Page 63 of Sent To A Fantasy World and Now All the Men Want Me 7

Silence followed the echo of my sneeze.

He stared at me for a few beats, close to laughing by the look of it, before sighing again and lifting the sleeve of his robe. He tore off a piece of the fabric. “Take this. For your nose.”

“You just ripped your robe,” I said, both shocked and touched by the gesture. “Your very pretty and super nice robe.”

“Clothing can be mended.” He placed the fabric in my free hand. “Now blow.”

“Wow. I usually don’t get that command in such a bossy way.” I turned away to shield him from the sight of me using his robe as a tissue. The relief was too great to be upset about ruining it for long though. I could almost breathe through my nose again. After dabbing at my nostrils to catch any remaining grossness, I slipped the mock-tissue into my pocket.

“Better?” he asked.

“Yes. Thank you.” I took a deep breath and put my hands on my hips with the exhale. “I feel like a new man.”

“Good.” He offered me his arm again, and I took it. “Off to see the bog vipers, we go.”

“What?” I squeaked, clinging onto him tighter.

He smirked, clearing teasing me. The butthead.

Through gaps in the overhead branches, I noticed clouds rolling in, passing over the sun before floating past. Some were the puffy white ones, while others were gray. I narrowed my eyes at them.

“Why do you frown?” Onyx asked.

“Because me thinks those be storm clouds, my lord,” I answered in my best attempt at a pirate accent. Why the accent? Who knows. It just happened sometimes, much like the time I used a Cockney accent with Draven and Reign. “We best batten down the hatches.”

He stared at me in a stunned silence before, ever so slowly, his lips curved. “You never fail to entertain, little bird.”

“It’s a gift.” I sighed and peered back up at the sky. Glared, really. Allergy attacks and storms would not ruin my spring, dammit.

A rustle came from the basket over my arm before a twig poked up from the cloth, followed by a fuzzy orange head and big green eyes. Raspberry juice covered Pumpkin’s mouth. Callum had been spot on. It looked like blood against his fur.

“Have a nice nap?” I petted the arbordu’s head.

Pumpkin closed his eyes and accepted the pets. His tail swished, causing the cloth to shift even more and expose the turkey sandwich with bites taken out of it.

“Hey, that was my afternoon snack, you little booger.” I gently poked his nose. “How rude. It’s a good thing you’re cute.”

Cheep. Pumpkin nuzzled my finger before leaping out of the basket. He scurried across the forest floor and dashed up the trunk of a tree, sinking into the leaves. Poor little guy stood out though with his orange body.

“Will he be okay?” I asked Onyx. “Varys said he was more than likely cast from his nest because of his fur.”

“The arbordu will be fine,” he answered, guiding me around a corner and helping me over a fallen log. And by helped, he just picked me up and moved me, probably not trusting my clumsy feet. “He has a little bird watching over him after all.”

“And a demon lord?” I rested my head against his shoulder as we continued down the path at a leisurely pace.

“Yes.” Onyx pressed a light kiss into my hair. “One who understands what it’s like to be… different. Feeling as though you don’t quite belong.”

I peered up at him, stunned. “Is that how you feel?”

“It is,” he answered, expelling a breath. “I may rule over this realm as the demon lord, yet the blood of a dragon also flows through my veins.”

Wait. What?

“Dragon?” I stumbled in step. Did I just hear that right?

Onyx nodded. “My father was a demon, and my mother was a princess of the dragon kingdom.”

My heart knocked in my chest. Then came excited zaps in my belly as I processed the new information. Onyx was half-dragon. Was that why he smelled like woodsmoke to me? Something warm and comforting, not to mention the heat of his body.