“I get the feeling your father wouldn’t agree with anyone if his life depended on it,” Stone responded. “But I am, I assure you, much more of a benevolent man than Elric in any land.”
That made her smile. It was good to see the spark of light and hope return to her eyes.
“Yes. Yes, I believe you are,” she told him, using the back of her hand to wipe away a stray tear from her cheek. “Now, let’s get you two some food and ale and go back out to the great hall so we can get to know each other.”
The dog sat down and whined. His tail swept back and forth over the floor.
“I’m sure I can find something for you, too, Fang,” she said with a giggle, petting the dog’s nose.
“I appreciate everything, Persimmon. However, what I want even more than food or ale is information,” Stone told her.
“Information?” She looked up at him and her brows angled. “What do you mean?”
“Well, first of all, I need to collect those gemstones from your father. Then I need to find a different thief and his counterpart and get back through the portal and return the stolen gems to our king. Therefore, I’ll need to know where Elric lives.”
“Oh.” Her smile was gone, and she suddenly became guarded. “I can’t help you because I don’t know where to find Elric. I have no idea where he lives.”
“You don’t know where your own father lives?” asked Aithrod. “How can you not?”
“It’s the truth,” she said, looking upset that they didn’t believe her. “Now, let us get that food so you men and poor little Fang don’t starve to death.”
Persimmon could tell by the look on Stone’s face that he didn’t believe her at all when she said she didn’t know where her father lived. She supposed it wasn’t quite the truth. Since being here in Mura she heard that her sister, Lira banished Elric to some high cliff in Glint to live by himself. Still, she had never been there personally and couldn’t give anyone directions. Persimmon had never even been to the elven land of Glint before, but heard it was on the other side of the Picajord Mountains. The land of the elves actually sounded exciting to her. It was a place that she would very much like to visit someday to find out about the elven race and understand more about herself.
It was a new feeling for her, but part of Persimmon didn’t want Stone to ever know where to find Elric. She supposed it was because if he knew, there was a good chance he’d collect his king’s gemstones and head back through the portal and she would never see him again. After having glimpsed an image in her mind of them kissing, she selfishly wanted time for that to come true.
Persimmon’s life had been sad, quiet and lonely. To her, that was true imprisonment. She was the type of person who loved being around people. She liked conversing with men as well. Living most of her life in a convent, she was never allowed to have a normal life, and still wondered why her mother put her there. All her mother ever told her about it was that Persimmon would be protected there. From who or what was information that had never been divulged to her.
Persimmon found herself intrigued by Stone Nightstalker, even if she didn’t like the fact he hunted men for a living even if they were bad. He said he wanted to know all about her, but she wanted parts of her past life to stay hidden. Nay, she didn’t want to tell him much about her childhood because it brought up sad feelings in her heart. She was done being sad. Here on Mura she had a new life to look forward to, and here is where she could be happy for the rest of her life.
Deciding she would have to conceive a plan that would keep Stone here for a while until they got closer, she would need to do the only thing she could think of that might work. Still having the vision of them kissing burned into her mind, she realized she was going to either have to tell him about it, or kiss him herself, to make him want to stay.
Seven
Persimmon sat at one of the long trestle tables in the great hall with Stone and his friend. She was too nervous around Stone to eat, and held her goblet of wine with two hands. She had never had the attention of a handsome man before. She wasn’t even used to being so close to one and this was pleasing.
“Here you go, Fang.” Stone bent over and gave a good part of his food to the dog. Fang sat under the table at his feet, begging.
“I asked one of the servants to bring a bone for your dog as well,” she told him.
“Thank you.” Stone picked up his goblet, taking a drink and looking at her with those intense grey eyes over the rim of his cup. His friend, Aithrod didn’t even look up as he hungrily devoured his food.
“I’d like to know more about the—the portal,” she said, whispering the last word, not wanting to upset anyone since Zann warned her not to talk about it. She lifted her goblet and drank as well, staring right back at him. Something about his gaze seemed to make her heart race faster as well as her body to heat up at the same time. It didn’t make sense at all.
“We don’t know anything about the portal,” said Aithrod, picking up a baked chicken leg and taking a big bite.
“That’s right,” Stone said, slowly putting down his goblet. “We saw a portal and walked through it and ended up here in Mura. That’s about it.”
“And you’re looking for a thief,” she added.
“Actually, three thieves now. Two from my land, and the one from yours,” he continued.
“You mean my father.” She picked up the goblet and drank again.
“Yes. Rancor Ruse, we believe has another man with him from Taelgonoth. We need to find them and the king’s jewels and bring the thieves back to King Helix so they can be properly punished.”
“What about my father?” she asked. “Do you plan to bring him back to your king to be punished or executed as well?”
“I’m…not sure.” Stone popped a piece of cooked carrot into his mouth and chewed. “Elric is a thief and cannot get away with taking the king’s jewels. I won’t allow it.”
“How could he have gone through a portal to steal them? That is absurd to even think that.”
“Elric said he found the gems in the cave, but we don’t believe him,” Aithrod told her between bites.
“Yes, he did tell us that,” said Stone. “Then again, he also claimed the cave was his, so what does that tell you?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “What does it tell you?”
“It tells me that he is either a liar, or if he really did find the stones in the cave, that means Rancor dropped them which is highly unlikely.”
“Mayhap Rancor dropped them when he was trying to fend off those pesky gnomes.” Aithrod bit into a crunchy apple.
“I suppose that could be true,” said Stone. “Or another possibility is that your father stole them from Rancor when he came through the portal and zipped away before anyone could stop him. We’ve all seen how fast he can move.”
“Yes, he does move fast,” Persimmon agreed. She wanted to defend her father, but she honestly didn’t trust him any more than Stone did, so she said nothing.
“Here is the bone for the dog,” said a servant boy holding it out to Persimmon.
