an arm around her legs, raising up along her body.
“Yeah, you buried that twisted tongue in me and I still don’t know your name!” She pushed against his arms, trying to keep what small distance she could. “Instead, here you are making demands of me knowing more about my body than even I do.”
Thrasik pulled away with eyebrows raised.
His maw opened to speak, closed, then a clawed finger was brought to his lips in thought.
He slithered into low coils before the elf until he was bent over with both arms crossed.
Peering up through his spiked brows, a low grumble split through the air between them.
“You can call me Thrasik.” He raised up higher than her height and flared the scaled hood along the edges of his throat.
“I had a different mission before I pinned you against that rock, and truly was going to eat you to get back at all the man-things who have wronged me. However, you were covered in the scent of my people. To make it even more confusing, it was my scent!”
His scales puffed and flexed. He was trying not to get worked up, but anger still looped in his gut like a snake waiting to strike. But instead of striking, it was being strangled by another snake that was fighting to curl into the warmth that glowed before him.
Before she could react, he reached out and grabbed her chin to stare deep into her eyes as they widened against his touch.
“Listen well, Griselda. I’m taking you back to your village for one more day.
After, I’ll take you to that wretched city.
Then, I’m going to find out why you have a piece of me.
Afterwards? I’m going to rut that deliciously curvy body of yours until our minds become one.
” His thumb traced her lower lip, a deep hiss rumbling in his throat.
“Until I know you completely, inside and out.”
* * *
Griselda’s thighs clenched. Thrasik’s words echoed through her mind over and over.
Until I know you completely, inside and out.
Just the memory of his words, his slight snarl, his stern piercing eyes, was enough to send tingles through her body.
She shook her head, white hair swirling around her face as she tried to force some coherency.
Thrasik’s obsidian scales shivered next to her.
They sounded almost like rattling bones with how they plated together.
The two of them had covered quite a bit of distance and were almost to her village, but had stopped temporarily for him to reach a meek fruit in a nearby tree in order to keep his promise. The tree unfortunately looked similar to the one she had plucked the prior fruit from.
Turning it over in her hands, she noted how much smaller this one was compared to the other she’d found. The disease was hitting closer and closer to the village.
Claws wrapped around her hands as Thrasik’s engulfed hers. His scales were strangely warm.
“We need to move. The day is passing and I’m sure you don’t want to spend another night out here.” He nodded his snout in the direction they had been heading.
“Yeah, you’re right. By the way,” Griselda moved her hands from his and tucked the fruit away. “The guards can’t see you. Like, they will try to kill you on sight if they catch whiff of anything about you. You’ll have to stay hidden, okay?”
She stared up at him with worry. They hadn’t known each other long at all, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t listen to her request if it meant one of them laid a hand near her. And knowing the guards, that was more likely than not.
Thrasik rolled his eyes and huffed, “Okay.”
Glancing toward the village as they began a determined trek, a sudden dread ran down her spine. Her stomach sank into a dark swirling pit. Her vision flickered to Thrasik as a yawn spread from his large maw. That dark blue tongue stretching out with his exhale.
As much as she wanted to enjoy the visual, that dread gnawed deep at her.
There was a higher than not chance the High Priest was visiting. And if he was… Well, she just hoped with her entire being that this gorgeous naga would stay hidden and let whatever performance was needed happen without a scene occurring.