Chapter 11 #2
Another tinkle of laughter from her, and I know one of them hides her form from me.
The panic subsides entirely when she comes into view, her gaze cheerful, and I realize she’s speaking with the railway waiter we met last night who stands at her side.
“Very well ma’am, if you need anything you need only ring the bell,” the man says, tipping his hat to her before turning to leave.
“Thank you,” she murmurs.
“Good morning,” I say, and slide into the chair across from her, unsure of how to begin to apologize, and not knowing where to start. My words lock on my tongue with the many things I need to make known to her, least of which our next destination.
“I’m so sorry—” she blurts, just as I open my mouth to say the same.
My brows come together when I get the innate sense that she’s highly embarrassed with what happened this morning, and we won’t get anywhere until we get my schoolboy behavior out of the way.
“Don’t apologize. I need to explain,” I start.
But she shakes her head in refusal and her cheeks turn a deep pink. Her shoulders go inward and I get the feeling I’m not going to like what she has to say next.
“I’m the one who should be sorry. You were sleeping and I was staring and...” Her voice fades away as if she can’t bring herself to say the word.
Her pink cheeks deepen to a red that spreads along her hairline and what I can see of her neck through her white blouse. She’s embarrassed in truth because she tried to get a look at me?
“You were looking at me while I was sleeping?” I ask, amusement rising in my sternum.
The idea pleases me immensely, and makes me wonder what else she’s curious about. I know I’ve several questions for her too. I want to know and learn everything about her, and it gives me hope that she’s at least interested enough to try and get a look at me.
The sound of the door opening and closing alerts us that we’re not alone, and I lean back and wait as the staff make their way to us, giving her a look that says we’re continuing this discussion later.
“A water for you sir?” one of the waiters asks.
I nod my head and wait as cutlery and glasses fill the nearby table, and wait until we’re left alone again so we don’t have an audience.
“I need you to know that you could never offend me, Elena,” I tell her. I hope she’s listening, because the closer we get to my homeland, the more it dawns on me how much she doesn’t know, and how much our journey could test us before we get the chance to bond.
I need her to know it’s not just her that will be doing things out of character.
Mate bonds are different for everyone, as it will be for the two of us, I’m sure.
Sometimes, a couple can become so intertwined they can feel the coming and going of their partner’s emotions any time they want.
Others have different capabilities, like knowing their loved one’s very thoughts.
Only time will tell what exciting experiences we will have.
“I’m your mate, and it’s perfectly natural to want to know more about one another. ”
“I didn’t mean to look. I mean, obviously, I want to look and see. But I’d never want to overstep and I feel what I did was wrong on so many levels,” she replies in rapid fire succession.
“You can’t overstep Elena. I don’t resemble a man in some ways, but in the ways that matter I do.”
“Right. Except you’re not a man, and you don’t eat,” she whispers conspiratorially, smiling over the rim of her coffee cup.
I grin, shifting my body and folding my arms over the table. “I do eat lass, I just don’t have to as often as you. I stopped needing food as sustenance back in my youth like most magical beings such as myself.”
“Just how old are you?”
“A little over twelve hundred, give or take some years,” I shrug.
“Holy cow.” Her wee jaw unhinges, causing a chuckle to rumble from my chest, and I lean over the table, anything to be closer.
I’m delighted when she doesn’t back away, her form relaxed and at ease. “Never fancied dating an older gent?” I ask, smiling when I’m rewarded for my attempt at amusing her when her head tilts back and a sharp bark of laughter leaves her lips.
By the gods, she is the most lovely thing in creation.
I reach out and touch her hand, just to remind myself that she’s real and of flesh and blood, not some angelic apparition I’ve made up in my mind.
Her soft pale skin is like a petal to the touch, and the simple move has an instantaneous calming effect as I rub at her inner wrist before lacing my fingers through hers.
“Is that what we are doing then, dating?” she asks shyly, a smile still playing on her plump and kissable lips.
“I certainly hope so,” I tell her honestly, while staring into her blue gaze. Dating, courting, wooing, I’ll do whatever it takes to make you mine.
The soft hum of the train beneath us fills the coming silence as I wait to see what her response is.
“Can you really breathe under water?” she finally asks.
“I can,” I reply.
A smirk begins to pull at my lips at this conundrum of a woman when she quickly gets to her feet to get ever closer to me.
I turn my head, and using my power, put my gills on display for her.
They’re much smaller in my humanoid form than when I’m monstrous, but the small slits allow me to breathe oxygen no matter if I’m on land or sea.
A gasp leaves her, and I glance down to see her brow pinched in fascination as she looks her fill of me.
The same look of concentration and attentiveness that I noticed in her when she was showing me around my moat is clear in her expression.
The irony that she’s as preoccupied with my gills as much as she is her wee beetles brings me such joy that I preen and show her again, flashing my fins and gills for her again.
“Wow.”
“Is there anything else you’d like to know?” I ask when she moves to sit back down.
Those white wee teeth of hers make an appearance and tug at the soft of her lip, and I find myself wishing we could head to Scotland now, my scepter be damned.
I want her all to myself, in a safe space where she can see all of me, because something tells me she will be fascinated in my monster form.
An odd look crosses her expression and she leans back in her chair and crosses her legs as she holds my gaze. “Can you control my emotions?”
“No. Once the mate bond is complete, I’ll sense your emotions, but I can’t force you to feel something you don’t want,” I tell her honestly.
“So, the mate bond can be rejected?”
I gulp uneasily, but forge ahead, ignoring the pit of uncertainty forming in my gut.
“It can, but ours is a true mate bond. Only my true mate could break the curse that held me to the moat, meaning we’re quite literally made for one another.”
Her gaze softens at my words, and her frame relaxes. “Is there a ceremony we have to do or something?”
“No, the mate bond began when you fell into the moat and I kissed you, but it won’t be complete until we mate in truth.”
“Oh.”
“There’s no rush, Elena, and I won’t pressure you. Besides, our mating really won’t be that much different from a human’s. I’m sure you’ve had others to compare,” I say, taking a sip of water.
“I’m a virgin,” she utters.
Water spews from my mouth, startling us both as I begin to cough and choke until tears are stinging my eyelids.
Bleeding hell.