“As I said, it is time to go. We don’t have time for your mischief, drow. Now move it, asshole.”
“Ashul,” he gritted between his teeth as he pushed himself up from the table, refusing to allow her to insult him. It had not taken him long to work out the insult, but she would not address him by anything less than his name. Or master. That had a nice ring to it.
She gave him a sharp look and turned away with a snap of her cloak. Ignoring the mild ache in his side, he sprang to his feet, practically shadowing her as she headed from the room.
Fascination was all it was. He only followed so closely out of self-interest, not because he felt anything. Certainly not because he felt a possessive need to shelter her and drive off rivals—like a mate would. His desire to leash her in return was just another part of his selfish desire to exert his own power and claim all that he wanted for as long as he desired it. Anything other than that would be weakness. He refused to let the necromancer weaken him.
Dragging his hood forward over his head, he followed her down into the main part of the tavern, a cold smile playing about his lips as she stalked angrily ahead of him.Let her be angry. It makes the game all the sweeter.
ChapterNine
Something had shifted between them, and Robyn was aware of it beneath her skin though she tried to ignore it. Just as she had worked hard to ignore the way he had shadowed her before, fully aware of his game to torment her with his unpleasant presence, now it had taken on a new form as its intensity shifted away from her and grew darker and more menacing in its focus toward anyone who neared her. It was dangerous. The sooner they got to the monastery and had their connection severed, the better.
She bit her lip nearly raw as she collected their supplies, his dark cruelty barely leashed and contained. She could always knock him on his ass again but what she had done in private in a moment of self-preservation was quite different than exerting her power over him publicly when he was not overtly doing anything wrong. Not yet, anyway.
Thankfully, the locals gave them a wide berth, the shopkeepers tallying up her charges with nervous glances toward the drow though he was barely visible beneath the heavy fabric of the cloak, but not so invisible that she couldn’t see the shadow of his cruel smile tugging at his well-shaped lips. With a full bottom lip and a perfect cupid’s bow for an upper lip, she was now obsessed with them since feeling them pressed against her. Heat flooded her face, making her grateful for her own hood obscuring her embarrassment as her imagination replayed the sensation of them against her neck and the wicked things his tongue did. Before he opened his mouth.
She had thought it merely a game to torment her, but when he rasped that he desired to own all of her, it had sent a natural unease through her. Fear that even after they parted that she would never be completely free of him if she didn’t put a stop to what he had started. Though he had no true long-term interest in her captivity—not when his anger at his own leashing was clear in his eyes, bringing clarity that this was just another part of his game—she wasn’t so naïve to ignore the fact that it would have far-reaching consequences.
Storing her rudimentary supplies into her pack, she hoisted it onto her back without a word. She certainly wasn’t trusting Ashul with any of their provisions in case he flew into an irrational fit of temper. Somehow, he seemed to be glaring at everyone even when she never felt his gaze leave her as they headed out of town. She ignored it the best she could, keeping her attention on the road ahead among the treacherous rocks along the trail running down the steep incline. Falling rocks were a very real danger in this part of the mountain, and she wasn’t eager for either of them to become injured and delay their return to the monastery.
What a ridiculous place to put a town. It was a good thing that the flocks that provided the woolen goods and cheeses and the rich honey provided by the summer’s honeybees were easy to preserve, otherwise the people there likely would have starved long ago. She couldn’t wait to descend to the lower plains and make their way to more pleasant surroundings. She toyed with the idea of booking passage on a cog train but dismissed the idea immediately with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach at the idea of taking the drow into an enclosed public space.
The monastery wouldn’t hesitate to fine her if the elf went berserk and killed a dozen people. He barely seemed to get through the last town without causing havoc. And that wasn’t even considering the heavy loss of life that would weigh on her conscience afterward. No, a cog train wasn’t a good idea.
“You are ignoring me,” her broody companion snarled as if unable to help himself from reminding her of his presence.
“I’m not ignoring you. I’m trying to think… and listening for falling rocks,” she said flatly.
He barked an incredulous laugh from behind her. “And you believe that this is helpful?” he asked slowly, a mocking grin replacing his scowl. “You think that you will hear that before I hear the stones shift, I who have made my home beneath the stones all of my life.”
“Yes, okay, you’ve made your point.” She gave him a sour look over her shoulder. “It doesn’t hurt to be cautious, especially when its questionable how much I can count on you.”
His expression was flat as he narrowed his eyes at her. “As you have pointed out, if you die, I return from which I came. It serves my own self-interest to keep you alive.”
“Sure, and a person can survive some horrific injuries. My suffering would hardly slow you down,” she replied under her breath.
She had no doubt that he heard her, but when he didn’t reply with a rapid parting shot of his own, she frowned and glanced over at him as he stared stonily ahead, his pointed ears twitching. His gaze shifted and met hers, and something bitter passed over his expression before it smoothed out again.
Damn. Had she hurt the monster’s feelings?
She swallowed back a groan and faced forward to squint down at the ground sloping beneath her feet. She really hadn’t thought it possible. Maybe she was mistaken. It was not like Ashul was very readable. If he wasn’t snarling or grinning at her mockingly, he tended to reveal nothing of his inner thoughts hidden behind a mask of stony indifference. Except perhaps when he cornered her. She had definitely seen more within his eyes, a chaotic brush with something powerful and hungry, than she had in the days since his resurrection.
Which was the real Ashul? She suspected that she could easily never know, though she couldn’t understand why she even wanted to know. Soon it wouldn’t even matter. Once she offloaded him onto the monastery’s High Necromancer, he would no longer be her problem. Perhaps she would take a rejuvenating trip to the crystalline springs afterward, to forget this entire ordeal amid slow soaks surrounded by the comforting energy of the pink crystals clustered over the walls of the pools’ caverns. With Ashul’s silence, she allowed her mind to wander down into those crystalline caverns, recalling the last time she had visited the healing springs as she listened to the movement of the air around her.
She frowned slightly and tilted her head at the hollow note of the wind. Was the wind picking up?Perhaps we should find a sheltered area to make camp for the night.
A murderous growl rose from behind her so suddenly and gained strength so quickly that it yanked her from her musing, and Robyn’s blood ran cold. Gods, she was such an idiot for reminding him how much damage he could do without crossing the line of “harming” her!Idiot!
She had been so careful not to reveal what damage he could do. Even that first day when he had tried to choke her, she had worn tender bruises around her neck from his grip, though she had hidden the evidence behind a scarf that she’d pulled out from her pack. She had just been so resentful of his humor it had just slipped out. Robyn stiffened and began to turn, preparing to defend herself against his attack, when his arm caught her by the waist and snatched her back into the broad chest behind her.
Her breath left her with the impact of her body against his as if she were hitting a steel wall, but her eyes widened as several stones fell with a crash in the very spot that she had been standing.
Ashul… had saved her?
Her brain suddenly switched gears as shock filled her. She had nearly been crushed!
“But how?” she whispered aloud, her mind frantically racing.