“I think you can stand down, Linton. I doubt this is a threat,” she says, smoothing back her hair and pulling her sleeve down over her arm.
I would rather everyone could see I have fed from her, and a growl escapes my lips. I’m instantly behind her as she opens the door to the innkeeper’s female.
“Sorry, hope I wasn’t disturbing anything,” she says in a weird sing-song voice.
“No…” Kaitlyn says.
“Yes, I was feeding and my spicket…” Kaitlyn elbows me sharply in the stomach. “Ow.”
“Feeding? That’s good Mister Linton,” she says happily. “I brought this for Madame.”
She hands over a bundle of silk. It’s the same colour as the markings on my wings, an iridescent turquoise. I hum with pleasure as Kaitlyn takes it.
“Thank you,” she says.
“Thank…you,” I repeat, feeling my brow pull tight at the unfamiliar phrase.
“I’ll leave you to your little nest.” The female chuckles. “If you need anything, just let me or Max know.” She scuttles away down the stairs with a laugh on her lips.
“Who’s Max?” I ask as Kaitlyn closes the door.
“The innkeeper. I told you his name before.”
“He has a name?” I query, and Kaitlyn, to my surprise, growls under her breath.
My wings flare and I shed some of my scales.
“Everyone has a name.”
“I forget names.” I shrug. “I forget a lot of things after my time in the Night Lands.”
Her eyes do something strange, something where they get a bit bigger but not because of fear. Admittedly I’m not sureI could smell her fear over the pheromone of her arousal (and mine) but there’s no fear in her eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“You did not send my kind to the Night Lands for slaughter, so you have nothing to be sorry for.”
Kaitlyn looks down at the bundle and lets it unroll down her body.
“Do you like it?” she asks.
I have never been asked if I like something before. I’m not sure how to answer.
“It’s…a dress?” I query.
“It’s a dress,” she says, with an edge to her voice which I’m pretty sure means she wants more from me than a repetition of her words..
“The colour. I like the colour.” I extend a wing to show her how it matches.
I’m not sure I know what a dress is. But I recognise the iridescence as being similar to my own.
“Itisa pretty colour,” Kaitlyn says with a smile.
Somehow I have managed to please her with my words. I think that might be the first time it has happened to me.
“How does it…” I twist my head looking at the thing. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this close to human clothing. “How does it go on your body?”
Kaitlyn looks at me carefully.
