I was happy to be back in their presence, though. Even if they were annoying little bitches. They weremyannoying little bitches.
Hex was also happy to be back, even more so than me. The larger portion of their mass was curled up in the broken cauldron, exactly where we had left it when we departed on our journey. Hex had leaped from my shoulder, absorbed into the remaining slime, and reanimated in their hefty, intimidating form.
I tried to remind myself that I had sort of bonded with my familiar over the journey. I wouldn’t call us friends, but we weren’t necessarily enemies anymore.
They still made me squirmy, though.
And they had tried to sleep curled up in my bed again.
I attempted to scoop them up, banishing them to the cracked cauldron that had become their new home base, but the effort was futile. My threats didn’t even work, nor did my curse attempts. For being my familiar, Hex didn’t follow my instructions very well.
So, there they slumbered, curled up under the covers at the bottom corner of the bed.
I did warn them that if they touched my toes during the night, I would set fire to the entire shop. I sort of meant it.
The brave blue water sprite also tried to sleep in by bed, perched on the pillow next to my head. It felt like a fucking slumber party.
A thundering knock at my door yanked me to my feet, forcing me to finally get out of bed.
“Hang on! Gods!” I called out grumpily. The suns were high in the sky, and it was probably around lunch time, but I still needed more sleep. It had been a long night.
“Open the door, bitch!” a familiar voice called out. “There’s a pile of letters out here, by the way! And a few gifts! Can I take some of these?”
A grin split my face. Fiella.
She pounded on the door, wiggling the handle relentlessly.
“Hold your unicorns, I’m coming,” I grumbled, but there was no heat to it.
I yanked the door open to find her standing there, two mugs of tea in hand, smiling devilishly. “Tell me everything.”
And I did.
Well,almosteverything. I left out the juiciest bits about me and Tandor, deciding I wanted to keep some of those memories private.
The vampire leaned back, propping her feet up on the counter with a satisfied smirk on her face. “So, it sounds like you had a nice time with our friend Tandor?”
I shrugged noncommittally. “He was decent company.”
A snort escaped her. “Right. Decent company.” Her eyebrows bounced mischievously. “And was he good in bed?”
I threw a rag at her.
“Fiella! That’s none of your Gods damned business.”
“Considering the blush on your face right now, I’m going to assume he’s prettydecent.”
“Well… I’m certainly not complaining.”
“I knew it!”
“But don’t get too excited—I still don’t know what exactly is going on between us.”
Disbelief clouded her face. “What’s going on is you finally secured yourself a man, Kiz.”
Had I? Secured myself a man? “I don’t think—we didn’t talk about?—”
She interrupted me. “It’s about time. The poor orc has been crushing on you for ages.”
