his mouth and steeples his fingers, his cunning gaze sharpening as he stares speculatively at me.
It makes my fur itch and the fine hairs from my mane at the back of my neck tingle as they stand on end. As much as I dislike his talking, and his presence on my bed, which I have no interest in sharing with any being other than my mate, the staring is nearly intolerable. My lips pull back from my teeth in response, which is greeted with a spark of amusement lighting his eyes.
“You really must be the most irritable unicorn I have ever met. So much for the peace and serenity of your kind.” He laughs.
My brow drops, and I glare back at him.
“We seek peace and serenity in our grottos,” I say stiffly. “Unicorns are anything but peaceful when we are outside our territory. We were bred as war mounts for the gods, created to be loyal, powerful, swift, and aggressive when necessary. Human knights attempted to emulate this with their own armored horses.”
Laughter rolls from Grimsal’s chest, filling the room with unbridled merriment. “Well that certainly explains a lot,” he manages between shaky, broken bursts of amusement. “No wonder your kind can be such prickly bastards. That I’m here with the worst of them just goes to show how my luck runs.”
I huff but leave him to his laughter since it’s preferable to staring. I am relieved, however, when the doorbell chimes, announcing the arrival of room service. I leave the laughing menace in his chair as I hurry over to the door and accept our meal trays.
Finally! With the food here, we can get down to the reason for his visit.
I set the trays on the table and remove the domed lids. I must be hungrier than I realized, because my stomach twists with a noisy complaint of need. The goblin chuckles, stuffing a chunk of bread in his mouth as he gestures at me with the remaining portion still in his hand.
“This must be your first long stay away from your well. Hungry, aren’t you?” he asks gleefully. He pokes a finger toward my food, which I slap away. “Magic uses a lot of energy. Conjuring money, especially when you’re making real money rather than just temporary illusions like goblins do, takes a lot of it, in addition to disguising yourself when necessary, shifting into and out of your four-legged form. You’re not near your well to replenish you… and you’ve got a mare sucking half of your power without even knowing it,” he says with a chortle. “Trust me, as much as you may loathe to eat all of that, I guarantee you will eat every bite!”
I look at him skeptically but take a bite of the butter-slathered potato in front of me and stab my fork in his direction.
“All right. We’re eating. Now tell me what has brought you all this way to track me down.”
“Right to business, I see, and not even five minutes in to enjoy the lovely flavors of our meal.” He sighs mournfully.
I stare at him remorselessly. I’m not getting pulled into any of his games. I merely wait for him to get to his point.
He brushes crumbs from his fingers and takes a large bite of his steak, completely disregarding my glares.
“So, your mare… I’m surprised that you haven’t already absconded with her. Isn’t that how your kind usually do it? Stealing females even in broad daylight, gutsy lot you are. No wonder you were hunted as much as you were, with your magic unapologetically on display. Enough games now, though. Bring her out from wherever you have her magicked away and I can give you both my warning at the same time.”
I shift uncomfortably. I would rather not discuss my species’ shameful mating habits while I’m still processing my recent epiphanies about them. Even so, when it comes to my ahandral, my desire to share any information about her is considerably smaller. But I don’t understand why he would think she’s here.
I frown over at him, my hand rubbing through my mane.
“I don’t understand half of what you’re getting at. She’s not here. I don’t have her hidden anywhere with my magic. As to why we haven’t yet left, there were unforeseen obstacles, but my ahandral is safe where she is,” I mutter. “I wait for her agreement.”
The goblin gapes at me, another bite of food falling from his lips before he can close his mouth around it.
“Her agreement? You