She doesn’t look sorry as she shrugs. Xane watches the two of them. He always wondered if there was something more to their relationship. Even more so since she turned him. He could ask her, and he knows she would tell him the truth, but he would sound like a jealous fool and that is something he doesn’t wish.
“You need to feed,” Liv says firmly to Cade, holding out her wrist.
Xane is really interested now. She feeds him herself? Why? He is burning with curiosity as she approaches Cade with her arm outstretched.
Cade takes it roughly and says, “Why do you always bring someone with you? It’s like feeding time at the fucking zoo around here. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I know,” she says calmly and sits on the bed next to him. Cade looks over at him and makes a swirling motion with his finger, asking him to turn around. Xane looks back at him, amused, but does as he asks and turns his back warily, just in case Cade does try to hurt her. He knows that Cade betrayed her, he knows far more about that situation than he is comfortable with, but she has clearly come to terms with it and him, so Xane will leave her business to her. This time. Next time, he is dead.
“You have healed up nicely,” she says quietly.
Cade grunts in response and then says, “The Power that is you.”
She chuckles and Xane turns back around in time to see her stroke Cade’s face and his uncomfortable reaction to it. Even more interesting.
“I will get on with that request,” Cade says to her as he stands. She follows and nods.
“Thank you, remember it’s…”
“Yeah I know,” Cade says and Xane wants to kill him that he now has a major secret that he is sharing with her. Liv catches his eye and he tries to look less ferocious than he knows he does. She smiles at him and takes his hand, letting him know they share secrets of their own and he feels better.
“You do the honors,” she says, “to the kitchen please.” And he Astraports them downstairs.
“Feeding time for the Queen?” he remarks wryly, and she laughs.
“Yes, but not in the way you think,” she says mysteriously, and he watches her in surprise as she sets about making herself a pastrami on rye with extra pastrami. She wolfs it down in several bites and he just stares at her.
“Xerxei?” he asks hopefully, but she shakes her head.
“Just me. It’s the strangest thing.” She shrugs it off, so he does too and takes her hand.
“Go time?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says and he Astraports them to the Castle without another word. He can tell she is a bit nervous as she strides over to the windows to look out. She looks back at him in awe. “Where the Hell are we?” she jokes.
He laughs and says, “The Castle. The Overlord’s supposed place of residence.”
“Supposed? You don’t like it here?” she asks, looking around.
“Do you?” he asks, and she shakes her head.
“Way too dungeon-style for my taste,” she says and turns back to the windows.
He completely disagrees. This bedroom is so dark, everything is black. The stone walls are black, the stone floor is black, the bed is black, the candles are black, the chains screwed into the wall are black. He likes black, but he can see why she would be a bit gun-shy. It is a very dark room, and he doesn’t mean that in a color sense. He joins her at the window. She is looking out at the Hellfire moat that surrounds the Castle and out towards barren landscape, too scorching to breed life, and up to the roiling black clouds against the burnt orange sky.
“The deepest you can get into our Domain, my Lady,” he says to her.
“I don’t like it,” she declares and turns away. “So, what is your game plan?”
Down to business. He loves that about her. She can be so entirely focused sometimes, but other times she is away with the pixies. Or Faeries, in her case. “Just follow my lead,” he says.
“That’s it? Seems too easy,” she says.
He hates lying to her, but he can’t tell her he is leading her into a trap of his own making. She will bolt from here so quickly his head will spin.
“Easy? No,” he says. “But you will see what I mean when we get there.”
“Okay,” she accepts, but still looks worri