Risa’s brow furrowed. “Well, you taught me how to use my magic.”
I shook my head. “I showed you the basics, but I’d say ‘taught’ is a bit of an exaggeration.”
Unexpectedly, she reached down and began stroking my tail lying in between us. It sent shivers up my spine. She grinned when she noticed my reaction, before her smile slowly faded. “I think I envy you,” she finally admitted. “But not in a bad way,” she clarified when she saw my expression. “You’re like everything I wish I was – you’ve never been a slave, and you’re confident and sure of yourself.” She sighed heavily, looking out at the street as she continued to stroke my tail. “And I guess I just like you in general. I feel connected to you in a way I don’t feel towards Mira. I’m grateful of course, but it’s not the same.” She paused. “Maybe it’s because you’re a pantherian like me.” She then met my gaze with a huge grin. “Or maybe it’s just because I really love cats – I’ve always wanted one as a pet.”
I playfully crossed my arms and tried to act offended. Apparently, everyone was a cat person today. “Hey! I’m not your pet,” I scoffed.
Risa abruptly stopped stroking my tail and reached up to grab my ears in both her hands, the wooden skewer still sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she began rubbing her thumbs in tight circles. My entire body curled uncontrollably as I brought my knees up and set my forehead on them.
It felt so good.
Her tone was endearing. “No,” she agreed. “You’re better than a pet. You’re my friend – my cat-friend who I can play with whenever I want.”
I tried to respond, but I couldn’t manage it. I didn’t want her to stop.
After a few minutes, as she slowed down and began stroking my ears more gently, I finally managed coherent thoughts again. “Just wondering,” I began, “but why was it bothering you when Madeline was touching my ears earlier.”
Risa stopped rubbing my ears entirely but kept her fingers on them. I turned my head slightly to look up at her, prompting her to resume the stroking. “Worgron are kind of territorial,” she finally admitted quietly. “With locations, objects, and even…people, sometimes.”
I tried to look up at her again, but she began stroking my ears more intently. I suspected she didn’t want me to meet her gaze.
She continued. “They let me have my own space where I was – it was literally just a tiny closet, but at least it was mine. I was one of the only pantherians there, so everyone seemed to assume I’d have different tendencies than humans.”
“So then…you feel territorial with me?” I wondered hesitantly.
She didn’t respond for a moment. “Very,” she finally admitted quietly. “Which is horrible, I know,” she added, sounding ashamed. “You’re a person, not an object…or pet…”
“Well, I am your friend,” I offered. “So I can try to respect your wishes, but that means you need to tell me what bothers you.”
I glanced at her again to see her nod.
“Just touching mostly,” she disclosed. “Like, it doesn’t bother me when Eli touches you, but he’s the only person.” She grimaced then, her expression darkening slightly. “When I saw you with that man, I wanted to rip his throat out. The only reason I didn’t do anything is because Eli was there.”
I finally sat up, my eyes widening in surprise. “Is that how you felt earlier today too?” I wondered seriously.
She had dropped her hands and returned to resting one of them on my tail. “No, I just felt…depressed, really.”
“Why?” I wondered. “Like, why depressed instead of angry?” I clarified.
Her shoulders slumped. “Because I know I shouldn’t feel that way, and it made me sad that I couldn’t make you stop letting her touch you.”
I reached out and gently brushed some of her black hair off her shoulder before rubbing her upper back. “I think I can do that for you,” I allowed. “I mean, as long as you’re okay with Eli touching me, then everyone else can be off limits. I just didn’t see any harm in letting her rub my ears, but if it bothers you then I won’t let anyone do it again.”
“Are you sure?” She asked hesitantly.
I nodded confidently. “Yeah. Honestly, it’s weird to have people want to touch me in the first place. I’ve grown up my entire life with people thinking I’m disgusting, not cute.”
Risa smiled warmly, but didn’t get a chance to respond. Unexpectedly, both of our ears flinched when someone walked around the side of the wagon.
It was Tobias.
“How’s she doing?” He wondered, glancing down at his daughter.
We both looked over at her too. “Seems fine,” I replied. “Really tired though.”
He nodded with a reserved expression, before meeting my gaze. “So I wanted to say something,” he blurted out. “I don’t disagree with how you felt about the situation earlier, but you need to remember that Mira’s just one person. She wore herself out enhancing enough antidote to heal several hundred people.” He quickly lowered her voice. “Not to mention all the antidote we make for free to send west. There’s only so much one person can do. She can’t fix everyone.”
My ears drooped, knowing he was right. I wasn’t intending to be harsh on her, or make her feel bad about her initial decision, but I couldn’t stand seeing that little boy in such a horrible condition.
“It worked out,” Tobias continued. “So that’s good. But there will be people who we can’t help. Especially when Mira’s the only source of the cure.”
“Are there no other mages with healing magic that she could teach?” I wondered seriously.
He shook his head. “I’m sure there are, but they would have to find us. We can’t waste time going out to look for them.” He then held my gaze intently again. “But maybe that’s where you can help out,” he suggested. “If you come across any mages with healing magic as you head west, tell them about us – tell them what we’re doing. Even just one more person could help out a ton. People who receive the antidote don’t seem to be capable of getting sick again, so this might be a winning battle if we could get some more help.”
I nodded in agreement. “We can definitely do that. Anything to help.” I sighed. “I just wished there was more we could do. More I could do.”
Tobias shook his head again. “Don’t forget you’ve got your own problems to worry about too,” he commented. “Definitely send any healing mages our way if you can, but don’t forget to focus on yourself as well.”
I sighed again, my expression somber. “Okay,” I whispered.
“Good,” he replied, clapping his hands together. “Then we’ll leave here in another half hour to head for Count Demetri’s mansion.”
“Should we wake Mira up then?” I wondered.
He shook his head. “The rattling wagon will probably do it on its own, and if it doesn’t then it just means she really needs the sleep.” He then sighed, giving his daughter one last look, before giving Risa a nod and walking back up front.
The next half hour was peaceful even despite all the noise around us. Just like Risa was content with simply existing in a state of freedom, I was content to relax knowing the elderfel would leave me alone now. I could worry about the Alabast problem later, but right now I felt like I really didn’t have a care in the world.
I finally had real friends. And I had someone I loved – someone who I had unintentionally summoned when wishing for a being who I could relate to, and someone would could love me. Without initially realizing it, I knew deep down that I had accidentally summoned from the world the person who was perfect for me. The exact person I needed in my life right now and forever. Granted, I doubted there were too many half-dragons in the world to choose from, but still. We seemed to get along really well. Maybe it was fate that Eli was born as the exact type of person I would need in my life.
Not to mention, I had begun developing a meaningful friendship with Risa too. I wasn’t sure things could get any more perfect than they were right now.
&n
bsp; Mira woke up on her own just as Tobias decided we should leave the park. She smiled warmly at us, before sitting up slowly and scooting over on my other side. Eli joined us in the back a moment later sitting across from the three of us. He seemed to be in a good mood too.
“We have some fun stuff planned for tonight,” he said cheerfully.
“Oh?” Mira asked teasingly. “The boys planned something?” She laughed. “That’s surprising.”
Eli scoffed. “The men planned something, thank you,” he countered.
All three of us grinned.
“I’m looking forward to it,” I replied sincerely. Honestly, I was looking forward to doing anything with them. It was nice to feel like I belonged for once.
The rest of the trip to the Count’s mansion was much smoother than I was expecting. Landon commented that they must have just recently redone the road, because the wagon almost seemed to glide over it. When Tobias mentioned that we were on his property now, I expected to see the mansion anytime, but we didn’t. Instead, we saw ornately sculpted bushes along with flower gardens and fountains for what felt like forever.
Apparently, the count lived in the middle of his own park that made the communal one look rundown in comparison. There were guards stationed at several gates as we went along, indicating that there must be multiple layers of security for the property.
And then we got to the mansion.
I couldn’t tell if it was six stories tall or three stories with exceptionally tall ceilings. From the massive windows that lined the front, I suspected it was only three floors. Yet, the building was large enough to fit fifty of Finn’s potion shops just on the first floor, if not more.
A paved road went right up to the entrance, curving around a massive fountain. Water gurgled from a small tower in the middle, producing a spray that created rainbows when looking at it from the right angle. The stairs leading to the massive doors were lined with fancy concrete pillars topped with statues of creatures I didn’t recognize.
The place was almost built like a castle I’d seen in a book my godmother owned, with towers on each end that reached a level higher than the rest of the building. The overall color of the stone was a yellow hue, with a dark blue roof. Several flags were blowing in the breeze on top of poles sticking out of the blue towers.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Landon asked, looking back at us.
I glanced over at Eli to see that he was craning his head to see better, gawking just as much as I was. “Very,” he admitted breathlessly.
“You should see the inside,” Mira added with a smirk.
“You’ve been here before?” I wondered.
She nodded. “Once, about a year ago.”
“We had to speak with him personally,” Tobias chimed in, his voice gruff. “You can’t just start buying up a ton of sick pantherians without it getting noticed. He had a lot of questions for us.”
“What does he know?” Eli wondered. “Is he aware of what you really do with them?”
Tobias shook his head. “No. He thinks that buying them cheap and reselling them is a part of our business.” He glanced back then. “It wouldn’t be affordable for others to do that with the price of the cure being so high, but since Mira’s the source of the cure he acknowledged that it’s a practical method of income for our situation.” He paused, seeming to chew on the inside of his cheek for a moment. “Also, the man views all pantherians as property, whether they’re supposedly free or not.” He looked intently at me. “It would be best if you two didn’t speak at all.”
I nodded. “I can do that,” I agreed, knowing Risa wasn’t the problem. “My lips are sealed.” I then clamped my mouth shut for emphasis.
He grinned at that before returning his attention to the horse pulling the cart. There were a couple of attendants who had noticed us. They were already by the steps to take over watching our wagon while we were inside. After a quick exchange between Landon and his father, they agreed that he and Theo would stay with the wagon.
Once the cart stopped, we all climbed out and waited as Tobias exchanged pleasantries with the help. The two men were both dressed very well considering their roles. Both wore almost the exact same uniform colored in different shades of blue. Once Tobias was ready, one of the men escorted us up the massive concrete steps to the entrance.
I uncontrollably took in a sharp breath in disbelief when we entered the foyer. It was unlike anything I had ever seen – not even the elves had houses this large and fancy on the inside. The primary color of the walls was a brilliant white, though there was also a lot of gold designs and accents running up the walls. There were brilliant blue pillars made of some kind of marble-like stone that were spaced all along the walls, with the majority of the area being wide open. A set of massive marble stairs began at the other end of the long room, leading up to the second floor. The ceiling was almost the inverse of the walls, with the primary color being brilliant gold with white accents. There were so many designs and patterns that it was almost overwhelming to look at.
Gold plated couches with dark blue cushions lined the sides of the room, and a sky-blue carpet ran straight down the white marble floor all the way from the stairs to the entrance where we stood.
The man turned towards us and held out his hand, gesturing to our right. “The master will greet you in the Great Hall,” he explained before turning to lead the way himself.
We all followed, completely in awe, as the hallway we took continued to amaze us with more elaborate designs and the occasional painting. It was full of enormous windows that allowed the sunlight to stream in.
We made a turn to our left, before making another turn to our right and entering a massive room that matched the appearance of the foyer, minus the stairs. This room had more of the same blue and gold furniture, along with gold plated tables setting between couches in the middle of the room.
Thus far, every place we had walked had marble flooring.
This room had large wall-sized paintings on our right and a marble podium on our left down at the end of the room. There were more couches and tables clustered towards that end, possibly used as seating for performances. Two large blue marble columns stood at the front of the podium, being several feet away from each wall.
Black curtains with gold embroidery hung from the high ceiling. Although, it appeared they were only for decoration, because even while they were draped back and tied with gold rope, they would have been too short to actually conceal the space beyond the blue pillars.
The man finally turned towards us again once we reached the center of the room. “The master has instructed that you all wait here. He is attending to an important matter, which he will be finished with shortly. In the meantime,” he paused to look at Mira, “if the miss will please follow me, I will escort her to see Master Demetri’s niece.”
Tobias exchanged a glance with Eli. “We should probably have one of the girls go with her,” he commented, referring to me and Risa.
Eli nodded, but the butler cut him off before he could speak.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” he interjected with a somber expression. “Miss Evelyn Amoretto Sinclair is very young and timid. Only Miss Mira may see her at this time.”
Mira exchanged a look with her father, before shrugging. “It should be fine,” she suggested.
He nodded, returning his gaze to the man. “At least tell us where the Count’s niece is being kept,” he requested.
The butler nodded again. “On the second floor, near the tower on the other side of the mansion. Once Miss Mira is finished healing the master’s charge, I will return her to this location and you will be paid for your services in full. In the meantime, please await my master’s arrival.” The man smiled then. “He has been eagerly waiting to speak with a new friend.”
Tobias seemed slightly flustered by the compliment. “Well, of course,” he replied simply before giving Mira a quick hug.
We were then left alone in the massive room while we wa
ited for the Count to show up.
“Do you really think that’s okay?” Eli asked quietly once the butler was out of earshot.
Tobias nodded. “This place is probably the safest location in the city. Anyone who wanted to try kidnapping Mira would find it difficult to do so here. They would likely never even make it onto the grounds. And despite Count Demetri’s prejudice towards pantherians, he’s overall a good man.”
Eli inclined his chin in acknowledgment, but otherwise didn’t respond.
We all waited patiently after that. After a few minutes, Risa tried sitting on one of the couches while Tobias went to study some of the art on the wall. Eli and I automatically seemed to gravitate towards each other without really meaning too. I was pretty captivated by our surroundings, but then I noticed he was right at my elbow. He was likewise looking around, admiring the room.
After a few more minutes, my ears picked up on the sound of someone approaching down one of the halls towards the podium. I automatically began walking in that direction. Risa had heard too, so she hopped up and followed.
However, I quickly slowed down when I recalled that I had to play my part as a slave. We waited for Eli and Tobias to pass us up, both of them now hearing the boots clicking against the marble flooring.
A tall man appeared from the left of the podium, dressed impressively. He had black hair, extremely pale skin, and dark eyes. A black cape was draped over his right arm, and he was adorned in elaborate clothing in shades of blue like his servants. Of course, everything had gold accents.
The primary difference of his choice of uniform was that his pants were bright white.
“Tobias! Good friend! Welcome!” He greeted, stopping just at the edge of the podium.
Tobias approached, looking up at him somewhat awkwardly since the man didn’t make any motion to descent the step down off the elevated platform. “Count Demetri,” he replied, shaking the man’s outstretched hand. Oddly enough, the count offered him his left. Thus far, I had only seen everyone shake with right hands, but the man kept his right arm hidden under his cape. Tobias continued. “It’s truly an honor to be invited here a second time.”
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