Chapter Ten #2
“I know,” she repeated, but her voice was much smaller.
Callum spared a hand to grab her by the chin.
He foisted her gaze from where it hid away from him up to his face.
Frustration was no longer in his eyes. She couldn’t trust herself to know what it was, but if she had to guess, she’d put her money on hungry.
Callum looked starved as he dragged his thumb across her chin, just under her lower lip.
The instinct to bite it and draw blood was damn near overwhelming.
“Good girl, don’t ever forget it.” He tsked, throwing her face away from him as he pulled away. His tail uncoiled around her and Callum was already at the dresser. “Go wash up. I’ll rustle up something to eat and then we’re gonna talk.”
“About what?” she blurted out without consideration that his words were said with a finality.
“About what that stunt earned ya.” Callum slithered out of the room as she mimicked the words to his back.
Flapping her fingers in a mouthing motion at him, she knew it was petulant.
That she was being childish and silly…but so was he.
He was livid that she didn’t murder people?
Had she not saved their skins? Or was he miffed that she chased them off before he could skin them?
Jackass.
She pouted the whole way to the bathroom.
When she stepped inside, however, she found the tub already full of steaming water.
Avelina glanced back, trying to catch Callum, but he was either in one of the other rooms or outside the cabin.
With a sigh, she closed the door behind herself and pulled off her shirt.
It looked like he pulled her belt and skirt off and left her in everything else.
She folded up all her clothes, putting them aside.
Avelina stepped into the hot water and melted immediately.
Replaying everything that happened at Parandor on the back of her eyelids, she let herself soak.
Bones. Muscle. Being. All of it drifted off her skin in that frothy tub.
When her memory returned to the part where Lancelot glared at her, she rushed along, trying to fast forward through that heart ache.
Only to slow down, her washcloth against her shins, scrubbing off the salt as she replayed the barn.
He’s so…weird. His mood swings were so different than any man she’d ever interacted with before and she wasn’t sure where she stood with him at any time.
He was angry, and reckless, and cruel, but at the same time he could be…
Now I know you’re not about to say nice.
Her mind almost said incredibly kind and understanding. Callum? Kind? Please.
He genuinely could have left her back there with those Paladins. Could have decided she wasn’t worth the headache. Instead, he carted her back across the Grasslands and tucked her into bed. Granted, he did a lot of it to make her squirm, and he was a crass bullshitter.
I should have known he saw my book. Avelina glanced at the chest in the washroom where she grabbed her clothes yesterday. All of them were unsoiled, rolled up tight like when she put them in her bag. There was only one thing in there she’d cared about, and it was currently missing.
Her mind raced with idea of Callum finding the book, then spotting all her annotations.
Then him reading said book. Would he also agree that third act breakup was a weak plot ploy?
Only for her stop, dunk her hair into the water, and sit back up fully convinced Callum would never read a romance novel. He’d think it was silly.
He wouldn’t…right?
But there was a comfort in knowing the book always ended happily.
The appeal of knowing, no matter how bad things got between the pages, that in the end, love would prevail?
For the child of a loveless marriage, barely keeping her head above the waters of life, that was one of the few comforts she was ever awarded.
Minus Tala, damn I miss her. She had so much she wanted to tell her, so much she wished Tala knew.
What would her best friend think of her new found magic?
Would she approve of how it all unfolded?
Would things be different? When Avelina was with Tala, she was never afraid.
Her imagination never reigned supreme and she never let her mind wander to places it didn’t belong when her best friend stood beside her.
But I’m all by myself here. Just. Me.
Before she realized it, she was dressed in a simple black sundress with bloomers underneath.
She padded out of the bathroom, barefoot, finding Callum at the table with two large bowls.
He picked up his head, glanced her way, then nodded his chin at the chair across from him at the table.
Avelina sank down into the seat, watching him nervously.
Dinner’s always a touchy subject. Everest Dalethorn the Third waited till they were sat at dinner, when they were alone, to tear into her.
He didn’t hesitate to slap her at any time growing up, but she feared meals with him most. The pain was easier to take than the slow and steady chipping away of her soul.
“Now I know yer hungry,” he muttered, swiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve.
“I am,” she confessed with pink tinted cheeks.
Dropping her attention to the bowl of food, she found a spiced jambalaya.
Heavy notes of tomato, paprika, thyme, and she could point out the chunks of sausage mixed in with rice.
The first puff of steam when she hoisted it out of the bowl licked her cheeks and her stomach growled in response.
“Atta girl, go on, eat.” Callum wasn’t even engaging with her, fully focused on wolfing down large portions of it.
She glanced up through her lashes, witnessing him licking his fingertips clean of their ruby and orange tint.
He plucked shrimp out of the bowl and sucked them out of their tails.
She gave in when the heavy garlic and softened bell pepper hit her tongue.
Significantly better than porridge, and much more sustaining than the fried bread they had at the tavern.
Avelina didn’t realize she was crying until the world blurred and she had to use the back of her wrists to dab away the rivers flowing down her face.
She sobbed. Sniffled and sucked in air then ate some more.
It was terrible that she felt safer eating a meal with a man who literally threatened her life than her own father.
The revelation crashed over her and she gave in completely.
Avelina joined him in shoveling food into her face while she bawled her eyes out.
I miss Tala. I’m not afraid when I’m with Tala.
I miss my house with my books. I’m not in danger when it’s just me and the words.
I miss people smiling at me when they see me on the streets.
I’m not a monster when I was only Avie. I miss my life with my best friend and no horrors that lurk in my shadow!
A cotton swatch of fabric was handed to her across the table. She stopped, nearly to the bottom of the bowl, and stared at the dangling patch of stained brown cotton from Callum’s claws. “Sorry, darlin’, I’ll have Neddy go easier on the spices next time.”
“No,” she gasped, taking the cloth to dry her face. “No, no this is wonderful.”
“Yeah?” He tilted his head, eyes studying every inch of her face.
“Yes, this is magnificent, don’t change a thing!
” She dabbed her eyeline tenderly before clutching it to her chest. Once again, so weird.
He’s strange! Avelina let out a wheezy laugh as she realized how silly she looked.
Red in the face, eyes glassy, tears streaking her cheeks?
She was a mess. “I was just throwing myself a pity party, I suppose.”
“Thinking of all the things you miss from your life before becoming an outlaw?” He teased with a wicked smirk. All Avelina could do was pout and nod vigorously. He snorted, “What’s top of that list?”