Cannon Fodder To Villainess

🏮64. Worm

As Amber stepped away from Duke Dreyfus, she could hear that small inner voice sighing in relief. She decided to keep that in mind to eventually flush the voice out. However, this was as far as she was willing to take things with the Duke. She didn't like the way his eyes had started to gleam when he watched her. The emerald glittered with greed and desire. Although Amber hadn't had much experience with men, his greed was apparent enough to give the impression of being slapped in the face. This was a dangerous tightrope to walk. Although she felt like she had a safety net in Cray, she didn't want to push things too far.

The Duke looked a little hurt. He reached his hand towards Amber, but then allowed his arm to fall against his side.

She allowed her eyes to show an accusatory glint, as she looked up at him. "You sure have some nerve asking me about that bubble, when you put me into it against my will."

This wasn't entirely true, since Amber had allowed herself to be kidnapped, but that was irrelevant to this conversation. The point was that he hadn't known she was compliant, and in his mind, he had abducted her.

The Duke's eyes glittered from being challenged. He reached out, wrapped his arm around Amber's back and pulled her body tightly up against his own.

Duke Dreyfus spoke slowly and menacingly, "You are mine. You can only be mine, so stop trying to fight it."

Then he tightly grabbed hold of the hair at her scalp, held her head still, and plastered his lips onto her own.

Just as Amber felt his wet tongue flick out and rub against the crack between her lips, Amber flicked her wrist; pulling the strings attached to his heart. The tiny bit of metal that she had stored there slightly moved. She pulled the invisible strings until she had secured the bit of metal right at the opening of his mitral valve in the left ventricle of his heart.

Amber felt the Duke's hand release her hair as he became dizzy and his knees gave out.

Then he fell.

His face flushed red. He held his throat, while his hands started to swell. While he faced the ground violently coughing, Amber looked down at him with an unconcerned face. She would take this opportunity to step on him and crush him onto the forest floor, if she didn't still have use for him. She belonged to no one except herself and this worm squirming around in the dirt would do well to learn that soon.

She silently watched with only disgust in her eyes as she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his saliva off of her lips.

He coughed more violently still and then blood splattered out from his mouth, decorating the surrounding leaves in maroon.

Upon seeing this, Amber flicked her fingers once again and released the blockage in his heart. He collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, breathing heavily, and wheezing.

"Oh my goodness! Are you alright?" Amber said in a sickly sweet and concerned voice. She rushed to his side and leaned down; while avoiding all of the blood.

She reached down with the same handkerchief that was covered in his spit and used it to rub all over his face.

"Let me get that for you. What happened? Are you alright?" She said.

"I'm not sure what happened. Perhaps I overexerted myself? Give me a hand and we'll go to my camp. It isn't far from here," he said in a strained voice while holding his hand out to

Amber.

The Duke wheezed some more while Amber helped him stand up. She allowed him to steady himself against her side shortly after he stood up. As distasteful as Amber found him, he was still a general, and used to injuries. He was still able to climb up on Oberon's back, although he did so without consulting anyone.

Oberon had every intention of promptly flinging the general back onto the dirt, but Amber stilled his movements with a single glance. He lowered his head while looking up at Amber with sad eyes, until Amber reached out, and rubbed his neck. After that, Oberon walked cheerfully again, but every once in a while, he stumbled or bounced in a way that roughly jostled the duke. Each time he heard a pain filled groan, Oberon's orange eyes glittered happily.

They traveled a while through ashen rubble and bits of trees. Although this area of the forest was noticeably thinner, the air was heavy with residual smoke. Amber was still unable to bask in the warm sunlight. She pulled out another handkerchief, put water on it, and held it to her face. She seemed to be the only one adversely affected by the smoke and that was a bit irksome. By the time they cleared the cinders, Amber's eyes were red, her legs were sore, and her mood had plummeted considerably. She was relieved when they reached the edge of the rubble and entered the thick forest. Once again, she was able to step on more solid ground.

It wasn't long after they traveled into the shade of the forest and cleared the smoke, that they came upon a large river that curved around a clearing. The majority of the trees had been removed, and there were forty small buildings within that clearing. They were little square huts made out of clay and stone; remnants of a village that had long come and gone.

Amber felt the gravel below her feet grind up against the weak ballerina flats that she wore. She missed her comfy white sneakers from her previous life. She felt a small rock pierce the bottom of her foot and paused. Then she felt the tell-tale sign of blood, trickling from her foot, and making the bottom of her shoe stick to her.

She pursed her lips in irritation. Then she looked up to see that the duke had recovered greatly. He was comfortably sitting on Oberon's back, as if the ordra were his property. He was the type of man who thought everything that he touched or desired should automatically be his, without any questions asked. His whole life he had gotten exactly what he wanted and it showed in the way he took everything for granted. His level of arrogance was astounding.

She so badly wanted to fling the duke back down into the dirt. However, as they approached the gate, her thoughts again shifted while she paused. She held perfectly still while listening to quiet laughter blowing through the ancient stone buildings and tickling her ears.