Game of Hearts (Original Version)

Chapter 6

Sometime during the night you had fallen over onto Axel’s lap, and his warm arm was resting over your back. You were literally draped over the lap of a werewolf. You jumped upright and scrambled cautiously away from him. His eyes drifted open and you gasped. They weren’t their normal emerald green.

“Good morning, lamb chop. Sleep okay?” He asked, stretching his arms into the air and tilting his neck to the side so it would crack. Oh. Now you remembered. He may be a magical monster sometimes, but for the most part he was just an unlucky, but normal guy.

“Well enough…” You said, a bit embarrassed for having had such cruel, suspicious thoughts about him. You didn’t know anything about werewolves, and he had proven himself to be nothing but helpful and a friend to you.

“Don’t worry, as soon as we get to a town the first thing we’ll do is find an inn to get you a proper rest.” He smiled tiredly at you as you tried to fix up your hair as best you could into a bun that would keep it all out of the way. As you struggled to get the unkempt mess up and out of the way, you noticed that he was staring at you with a soft smirk. 

“What?” You asked self consciously, lowering your hands from your hair.

“Nothing.” He shrugged, resting his head on his hand and continuing to stare at you.

“Really, what is it?” You asked him after a few more painful seconds under his unwavering gaze. “I’m going to put those shoes on in a second.”

He looked stricken, like you had just reminded him of something terrible, ”That’s right, we’ll need to get rid of those…” He eyed them where they were sitting next to you.    

“Wh-get rid of them? No. They’re mine.”

“No. No, no. They’re magic. You can’t keep them. Nevermind the dangers of those who could sense magic at work, or the attention it would bring from unwanted eyes. Magic is nice, but it’s addictive. It changes people. You cannot keep these.”

“I just want to be safe from those goblins. If no one can see me, no one can hurt me.”

“That couldn’t be further from the truth…” He sighed, “Goblins are they least of your worries. Just…just hand the shoes over, I’ll put them in my bag, then as soon as we get into town, we will find someone to take them.”

“Hang on, how do I know you don’t just want them for yourself?” You asked, keeping the shoes out of his reach.”

“Oh believe me, sausage, I would love to be invisible. You’ve been hunted for a few days, and you already fear the creatures of the world. I’ve been hunted my whole life, by man, and animal. I’ve been a slave, a prisoner, and left for dead more times than I can count. Truthfully, I shouldn’t be alive today. So yes. Yes I would like the shoes for myself. But I know better than to risk drawing the attention of witches, and being that can sniff out magic. There are worse things people can steal from you than your life. Much worse.”

He held out his hand and looked you in the eye.

“I think I liked you better when you were silly…” You sighed, thinking back to how he was acting when he first found you with the goblins. You handed him the shoes, and regretfully watched as he stuffed them into the cloth bag that hung from one of his shoulders.

“When the world is out to get you, you learn quickly how to lie, and hide your true motives. I wanted you to trust me, and I thought you were more of a fool than you are. I was hoping to earn your trust by getting you to think I was an idiot. But come on, let’s go.” He began to sit up, and lower himself down from the large leaf to the beanstalk.