Page 41 of Taloned Heart

They all needed rest, a place to lay their heads after such a long journey, and some food in their bellies. If they could get all that while under the protection of the dwarves, even better.

Abraxas kept his arms crossed over his chest and cleared his throat. “You make it seem like you’ve been waiting for us.”

“We have. One of our seers knew that the Fallen Star would return, and that would be a day of reckoning. We’ve been waiting for when you all might arrive.” Mirin could not look more proud if he tried. “That I am the one to find you is a great honor. My family will be so pleased when I return with you.”

“What makes you think we’ll go anywhere with you?”

The dwarf paused, then looked at Beauty before his eyes found Abraxas again. “Are you not?”

He arched his brow. “There are many people in this kingdom who want to kill us. I don’t know you. I don’t know your people, and even though you seem excited to see us, that means nothing. I’m not sure if you understand how dangerous it is for us to even be here.” The words were all a lie, but he wanted to push the young man. If the dwarf wanted them to see him as anything more than a young man, then he needed to give them a reason to see him as more than that. “So. Why should we go with you?”

Mirin’s eyes had gotten larger with every word Abraxas said until the young dwarf huffed and mirrored Abraxas’s position. “It seems to me you need a place to stay, dragon. You’re out here in the wilds where anyone can find you, and don’t think we don’t know the risk of it. Margaret and her elves have been hunting down anyone who even says her name.”

The dwarf pointed at Lore, who rolled her lips to try to not smile. Abraxas knew that look. That was the cocky look of a woman who thought it was hilarious that everyone was hunting her down, and that she’d like to see them try to harm her.

Damned woman was going to be the death of him.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he nodded. “Right. So you understand who we’re trying to escape from. And the fact that you know her name means you’ve dealt with her before. So why should we trust you?”

“Because we don’t like the shadow elf and none of us want to waste any more time waiting for this kingdom to get back on its feet.” Mirin pointed at Lore again, jabbing his finger in the air. “She’s the one who’s going to set all this to rights.”

“Why do you think it has to be her?”

The dwarf threw his hands in the air and started muttering in another language. Considering the violence with which he said all the words, Abraxas thought it very likely that the young man was cursing him.

Beauty eyed them, looking between both men as though she couldn’t quite figure out what was happening here. “We should go with him. I know him and his people very well.”

Tilting his head to the side, Abraxas sighed. “Have you been in their home before?”

“No one has been in the dwarven kingdom for years,” Beauty scoffed. “Of course I haven’t.”

“Then are you so sure you can trust them when you haven’t even been invited to eat with them?”

With a stomp of his boot, Mirin kicked a clod of dirt at him. “How dare you? The dwarves are one of the oldest races in all of Umbra and it is an honor to even be invited within our hallowed halls! I take it back. You can stay out here in the cold with all the dangerous creatures. I hope they skewer you, dragon. The other two can come with me.”

Abraxas bared his teeth, knowing they were a little sharper than before. “Please. I’d like to see anything try to skewer me.”

They were all interrupted by the bell-like sound of laughter. Lore tilted her head back and shook with the sound as it burst out of her chest. Abraxas first turned to glare at her. She was ruining his act here of intimidating the young man.

But then he found his own lips twitching with humor as well. This was all ridiculous, and they needed somewhere to stay the night. The pissing contest between him and this young man was, frankly, foolish.

Chuckling and shaking his head at her, he returned his attention to Mirin, who stared at them as though they’d both lost their minds.

“Fair enough,” Abraxas said. “We’ll go with you. But neither of them goes anywhere without me. That’s not something we can negotiate.”

The dwarf looked at Beauty, then back at them, then back at Beauty. “Have they both lost their minds?”

“A long time ago,” Beauty agreed, then slung an arm over the young man’s shoulder. “Now, when you say we have a safe place to stay, does that include food as well?”

The two of them started wandering, although Mirin cast a few glances over his shoulder to make sure Lore and Abraxas were following them. His elf was still caught up in her giggles, pressing her hand to her mouth as though that might trap the sounds inside.

With a low growl, he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “If you don’t stop, they’re going to think we aren’t professionals.”

“We aren’t professionals.”

“They think you’re a goddess. A fallen star from the sky sent to save them. And I am your fearless protector who has likely ripped open the night so that you could fall. You know how stories like this get started.” He straightened with a grin on his face.

He quite liked the idea of people thinking he could tear open the very sky with his claws. As though he had ripped her out of the safety of her home, high in the air, and pulled her down to the kingdom so she could save them all.

---