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"I’d like to say forever, but that never really works out, does it?" he said, almost to himself.
"What do you mean?"
"You have a destiny, Rune. I believe that now. I just want to make sure that I'm a part of it."
I didn't understand what he was saying. Destiny?
"Like…the Fae Queen's going to return for me?" I asked, fear laced in my question. His eyes flicked to the necklace around my neck.
"Something much bigger than that, sweetheart," he said, just as vague as he’d been a second before.
My insides tightened, but I bit into my sandwich anyway, my mind turning. I was doing a good job of ruining my perfect day. I didn't want to be the girl that stuck her head in the sand, but maybe, it was okay to uncover things a little bit at a time.
After the best lunch I'd ever had, Ares continued to show me around the town. We ran into Connor walking down the sidewalk, and I immediately felt at ease with his calm and pleasant demeanor. So at ease, that I set up our dinner with him for the next night. Ares looked pleased at that, and a part of me wondered what else I could do to make him happy.
We set off for the emerald mine a little while later, Ares pointing out different paths in the forest you could walk.
We were halfway through when I heard a strange growl. I froze in place. "What's that?" I whispered, my gaze darting all around.
Ares groaned. "It’s…my pet."
"Your pet?"
"Brace yourself." A second later, a creature stepped out of the woods. A monster, like something out of a horror movie, enormous with red eyes that glowed, and razor sharp spikes running down its spine.
I didn’t know what had gotten into me, but it was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen. It galloped towards us, heading straight towards me. I braced myself to be eaten, but instead it began to lick all over my face with a warm, rough tongue.
"Down, boy," Ares ordered. It backed away, reluctantly, and its tail began to beat happily on the ground, the sound echoing around the forest.
"You're a gorgeous boy, aren't you," I cooed.
"You're not afraid of him?" Ares asked incredulously.
“Afraid of the sweetest boy I've ever met?" I scoffed in that same singsong baby voice that was probably grating on Ares’s ears. He threw his head back and laughed, a deep belly laugh that I hadn't heard from him yet. The monster dog seemed pleased with the sound, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, making those rough, serrated teeth look cute somehow.
He whined then, and I reached out my hand and stroked his ears, making sure to avoid the spines that looked like they could cut me if I accidentally grazed them. His fur was surprisingly soft, and after a second of me rubbing him, he collapsed to the ground and rolled to his back, revealing his pink stomach.
"You want a belly rub?" I murmured, and Ares mock sighed next to me.
"That creature is a bloodthirsty beast. And you're going to ruin him."
"He's not a bloodthirsty beast. He's a cute little baby. Aren't you?" I cooed some more.
“His name’s Aldo,” Ares offered, his voice amused.
“Aldo,” I repeated, thinking the cute name somehow fit him.
Aldo whined because I hadn’t rubbed his belly yet, so I kneeled down and gave him what he wanted.
“How exactly did you get Aldo as your pet?” I mused, laughing again when Aldo’s tail smacked my knee with how exuberantly he was wagging it.
“He found me actually. He was scrounging around for food in a forest near the Carpathian Mountains about ten years ago and scared me half to death when he bounded out of the forest and started licking me. Aldo’s as loyal as can be. The best monster dog you could ask for,” Ares teased.
Aldo jumped up, almost impaling me on one of his spikes as he went to lick his master.
“He lives mainly in the woods. While everyone has no qualms about me at this point…he still scares them. Especially after he ate one of the kid’s bunnies right in front of him.”
I winced, just imagining how terrifying that would be to a child.
