Totally a disappointment.
Now, clearly, as the sun was shining, it was sometime the next day.
And I was back in the clutches of the evil, black Prince Noctorno.
Foiled.
“I own this hunting cottage. It’s sacred ground. It’s safe. My horse is no fool,” Noctorno went on.
Great. Marvelous.
Or, more aptly put, phooey!
I carefully rolled to my back and just as carefully scooted up the bed until my back was pressed to the headboard. I pulled my knees up and circled my calves with my arms. I got in this protective position and held it all the while I kept wary eyes on him.
His eyes swept my truncated body and came back to mine. Then they warmed and he started to lean in, murmuring, “Cora.”
My hand shot up, palm out, and I whispered on a hiss, “Don’t touch me.”
His body stopped moving.
“Cora,” he repeated on a whisper.
“Tell me about the bones,” I demanded and watched his eyes flash. I dropped my hand and narrowed my own eyes at him. “I know you don’t believe me and yadda, yadda, yadda. Humor me. Tell me about the f**king bones.”
He studied me. Then he stated, “They have my saliva on them.”
“And?”
He studied me some more. Then he sighed and continued, “And, they can track me through my saliva. They can do it from miles away.”
“So that’s why you kept the bones in the cave,” I surmised.
He nodded. “They had no clue it existed and I use it for hunting or for war. I’m always careful, out of habit, it’s been ingrained in me since I was born. In ancient times, they could only track the females. They’ve adapted. Now they’ve learned also to track the mates. So, along with searching for you, they were searching for me. You threw out the bones, they found me or, since the remains of our rabbit meal were amongst them… us.”
Hmm.
“And say, when we, uh… relieve ourselves. Can they track that?” I asked.
“That’s acid so… no.”
Interesting.
“Just saliva?”
“That and other bodily fluids.”
“Like?”
“Blood. Semen. But not urine.”
Yuck!
Time to move on before he went on.
“Okay, that’s enough with the bodily fluids and other, um… bodily functions. Can they track scent? Hair?”
“Fluids only.”