All in Kingdom knew to never make deals with him. Aeric had seen the ruin firsthand. He closed his eyes, not able to look at Lissa another second.
A woman’s eyes had always been his undoing. “I cannot help you, Lissa. I cannot die from slipping down a hole. I’ll come back to you, somehow, someway. I’ll find you and help you with whatever you need, I’ll find Chrysalis and I’ll stop her. I can do it without him.” It was his final plea, and it was strange to him that he was even pleading with her at all.
Her soft touch guided his gaze back to her and her eyes swam with desperation and fear. “Please, hunter, do not do this.”
His soul trembled with the weight of her need. The sincerity and fear in her gaze and like always he felt himself pulled in against his will by that pain.
“What if that hole isn’t just a hole, but a drop into torment?” she asked. “It is not so far a stretch to believe that. Not here,” she whispered, and the hand that’d caged him in now felt more like a gentle caress. “Would you really be willing to take that chance?”
He shuddered.
“Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock, as the Hatter would say,” Rumpel interjected, “decisions. Decisions. Make one quickly, Aeric, for your time expires like the grains of sand within this hourglass.”
He was now holding a small glass and gold timepiece between his thumb and finger. The grains were very nearly slipped through.
“In five…”
“…four…”
“Aeric, please,” Lissa whispered.
“…three. C’mon, huntsman, are you really going to let a little history come in the way of survival? Two.”
“Yes. Fine!” he spat, the words settled like lead weights in his gut “Whatever you want,” he whispered as the final grain fell.
“Whatever I want?” Rumple was reclined on his back again, shaking his head back and forth. “What powers women have over you, Aeric. I’m rather nauseated by it. Haven’t you learned your lesson once already?”
Lissa’s brows dipped and her heart trembled at the brief flash of misery that scrawled across the Huntsman’s face. “What do you mean by that?”
Lightheaded and dizzy, Lissa felt suddenly a little fuzzy. She hadn’t slept well last night, which was probably why she felt the sudden nauseating need for sleep. Wiping her brow, she leaned against Aeric’s arm.
“Oh come on,” Rumple mocked, “please lets not try to pretend you didn’t just use your feminine wiles on him like the sharp end of a blade, Lissss-aaaa.”
She shivered at the way he said her name, like he was privy to some secret she didn’t have a clue about. At the way his wickedly beautiful golden eyes caressed her as if he could actually see the missing parts of her. Aeric was right when he called the man the devil himself, he was a tempting package of lust and evil wrapped up in one.
“Shut up,” Aeric growled. “You got your wish, I’ve signed my soul to you. Leave her out of it.”
“Oh, it’s like that then, is it?” The broker of Kingdom chortled. “Well, I can say this about you, you’re always constant.”
“What is he talking about?” she asked, glancing between the two men. Truth be told a burgeoning headache was starting to pound at the back of her skull and she was really antsy to get this deal brokered so she and Aeric could move on.
For so long Lissa had felt like a failure, watching the ruin of her beloved forest fall into the hands of the demon girl, watching as the madness continued to twist and morph so that it was almost too dangerous to inhabit. As guardian she should have protected it better, but the moon marked always seemed one step ahead of her. It was maddening. Which was part of the reason why she continued to stay with Aeric, his mission was just as important to her.
But now that the he was here, together, they could stop it. She knew, felt it in her heart and soul. Finally this nightmare could end.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Aeric turned his eyes toward the sky, and she could not deny that it made her feel bad.
Worse than she’d felt before. It was her fault he was in this predicament.
If only she could have found someone to help get him out of there safely. Anyone else. But as was always the case when she sought out people, they were a scarce lot. In fact, Aeric was one of the few to ever stop and talk with her.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that unless she was in cat form, she was barely visible. That little quirk of hers seemed to be very off putting to those around her.
She sighed.
“Aeric, I’m sorry. I only wanted to help.”
His jaw clenched.
“And help you did.” Rumpel clapped his hands. “Now, to the little matter of finalizing our deal.”
“This cannot take long,” Aeric shook his head, “I must get back to my quest, the longer I stay here, the farther she gets from—”
The imp’s lips curled. “The least of your problems, huntsman, I can assure you.”