Chapter 11 Chapter eleven
Aquila let out a small sigh as he rolled his trolley out of the girl’s room, his tail swishing behind him and he continued to hum a tune only he knew.
How long had it been since they had an outsider in their home? A human no less. If it were up to him, they would have left her in the forest, let fate run its course. After all, humans were nothing but trouble that shouldn’t be entertained.
Still, against all odds, the girl who was as good as dead somehow survived all that.
At least she woke up with an appetite.
Aquila barely made it into the kitchen when the back doors slammed open with a heavy thud; then, heavy footsteps followed, which could only mean Asher was back. But there was something else in the air. That unmistakable scent of…
“Blood.”
Aquila hissed, his bright green eyes darkened as he pushed the trolley faster into the kitchen then stopped dead in his tracks, looking as though he’d seen something truly terrifying.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
Asher stood in the middle of the kitchen, tracking mud and what looked suspiciously like blood that had been dragged across the freshly cleaned floors. His shirt was torn, dirt and blood smeared over his arms and mask, dark hair a disheveled mess like he’d been rolling around on the forest ground. He didn’t look half as distinguished as the man from the auction, right now, he looked like a feral beast. Because slung over his shoulder was an entire venison.
Of course, it had to be venison.
Aquila stared at Asher like he’d gone mad. And Asher met his gaze head-on with a placid look in his eyes that almost looked amused. Even if he were, the mask obscured whatever facial expression he was making right now. But from the crinkle behind his eyes, it wasn’t hard to tell that he was smirking behind that thing.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going with that thing?” Aquila gestured sharply at the trail of filth he’d left from the door to where he currently stood.
“You do know I’m the one who’s going to clean that up, right?”
Asher shifted the Venison's weight slightly before dropping it to the floor with a wet thud that had Aquila reeling where he stood.
Heaven help him.
“You animal!” Aquila choked out. “Could you be any more uncout?”
“What do I pay for?” Asher huffed, one of his thick eyebrows arched above the black edge of his mask.
“You don’t pay me at all!”
“Exactly.” He stepped forward, tracking more mud. “So, stop complaining.”
“Oh no you don’t.” Aquila quickly rolled his trolley forward to block Asher’s path--admittedly--a rather pathetic attempt against a dragon shifter who just hauled several pounds of dead livestock, but it was the principle of the thing.
“You do this every time, Asher. At least keep it outside.” He hissed. “We have a guest recovering from trauma in case you forgot.”
“I didn’t forget.” Asher’s voice came out drier than Autum's. But, amused. “This is dinner.”
“Dinner. Hah.” Aqiula scoffed incredulously, like that was the best joke he’d heard since the wolverin walked into a tarven. “We have a kictehn staff for a reason. Supplies, even! We have--”
“Move the trolley, Demon.” Asher leaned forward, his grip on the trolley hard. “Besides, if I left it out, it would attract other things.”
Aquila stood his ground with an unimpressed grimace on his face as he crossed his arms. “Out. Now. Use the servant's entrance, then clean yourself. In that order.”
“How dare you speak to your Alpha like that, Aquila?” Asher glared at the demon, but the man was not fazed by him.
“How dare you track mud on my floors…Alpha?”
For a moment, the two just looked at one another. Their gaze locked in a heated glare and if anyone were to see them right now, they would think the two were rivals from birth. If this were a battle of wills, Aquila was a stubborn demon who refused to concede, at least not without a fight.
Then Asher’s shoulders shifted, and something akin to a grunt came from behind the false face he almost never took off. “Fine. I’ll take it around back.”
“At least you still have some common sense.”
“Don’t push it, Aquila.” Asher exhaled as he bent down to carry the dead animal, but paused. “How is she?”
“The girl?”
“Who else?”
A sheepish grin flexed on Aquila’s lips as he pulled the trollery out of the path and rolled it near the other side to display what was left of the food he’d rolled to her.
“Good news or bad news?”
“Bad news.”
Asher blurted out.
Crystal, that was her name. She’d been out cold for four whole days. Even after having his physician monitor and check her status, they were told that she would wake up when she was ready. But the thing was, they didn’t know how long it would take. He worried she might die, and truth be told, he was expecting such news already. But he didn’t know if he could accept it.
“Typical.” Aquila shook his head as he undid his aparon ties and slipped them over his head. “Well. She’s awake.”
Asher’s heart dropped to his stomach. Relief hits him. “That’s the bad news? Then what’s the good?” he asked, crossing his bloody arms over his chest.
“She demands we take her back to Convenant City. Yay.” Aquila clapped his hands together. But there was no real excitement behind it. Just contempt masked as amusement. They bought knew what going back to Covenant City meant. For her and for them. “At least she’s still got her spunk.”
Asher said, “No.”
Simple and short.
“Well, I’m just the messenger.” his tail pivoted like a topper before swishing left then right.
“Did she ask…about me?”
“Oh, she did, she asked about ‘The masked man’.” he chuckled, grabbing a muffin from a tray. “I told her you had urgent business to attend. And,” his gaze darted to the venison, then he sneered. “This, apparently.”