By Fairy Means or Foul: A Starfig Investigations Novel(26)
“For trying to cheer me up. And sharing your story. I know that can’t have been easy. I really wasn’t laughing at you.”
“You, ah, ready to go?” I cleared my throat and stepped back before I did something I couldn’t take back. Shouldering the knapsack, I then placed my hand on the center of the carpet. At first nothing happened. Then lilac sparks shot from all sides of the rug. It jerked and shot out from under my hand and straight into the air, only to crash back down and crumple in a heap at my feet. I straightened it out and tried again. This time nothing happened. I tried again and again, but the rug didn’t move. Even when I used what little fairy magic I possessed, the carpet stayed limp.
Fuck my life.
9
“You sure we’re going the right way?” Quinn’s head swiveled as he took in the vastness of the Expanse.
Sand as far as the eye could see in all directions. No trees, grass, or animals. Nothing but white. At first, it was almost pretty in its starkness, but hours of the same dull landscape left me feeling grumpy. Someone could get lost and wander around here forever.
I grunted and kept moving steadily forward. Fortunately, today wasn’t overly warm, though sweat still covered our faces and each step felt like slogging through quicksand.
We’d been walking for several hours now and the sun was beginning to set. Good thing I packed the large water skin. Still we were going to be mighty thirsty by the time we crossed out of the desert.
“How do you know we’re moving in the right direction? For all we know we’re moving in circles.”
“We’re not.” My voice was rough from inhaling small clouds of sand as we walked. Even having a piece of cloth around my mouth and nose only did so much. We continued to walk along in silence until the sun almost completely slipped beyond the horizon.
“Do you think there’s any chance of Brandsome paying me?” I asked, just to have something to say.
“Honestly? Once he has the horn in his possession, you’ll have a much harder time resisting him and will probably be suckered into canceling the debt. It’s the way his magic works. I’m surprised you shook off the effects so quickly when he left the room, but then again, he didn’t have his horn and I gave you meadowmint.”
“And if I cancel the debt, you’ll be returned to him.” It irked me that I could fall so heavily under some creature’s magic that I could be coerced to work against my very nature. That was some powerful juju. I held lots of defenses against most types of harmful magic, but I guess infatuation wasn’t considered harmful. Until now.
I was so lost in my thoughts I almost missed Quinn’s shudder.
“I’m sorry.” I seemed to be saying that a lot where Quinn was concerned. But saying it aloud caused a tightening in my chest. I knew what it was like to be mistreated. And Quinn was just a human. No magic to protect him, no magical healing properties either. That’s probably why Rainbowpebbles wanted him. That little fucker loved to inflict pain.
Quinn shrugged, but he tugged at his collar again as though he couldn’t breathe. “You might resist Brandsome’s charms if you use meadowmint. I’m not really sure. I know his magic doesn’t work as well against love. He hates happy couples. His favorite thing is to break them up. Sees it as a personal challenge. But otherwise, it takes a lot to resist him.”
“So how do you do it?”
“Constant exposure and a pocketful of meadowmint. He also doesn’t bother to try to charm me. All the eyelash batting is reserved for people he needs to enthrall. He . . . owns me. He doesn’t need to pretend with me.” Quinn’s jaw clenched when he said it. “Besides, he gets off on my resistance. He only magicks me when it will be most humiliating.”
My heart stuttered and my dragon hissed in my head. What the fuck kind of messed up unicorn perversion was that? I took a deep breath so my tone wouldn’t be harsh when I asked, “But you’ll eventually be free, right? Indentured servitude isn’t meant to last forever.”
“With the amount I’ll have to pay him, I’ll be a very old man before that happens.”
“Oh.” What did I say to that?
“Are we going to walk all night?” Quinn stumbled behind me, and I stopped to steady him.
Dark circles ringed his eyes and his shoulders slumped.
“No, we’ll rest here, then leave at first light.” I threw down the smelly carpet I’d hauled with us the whole way. I also carried sticks I’d broken off from a tree before we’d entered the Expanse. Using them to build a lean-to with a little twine to keep it all together, I laid the rug over the top. Not a bad makeshift shelter . . . if one didn’t mind the smell of manticore dung.
Wrinkling my nose, I waved Quinn underneath, and I again removed my knapsack to dig around for food and water. There wasn’t much jerky left, so I offered him the last piece. He looked surprised, and only when I nodded did he take it. I pulled out some bread crusts for myself and divided up a handful of storm nuts. We continued to eat in silence, the sounds of night slowly surrounding us. It was actually really nice.
“There aren’t any monsters in the dunes, are there?” Quinn squinted around, only it had grown too dark for him to see more than a couple inches in front of him. My vision was a bit better. Weak by dragon standards, but still enough that I could see far into the distance.