My new life in this country had been a poor one at first. My father had equipped me with enough money to establish a footing, true. But everything else had come from me.
I’d scavenged, dug through piles of rubbish people had left by the road and had created this. Turning on the spot in my living room, I took it all in. I’d done well for myself. My work helped, of course. There had been a rogue Naga I’d taken out who had a lair much like a dragon’s. Bundles and bundles of crisp hundred crown copper bills I hadn’t left behind. Most of them I kept in the safe under the carpet in my cellar room. There was also a small bag of gold coins I’d taken off a werewolf I’d killed at the edge of my forest. He’d assaulted young men living on the streets and had tried to beg for his life, not realising that begging did not work with a Kirin.
It helped that I didn’t need much, and I still stockpiled, just like my dad had taught me growing up. I was getting by.
With Faye here, my stock dwindled rapidly though, and soon enough I’d have to leave her here to get more supplies. The idea didn’t sit right with me, but I also couldn’t just waltz into one of the large shops in a nearby town with her in tow. Faye stood out with her gorgeous flaming red hair. It drove me crazy that people might view her as dangerous, or tainted. Hunching my shoulders I crossed to the sink and filled a glass with ice cold tap water. People were too narrow-minded to appreciate the Fayes of this world. Her guardian, who’d locked her up to sell her once someone came around who made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, for example. Oh, he would pay for this. Faye did not know yet but I would make him pay. He didn’t have enough blood in his body to pay for every second he’d stolen her but it would be a start.
His riches wouldn’t be mine. They’d fund her new life. Away from me.
Tipping my head back I drained the glass in one, refilled and emptied it once more. I couldn’t think too much about sending her away. I wasn’t ready yet and I doubted I ever would be.
