"You're lying..." she murmured, her heart racing uncontrollably in her chest as something inside her insisted that it was true.
"Am I?" Eromaug smirked as he turned his back on her and walked back to the doorway, "The only friend that you have in the world is down here and gravely ill. You and I both know that with your particular skill set, you are probably the only little witch in existence now that can heal her."
"He paused in the doorway and turned to her with a thoughtful frown.
"Otherwise I could have just taken your mother if she were still alive…but plucking her soul from Hades and Styx is a little too time consuming for my liking and I would much rather have it sorted quickly." he shrugged with a dismissive wave, "So, by all means, take your time to recover from the shock, but I'll be back in a few hours to take you to her, and if you refuse to treat her, then I guess I will have to force your soul into submission to get what I want."
She started at his back as he left her there, her whole body shaking as her mind was flooded with partial memories of her parents death, her wedding to Felix, her murder at the hands of his brother, and horrifyingly, her botched resurrection that left her a shell of her former self.
As her legs gave way she found herself enveloped in a set of warm scaled arms that prevented her from crashing to the ground and a soothing melody rippled over her as her scream of despair echoed all around her.
Orynn held Aoife tightly as he sat behind her, until her sobs had quietened down and she sat staring blankly at the wall.
He wanted nothing more than to tell her that it was okay, but for her, it really wasn't. For the second time in her life she had experienced the soul wrenching grief of having her family ripped away from her and there was nothing that anyone else could do to ease her grief. She would have to go through the whole process all over again.
It didn't help that he couldn't voice words of reassurance and empathy to her though, and he felt his anger growing yet again at Narcissa's cruelty.
Aoife turned her head to him and a half hearted smile appeared at the edges of her mouth.
"Thank you for trying to protect me," she murmured as he trilled softly in response, "I think we're both stuck in a situation that neither of us want to be in."
Orynn nodded his head and sighed as he removed his arms from around her shoulders and stood, stretching his aching limbs. They were a little sore from the aftereffects of having been thrown at both a wall and onto a fairly solid table in a short space of time.
Thankfully, his own magick could help heal the bruising that remained given time, although he still wasn't sure how to direct it to the areas it was needed.
If it hadn't been for his tougher skin thanks to his partial dragon DNA, then he was sure his injuries would have been much more severe, as it was, he felt that he had gotten off lightly.
"Sorry," Aoife said again, "You were probably uncomfortable squished down on the floor there with me…thank you."
Orynn smiled slightly, careful not to reveal his sharp teeth that hid behind his lips. He knew that they would make him appear far more dangerous than he actually was and he wanted Aoife to feel at ease.
"I can help with healing whatever injuries you have, you know." She said suddenly, almost shyly as she tucked a strand of her wild hair behind her ears, "I'm actually quite good at healing, it's my parent's forte actually…well, it was anyway."
The little smile that she had worn on her face dropped slightly for a moment before she pushed aside the emotion and forced the smile back to her face.
Orynn eyed her speculatively as he busied himself clearing the mess of the broken table to the side and she shifted awkwardly on the spot.
"This is kind of hard with one sided conversation." She sighed, "I wish you could talk back to me. Can I help at all? You can always nod or shake your head or..I don't know..do you know sign language?"
Orynn snorted and shook his head as he opened the door to take the pieces of broken wood outside and her face collapsed into panic.
"Wait! Don't leave me! Where are you going? Can I come too?!"
He swore internally at himself. Of course she had no idea what he was doing and he was an idiot for not explaining so, with a gentle smile, he gestured to the broken bits of wood and out into the corridor.
"Oh! You're getting rid of it...um…okay." she blushed, embarrassed that she had panicked so quickly, but then her face brightened and she rushed forward, picking a piece of wood up and struggling with it to the doorway.
Orynn didn't have time to warn her about the imps that would scavenge the trash from the corridor because no sooner had she put it down on the floor at the spot that Orynn indicated, did a small group of them come screeching along the corridor and set upon the nondescript piece of wood, tearing at each other furiously as they fought for ownership.
"Oh what the fuck…" Aoife squeaked as she ran back and hid behind Orynn, the fact that she had sought his protection making his chest swell with pride.
He huffed gently and chirruped as he stepped towards the imps swinging the piece of wood that he was holding angrily as he bared his teeth and snarled loudly at them.
The sound echoed menacingly around them as they screeched in terror and retreated to the shadows a little further down the corridor, chittering angrily at him and gnashing their teeth but not daring to come any closer.
He huffed in satisfaction as he turned to check that Aoife was okay and deflated a little as soon as he saw the uncertainty in her eyes.
With a defeated sigh he tossed the piece of wood alongside the piece that Aoife had placed there only moments earlier and gestured with his hands for her to pass him the rest.
She nodded quickly and set about her task, the two of them working in silence apart from the occasional grunt. Once they were done, Orynn strode over to the doorway, stretching his back out a little and rolling his stiff shoulders as Aoife made way for him.
She bit her lip nervously as she watched his movements. This was the second time, that she knew of at least, that he had protected her. If that wasn't enough to get rid of this fear that seemed to sit over her, she didn't know what was.
If she was going to be here at the mercy of that Daemon Eromaug, then it made sense to try and find herself as many allies as she possibly could. If she truly was friends with this Daemon's Eternal, then perhaps, the three of them could find a way out of here.