Something itches under my skin. I don’t like his gaze on her. Not at all.
“Come. Sit.” I stand and pull out the chair beside me. “Here.”
She moves slowly, as if ready to bolt at any moment.
“She thinks we bite.” Faraday grins. “And maybe we do.”
She stops, her fingers tangling together in front of her.
“Brother,” I warn, a growl beneath my word.
He turns to me, smugness written on his face. “Yes, brother?”
“Shut your mouth.”
He smirks and leans back in his chair.
Fyan grins at him, happy to see his elder brother getting a rebuke.
“We won’t hurt you.” I pat the back of the chair. “Come, sit.”
After what seems like an eternity of slow, frightened movements, she makes it to the chair and sinks down. She’s dwarfed by it, barely taking up a third of the seat.
Her scent is all over the place. Morning dew and honeysuckle now intertwined with my soap. That sweetness, though, is the same bit of delicious honey I caught when I found her chained to the rock. It’s all her.
She shrinks back, her arms wrapped around her middle. Bony, she looks as if she hasn’t been well fed. No DragonKin would’ve tried to make a meal of her.
“Come, you must eat.” I drag a plate in front of her and fill it with three different kinds of meat, then I stab a fork into it and sit back down.
I watch her.
She doesn’t move.
“Mortal.” I gesture toward the food. “Eat.”
“Mortals eat, don’t they?” Fyan chews thoughtfully. “I feel like they do. It’s been a while, though. Maybe they’ve stopped doing that? Hey, mortal person, do you eat?”
“She doesn’t eat enough,” Rivon grumbles into his plate.
“Is that why you’re so thin?” Faraday ponders. “Humans have somehow found a way to survive without eating? Magick?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Ofcoursemortals eat.”
“You don’t know that,” Faraday challenges. “Not for sure. Not until she eats.”
“I think they have to eat, right?” Fyan scratches his chin.
“Ten gold says mortals don’t eat,” Faraday offers.
“I’ll take that bet.” Fyan leans forward. “Now, mortal, show us you know how to eat.”
“I’m telling you, they don’t eat.” Faraday grabs a meaty rib bone from his plate and chews on the end. “Just look at her.”
She shrinks farther back in her seat, her eyes down.
“You owe me the gold,” Faraday chuckles.
“Give her a chance.” Fyan elbows him. “Maybe if she?—”
