I spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Jenni and Opal. I was terrified someone would come in and find her, so I pushed my dresser in front of the door. It seemed rather unfair that every room in this castle had a lock except mine, though I couldn’t really be that surprised. I was well aware that my father was manipulating every move I made, so of course he wouldn’t allow me the privilege of privacy. It would be pretty hard for Dey to sneak in and show up naked in my bed if the door was locked.
Dey.
I rubbed at my chest. There was still a bit of an ache from that one. I didn’t even know what was real anymore. Had he been pretending the entire time? For all I knew, he might secretly loathe the amount of time he’d been required to spend with me.
I had suspected my father’s deceit from almost the very beginning, and I don't know why I kept making excuses. All he did was mold and shape my actions to whatever end he wanted. I wasn’t his daughter. I was his pawn.
I had trusted Dey, though, even considered him a friend despite him calling my people savages. I guess it was better than animals.
But the worst part of it all, the part that had me refusing to leave my room, was the fact that if Dey could fool me, then anyone could. Cam. Ram. Corym. I gulped. Even Jo.
Dey had some fucked-up, racist ideology, but I never once doubted that he cared about me. And if he was lying the whole time… then who else was lying?
This is why I never made friends. It was always a bad idea for me. I knew I wasn’t planning on staying here, and yet I had stupidly let so many of them into my heart.
I tried to summon my flames back to my hand, needing to express my frustration in some way that might make me feel better, but despite trying multiple times, they remained trapped underneath my skin. Apparently I didn't have the control I thought I did.
I punched the side of my bed instead, sending Opal and Jenni into a tizzy as they squawked and took flight.
“Sorry,” I called out to them, watching as they landed on top of the wardrobe and peered down at me. Great. Now I was scaring my crescia. Stellar move, Rain.
I held out my arm for Jenni to return, but she only twisted her head to the side defiantly. I couldn't help but laugh. She had somuch personality. I knew what Dey meant when he said Thorell wasn’t a pet. Jenni was smart. Too smart sometimes, it seemed.
I made a sad face. “Pretty please?”
Another tiny fire burp popped out before she flew over to land on my arm. She nipped at my skin in admonishment as I ran my hands over her beautiful red scales. Her teeth were so tiny she couldn’t even break the skin.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Her cat-like eyes narrowed even further, then she walked up to my shoulder, curled herself into a ball, and promptly fell asleep.
Sensing the danger was over, Opal flew down and snuggled into the center of my braid that I had coiled like a nest atop my head. She was never far from Jenni, and I was starting to worry what I would do about that. I couldn’t keep Opal too. She had a Vitaean out there somewhere just waiting for her bond. It would be selfish not to take her back to the Sylvarium. Then again, I wasn’t exactly an altruistic person by any stretch, so I could hold off a little longer.
I looked at Jenni sleeping on my shoulder. She was so precious with a fuzzy little snout and cute little whiskers sticking out from either side of her face that faintly tickled my skin. “You might be the hardest one to leave,” I whispered.
She cracked a single eye open at the sound of my voice.
“Rain not leaving.”
The words echoed through my brain, similar to when Jo spoke to me, yet the voice was so innocent, so child-like. A soft, melodic sound that danced inside my head.
I gawked at her. “Did you just talk?” There was a solid chance at this point I was literally going crazy and had imagined it.
“Yes.”Another fire burp escaped, and she squawked as if it had caught her off guard.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me that I could speak with my crescia?” That seemed like an important thing someone should have mentioned.
“Rain special.”
Now it was my turn to cock my head in confusion. “Are you saying that no one else can speak to their crescia?”
She dipped her head slightly twice in an action that appeared far too reminiscent of human behavior.
“This is insane. Nobody can speak to pets where I come from.”
Jenni’s eyes narrowed sharply, then she hopped down to my knee and gave a roar that would have been terrifying if she wasn’t five inches tall. The mini fireball that accompanied it barely left a noticeable scorch mark on Peywyn’s pants.
“Sorry! Poor word choice. I know you are more than just a pet. Trust me, I know.”
She huffed out a little puff of smoke, and I had to take a second to imagine the implications of this tiny creature being annoyed with me. The fact that she was intelligent enough to know when to take offense was beyond fathomable.
