Scourge

Twenty-Two

If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever.

Alfred Lord Tennyson.

***

Emerson.

***

I was asleep throughout the entire flight to New York, leaving Mikhail to multitask by doing his paperwork and taking care of our ducklings with a scowl on his face.

Now, five hours later, we were standing in the lounge of the hotel room Mikhail had booked. While I was gawking at the interior, Mikhail set down the ducks' basket and hooked his finger in his tie to loosen it.

Yamileth squeaked and began to peck furiously at Mikhail's shoes, the other two joined too, after jumping out of their basket.

With a resigned sigh, he picked up Bartholomew and Yamileth with one hand. Betelgeuse with his other. All three of them began to chirp some more, flapping their little wings as Mikhail looked down at them with a glare,"Idi pozlu svoyu mat.'"

I gave him a look, "What the hell did you say?"

The ducklings were now perched on his shoulder, the four of them looking down at me as if they formed some conspiracy against me.

Mikhail cocked his brow, his lips curved upwards almost unnoticeably, "I asked them to piss their mother off, instead of me. I've had enough of them."

Pursing my lips, I tried my best to suppress a smile, "They're just attached to you... you'll get used to it."

"Too attached," He rolled his eyes. As soon as Bartholomew began to nip on Mikhail's ear, he closed his eyes and tilted his head back, no doubt rethinking his life choices.

"I have some business to take care of," He murmured as I walked over to him and reached up to his shoulders to set the ducks down.

Sitting down on the floor with them, I crossed my legs when they huddled around me to pet them- which I did.

Mikhail reached into his pocket for something before dropping to his haunches in front of me. He held it under my chin, pushing upwards to tilt my head back so that I look at him. My eyes flickered to the object held between his index and middle finger.

It was a black card.

"Go buy yourself a dress- or ten- and, whatever the fuck else you want," He murmured, stormy eyes giving my lips their undivided attention as my tongue darted out to wet them, "As expensive as you want."

"Are you sure? I might end up maxing it out-"

I shut my mouth when Mikhail's lips slowly stretched into a predatory grin, his teeth on display and he cocked his head to the side. The air was knocked out of me at the sight I was presented with. He didn't smile often, but whenever he did... I swear it will never get old.

"There's no limit on the card, baby," He ran his tongue leisurely over his teeth, my eyes shamelessly followed the drag of his tongue, "So don't worry your pretty little head about maxing out."

"Whatever you say," I give him a coy smile, reaching up to take the card between my own fingers.

Infront of me, Mikhail swallowed thickly. His eyes flickered shut briefly before they opened and settled on my parted lips again. The air in the room began to thicken with tension, and I felt my own heartbeat grow erratic when he began to lean in closer with that dazed look on his face.

"Leo will be waiting for you downstairs," He murmured, pulling away with a small smile.

I blinked, trying to comprehend what the fuck just happened.