Page 11 of The Demon of the Wood

“I don’t think so. A nixie saw her in a cave, saying that she was going to die and chatting with herself in a troubling way. I had to talk the nixie down from eating her. I think you’d be quite proud of me for that.” Silenus smirked with satisfaction as he examined his nails casually. “Anyway. I don’t think she has a place to go. And I thought you would not like it if the nixie made a meal out of her. The woman sounded positively pathetic and—”

“Where is she?” Kaemon interrupted.

Silenus pointed west. “Follow the river to the cave. Close to the waterfall.”

Kaemon nodded and headed that way immediately.

“You aren’t going to thank me?” Silenus called out.

Kaemon waved his hand in the air. The cave was only a mile out from his cabin, and he made quick work of the distance, his long legs making swift strides. He stepped into the cave and his sensitive hearing picked up her sniffling and soft crying. His chest tightened.

“Melina!” he called out, wanting to alert her to his presence before he came into view. The sounds stopped abruptly.

“Kaemon?” came her hiccupped reply.

He stepped around the curve of the cave and saw her sitting in the beam of light, her head uncovered, her face tear stained. She looked at him, dejected. He walked as close as he thought she’d feel comfortable and crouched down, adjusting his wings to counterbalance him. She watched the movement with curiosity.

“A—” Kaemon didn’t know what to call Silenus, and stalled for a moment before continuing. “A friend of mine saw you come in here. I thought you might be lost, or maybe you didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Silenus would be far too gleeful at hearing Kaemon call him a friend, so he was determined to never repeat that word again. Melina’s eyes darted to his face, and she sniffed again, gazing at her hands.

“I don’t. My uncle would be angry with me if he knew what happened, and I don’t think anyone would believe me over Gregory. I thought I would go to another village… but I don’t know where they are, and a storm is coming through.”

Kaemon’s tail whipped behind him in anger. He had the urge to go into the town and round up the men from last night and take out justice on his own. But his judgement would be too swift and absolute. He remembered his father’s words to him as a child, teaching him about meting out justice. “The punishment should fit the crime.” Kaemon struggled to know where the fitting was, though. For men, more powerful than this woman, to treat her so. As he’d pulled his nightshirt over her last night, covering her nakedness, he’d seen the purple and green bruises in the shapes of hands.

“You can stay with me, as long as you like,” he said.

She stared at him in silence, her expression unreadable. She swallowed, her eyes tracing over his wings, his horns. He had the urge to tuck his wings in, to cover up his horns, to hide his monster-ness. But only curiosity flickered over her face and his wings eased a little, fanning out more.

She opened her mouth once to speak and slammed it shut. He could almost see her mind racing, thinking it all over. “I don’t…I don’t know.” The words came out in a whisper, her fear and uncertainty evident in every syllable.

He nodded. “I know that you have no reason to trust me. But you can. I promise you that. And a storm is coming through. Stay with me until it passes, and I will help you get to another village.”

She was silent for a long moment, her lips pursed, her eyes squinting in thought. something like light seemed to prick in his chest at the gaze, something that tugged so hard he almost fell over from how startling it was. But what was it? The feeling frightened him, and he shut it down, snuffing out that light.

She finally set her jaw and nodded. “That is the best option, I believe.”

He stood and thrust out his hand. She stared at it warily, then grasped it, stumbling a bit as he tugged her upright.

“Let’s go,” he said.

six

Melina

KaemonledMelinabackto his cabin. His wings stretched out beside them as they walked, more so on her side, covering her back entirely. She stole glances whenever she thought he wouldn’t notice, examining the texture of his leathery wings, the clawed tips, the veins that zagged like a bolt of lightning throughout. His horns curled on his head similar to a ram, and his tail twitched and moved with each step.

She had only ever seen an elf, once, when a delegate visited the lord of their lands, and a goblin who had been staying in the forest. She’d been foraging, and they stumbled upon each other. They stared in shock. Then the goblin had backed away slowly, its mouth turned down, its long, pointed ears sagging, the whites of its eyes showing. She’d taken a few steps back, and it had eased, then darted off, running in the opposite direction. Otherwise, she’d only known humans, and she had certainly never spoken to someone who bore magic. The magic seemed to hang on the air, like a subtle change in the pressure surrounding them.

That’s another reason to be afraid.

Melina made a list in her mind of all the frightful things about him as they walked. His magic, even if she felt a stab of curiosity about it. His horns, perhaps. Rams used them to fight with, but she found that the way they framed his head looked like a crown more than anything, and she had the oddest desire to touch them, to see what the texture was like. His wings were frightening, surely, yet they made her feel tucked in and safe as they walked. Even that couldn’t conjure up feelings of anxiety.

His eyes slid to her, catching the examination, and she hastily averted her gaze, heart pounding. Perhaps the most frightening thing about this male was those piercing green eyes. Like a pool of emerald water. There was some depth there that she couldn’t quite name, an endless darkness.

He presented himself as nothing but gentle and kind, but she needed to keep her wits about her with him. Something seemed to flow between them, like an invisible rope that made her want to drift towards him, and she was certain it was his demon magic. Perhaps she would have been safer in the cave. Though she would have frozen to death. She’d had no other option.

She knocked her shoes against the rack of wood by the cabin door, under the overhang, and watched the clumps of snow fall off. Kaemon opened the door and let her walk in, and she took off the cloak, turning to hang it up, only for Kaemon to take it and place it on a hook.

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