Chapter 32 People Ask How I See Investments In Everything? I Ask How They Don’t
This might be a slight unpopular opinion— but Maeve liked blacking out. She wasn’t sleeping the right ways that she deserved and even though blacking out only had her waking feel less energized than she should be— she was going to be grateful for the small mercies no matter what it was.
The issue of this small mercy however meant she could not always be certain where she would end up waking in— which in this situation, meant being blocked by a… a large wall of strange colored silver in front of her.
Slowly, Maeve sat up. She tried to be as quiet as possible of course, but one thing decided that it was time to disgrace her— this one thing being her belly. It growled so loudly that she closed her eyes briefly, making a face that meant ‘ah, dishonor on me. Dishonour on my stomach. Dishonor on my family,’ until she heard a voice say softly, “You are awake,”
She opened her eyes, letting them fall on Amir… who was seated around a burning fire, something like a camp one, with a gentle smile on his face. He didn’t look worried about the… molten silver large thing that stopped literally at her neck in front of her.
“I have heard tales of your inability to control your needs,” She turned her head to Adrian. He still was refusing to look at her as he poked the fire with his sword— which was currently a molten looking color. “But jumping out of a carriage seems far beneath you, no?”
“Not really, no—”
Maeve paused as the thing in front of her let out a sound. It sounded at first like a ship’s horn just blaring away and then without any warnings, the thing's head turned backwards— no, wait 360° to stare at her with a face that looked more like the skull of a beast? She wasn’t sure.
It blinked strangely too— from its sides and not top to bottom. Like something clapping. Maeve also noticed that it kept reverberating like waves of light spreading through its body. She also realized it had fur… but they seemed to float in a way that made it seem as if it wasn’t really there.
And a tail. A long, segmented looking thing with another large fluffy end like a duster.
She tilted her head slightly, and it followed, mirroring her expressions perfectly before she asked with a confused expression on his face, “Did you eat my sandwich? I can’t seem to feel it on me,”
It didn’t respond. Instead, it blinked again, mirroring her movements perfectly before she tried to stand— an act that didn’t even last a second as the ground beneath her suddenly turned into something wet and slippery— and she fell, tumbling into the things body before she heard Amir say, “It has been guarding you since we found you,”
Maeve could smell it even clearly. Wet, and ozone like but—
But it was softtttt.
Tears flowed out of her eyes as she wrapped her arms around its neck, burying her face deeper into its body, “It’s fine. You can resource guard me for forever. As long as you’ll let me stay here, I can…” The world started to slowly fade away as her soul began to drift into a beautiful world where the air tasted like rainbows and farts made of cotton candy, “Just maybe for a second…”
The stone Adrian threw at her found her head before she drifted off shore. The thing underneath her made a rumbling noise that spread through her entire body like a vibrating chair. Maeve could already picture it. This. With her. Forever. She mumbled into his ear, “You should eat him first,”
“It does not feed on people,” Amir, of course, had heard her. Maeve turned to look at him, noticing that he was taking out the pad and pen she had handed over to him the first time they met in the dungeons down. “Just kill them. Humans are like… a blaring beacon it cannot help but attack. It is called an Irae,”
“I should have suspected you were friends with it,” Adrian’s voice showed clear sarcasm. Maeve almost gave him a thumbs up, “Since you refused my killing it,”
“And I told you that she would find a use for it somehow,” Amir rose up from the log he was sitting on. “Besides, she already wanted to meet one of them alive. That was one of the reasons she rolled out of the carriage. To meet with one. Something you would have said no to even if she asked kindly because you refuse to listen to anyone but your Master,"
“Amir.”
“Forgive me, my lady,” He did not sound like he wished to be forgiven. Amir gave a mock bow, his hand on his chest, before he rose again, saying softly, “I will be going around to hunt. I also wrote down information you might need,”
And then he walked away, into the forest.
Maeve’s eyes moved to the pad where he once sat.
She stretched her hand out for it, her body having no plans whatsoever to move, but as if the thing underneath her could sense it, the grass around slowly shifted, moving the space where the pad had been towards her.
Her hands wrapped around its neck tighter, another round of tears flowing out of your eyes, “It seems you understand me! Is this what having a pet is like? I thought they were all insane but no. No, I see it. The resemblance. It’s… it’s almost as if I birthed you myself—!”
“I have seen that thing kill people before,” Adrian’s voice cut into the air. It was quiet, but holding that same manner of seriousness to it that seemed to have everything stop for a second just to let him speak. “Men with families. People with lives,”
“This specific one or—”
“How did you know it would not kill you?”
He was looking at her now, staring as if he wanted to see her through new eyes… or trying to. She could tell he didn’t like this situation, didn’t like being put in a position where it seemed everything had already been planned before him.
Maeve sighed, “I didn’t know. I did want to throw up. That was a priority. But we had been moving for days, no breaks. The rider needed rest. We all needed rest. And I’m well aware of the time limit on our hands more than anyone else. Many people— well, that’s not the point. But I also needed to know more about these things. Where they are. Where they come from—”
“Why?”
To test out if they could kill me— and to also see if I could take them and sell them all for public transport. Revolutionize transportation permanently since I have no idea how to make a car from scratch!
Maeve said with the straightest face she could make, “To study about these beasts and protect the men in the future from mishaps. We surely cannot be traveling months to avoid them— and we can’t always have elves who know a secret path with us, can we?”
Adrian stared at her for a few more seconds. His pale skin looked almost crystalline from the reflection of the flame on it, then he turned away, looking at the fire as he said in his usual deadpanned tone. “You are a terrible liar.”
Maeve’s face dropped and she raised her middle finger at him.
“You always have been,”
Always have been…? He’s talking about Isabella.
As if the Irae could sense it, he let her slowly slide to the floor, falling right beside him— which was perfect because she had no plans on going any further away from such a large heating pad.
She buried herself deeper into its body, almost turned and asked if it could procure popcorn then found herself get irritated that it made her sandwich disappear before she turned her attention back to Adrian, saying in a soft voice that made it clear she was trying not to spook him, “So, we were a… thing?”
“No.”
No?
No?!
Ah. Goddamn it. She had made a bet with Amir over this! “But… I thought…”
“You didn’t have time for…” He paused, as if he couldn’t believe he was about to admit it, then said ever so quietly, “Anyone. You had many things that plagued your mind. It was what I… loved about you,”
So it was one-sided love? And busy? How could Isabella have been busy? Lucien said she was not the type to go anywhere, and his statement fit the world around them. So… so what could she have been doing? And Maeve thought this was a romance story?! Why did it have so many intricate plots?
The Duke rose from his log. “I need to take a walk.”
“No. No. You need to finish this kdrama— I mean, this story! I have a gap in my memory, it’s not nice to— I see.”
He was already gone.
Maeve sighed, “So many versions of her. I really wonder what version of Isabella Montague I find out next,”
But somehow, deep down, something told her that she didn’t want to know.
So instead, she turned to the Irae, watching it stare down at it with its abyss looking eyes and muttered quietly, “None of this will matter soon because you and I will be making a lot of money,”