Clinging

"It's been days, Dania. And you haven't made any progress..." Taran threw a glass container, shattering it against the wall.

The brunette woman refused to flinch. "If you keep breaking things, Sir Taran, I will have nothing left to use in my experiments."

"Why have you started using my title again?" The handsome man inhaled deeply. "There is no formality between us."

"Yes, Taran," Dania replied.

The nobleman ran his finger gently up her arm before hugging her from behind. "If you want me to stop breaking things, then you need to work faster. Before you were abducted, you were on the verge of a breakthrough. Where is all that work, my love?"

Taran's words were gentle, but there was an edge of frustration in his voice that Dania could feel threatening her very core.

"I told you what happened. One of your lizards spat at me and then slipped on his own saliva, crushing that table and all my hard work. He wasn't fond of the temperature in the room and was determined that I should suffer alongside him." Dania sighed.

"I'll be sure to make him pay for his crimes, my love," Taran's soothing voice breathed on the scientist's neck.

The meaning of his words likely meant that someone was going to die. Frightened, Dania leaned into her work table. While she tried to make it appear as if she was reaching for a tool, Taran knew she was trying to escape his grasp.

The handsome man frowned. "Why do you fight your feelings, Dania?"

"I am not fighting them, I assure you," the woman's eyes seemed devoid of color.

"You know how much I love you. Yet, you will not confess your love for me. Let us be done with this game of cat and mouse. Marry me now. I'll find a magistrate this instant." Taran offered as he kissed the woman's cheek and pulled her against his chest.

"You mean abduct a magistrate…" Dania mumbled.

"Same thing. Who is a magistrate to stand in the way of our love?!" Taran lifted his hand to call over an abomination to carry out the task, but Dania took the chance to move from his grasp and take his hand.

"Sir—Taran. Have you ever noticed your words of affection always seem to come right after you comment on my work. Really, your flirtations and my scientific experiments are all we really talk about…." Dania paused.

"I do not see a problem. We fell in love over our work, did we not?" Taran squeezed the woman's hand with a gentle smile.

"Be that as it may," Dania wavered, but decided to push forward, "is it possible that you have confused your love for my work for… love for me?"

His face reddening with embarrassment, Taran's voice raised it's pitch. "Impossible! Do you think I would not know my own mind? My own feelings?! Do you thinkI am a fool?!"

The veins in the man's neck seemed ready to burst. Her hand squeezed beyond its limit, Dania squealed softly.

"I have never thought you were a fool, Taran. You are one of the smartest men I know!"

Satisfied, Taran released her. "Of course I am smart. A brilliant mind like yours would never marry an idiot."

"On that we can certainly agree." Dania kept the rest of her statement to herself.

The handsome man seemed preoccupied, which meant he did not see the deep resentment in her eyes. Dania tried to think of a change of topic quickly before her face betrayed her.

"Do you think there will be another storm soon? I am guessing your swimming excursions would have to wait if that occurred." The woman casually tucked some of her stray hair under her white cap.

"I think that storm we had was uncommon. The weather should not be a problem for our cause." Taran tilted his head. Dania had never shown interest in Benno's experiment before.

"What about when winter finally comes? Will the lake freeze over, do you think?" Dania asked innocently.

"I should think not. The water is magical so it is unlikely to follow the same rules." Taran scratched his chin. It was honestly not even a thought that had occurred to him.

"If it does, then I shall be unable to continue the work like you want. We will not have access to the materials we need." Dania sighed as if this were some great tragedy.

"Fear not! I will light the entire forest ablaze to keep the water melted for you, Dania. It is the least I can do. And now that we know that a scratch will do just as well as the elixir, we only need to work on moving forward. So, less water is needed overall." Taran allayed her 'fears.'

"I see…Thank you for sharing your thoughts. They are most enlightening. Since we are on the topic of warmth, I am worried about the temperature in this room. Does it feel like we should add another window to the wall? I can start moving all my things so that there is room for the construction. It will take a half-day to do but…"

Taran's mouth formed a hard line. He held up his hand. "I can see what is happening here!"

He closed the gap that had formed between himself and the scientist.

Dania gulped. "I don't know what you mean. I was just trying to have a normal conversation with a man who claims he wants to marry me."

"No, you are stalling!" Taran continued to move towards her, backing her into the wall.

"Stalling? Me?" Dania shook her head. "Why would I put my siblings' health in jeopardy by stalling. Perhaps you are being a little paran—"

"Don't you dare say I am being paranoid! I get that from enough other places without you jumping on that caravan." Taran inhaled deeply. "At any rate, I was meaning your stalling was a flattering compliment—and you took it all wrong. I would never use your family against you like that. I'm not a monster!"

Dania felt a sense of whiplash. The man had more than once threatened her family. Was she losing her mind? No, she remembered the promise that Jaymes would come to harm if the scientist did not willingly return with him.

Taran would do anything to see that his own way was achieved, even if that made those around him question their own sanity. In his doting eyes just now, she could almost believe that he would never hurt a living soul. But her throbbing hand spoke of the lie that Taran's face told.

'He truly is a madman!'

"A compliment, you say?" Dania tried to smile.

"Of course! You are stalling because you are worried I will leave. Right after I thought just maybe you didn't care about me, I find you working hard to keep my attention. Why wouldn't I be flattered?" Taran flashed a brilliant smile.

Dania relaxed slightly. If he thought that was her goal and not that she was trying her best not to work on his crazy elixir, then she was at least safe from his wrath.

"I never can get anything by you, can I?" Dania skirted under his arm back into the main part of the room.

Emboldened by her response, Taran caught up her hand once more and kissed it. He took her wince for a look of adoration.

"That's right, my love, which is why I know how much you care for me even when you deny it. You will be a glorious queen! By my side no one will be able to touch you." Puffing out his chest, Taran seemed the emotions of power.

"I've no desire to be queen," Dania answered softly.

"Well, if the Princess does not join us, then someone will have to rule. The Empress is dead or captured, and I see no one else fit for the role. Imagine the lovely children we will bring up in the palace!" Taran leaned in for a kiss. His fingers ran through Dania's hair and wove themselves behind her head.

"Taran, please…"

There was a ferocious pounding on the door of the laboratory. The door handle rattled.

After Dania's last escape attempt, a latch at the top of the door too tall for her to reach had been installed to keep anyone else from entering or exiting the room without permission.

"Sir Taran! We need you!" A frantic voice came.

"Go away, Yumeto! I'll come visit you in a little while." Taran glanced at the door, frustrated.

"You should answer it." Dania pleaded.

"No!"

"Taran! It's your sister. She's here! Let us in, please!" Yumeto banged again.

"I guess Livie is finally here with the good news." Taran smiled at Dania and kissed her nose. "We can celebrate this evening, just the two of us."

Taran jerked his head for the lizard guarding them to open the door. He stared in to Dania's mood ring eyes a moment longer before the door swung wide and the lizard gasped.

Next to Yumeto was a silver wolf. In his arms, the battered and bleeding Livie barely clung to life.