Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) Grayson Sinclair (book recommendations website .TXT) 📖

no answer as I stared down at the top of her head. A strange urge came over me, and I ran my fingers through her dirty blonde hair; it was soft as silk and dense enough that I’d need a machete to get through her thick locks.

The top of her scalp was just as heated as the rest of her, if not even more so, and my fingers burned as I stroked her head. The pain was uncomfortable, but I ignored it. Maybe the heat will burn some sense into me. I didn’t know whether me playing with her hair was doing anything, but she never told me to stop, so I kept at it as she sobbed.

She cried until she had nothing left, no more tears to cry. At some point, it seemed she’d cried herself to sleep. Her breathing deepened, yet she still clung to me. My foot had fallen asleep from standing in one spot for so long, so I tried to peel her from me, but she was stronger than she looked and wasn’t budging.

I didn’t want to wake her, so I settled for lowering to the ground and leaning against the table leg. While not the most comfortable I’d ever been, the rug was plush, and her body heat was more than hot enough to banish the chill from the room. I didn’t mean to fall asleep there, but the lingering effects of potion sickness left me very tired, and her warmth lulled me into a deep sleep.

***

It was pitch black when I woke; I couldn’t see a thing. The events of the day sped through my mind in a flash as I sat up, my head pounding with a migraine. The familiar silk told me I was in my bedroom, in my bed. My sheets bunched around me as I sat up and turned on the lamp. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I found I was alone in the room. How did I get here? Was all that just a dream? No. It was much too real.

I climbed out of bed and went out to the hallway. The flickering lights of numerous torches greeted me as I shut the door. Wilson had been waiting for me, hiding in the shadows cast by the torchlight. He was dressed in his usual attire, tailored black pants and an elegant black vest over his pristine white tunic with the sleeves rolled up. Numerous small tattoos ran up his arms, which was odd as he usually kept them covered. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, his steel gaze boring holes into me as I exited the room.

“Wilson?”

He nodded to me, no trace of humor in his eyes. “Duran,” he responded.

“What are you doing skulking about at this hour?”

“Waiting for you. Would you care to explain the demi-human we found with you in the loot room?”

I froze at his words, my mouth going dry. “Where is she?”

“In the dungeon, naturally.”

“What?”

Wilson looked at me, confusion in his eyes. “What else was I supposed to do? When I couldn’t find you in the med ward, or your room, Gil and I searched the castle for you. Only to find you unconscious in the loot room with an unfamiliar demi.”

I gnashed my teeth, fighting the urge to lash out at him. Wilson is my friend, why am I so emotional for a girl I don’t even know.

“Take me to her.”

“Of course,” he said, turning on his heels and heading down the stairs. We walked in cadence down the winding steps.

“So, where did she come from?”

“Um, she was imprisoned in a crystal. I found it amid the items from the siege. The item offered an instant boost to my stats, so I used it. The crystal shattered, and she appeared.”

He scratched at his beard, lost in thought as our footsteps echoed down the stairs. “I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”

“Believe me, I was just as surprised. I don’t quite know what to make of her, either.”

“Well, it’s an easy enough fix. Send her on her way and be done with it,” he said, casting his gaze at me.

“Can’t do that.”

He turned to look at me. “And why not?”

I tugged at my ponytail, hesitant to speak. “Because she kind of belongs to me now.”

Wilson’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. The vein in his forehead pulsed as his face reddened.

“What?” he shouted, almost walking into the door that led to the second floor.

I didn’t respond, merely opened the door and made my way down to the first floor in silence, while Wilson followed after me, chewing things over and calming from his outburst.

“We don’t keep slaves, Duran. That was one of the rules you set in place when we founded the Guild.”

“You think I’m happy about it? I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.”

He held the door to the first floor open for me, and we made a sharp right and down another long hallway till we reached the entrance to the basement. “We always have a choice, D.”

“She would have died otherwise. She told me she was cursed.”

He scoffed. “And you just believed her? You’ve always been reckless, but never stupid.”

I didn’t have an answer for him. The situation was confusing as hell. Even if I tried to explain things, I had no clue what was going on, let alone a way to describe it properly.

I just accepted everything she’d told me out of hand, without doubting her for a second. Wilson’s right. I’ve never been this naive before. But as we walked down the damp steps to the dungeon, I knew without a doubt that what she’d told me was the truth. Those tears were real. She couldn’t fake that. And I also refused to believe anyone