Page 47 of The Soul of the Dragon

A tight smile crossed her face. "Yes and no. I know you as well as one does from watching you from afar."

The tension in my head eased from her healing magic and I sighed with relief. "Thank you for that. I didn't realize how bad it was until it was gone. And how long have you been watching me?"

The sprite moved away and took a seat on one of the logs that lined the clearing we currently occupied. Since she chose a shaded spot, I opted to follow her and took a nearby seat.

Of course, now that some of the pain and the nausea were gone, my stomach rumbled. There'd been no time to grab any food on our way out of the village and now that more than half the day had passed, hunger was setting in.

"You're hungry." She got up and started to walk away. "I'll bring you something."

"I'd rather you talk to me than worry about food. I can wait."

"Nonsense. It's berry season, and the forest is ripe with them. I can smell them from here so they won't take long to gather."

Even with the little experience I'd had with Ensley thus far, I knew I wouldn't deter her from her current course. She did what she wanted on her own timeline and nothing else. Since I had some privacy maybe now would be a good time to change.

The pretty red dress that Isaac had given me was looking a little worse for wear. And I desperately wanted to take off my shoes and wriggle my toes in the sunshine. Not to mention do something with the hair billowing around my head. Ugh.

Fortunately, the satchel I'd placed across my back this morning had stayed intact and the dress I'd washed the night before was at my disposal.

I unlaced my boots and removed them, quickly followed by the sweaty stockings. Maybe I could find a nearby stream and see what I could do.

I stood to take off my dress when the imp reappeared in the clearing with a basket of ripe red berries. My mouth watered at the sight of them and I lost interest in the dress.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I need to change. It turns out running for your life is hard work and hard on your clothes."

She placed the berries in my hands and frowned. "You know I can help you with that too."

"I don't want to keep asking for help. I may have to learn to live without magic and I guess, there's no time like the present to get started."

"Then you'll worry about that when the time comes. That dress is too pretty to let it stay like that."

I looked down at myself as I popped several berries in my mouth. "It is a lovely color. I like it a lot."

"Then we'll fix it and tomorrow you can worry about what to do without magic, okay?"

I nodded, unsure of how I was supposed to feel right now. Imps were not known for kindness, and this one seemed to run hot and cold depending on the circumstances. She also seemed to avoid my questions.

"I appreciate your help, but I'd like to hear more about how you've come to take an interest in my situation. Why would you want to help me find this amulet?"

As usual, she didn't answer right away. Instead she placed her hand on my dress and the soft glow of her magic emerged from her and the dirt, grime and blood disappeared from the dress. She then passed her hands from my neck to my ankles and the tears mended and by the time she finished it looked good as new.

"There. All better."

I smiled at her. "Thank you. Now will you tell me more about you?" If she wouldn't answer my questions directly, then hopefully I could get some details in a roundabout way.

"I'm not sure you'd find me all that interesting. We imps are a fairly simple race. Other than the extreme protectiveness we have for our way of life, which other fae see as troublemaking. Our defensive methods are a little unorthodox but they tend to work.

"Like poison darts to dragons?" I asked, my brow raised.

She laughed. "Yes! Dragons are extremely dangerous to all of us but especially to an imp. So we do whatever we can to keep them away from us. We don't want them finding us from the skies. I understand the world looks very differently from up there and it makes it a lot easier to find something that may be missing."

"Hmm. Like an amulet?"

"Maybe." The hesitance in her voice told me she knew more than she was saying.

I gave her a few minutes to think while I finished off the berries. But as I began braiding my hair into its usual style, I decided it was time to push for answers.

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