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The clothes are pushed into my hands, and I clutch them to my chest. “You will?”
She grins and shrugs. “Safe travels, friend.”
* * *
No matterhow many times I try to engage him, Orcus remains silent and broody once we get home. The bond is rank with turmoil and my stomach aches at how strong it is. Prometheus prances after me when I get up to make a snack of the dried meat, fruit, and bread Zyla sent with us. The basket is full of vials of tinctures in a variety of colors and various foods. The grumpy ogre glares at the stone wall.
“So is this your thing?”
Silence.
“I prefer the grunting,” I mutter to myself, dropping some meat on the ground for my little dragon friend. Once my plate is prepared, I turn and head toward the table, eyeing Orcus.
This all started after Zyla mentioned going to court. Orcus’ dad must be an epic asshole for him to shut down like this. Usually after some cajoling, he’ll pull his head out of his butt. Maybe it’s time to be a pain in the ass.
I drop the plate on the table, expecting Orcus to at least react to how careless I’m being, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t look. I sigh and snatch a grape-looking fruit from the plate and toss it at him. It splatters against the side of his head.
“What are you doing?” he growls, swiping at his face.
“Oh good. You’re talking.” I throw another piece of fruit. It hits him in the chest.
“Why are you throwing food at me?”
I pick up another grape thing. “Because I’m tired of being ignored.” This time when I throw it, he snatches it out of the air and shoves it into his mouth, glaring at me while his jaw works. “Don’t you glare at me like that. You’re the one who’s been ignoring me for hours.” I let another piece of fruit fly.
With a snarl, he grabs it out of the air and throws it back at me. The fruit hits my chest, staining the new cream-colored dress Zyla gave me.
Oh.Hell. No.
“That’s it,” I warn, grabbing a handful.
He lunges for me. I squeal and toss the food in his face and evade his grabby hands. Prometheus yaps like an excited puppy. Before I can go back for another handful, Orcus catches me and hauls me up and pins me against his chest.
“Let me go!” I jerk in his hold.
“No.”
I reach back and grasp for his tusks, but he tips his head back. Bucking in his hold, I try to break free, but he’s too strong. “Orcus,” I say with a huff. “This is ridiculous.”
“Really?Thisis ridiculous?”
Okay, maybe the food bit was obnoxious, but a woman doesn’t like to be ignored, especially not by the monster who gave her the most mind-blowing orgasms of her life the night before. Especially not after I swallowed all of that cum.
“You should never ignore a lady,” I say instead of admitting I was, in fact, being ridiculous.
“Is that so?” he asks, turning me around and peering down at me. His navy eyes are so freaking gorgeous it’s enough to make me a little jealous. “You like my… attention, little flower?”
“And what if I do?” I snap, somehow now the grumpy one. Is grumpiness contagious? Maybe he should’ve asked for the antibodies for that instead of sarcasm.
Orcus smirks. “I like your attention too.”
“Good. Then stop ignoring me.”
The cocky grin falls, quickly replaced with a properly chastised look. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
I’m at a loss for words for a few seconds. Is it sad that I expected some type of gaslighting or guilt tripping in response? “Uh, thanks for the apology.” I tuck a lock of hair that fell out of the braid behind my ear. “I’m sorry I threw the fruit at you.”
A loud clattering comes from outside the cave. One moment Orcus is holding me with an affectionate grin, and the next, he sets me down, sprinting out of the cave and growling as he goes. The tether between us lights up with violence. I fist my hands at my sides and frown after him.
