Chapter 14

Chapter

Fourteen

CALLISTO

When I open my eyes, I feel like I'm slipping.

"You're fine," Silas says from where he's walking beside Dandelion who I'm still riding on. "We're going to stop for the night. It's starting to get misty, and the rain looks like it'll only get worse."

I look around, confused. "Where are we?"

"Following the red bird. Where exactly is this bird going?" he asks.

I pretend like I'm struggling to comprehend him since I'm not quite sure what to say. He's going to hate me when I tell him.

"Can you hang on so Dandelion can climb?" Silas asks, and I grab on to Dandelion. He gives Dandelion a nudge and the beast heaves himself up the steep slope and into a cave.

I prepare to dismount, but Silas rushes up and grabs me before I can get down myself.

"It's like you want to fall on your face," he says as he stares at me in disbelief.

"I don't," I assure him.

"Clearly, you do," he retorts as he guides me to my feet. "Can you even stand?"

I give him a confident nod. It seems to be the only confident thing I can do. "Yeah. I'm really good at it. Like impressively good. Probably even better than you."

"You look like a wobbly newborn foal," he says.

"These legs are awesome," I assure him as I wobble my way down to my ass. "Man, I didn't know I was so weak. Like I thought I was pretty strong but apparently that's not the case."

"You nearly bled to death multiple times. I'm not quite sure that's considered weak," he says. "You've been plenty strong; how the hell else would you have fought your way through this and still be alive?"

"Being alive is questionable. Did your wyvern ever show?"

He anxiously looks outside. "No… I'm not sure why."

"I'm sure she's fine. She probably just… got distracted or something."

"Maybe," Silas says, but he doesn't look convinced.

"Were you a wyvern rider? In the war?" I ask. "I mean… if you want to tell me. I know people don't want to talk about the war."

"I actually wasn't," Silas says as he comes over to me and leans me back so he can change my bandages. "But my very close friend was. Wyvern riders were distance fighters. They excelled in swooping in and taking out enemies, and he was a phenomenal archer. After he died, Zepher fell into my hands."

"So… he was against the fae?" I ask curiously.

He hesitates before nodding. "Yeah… he was." His fingers feel cold against my bare stomach as he undoes the bandage.

"That's okay," I assure him, knowing that means Silas was also against the fae. "The fae were very closed off. They were insistent that they were superior and that everyone else in the kingdom was lower, so the previous king treated anyone who wasn't fae horribly."

"It's funny how it took a literal assault from that wretched Langsten king to pull us together after so many years caught up in a civil war," Silas says. "Because even though we'd hated and destroyed each other for years, nothing was worse than being absorbed into Langsten. I'm sure even from your pampered high-class home, you've heard the horror stories of Langsten."

I've definitely heard a lot about Langsten. "Of course I have. We all have."

"When Langsten torched and raided the villages near the border, my family was one of those killed. I felt like I'd been caught up in this civil war for years to protect those I loved, and then I was forced to fight with the fae I'd fought against for so many years just to keep Langsten from overtaking us. I'd done everything and lost everything to keep them safe… so that they could live a better life. So my little sister could grow up and become something … only for the Langsten army to slaughter them. I never even got to bury my mother or little sister. There was nothing left for me."

"I'm sorry," I say as I reach out and put my hand on his. "Really, I'm sorry."

He glances up and catches my eyes. "It was a long time ago."

"Yeah… but not long enough."

"The Langsten ruler is a necromancer," he informs me.

I hesitate, unsure how this relates. "Yeah…"

"Whatever possessed King Samuel… had an affinity for death."

I look at him curiously. "How do you know?"

"I went back to the palace to look for you. When I did, I saw him surrounded by an army of undead, so there had to be a necromancer present. King Samuel doesn't have any undead powers, does he? I don't know of any fae who has branched into necromancy."

"Right," I say. "Necromancy isn't something the fae condone. Anything that bleeds into darker magic is frowned on in the fae community and often forbidden."

"What about your magic?" Silas asks as he unwinds the bandage until he gets to the final layer that rests against the wound. "I've never even heard of a fae who could poison…"

"It's… not dark magic," I say as I grimace when I feel the bandage tug against the wound. The dried blood has adhered the bandage to me, so he runs some water over it to pull it free.

"Sorry," he murmurs, but he's being very gentle. "No, I never said it was. It's just that I've never seen such magic before. So many fae have such simple magic. They can call a wisp of light. Some can manipulate wind or water. But you can bring life and death to plants. You can poison… I saw you kill the slaver."

I hesitate, a bit horrified that he saw me. "I'm not a horrible person!"

Silas glances up at me with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't say you were. He very much deserved to die."

"Yeah… I just… kept thinking about all the people he hurt and… when he tried using some allure-type magic on me to get me to follow, I wanted to make sure he could never hurt someone again."

"Good. And… others should have done it before you ever had to. They just… I think people get so used to horrible things that they just turn numb to it after a while," he says, and the way he says it makes me wonder if that's what happened to him.

"Well, at least he's gone."

"Does the king know about your poison?"

I shake my head, knowing that's something I don't exactly want to spread around. "No. He just… assumed I could grow and kill plants."

He finishes bandaging me up and looks outside. "I'm going to head out and get some firewood before the rain picks up."

"I'll help."

Silas gives me a stern look but I hate that all I've done is sit here, needing him to take care of me.

"You will not. You will sit right there. You will not touch that beast. You will listen carefully. And if that beast comes near you, you will kill it. Do you understand?" Silas asks.

"When'd you become so demanding?" I mutter, but it doesn't actually bother me. How could it when someone is choosing to take care of me? When he's done so much for me. He's dropped everything to help me and has put himself in so much danger… but why?

"I have to toss demands at you because I can't trust you! Every time I look away, you're putting yourself right into danger."

I give him a fake look of shock. "I would never."

Silas stares at me.

I can't keep the look up and start to grin. "Mostly never."

He keeps staring at me.

"Fine! It was an accident!"

"Accident, my ass. Be good."

Silas hurries out, and for a moment, I sit and watch Titus flutter around. I put my hand out and he lands in it.

"You're so cute," I say as I pat the ball of fluff.

He seems pleased.

I look over at Dandelion, who has worked so hard… then over at the opening of the cave. I mean…

He's not really going to eat me, is he? If he was going to, he'd have eaten me instead of letting me ride on his back all day… right?

"You going to be a good baby?" I ask as I crawl over to him. He watches me closely as I reach over to undo the cinch on the saddle. He hasn't had it off since I met him—unless Silas was taking it off while I was unconscious, which he could have been—so I'm sure it'll feel good to have it off. "You're not going to eat me while I take this off, right?"

He doesn't really answer one way or the other, but he doesn't eat me. I undo the cinch but the moment I grab the saddle, it tugs at my stomach, so I decide he can just shake it off. Then my eyes fall on the shackles around his legs.

"You don't actually need these, right? You don't need to be tied up, do you?"

Dandelion still only watches me, so I pick up his giant paw. It's so big and cute and when I press on the paw pads, the wicked claws protrude. "Your paws are so big! No wonder you tried slicing me open. I mean, when you've got cute paws like this, of course you want to use them!"

He just stares at me as I work on getting the shackles removed. There's a pin in them that would be impossible for him to remove and is kind of hard for me, but I manage to get it out and release the shackle. When I pull it away, I look at the damaged skin around his ankle. There's no fur left and some areas are bleeding and raw, but the old scars tell me he's worn these shackles for a long time.

"I'm sorry, buddy. I should have removed them before, but you know… you were kind of trying to kill me," I say as I work on the next one until all four are gone.

Then I look at his muzzle… and at the mouth of the cave… then back at his muzzle. No sign of Silas yet… if I'm going to do it, I better work quickly before he comes back.

"You know if I remove this, and you eat me… I'm going to be really sad," I tell him.

Dandelion just stares at me.

"Like there's this part of my brain that's going ‘Don't remove it! He'll eat you!' but another part of my brain that just keeps thinking about how cute you are, and I've convinced myself that you kind of do like me."

More staring. I'm unsure if it's a "Yes, I agree to everything you're saying" stare or a "Which part should I eat first?" stare.

I reach toward the contraption before looking out of the cave one more time just in case Silas is coming, but the rain is picking up and he's nowhere to be seen. Then I reach up and start to unhook it. There are a lot of pins, and the runes etched into it tell me that a mage with enough power could have complete control over him. How long has he been controlled by this? And honestly… he could be waiting for me to remove it to flee. I mean… he has to know fending for himself with this on would be extremely hard. But if he decides to run, then he's free to run. I really don't want him to feel like I'm forcing him, or I think he'd grow to hate me… more than he did when he tore my chest open.

I pull the final strap free, but it's embedded behind his ears and horns and I have to carefully work it out. "I'm sorry I'm hurting you. I'm sorry," I say, but I don't know what else to do. He doesn't pull away; instead, he stands there and watches until I pull it free and drop it.

For a long moment we just stare at each other. Me semi-ready to blast him with poison and him just staring at me.

Then he lowers his head and starts rubbing it on his legs.

"Oh, I bet that feels so good to get off," I say as I reach out and scratch in front of his ears where he'd been rubbing. He stops moving and I wonder if I've offended him before I realize that he enjoys it… he's just trying to pretend he doesn't.

"You like that, don't you?" I ask as I scritch at him. Then I grab some of Silas's medical supplies and head back over to him, well aware I'm going to get bitched at for using the few medical supplies he has on him. I dab at the wounds behind his ears and on his legs before grabbing his face. "You're just so cute. I'm so glad I found you. You're warm too," I say as I lie against his side. "And so fluffy."

I wallow around in his fur for a bit before deciding I'll just use him as a cushion and lounge against him. He ignores me as he licks at his leg.

"Don't lick the medicine off," I chide as I shove his face away.

Dandelion grumbles but doesn't growl and starts licking a different paw.

"I bet that must have been hard not being able to groom or do anything for so long. And those look really painful. I'm sorry people did this to you," I say as I let my fingers sink deep into his fur. He smells a bit, but I'm sure I do too. Next river we get to, I'll give him a good scrub.

"You better be dead," Silas growls as he walks in.

I slowly open my eyes and give him a look of surprise. "Why? Why do you want me dead? I thought we already went over how you like me."

"Because I just nursed your ass back to health for days and you thank me by crawling over and just making a bed on the beast that tried to kill you."

"He was really warm," I explain. "And you were gone so long."

Silas is absolutely drenched. I don't think there's a part of him that's not wet.

"I was trying to see if I could figure out why Zepher hadn't caught up and I think I know what it is," he says as he drops some firewood down. He'd managed to keep at least some of it dry with his coat. I crawl over to help and start crisscrossing them so air can get up under the logs.

"And?"

"They have night raptors out. They're roaming the sky to figure out where we're at."

"Night raptors? Oh… those creepy birdlike things with the scary talons and red eyes?"

"Oh yes, the bird is creepy and scary, but that thing is just a big ol' pile of daisies," he says as he waves toward Dandelion.

I give the beast a smile. "Dandelion is cute. Huh? Papa says you're super cute," I coo as he continues to groom himself.

"Yeah… so cute," Silas says with obvious sarcasm.

"So Zepher's smart enough to stay away because of those?" I ask curiously.

"Yeah, she knows she'd lead them to us, so she's probably waiting for an opportunity to come down. Hopefully the night raptors will leave us alone. How do you know what they are?"

"I've seen them," I say. "Being all creepy and stuff."

"How'd you come across them?"

I don't like lying to him, but telling him that I saw them as I wandered the battlefield scavenging items off the dead isn't something I feel ready to admit. "My father."

"I see," he says as he watches me start the fire. When the flame flickers and then begins to eat at the kindling, I look over at him, waiting to be praised.

"I'm so skilled."

"You… started a fire. I would hope most people know how to start a fire."

I gape at him. "I'm like… half dead and started a fire. That should count for something!"

He's grinning now and I love the look of it. "I apologize. You're right. Callisto… you're damn impressive."

I beam at him as I add another log to the fire. "Thank you," I say as I watch the log I'd just added collapse my entire tower and smother the flame.

Silas barks out a laugh as I sink down on my side. "Please, give me a moment to fully absorb the overwhelming amazingness of your pyro skills."

"Please don't," I whisper as I blow on it a little, hoping to revive the damn thing. This is what I get for being so damn cocky.

As I do that, I notice that he pulls his shirt off and drapes it over a rock, revealing his bare chest. And while I'm aware that he's also been presented with my bare chest for, hell… four or five days as he pieced me back together, mine looks like shredded meat, all blue and black and not at all attractive, and his looks…

Damn fine.

I can't help but appreciate it. "Heavens above… is that all from carrying bodies out of your tavern?"

Silas looks over at me blowing on the little spark since I need something to distract me.

"Is what?" he asks.

I wave at his bare upper body. "All of that. So much of that."

"I haven't carried that many bodies out of my tavern."

"That many?"

"I've carried a few. Mostly drunks I tossed out to the road."

"That's so sad you've rewritten scenarios to believe they were drunk," I say as I watch him turn to face the rock while he drops his pants .

"W-What are you doing?" I ask as he shows me his extremely bare ass. And my god it's a very fine ass. I'm now blowing even harder in the hopes the damn fire lights up so I can claim it's the heat making my face this damn red, but it hurts to blow too hard so I calm down a bit.

"You expect me to stand here in wet clothes?" he asks as he turns around and I see it all . And I mean all . There's a lot to see. I feel like my head is getting light from blowing so hard on these goddamn embers that just won't light! How dare it betray me like this?

"Y-Yes, I sure do. In fact, I very much do. I mean… they'll dry on your body, right? The prince demands your clothes return to your body. Yes, that's what I demand. Very demanding, I am…"

Silas raises an eyebrow as he cocks his head, but his head sure isn't what I'm trying to avoid eye contact with. It's all of that. All down there. "Oh wow, a demand from a prince. Whatever will I do?" He says it with so much sarcasm too!

"D-Don't sass me!" I command as I start fumbling with logs so I don't look over at his… log.

"Surely you've seen the penis of a man before," he says.

"I… would like you to know that I… do in fact… have a penis."

"I'm aware. I changed your clothes."

"You've seen my dick?" I whisper.

"Yes, multiple times. You were all bloody. What, did you think the blood just miraculously disappeared from your clothes? Do you think I magically whisked you into clean clothes every time?"

I glance down at my rather clean and blood-free clothes. "Y-Yeah," I say. "One hundred percent."

"Are you…" He cocks his head and gives me such a smug fucking look. "Are you embarrassed?"

"Hell no. I've never been embarrassed in my life. You should be embarrassed. I have no issues at all."

What the hell am I saying? It's a big fucking issue. So big.

"You don't have to look at my dick, you know? You actually don't even have to look at me if it bothers you that much."

"I've never looked at your dick. Nope. Never done that at all."

"That's good," he says. "Looks like you need some help."

Silas comes over and squats down right by the fire, and since I'm lying down facing the fire, I'm like fucking eye-to-eye with it.

Quickly I sit up as he rights the logs and restarts my fire with ease.

He's wearing such a smug look when he stops fiddling with the fire to watch me. "People are practically crawling all over you, and yet you act so adorably innocent," he says with a playful look. He's torturing me on purpose at this point. I'm almost positive that if I hadn't said a damn thing he'd have pulled on some dry clothes by now, but because I'm over here fumbling like a goddamn fool, he's making a point to tease me. He has to be frying his dick, he's so close to the flames, but it's clearly worth it to poke fun at me.

What a ridiculous thing. Maybe I'll pretend to pass out and make sure this whole thing just ends with at least a sliver of my dignity intact. "Maybe… the wrong people have been interested in me," I mumble.

"Hmm… you seem to like me for some unknown reason… does that mean I'm the ‘right' person?"

My stomach is doing some weird fluttering thing that must be because I'm wounded and doesn't have anything to do with the man in front of me. "We do seem to have a lot in common. I poison people through magic, you do it through food."

He laughs and stands up before heading over to his pack and pulling out some clothes which he puts on.

I have absolutely no idea why I'm semi-disappointed when it's all covered up. I mean… as soon as I'm better, I need to get my ass on Dandelion and get the hell out of here before I drag him into something I absolutely can't pull him away from. Who knows what the hell he'll think of me when he finds out. And who the hell even knows what I should do to save myself from all of this.

I've fucked up… and there's not much I can do about it.