9 The Innkeeper

The innkeeper woke to the sun shining brightly through his curtains which fluttered from the warm breeze that explored the room. He gave a small yawn and swung his feet off the bed to stand. His slick black tail hung loosely behind him causing him to sigh while he struggled to stay upright.

"I need to work on that." Absentmindedly rubbing the onyx-colored elk horns on his head he sifted through his wardrobe for an outfit. Pants were too constricting, so naturally, he went with a loose white kimono.

While he took the outfit into the bathroom, he briefly glanced at the sleeping form of Ceryll. The white sheet she'd used to sheath herself from his prying eyes was nearly transparent leaving the form underneath visible to his prying gold eyes. Her plain black nightgown had ridden up her leg to show her upper thigh but that was the extent of his peeping since her curled position hid everything else. A chuckle echoed from the depths of his chest at the sight of her sterling white hair wildly sprawled across her face. It was low and tired but it was enough to awaken the sleeping elf. Her long pointed ears twitched while she let out a groan.

"What's so funny?"

"You." She scoffed at his reply, ready to confront him but the bathroom door had already clicked shut behind him by the time she mustered the strength to look his way.

"Asshole." Her nose wrinkled as she took a strand of hair out of her mouth. It was then that she took notice of the large mirror that was plastered to the wall directly across from his massive bed. In it, she could see the snowy mess that sat atop her head. Her tired expression faded into one of amusement with sleepy laughter accompanying it.

"I told you." Called the innkeeper from the shower while he rinsed his long white hair. "By the way, did you plan on bathing with me too?"

"Never. Plus I should be getting back to Amere anyway; he's probably worried about me."

And worried he was. though he'd only just woken up, Amere became frantic upon noticing that Ceryll's scent had gone stale. Where could she have gone? Did the innkeeper kidnap her for his brothel? Did she leave for work without him?

Just as he began looking for her bag, his nose twitched. He'd caught a scent. Within seconds he was in the hotel's lamp-lit lobby with his nose pointed towards the ground. The closer he got to the room, the stronger the Innkeeper's scent was. A threatening growl rattled the massive feline's body. What had that creature done to his owner? His skin began to prickle in preparation for confrontation until he caught sight of Ceryll leaving the innkeeper's room.

Upon catching sight of him, she greeted Amere with a gentle smile. He replied with a sigh of relief.

"You can't just leave like that Ceryll. I'm your familiar remember? You know, the protector who owes his life to you?"

"I wasn't in any danger." Her sheet brushed past him as she made her way back to the room. Amere continued to nag from behind.

"You were literally in the Innkeeper's bedroom. That the most dangerous situation you could be in."

"No, the most dangerous situation would be if the magistrates figure out my marital situation." Amere's tail irritably flicked from side to side, his ears slightly flattening.

"I meant the most dangerous of more domestic situations." He growled. There was a long spell of silence before she suddenly said,

"Did I worry you that much?" By now they'd reached their room and the jaguar was sitting beside her with his massive head resting on her lap. It was a signal for her to pet him, to which she replied by allowing her dark fingers to slither across the glistening black fur of his head and upper back.

"You already know the answer. Why did you even go there?"

"I had a dream about Reid."

"And you didn't wake me up?" His fierce red eyes searched her silver ones for whatever specks of logic he could find however he only found love underlain by a frightening gloom. It made him flinch but he chose not to question it.

"I didn't want to bother you when you looked so peaceful." He sighed.

"Ceryll..."

"Plus he wasn't bad. It's not like he tried to touch me. If anything he just seemed super tired, especially this morning." Once more Amere could only sigh but this time it was accompanied by him moving away from Ceryll's lap.

"Did you thank him for the company?"

"No." She laughed while her friend rolled his eyes.

"Then I'll do it for you while you get ready for work."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

'one foot after the other' That's all the innkeeper could focus on. Even though he'd released his spell at some point last night, it seemed he hadn't released it soon enough and was left especially exhausted in turn.

According to his mother, the very person who'd taught him the spell, it could be used without side effects for about a week. 'Then why do I feel so drained?'

"Tired huh? I guess that's the cost of being an unrestrained manwhore who stupidly decided to settle in a town of people who want him dead." The Innkeeper side-eyed Amere, his irises fading from gold to a warm orange. "Your eyes change color?" The innkeeper nodded.

"It's based on my mood."

"So what does orange mean?"

"Irritation. Though I usually enjoy them, this is not the time for your jibes Amere."

"And why not?"

"I'm certain you already know, little bastard." Amere's cruel laughter rung throughout the empty hallway, bouncing off of the dark walls to further plague the elf poser. Though in all honestly, he shouldn't have expected much from the cat. Despite the sweet demeanor, Amere presented to the public, he proved to be quite the sadist. In the past two weeks or so there'd been countless times where the innkeeper would tell fairly dark stories of another's misfortune and each time Amere would erupt into a fit of laughter that seemed almost demonic when put into context. "Sometimes I wonder how Ceryll and you get along. You're completely different from one another." Amere's laughter calmed while he gave the innkeeper an incredulous look.

"Have you met Ceryll? If anything she might be worse than me."

"She has a heart and has the capacity to feel bad for people. You have yet to display such traits."

"You're right but also foolish. I've seen her laugh at beheadings." The Innkeeper stopped. "Ceryll is a two-faced mystery. I've been with her for upwards of a century and still haven't figured her out. I think that's why I find her so beautiful" There was no reply from the white-haired man but Amere could already tell what was going through his head. "And you think so too. I've been watching you and I've noticed your motives changing. Three weeks ago you'd never have let ceryll sleep in your room for free."

"Your point?"

"You want her don't you?"

"More like I'm intrigued. She's the first woman who's resisted me for so long and adimently."

"And you want to figure out why." The Innkeeper went to nod but decided against it when another wave of nausea washed over him. The animal sighed. "You have my approval. Just don't hurt her and we're good." Amere turned his head and bright white shown from his mouth before he turned to face the innkeeper with a purple vial in his mouth. He placed it on the ground in front of him "Drink this, it's a restoration potion."

"What?"

"You're a novice using an extremely powerful spell when you barely know how to control your energy output. You thought you wouldn't get tired?" The innkeeper drank the potion with averted eyes. Amere smirked when he noticed that his irises now shown pale pink.

"Thank you." His mutter only made the jaguar grin more. The Innkeeper didn't bother trying to correct him though and watched the animal go back up the wooden staircase. The conversation about Ceryll lingered in his mind. He'd given Amere no reason to trust him with ceryll yet he'd just completely relinquished her to him. "What a character." With that, he slumped onto the ground while he waited for the potion to take effect.