Hunted [Wild Hunt Series: 1]

12: Advice

I nestled into warm silk and plush cushions, revealing in something soft and comfortable, my first such experience in what felt like forever. When my back hit the mattress Prince Chiro stood, stepping around Shail's clubbed tail. The crag cat's head rose to watch him as he paced onto a small balcony. The space looked big enough for just a person or two, and did not, I noticed as I yanked off my boots and the breeze touched my ankles, have a door. The open air breathed life into the delicate cloth surrounding the bed's banisters. I sat up, pulled the fabric in one hand and took a better look at the grey-eyed prince.

"I have better things to be doing," he said shortly, gazing out into the hazy twilight. "If you want to have a bath I'll come back in the morning."

"No," I groaned, sliding my feet onto the cool stone. I removed the bracers from my arms. "It's fine. Pass along the King's advice. I'd rather be lounging in a hot bath with more information than less. Makes it more relaxing."

"Does it?" he asked, pressing his back into dark stone. Absent a cloak, he was still wearing his travel clothes from earlier, though they were a lot dustier now. Probably wanted a chance to sit down and relax, same as I did, and here he was on command waiting for me to waltz in a day late. 

I tucked the semi-transparent cloth around one banister, and laid back onto the soft mattress, propped this time on my elbows. "I used to enjoy a nice shower after I finished studying. It was a lot nicer than showering and worrying about studying into the wee hours of the night." 

"Alright," he said, fiddling with a sleeve cuff. He didn't come back inside.

"Need to get away from the human stink?" I asked, tilting my head and giving him an innocuous grin.

His nose wrinkled. "You're disgusting," he said, nodding at my attire. 

I glanced down at the bloody chemise, lifted the fabric off my chest a little.  It peeled from my body. Blood flaked off my collarbone. "Yeah, well, I ran into the spiders of my nightmares. Thanks for warning me about them."

"You aren't my responsibility."

I rubbed my chin. "You told me about Shail. I thought maybe you wanted me alive."

His eyes flashed like a cat's as the light slipped away from the sky. "It's called being nice. I don't want anything from you." 

 "I'm fine, by the way," I continued. "Thanks for asking. Some peddler gave me a potion or something. I didn't know this place was basically a video game." 

"What?"

"Never mind,"  I said quickly. Apparently these weren't the sort of omniscient demons who knew everything and possessed unwilling hosts to bring hell on earth. That put my mind at ease in an odd way; Chiro might've been more human than he wanted to admit. 

Did not having a superior mental inventory make a demon more or less dangerous? I wasn't sure, but I knew I'd rather be dealing with one like him than one that knew all my thoughts and deepest desires, like how I had more crushes on fictional men than any real ones around me. 

"You guys have drinks that can heal people," I continued. "Where do I get more of those?"

His brow furrowed. He leaned into the balcony's frame and folded his arms across his chest. "We don't," he said slowly. "We heal fast."

My fingers traced the crackled blood around my throat. "I think you do. A spider ripped my neck open. The Mississippi river was flowing out my veins. This peddler stopped and—"

"Didn't your mother teach you not to take candy from strangers?"

I snapped my fingers. "So you do know a few more modern expressions! Maybe you aren't as behind the times as I was figuring."