“Sad, pathetic man you are now.” She shook her head. He gave a soft moan, whether he understood her or not, she wasn’t sure. “Yes, I said it. Pathetic.”
“Non,” he grimaced and twitched, as if becoming aware of the bonds that held him.
She coughed and waved her hand in front of her nose. “This is horrible. Horrible!” She stomped her foot. “Gerard, she’ll be terrified of you. You look like a beggar. No. Worse. You look like a beggar who’s been waylaid in a distillery vat. If this were any other time I’d wait.”
“Bloody Wolf.” He spit a crimson streak. “Told him I’d come.”
“Yes, I’m sure you were quite the angel. Wolf completely in the wrong.” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
He cracked open a blood shot eye and shifted, trying to move to a sitting position. His body jerked and he groaned, laying his face back down in the dirt. “Perhaps I did attempt to cold cock him first. Bit fuzzy on that.”
“Of course you did.” She pointed her wand at his bonds, a bright pink glow wrapped around the leather hide on his wrists and ankles.
Gingerly, he sat up and rubbed his chapped wrists. Taking a deep breath, he winced. “I think the bastard broke a rib.” He felt around his waist. When she didn’t respond to his obvious ploy to baby him, he sighed. “Fine. Fine,” his deep French lilt grew heavy with exasperation. “I concede. You made your point, but you cannot bring her here with me looking like this.”
She leaned back on her heels. His shirt was shredded in several spots. One-- a particularly long rip along his chest-- exposed the tiny bud of a brown nipple. Blood stained his collar. But it was his pants, with the laces loosened, that told the true tale. Wolf had obviously found Gerard rutting like a mad fool. She lifted a brow, looking back at him.
He grinned and then winced when his cracked lip oozed. “I am a man, fee,” he said it unabashed, almost prideful.
Danika thinned her lips. She’d studied the girl-- Betty Hart. The mortal had good insight into a person’s true psyche. A rare gift in a human (apart from a disastrous and much too recent relationship with a boyo named James) her instincts were normally spot on. Unfortunately now that she’d been burned, Betty questioned her intuition. This pairing could work, but only if both Gerard and Betty let it. Problem was convincing them of it.
“I never said I’d bring her here,” she licked her teeth, studied her nails and waited.
One second.
His face scrunched up.
She tapped her foot.
Two seconds.
His jaw dropped.
She smiled.
Three seconds. And...
“Non! No. I refuse. I will not be sent to that vile,” he ground his jaw, “Earth!”
She planted her hands on her hips. “Oh, but you will.”
Anger glittered like hellfire in the depths of his inky blue eyes. “You didn’t send Hatter.”
“He could not go. You, however...” She eyed him hard, trying to pretend her knees weren’t currently knocking. He could be quite imposing when he wanted to be. “Are another matter. You were not born of Earth therefore you can safely walk its roads.”
His nostrils flared. “You cannot make me, I will not go.”
She almost laughed at his petulant manner. “You are very wrong there, me boy. I most certainly can and will. Just this evening a tribunal’s been called.”
He stiffened and she smiled. “Oui, mon ami. You know exactly what I mean. Princess Arabella! Gerard, what were you thinking?” she screeched, finally free to vent her frustration.
Gerard scrubbed his face. “It is not what it seems. I swear, Marraine, I did not touch her. The coquine threw herself at me. I’d never force myself on a woman, much less a princess.”
“I find it hard to believe you could not tell it was her, she’s a wild mane of orange hair. ‘Tis impossible to mistake her for a commoner!” Danika threw her hands up.
Gerard shook his head. “She was in disguise, I swear it. Once I discovered who she was, I put her aside, but by that point I was found and well...” He tunneled blunt fingers through his messy hair. “I ran. I knew they’d lock me in the dungeon.”
She believed him, which made the situation all the harder. “Oh, Gerard,” she touched his chin, “your past returns to haunt you.”
“But you do believe me?” His dark blue eyes were large and earnest.
She rolled her wrist, the wand burst with pink bolts of energy. “I do.”
He sighed, his shoulders visibly relaxing.
“But, you know they will not. You’ve bedded too many of the town’s women...”
He frowned. “All willing. I don’t care what they claim now.”
“Be that as it may,” she shook her head, “you’ve angered most, if not all men folk, and now the King. You must leave. I’ll go in your stead and speak on your behalf.”
“Good. Good.”