Page 51

Her back stiffened.Oops.

With his sight still a reddish pink, unsure if it was embarrassment at not understanding what she’d just done to him, or shame due to her reaction afterwards, Ingram couldn’t pull away from staring at her.

Did I do something wrong?

He’d never experienced anything like what she’d done with her hands. He’d never been gifted with something so... astoundingly pleasurable that his entire body tingled from the crown of his skull all the way to the very tip of his long tail.

He, at the time, thought his entire being was about to jet out of the purple jutting part of him she’d been stroking. It had felt so good right before he released that it bordered on pain, and he thought he was about to pass out. He had mindlessly ground into her hands to achieve whatever crescendo he was climbing.

He’d spilled – and his spirit had soared.

Then, as she’d promised, she’d freed him.

He’d been a lump laying in the dirt and sticks of the forest, huffing wildly to release his strained lungs. That was until she’d gotten up, faced away from him, and began... breathing erratically.

She hadn’t smelled of fear, but even he, who wasn’t used to being around humans, could tell something was wrong.

Was I not supposed to release that white liquid?His sight flickered to the puddle on the ground.What came from me?She avoided it like it was a dangerous fire.But she was the one who brought it forth.

Ingram clutched his stomach tighter, just above where the jutting rod had come from.

She wouldn’t look upon his skull now, although she’d had no issue doing so within the dungeon. He didn’t like that she was averting her gaze. It only deepened his worries that he’d truly done something wrong.

He was so distracted with his thoughts he hadn’t noticed the Witch Owl come up to him. So, when she gently cupped the top and bottom of his beak to force his skull to her, he flinched.

Then she pressed her hand near his neck and he flinched again, this time from the pain.

“Do you want me to take the arrows out, or leave them?” she asked, and he couldn’t help noticing the warmth and care in her dark eyes.

“Leave them,”he grated.“I will heal them away later.”

She nodded as she stepped back, but not before giving the top of his beak a caring stroke. She’d never touched him so openly and affectionately before.

No one other than Aleron had.

“I’m sorry you had to endure so much.” Her voice held such genuine remorse that his sight inadvertently shifted to a dark, gloomy blue. “I wish I could have come sooner.”

“I should not have come here.”

“It’s okay,” she cooed. “We all make mistakes.”

Her reassurance soothed the worst of his self-loathing.Has she made mistakes?She often appeared infallible.

Emerie, with her fist over her mouth, cleared her throat. His skull lifted, as the Witch Owl’s head turned.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” she said, lifting her arms, “but what now?”

“For you, nothing,” the Witch Owl answered sternly. “For now, I will return to the Veil, and Ingram will find his home somewhere here on the surface.”

Dark yellow filled his vision as he stepped away from her.“No. I must find a way to destroy the Demon King.”

He hadn’t given up on his vengeance for his kindred. No matter what happened to him, he would bear it if he could bring Aleron back into a world that was safe and peaceful for them.

A world where he wouldn’t... lose him again.

“I told you, Ingram. Unless we have an army, which we don’t, there’s nothing we can do right now but try to find a way to be safe.”

“You want to kill the Demon King?” Emerie asked, her orange brows furrowing tightly. “So youtrulycame here for aid?”