Page 10 of Exquisite Monster
She left me alone, and I went to put them on. A dark bundle of clothing. The dress was loose and shapeless. Far too big, but it covered my body, and that was enough. The length of the cloth was so great I had to lift it and tie it off before I sought out the dragon.
As I tried to find the room where we’d eaten, I realized I’d been more exhausted than I remembered, because every room I passed through was completely alien. I didn’t remember any of them. And there were somany.
If I’d had any doubt about how long Gleym had been down here, it was put to rest with the extent of her underground home. There was a room entirely of shoes. Based on the way they looked—and smelled—I was pretty sure all the shoes had fallen down here the same way I had.
“Do you know where to go?” I whispered toVarí.
My instinct told me the older dragon wouldn’t eat me like she claimed, but I wasn’t going to take the chance of angering her if I wandered somewhere I wasn’t meant to be.
Launching off my shoulder, he led me back through the complex maze of rooms that had no logic. There weren’t any hallways, just rooms that opened up into each other. Which made sense if she dug—or melted them—into existence. Whenever Gleym needed another one, she would create another room. Or that was how it seemed.
I’d gone in the wrong direction entirely. Soon though, followingVarí, I smelled food. Good enough for my stomach to respond with sound.
Varílooked over his shoulder in shock, like he wasn’t aware I could make a sound like that.
Gleym didn’t look away from where she stood before the fire, one hand over the pot that bubbled there like she held the contents in the palm of her hand. What I could see of the liquid swirled on its own. “You got lost?”
“Yes.”
“Not surprising. I still do, and I built it.”
I laughed softly, desperately trying to contain the questions in my brain. Like how she was down here at all.Whyshe was down here, and if there was a way back to the surface.
Because I couldn’t stay. Whatever Andaros had done to my mates, they weren’t dead, and I wasn’t going to let him have the chance to kill them later. Whatever his plan was, it wasn’t going to favor the four of us. And he already thought I was dead.
By all rights Ishouldbe dead.
Between this and almost being killed by the dragons multiple times over, I wondered how long I could escape the fate that seemed to be determined to come for me.
“Eat,” Gleym said. “Your stomach is louder to us dragons than it is to your human ears, and it is screaming.”
I obeyed, serving myself and sitting at the same table I had for the first meal. Gleym didn’t sit with me this time, instead sitting on a stool nearer the fire, leaning on her staff, watching me.
When the bowl was empty, I met her gaze. “You told me to sleep and then we would talk. I have questions.”
“I imagine you do.” Her eyes held a feral gleam.
Varícurled up on the table, leaning his head on my arm and closing his eyes. If he’d been worried, how much had he slept? Instead, I pulled him onto my lap and allowed him to snuggle close.
“I cannot promise I will answer all of them,” the dragon finally said. “But you may ask.”
The most important first, then. “Are you going to kill me?”
She snorted inelegantly. “If I was going to do that I would have easier ways. Like simply allowing you to remain in the water until you drowned, or snapping your neck while you were dead to the world. Not after I fed you and clothed you.”
“Are you planning on helping me?”
The weight on her shoulders seemed to grow heavier. “That depends greatly on what you mean by help, and truthfully, I have not decided.”
At least her answer was notno.
I swallowed. “How did you come to be down here?”
Her reaction was not what I expected. She smirked and stood off her stool, making her way slowly to a counter across the room. “I got here the same way you did, little human. A creature who wanted me dead… well, more than one, I suppose, threw me down here hoping the fall would kill me. Too bad for them, the fools didn’t finish the job.”
She poured herself a drink and sipped it smoothly. All I had were more and more and more questions. How did she have everything she had down here? The room with the shoes was explained, but food? Clothes? Whatever it was she drank from the cup?
Like she saw all of those things pass through my eyes, she shrugged. “More things get lost in the water than you would imagine. If it is not recovered, it ends up here. That net I caught you in saves most of it. If it’s useful, I’ll keep it. Though I’m hardly helpless.”
