Allen and Greyson watched helplessly as Ximena was dragged from her cage, their snarls of outrage doing nothing but amuse Narcissa as she made her way out of the dungeon through a side door, clearly looking forward to exacting her method of punishment on Lexi's mother.
Eromaug wasted no time in entering the cell and approaching Aoife, who's huddled form didn't even register the imminent threat that she was facing.
"Aoife! Wake up! Don't let him touch you!" Allen yelled through the bars.
"If you so much as touch her…" Greyson began but Eromaug's snarl was enough to silence him.
"Just shut the fuck up." Eromaug snapped, "There's nothing you can do from your position in there and even if you could, you would be no more annoying to me than a pair of fleas, so stop posturing."
"You're so full of yourself, you know that? What gives you the right to toy with people's lives?" Greyson continued, pressing himself against the bars once more and ignoring the sizzle of flesh as his hand gripped the bars.
"Don't waste your breath. I'm not interested in any discourse with either of you." Eromaug shrugged, turning back to the tiny female in front of him and crouching down next to her, "The only reason that you're still breathing is because you imbeciles completed the fucking mate bond with her and killing you would destroy parts of her that I would prefer to remain intact."
"You arrogant piece of shit."
"Yes," Eromaug hummed, utterly unbothered, " So I've been told, but I suppose that's the perks of being an all powerful, immortal Daemon Lord…one can afford to be arrogant."
He lifted Aoife's chin and stared into her unfocused eyes, frowning and tutting loudly.
"Honestly, humans are so fragile, it's almost as if the magick was a curse to them and not a gift. But then, Hecate always did have a twisted sense of humor." He murmured to himself as he let her chin go and her head dropped to the position it had been previously, her eyes unseeing and fixated on nothing in particular.
"What are you talking about?" Allen frowned as Eromaug turned and sneered at him.
"Nothing that matters to your puny little existence." He spat, "And just so we're clear, neither one of you will ever see Lexi again, but, you will get to feel the exquisite pain of betrayal every time I sink my cock so deep inside of her, even your ancestors will feel it."
"You motherfucker..."
"You should never have marked what was not yours to claim. Now you must deal with the consequences." He chuckled at the snarls of fury that emitted from both Allen and Greyson, and then turned his attention back to Aoife.
"Now, there doesn't seem like much I can do for her while she's in this state," Eromaug grimaced and snapped his fingers, "Come here dragonling and make yourself useful."
Allen and Greysons heads turned as one to watch the cautious approach of the humanoid towards them.
"Since when the fuck were dragons real…" Greyson breathed.
"Not for centuries…" Allen answered, both of their tones filled with awe.
They watched as he gingerly stepped over the metal sil of the cage and inched slowly towards where Eromaug stood, his eyes watching this creature with a strange curiosity.
"You should know that this creature saved my Eternal's life." Eromaug said suddenly, "If it wasn't for him, I doubt that she would still be with us now. Narcissa severely overreached…"
The dragonling chirruped in surprise as he blinked up at Eromaug, and his head swiveled to regard Allen and Greyson with a questioning look.
"Why are you telling us this?" Greyson scowled but Eromaug just laughed.
"Because I can. You'll be spending an awful lot of time down here, with only your mother in law and Narcissa for company, so what harm can it do for me to fuel your animosity for the wraith? Maybe you'll take the decision out of my hands and end her life for me…who knows." He answered casually as he prodded at the dragonling, "Stop dithering. Pick her up and have her taken to the servants quarters. You will be responsible for having her cleaned up and presentable so that I can try and fix whatever is wrong with her."
Greyson and Allen didn't miss the resentment in the odd looking creatures eyes as he moved to do as he was told and the soft trill sound that reverberated from his chest sounded nothing but reassuring as he lifted Aoife gently and carefully cradled her against his chest.
He hesitated briefly as he looked down at the broken girl in his arms, and then towards the two males that smelled like Lexi.
"Don't fuck this up for yourself, dragon spawn." Eromaug warned darkly, "I don't give second chances, no matter how much my Eternal may plead with me."
The dragonling let out a low trill that sounded very much like a "Go fuck yourself" and sauntered off with Aoife in his arms towards the exit.
Eromaug spared Allen and Greyson one last cocky smirk before he too left them alone in the dungeons once more.
They turned to each other incredulously with a grim expression.
"Did Lexi really go ahead and befriend a dragon?" Greyson mused.
"I don't think that was a dragon…some sort of hybrid maybe, but not a full dragon." Allen answered as he sighed in frustration, "How the hell are we supposed to fix this?"
"Fix what? What can we do? There's literally no way out of here." Greyson answered, swearing loudly as he kicked at the bars sullenly, "Aoife has been taken goddess knows where for goddess knows what purpose and we're left here kicking our fucking heels and about as much use as a newborn baby in the middle of a fucking battlefield."
"That's a pretty grim comparison." Allen grimaced
"Well we're in a pretty grim fucking situation in case you haven't noticed." Greyson snapped.
"All we can do for now is hope that Lexi pulls through whatever it is that's wrong with her, and wait for either Aoife or Ximena to return." Allen sighed as a sullen silence greeted him.
"She'll get through this won't she?" Greyson asked suddenly, breaking the silence.
"Of course she will," Allen answered with a certainty that he didn't quite feel because if Eromaug was concerned about her health, then that meant that there was something that he couldn't fix himself, and that concerned Allen greatly.