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I had the feeling she would almost like it if I disobeyed.
"You must complete the first task before you can move to the second," I said, wanting to give him as much information as I could; but really, I didn't want to tell him anything. Didn't want him to be here, caught up with me. With us.
"And the first task is what?" he asked brusquely. I knew he was nervous. He'd have to be. The Harpy Queen was to be feared and even a mere mortal who'd never met her before would know that. I could see his gaze flick upward, as if in response to my thought. We couldn't see her from here, but I could feel her presence.
And not just me.
Come on, Mother, dictate what you need.
Delight the senses, taste, mind, body.
I shuddered at those words as they reverberated in my mind. I could see exactly where she was leading me, and I wished there was a way to avert this train wreck.
"For the first task, you must delight my tastebuds."
He frowned, and I realized then that I had no idea what his name was. Corey? Jonathan? Michael? These were all names that I'd heard at different times; for I had spied on other occasions, I'd just never been caught before.
"That sounds… Simple enough? What kinds of tastes do harpies enjoy?" he asked, almost to himself. I could see that his brain was already engaged with the question, but then he locked eyes with me again. "And what happens if I fail?"
I shook my head slowly, biting my lip. "Don't fail, please."I couldn't keep the tremor from my voice. Couldn't help but convey some of my emotion to him.
"Do I get to try again if I fail the first time?" he asked.
I nodded, the feathers at the edges of my cheeks twitching. This man was intelligent, asking all the right questions. "You have three chances for each task."
"It's like my very own fairy tale," he said with a soft laugh. "Complete with consequences, I have no doubt." He raised an eyebrow and I could see a trace of humor there, as if this couldn't actually be real.
Don't tell him, mother hissed inside my head.
I nodded at him the slightest bit, my eyes wide. His face shifted as though he picked up on the nod and then his eyes flicked toward the top of the hollow where the tree towered above us, in which my mother perched. He widened his eyes and pointed up. I wasn't sure exactly what he was asking, but I nodded again.
She was there. She could hear. She would know.
She always knew.
And after all these years, I still hadn't found a way to lie to her.
"I'm so sorry, again," he said. "I'm such a terrible shot, and it was pure accident that I actually hit something. Someone." His eyes were pained, though I wondered whether the words were for me, or my mother. Maybe, just maybe, for both of us. I dared not hope. "I'd never have done that on purpose."
His fingers twitched, as if he wanted to reach out and check that I was okay, but was afraid to touch me. I remembered his cool fingers, his gentle touch, the way he'd tried so hard not to hurt me more than he already had. I didn't blame him; I blamed myself.
"You should go. Now. Before the others come," I added, reaching my hand out to grasp his. I stroked the pad of my thumb against the back of his hand, careful not to scratch him with my curved nail, and I hoped that with that touch he knew I wasn't sending him away because I wanted to, but because I had to.
As soon as the magic of the geas had been cast upon us, the attraction I'd felt when I watched him on the archery field had grown. I could feel it tugging at me, but I needed to resist it. Resist him.
He gripped my fingers, and then shuffled toward the entrance of the hollow, where he paused and looked back. "My name is Brody, by the way. What is yours?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat and parted my lips. "Selene."
Brody
Selene.
It was a beautiful name for a beautiful creature. There was an ache in my gut at the memory I had hurt her, even if I'd had no intention of it. Only I would be such a bad shot that I'd accidentally hit a living creature that was nowhere near the target.
And I'd forgotten to bring the arrow back with me. Well, to hell with it, the company could pay for them. None of that mattered. I had just seen a creature from legends, spoken to her, touched her skin - if only to pull the arrow out. Now I had a quest of my own, one like those in the story books from my youth; not that I'd ever have confessed to being an utter fantasy geek in the office. It was only cool to like the latest streaming adaptations of books, not the books themselves.
Something to delight her tastebuds…
