Page 12 of The Zagorath
“Other things?” she queried absently.
He shrugged. “I understand that they hunt and roast large beetles.”
Her nose wrinkled faintly but she laughed. That wasn’t quite as magical as what she’d had in mind.
Dahtao’s eyes glittered with amusement as he grinned at her. “Did I shock you?”
She shook her head, her lips twitching with her silent laughter. “Not exactly, though I can say that beetles aren’t something I would have considered to be on the menu for anything as pretty as pixie.”
“Pretty but mean,” he replied with a snort. “Just be careful. They are a menace and will bite if you have the misfortune of one landing on you. They will try to eat anything. Anything,” he emphasized, his eyes dropping to bared arms and legs.
She glanced down at herself curiously. “Is there something wrong with what I’m wearing? You’re the one who gave me this sheet to wear,” she teased.
With her clothing completely ruined and discarded, he had been quite abashed and discovering that he suddenly had a woman in his bed with absolutely nothing to wear. The sheet was more of a large rectangle of linen cloth that he wound around her and belted in place with a surprising amount of skill. But now he seemed to regret that decision as he looked morosely at her bare skin. She shook her head in amusement. Well, it wasn’t like there had been much else to be had.
He shook his head in reply, muttering to himself about nasty little flesh eaters as he led her deeper into the woods. Foxes scurried beneath bushes, rabbits leaping out of their path. They seemed ordinary enough but, given where she was, she was certain that they were far more than the usual beasts she was accustomed to. Everything was different. Incredibly beautiful, too, but also likely very dangerous for someone unaccustomed to that world.
“What do you think?” he asked after a time, his eyes following her as she stood beside him on an elegant bridge overlooking a river.
She stared down at the water and shook her head as her gaze lifted to stare at the impossible beauty that surrounded her.
“It’s lovely but it’s not anything like what I’m accustomed to,” she observed as she looked around in fascination, taking it all in. “It would take some getting used to but I can say that I doubt I would ever get bored here. How do you not just spend your days out here?” she asked, her head swiveling to peer at him.
Dahtao shrugged, his expression flat. “It is beautiful. It is my home and the most exquisite place in all the realms that even elven kings would envy, but it has not been enough for a longtime. It just made me feel more alone every time I came out here.”
“I can’t even imagine,” she murmured. “I’m not saying I would never get homesick, but this is wild.”
“You do not have to miss your home,” he remarked, drawing her attention from some really uniquely fuzzy neon-colored butterflies to look over at him. “There is a way.”
“A way?” she echoed, and he nodded, a smile stretching slowly across his face, boyishly endearing despite the sharp teeth and pronounced fangs that filled it.
“This way,” he said, and he led through the forest until they arrived at a clearing.
The sun shimmered down from its height directly overhead and just in front of her, framed in thick masses of tangled roots and vines, a mirror glowed with swirling silver mist caught in its depths.
“It is a portal mirror,” he murmured as he drew her with him to stand directly in front of it. “It can take you where you want to go—or need to go,” he added with a grimace, clarifying for her exactly how he had used the mirror previously, “and it can show you any place that you wish to see.”
“That’s one hell of a scrying mirror.” She took a step closer watching raptly as he passed his hand before the mirror. The mist shifted and then began to glow brighter until she found that she was staring at her apartment—except that it looked different somehow. “That’s quite the trick. Very Beauty and the Beast.”
Dahtao gave her a confused but amused look, and she shook her head with a private smile. “Never mind. A useless pop culture reference here. Which reminds me that I don’t know what I would do here long-term without streaming at my fingertips.”
A deep chuckle rumbled from him, making her toes curl. “Are you truly imagining that you will get bored so quickly now?”
She shook her head. “No way.” Her brow furrowed as she watched someone walk through her apartment. “Wait, is someone in my house?” She squinted at the figure hurrying toward the door. “Jessie? What is she doing—” Her voice caught in her throat, breaking off as she watched her mother step inside, her hands clasped tightly in front of her as she looked around. “Mom?” For the first time she noticed that her apartment was practically bare, and several boxes were stacked in one corner. Her eyes lifted to the male beside her. “Just how much time has passed there?”
Dahtao shook his head. “Time never runs the same between all the realms. It is impossible to estimate. Days? Weeks? Perhaps even months?”
Liv swallowed, her eyes turning back to them. “They think I am dead, don’t they?”
“Perhaps. Probably,” he amended after a heartbeat. “Most definitely.”
She glared up at him peevishly. “Not even going to try to go for the softer answer are you?”
“Is that what you desire?” He looked genuinely surprised, and she huffed reluctantly.
“No,” she muttered. “How do I get back? I need to get home and explain to them that I’m okay.”
He stared at her for a long moment, and something shifted in his gaze. Stretching his finger toward the mirror, the tip of his claw penetrated the mist, and it shifted, glowing as it rapidly began to spin again, forming a liquid vortex. He nodded toward the portal, his expression blank except for the understanding and warmth she saw in his eyes.
