Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen
NARRATOR
Aquila managed to get Crystal back to her room without further incident. She seemed tired, that much he could tell, because between the girl who’d woken up an hour ago and the girl in his arms right now, she seemed less stubborn about her demands. But his opinions about humans weren’t just going to change overnight just because Asher decided to bring one home.
Dragons had that bad habit of hoarding things they thought were shiny or rare. This human certainly did have a rarity about her though.
Those eyes. Aquila had never seen anything like them before.
“Alright, little miss. I need you to stay put, can you do that for me?” Aquila asked after tucking her in bed, but judging from the crease between her brows she was anything but happy.
“Stay put?” she glared. “I’m not a dog.”
“No, but you are a stubborn woman who just knocked over priceless ivory,” he shot back, arms crossed over his chest as his tail snapped forward then back to his side.
At least she still had the decency to look remorseful about what had happened. But Crystal’s attention was momentarily lost in the sway of his furry tail. She wondered if it was as soft as it looked. “Stay.put. I might be a self-proclaimed butler but I can’t be everywhere at once.”
She tore her gaze back to him. At this point, the pout-like frown on her face might as well be part of her facial features.
“Self-proclaimed?” she muttered a bit confused, but Aquila barely gave her time to understand his words when he turned around and left, closing the door behind him with perhaps more force than necessary.
He had to clean up those ivory shards before anyone else got hurt, and hopefully, with enough elbow grease and glue,, he’d be able to stick the piece back together. But that would be later, right now, he needed to find Crystal’s troublesome host.
With a wave of his hand, the shards seemed to rise up and gravitate towards him, floating around him like tiny dancers before disappearing into a bucket.
Now he stood in the hallway, staring at the trail of muddy boot prints that led away from there and down the hall.
“Unbelievable.” He grumbled, already resigned to cleaning that up later.
He followed the messy trail until he reached Asher’s door. It was slightly ajar like he’d been too much in a hurry to escape that he forgot to push it all the way. Aquila pushed it open, stepping into the main bedroom. But it was empty. The bed was still made from this morning. The curtains were still drawn.
“Asher?” Aquila called out, but nobody answered.
Splash
The wet sounds of water being thrown about pulled his attention and Aquila followed it and the sad trail of discarded clothing and mud-caked boots through the bedroom towards the bathing chamber.
“He treats me like I’m his damn nanny,” Aquila grumbled as he bent down to scoop up the mess. “Why put things in the hamper when you can just throw them on the floor like a feral beast--”
He gathered the filthy clothes in his arms, nose wrinkling at the strong odour. Maybe washing it wouldn’t be enough for this. Maybe he should just burn them all.
Do both of them a favour.
With the end of his boot, Aquila kicked the door down as steam and heat rushed towards him before raising up to reveal the large stone pool set into the floor. It was more of a small indoor pond than a traditional bath. Asher was in the center of it, water up to his waist, his defined back to the door as he scrubbed his body. Even from here, Aquila could still see the tension in his shoulders, the way his movements were jerky and harsh as he rubbed at his skin painfully.
Dirt and blood swirled around him in the water. Clouding the surface.
Aquila dumped the clothes into the hamper near the door with a huff then marched towards the pool's edge, but didn’t get too close. The splashing sounds echoed in the chamber, but Asher didn’t turn around.
“What was that?” Aquila finally spoke. Arms crossed over his chest as his tail swept left, then right.
“What was what?” Asher’s voice was flat. Still not turning around. Like the nonexistent dirt on his body was far more needing of his attention than whatever Aquila wanted to nitpick about this time. Though he had an idea already.
Aquila’s green eyes flashed brighter as a streak of mischievous energy bolted through them. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the part where you ran away from the human like she was about to bite you?”
Asher's hands stilled briefly. An action that didn't go unnoticed by Aquila’s sharp eyes.
“I didn’t run,” he said as he went back to scrubbing.
“You absolutely did.”
“You’re imagining things. I’ve faced far greater foes and didn’t run. Why would I run from a woman?” Asher hissed. The words condescending in their delivery. “A human woman.” he finished with a silent scoff.
“Ha! Bullshit. You’ve never been within ten feet of a woman other than Miridath.” Aquila walked around the pool to meet Asher’s face, but he turned his back to him again.
“And what was that ‘deal with it’ thing all about?” Aquila mimicked the same gruff tone Asher had used back in the hall. “Very commanding.” he rolled his eyes.
“I had blood on me.”
“You’ve had blood on you before. You’ve never been the type to mind things like that.”
Images of the venison sitting on the stone slab flashed before his eyes momentarily before he continued. “That’s never stopped you from--”
“She looked afraid!” Asher roared.