“Do you?”
“Been known to… with their permission.” He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Imagine what someone would think if they saw us right now? Would it not appear as if I’d kidnapped you?”
An attractive blush covered her cheeks. “They’d be stupid.”
“Would they be wrong?”
“You didn’t kidnap me. I kidnapped you. Sort of.” Still, a deep sadness haunted her eyes. “But your point is well made.”
“What’s wrong, Dragon?” Not that he cared. At least that was what he told himself.
She blinked quickly and swallowed hard as if she were fighting back tears. “Nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing. He saw the horrors she was trying to hide. Something dark in her past that she didn’t want to talk about, and he regretted that he’d pricked whatever memory was there.Of all people, he knew the demon that lurked just below the surface that never gave him peace.
Sometimes it was well caged.
Other times...
It emerged with the slightest provocation.
A smell. A whisper. Any little thing could unleash that demon until it raged against the world, and mostly against him.
I am a bastard.
From birth to the end. Like father like son. And so, he vowed to say nothing more. Least he could do for her.
Tanis sighed as she tried to think of something else to focus on. Right now, she was seriously starting to panic.
Just what had she gotten herself into?
Davin had always chastised her for not thinking ahead. For being too rash and emotional.
He was right.
She’d been so focused on the result of avenging him that she hadn’t thought through the steps to get there. Impetuosity would always be her downfall.
And trust.
Though she’d gotten much better about the last one over the years.
Well, not really. Rather than mistrust everyone else, she’d merely learned to withdraw. It was easier to avoid others than to let them take advantage of her because she refused to assume they were going to use her. She didn’t want to be hateful like her sisters.
Vicious like the monster who’d taken her.
If that was what it took to live in this world, she’d rather not. She just didn’t want to be like them. To hurt and take advantage of others. Why did everyone have to be so mean? It had never made sense to her.
What pleasure could they really take from their cruelty? And if they did find pleasure in such meanness, then she pitied them for it. She found her happiness whenever she caused someone else to smile. She liked helping others, even when it caused her father to chastise her.
Why was that wrong? She’d never understood it.
As they continued through the forest, she saw a shadow in the trees that seemed to be keeping pace with them. “Is that a human?” she whispered.
Glancing over at the shadow, Dash let out a very heavy sigh before he responded. “No. Something much more sinister.”
Dread filled her at his heavy tone. Was it an ogre? Troll?
Oni?
