Pocket Dungeon 4, page 15
She smiled again, but there was a shakiness to it, and I wasn’t sure if I believed her when she said she was entirely a-okay, but I also wasn’t about to push.
“Alright,” I said. “Thank you.”
The energy in the penthouse was a little strange now, but I was determined to move past it as I cleared my throat and straightened up.
“You said that everything’s going to go down tomorrow?” Iris said, and while her attempt at changing the subject was both loud and obvious, I was grateful for it.
“Yeah,” I said. “I think I want to do another dungeon today, just to get my level up one more before then and see if we can get any other loot that might help us out. We’ve also got the bag from Black’s safe to look through too, so there could be something in there as well. If you’re all good here, I think I’m going to head out and do that now, that way I can use it again tomorrow at noon.”
“That is wise,” Yasha said, but as she spoke, the fox-woman’s eyes drifted back to the television where The Mandalorian was paused.
“You don’t have to come with me,” I told her in a faux stage whisper. “I won’t be upset.”
Yasha’s tail flicked beneath her skirt as she looked back at me with a wry smile on her lips. Her freckled nose bunched up in a way that was far too adorable for a woman so deadly.
“You are certain?” she asked.
“I’m certain,” I told her with a somber nod. “It’ll be tough without you, but I’m sure I’ll manage somehow.”
“Thank you, Wes,” Yasha chirped before bouncing on the balls of her feet to lean up and press a soft kiss to my lips.
I barely even had time to enjoy the kiss before she’d bounded back over to the couch and hurtled over the cushions and back into the nest of lighters and blankets she’d created for herself.
“I think I would like to stay behind as well,” Elaene said. “My feet are a bit sore from the dungeon yesterday, and I’d like to give them time to rest. It may also be nice to stretch my tail out.”
“Just try not to flood the bathroom this time,” I joked. “That goes for you too, Liva.”
The blue woman looked up at the sound of her name, and she opened her mouth for a few seconds before letting it fall closed again. It was obvious she wanted to say something from the way her lips pressed together, and she shifted on the countertop.
Both Iris and Elaene had moved out of the kitchen now. Just like she’d said, Elaene disappeared into the master bedroom, and seconds later, I heard the sound of water filling the bathtub. Iris followed her into the bedroom with one of the cardboard boxes containing our clothes balanced in her arms as she hummed softly under her breath.
Meanwhile, Yasha hit play on The Mandalorian, and the penthouse was once again filled with the only borderline deafening sounds of lasers firing and Grogu’s little baby sounds.
That left Liva and I alone together in the kitchen.
“What is it?” I asked her.
“I think I would like to come with you?” Her voice quirked up at the end in a soft, almost question.
It was like she wasn’t sure of what she was saying, even as the words came out of her mouth.
“Into the dungeon?” I asked. “You don’t have to, obviously, but I’d love to have you if you want to come with me. They’re always more fun when I’m with someone else.”
Liva nodded slowly before her eyes met mine.
Her gaze was intense in a way none of the other women in my life managed. It was like I was staring directly into a frozen wasteland, but I didn’t want to look away, not even as I felt a shiver roll down my spine.
The air around us was frigid as we continued to watch one another, like two chess players trying to gauge their opponent’s next move.
I had done my best to make sure Liva knew she was safe with me and that I’d never do something she didn’t want, but still, I felt like I was walking on eggshells as I held her steady gaze.
“Yes,” she said, this time with a little more confidence in her decision. “I would like to go into the dungeon with you. I haven’t been in once since the day I was taken, and I miss it.”
“Well, how about we fix that?” I sent her a small smile.
There was, however, a slight logistical issue. She was blue. And had wings. Going outside with her would be… difficult, to say the least.
“You’ll have to put something else on though, before we can leave,” I said.
Liva looked down at the very, very sheer robe she wore that barely covered her perky ass.
“I do not see anything wrong with what I’m wearing,” she said. “Do my nipples affront you?”
I didn’t need her to bring up her nipples, or to gesture to them so pointedly like she was actively doing, but there she was, doing it anyway.
I cleared my throat and looked up at the ceiling. “No, it’s not that, your nipples are fine. Great! Super great nipples, but people don’t usually wear so little clothing out and about here.”
Liva let out a long sigh that cast her breath out in a white fog.
“But it is so regal,” she said and gestured to the fur trim at the bottom of the short robe.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Believe me, I wish you could just wear that, but uh… people also aren’t usually blue here. And they don’t really have wings. So it’s probably for the best that we make sure you look as human as possible, just in case someone sees us.”
Liva sighed again, but she unfurled her legs from where they were folded up on the counter and slipped down to the ground. Her feet brushed lightly against the heated floors as she drifted in the direction of the master bedroom.
“Elaene,” she called out with a sigh, like this was an impossibly frivolous chore. “I am stealing some of your clothing as humans aren’t blue.”
“They also do not have wings,” Yasha added without looking away from the television. “Or tails. Or large ears.”
“I’ve seen some people with some pretty big ears,” I teased. “Though none quite as impressive as yours.”
Yasha grinned and flashed her sharp canines at me. “I am the most impressive at many things.”
Her golden eyes glinted, and her pupils went dark as she dragged her gaze over me like she was a predator and I was a particularly appetizing piece of meat.
Heat stirred in my gut, and my eyes dropped down to the low cut of her crop top. Her nipples pressed up against the thin, straining fabric, and my mouth nearly watered.
If I didn’t have very important things to do, like trying to find something in the dungeons that would make it impossible for me to lose the impending death match, I’d have crawled right onto the couch with Yasha and let her undress me with her sharp nails like she was currently doing with her eyes.
“Not right now,” I practically croaked out the words.
Yasha’s ears twitched.
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said in a tone so cloyingly sweet it made my teeth ache.
“Minx,” I accused her.
“Fox,” she corrected with another little smile.
“You are going to be the death of me one day,” I sighed and leaned up against the back of the couch.
“I would never do such a thing,” she said. “You are much too pleasant to keep around. And it would be a shame to kill someone so noble. You are like Din Djarin. Noble and skilled.”
“Should I get the helmet too?” I joked.
To my surprise, Yasha’s lips pressed into a thin line, and she cocked her head to the side.
She was thinking about it. She was very, very obviously thinking about it.
“Yes,” she finally said with a wicked little smirk. “Yes, I think that would be… intriguing.”
Jesus Christ.
I cleared my throat and pushed off from the couch to put some distance between me and the fox-woman before one of us could jump the other and defile our brand-new couch.
“Noted,” I rasped.
Thankfully, I was saved from myself when Liva shuffled out of the master bedroom. Her feet were actually on the ground for one of the first times since we’d broken her out of Black’s captivity, and it seemed like she wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
She’d put on a pair of Elaene’s pearl-encrusted flats that peeked out from the bottom of one of Yasha’s long, flowing skirts. She’d also taken one of Iris’ turtleneck sweaters and pulled that on as well.
The sweater was definitely too big for the petite woman, even with her wings pressed up and bulging against the soft, raspberry-colored material in the back. The sleeves hung down over her hands and only left her pale fingernails on display.
She’d even put on one of Yasha’s beanies and pulled the hat down low over her ears.
The outfit didn’t exactly match, but despite that, it was strangely adorable on her, and her disgruntled expression only furthered the cuteness.
“Hang on,” I said. “I have an idea on what we can add.”
I held up my finger to indicate she should wait before I walked over to the box still sitting by the door of the master bedroom. It looked like it would be the next on Iris’ list to unpack, but for now, it came in handy.
I crouched down onto the ground and started to rifle through the box.
“C’mon,” I muttered. “I know you’re in here somewhere.”
Liva’s gaze on me was like a weight as I continued to toss around clothes until finally, my hand closed around what it was I’d been looking for.
“Here you go,” I said as I stood up. “Tada!”
A long, slightly lumpy, and unflatteringly orange knit scarf dangled from my hand like a very sad snake. Carrie had made it for me during her knitting phase, and even though it was admittedly hideous, I loved it all the same.
“What is it?” Liva’s nose wrinkled in dismay.
“A scarf,” I said and took a small step closer to her while I still held the accessory.
When she didn’t back away or start icing the air around her, I took it as a good sign to continue and took another step closer.
I gently looped the scarf loosely around her neck so that it covered her all the way up to her nose.
“There,” I said. “Now you have a piece of all of us in your disguise.”
Liva blinked her wide, unnaturally pale eyes up at me, and I might have been hallucinating, but I could have sworn that her blue cheeks tinged a little darker before I stepped back.
“Thank you,” she said in a slightly less disgruntled tone than before.
I smiled and gave her a once-over to make sure we were good to go.
Liva was still very clearly blue, but at least now it was less obvious unless someone happened to get a clear glance at her entirely head-on.
It was better than nothing, and so long as we were quick about it, no one would be the wiser.
“Ready to go?” I asked.
“Yes,” Liva said, her words muffled through the scarf.
“Then let’s go kick some ass,” I said with a grin.
Chapter 10
As we rode the elevator down to the first floor, I wondered if I should have grabbed Liva a pair of sunglasses, too. I was sure Iris had an oversized pair from somewhere, but ultimately decided against it.
She already looked odd enough without adding glasses to the mix, and I was honestly worried that something like that might make people look at her even closer than they undoubtedly already would.
Hopefully we would move quick enough that no one paid us much attention.
I was too pumped with adrenaline at the idea of the admittedly easy task of getting from the elevator and into the parking garage to talk, so we rode down in silence.
When the doors finally slid open to the parking garage, I gestured for Liva to follow closely behind me and made a beeline for the exit.
The blue woman might have had substantially shorter legs than I did, but she managed to keep up with my breakneck pace surprisingly well, to the point where I wondered if she might have been floating, just a little.
I mean, her borrowed skirt literally touched the ground, so it wasn’t like anyone would be able to see if her feet were in the air anyway.
“Almost to the car,” I said as I made a beeline toward the SUV.
“You walk too fast,” Liva huffed under her breath, but she kept up with me all the same.
I felt a wave of relief wash over me as we navigated the relative sanctity of the empty parking garage, which I’m sure is something no one ever thought before.
In fact, I was so giddy, both from the success I’d had earlier in the day with the black market, and our run from the elevators, I couldn’t help but let out a tired laugh.
“What is it?” Liva asked as we stopped in front of the Mercedes Benz.
“Nothing,” I said with another huff of laughter. “I think I’m just losing my mind a little with everything going on. Plus, I’m imagining everyone looking at us like crazy people if we’d run through the lobby.”
Liva lowered the scarf from her face and showed off a small little grin.
“You are probably correct,” she said. “I feel like a crazy person in this horrible outfit.”
“I think you look nice,” I told her as I slipped into the driver’s seat. “Very warm.”
Liva hauled herself up into the passenger seat and fixed me with a stern look as she began to unwrap the scarf from around her neck.
“My people are not meant to be warm,” she said.
“So your fascination with fire is, what, a fluke?” I raised an eyebrow in her direction as I expertly navigated us out of the parking spot and then out of the garage.
As Liva mulled over her answer, I aimed us in the opposite direction from the one we’d driven the day before. Even though I had a much better idea on how the bastards hunting for crystal users could find us, and I could find them myself thanks to Regis’ stolen phone, I still didn’t want to run any unnecessary risks if I didn’t have to.
“I suppose I’m different from most of my people,” Liva finally said.
It was the first time Liva had willingly mentioned her people, and she hadn’t shut me down when I’d said it in the first place, which I took as a sign she might be willing to actually talk to me.
She’d been with us for a few days, but I felt like I’d barely gotten a chance to get to know her how I’d liked to. I mean, for crying out loud, I’d watched her grow a blade out of her hand and kill a dude.
Of course I wanted to get to know her, she was a fucking badass.
I cleared my throat and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel as I tried to figure out the best way to broach what I wanted to say.
Finally, I decided to just bite the bullet entirely.
“In the kitchen earlier,” I said slowly, so she’d have plenty of time to shut down the conversation if it was something that was going to make her uncomfortable. “Can I ask what upset you? If it was something I said, I just want to know so I don’t say it again. We want you to be comfortable with us, to feel at home.”
There were a few long beats of silence where I was pretty certain she might be figuring out how to break out of the car and attempt to fly all the way back to the apartment building, but when I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, she looked thoughtful more than upset.
“You… mentioned a crystal shard,” she said. “And spoke about how strange it felt to enter the crystal.”
“Yeah,” I said. “That was what upset you? Can I ask why?”
Liva shifted in the passenger seat and kicked off Elaene’s borrowed flats before pulling her legs up into the seat with her. She tugged the beanie off next and let out a long sigh.
“It is… it is a long story,” she finally said.
“Hey, as long as we get into that crystal soon, we’ve got all the time in the world to talk,” I joked. “So, about an hour and a half, realistically.”
The blue woman’s lips curled up at the edges, and her nose wrinkled as she looked over at me.
“You are funny, Wes,” she said.
“I try.” I paused. “So how about that story?”
“My home world is called Eir,” she said.
The word sounded odd, like she’d started to say Ireland, but left off the ‘land.’ It was a soft, lilting word that sounded different on her tongue than everything else she said.
I wondered if that was because she’d been gone so long that her accent had started to fade, or if she’d managed to lose it entirely on purpose. Who knew what Black had forced her to do, or the man who’d kidnapped her before. There was no telling the sort of demands they might have made.
“Eir,” I repeated, though it sounded clumsy coming from me.
“You sound like a natural,” Liva teased before she glanced out the window.
When she pressed her palm up against the glass, small crystals of ice sprung out from where her fingers touched and created small, dancing patterns that looked like the ones on her wings.
“Eir,” she said again. “It’s impossibly different from Earth. Our structures are made of towering crystal and glass that extend up toward the sky, somewhat like your buildings here, but much higher and more impressive. And the higher up you go, the more beautiful it is.”
I tried to imagine what she described, but I doubted anything I came up with would be as impressive as the real thing.
“Does everyone there have the same ice thing that you do?” I asked.
Calling them ice powers felt wrong when it seemed like she was actually just ice herself half of the time.
“No,” Liva said with a shake of her head. “Some do, but not all. There are different thralls Eirthans may have, though ice and the cold is the most common. Some control heat and flame, some can control the dark and shadows.”
“Whoa,” I said. “That’s… a lot.”
“Our thralls, they’re said to have developed over time to aid us in the crystals,” she continued. “A natural sort of protection against the things inside so we can fight our way through, though I don’t know how true this is. It might just be a story.”
“It’s an interesting one, if it is,” I said. “So does everyone have a crystal on Eir? I know on Yasha’s homeworld, it was each family that had one, and Elaene’s were passed down as heirlooms.”
