A Kind of Magic

Thirty-Five

Gollum, overjoyed by the unexpected walk and the company he usually wasn't getting, ran a couple of circles around Fiona and Peregrine before he trotted away in the direction of the park, passing so close by Alexandra that he bumped into her. The older woman seemed unsure on her feet in her daughter's borrowed trainers, and the animal's excitement made her complain.

"Will you please put the beast on the leash?" she demanded, looking over her shoulder at Fiona and Peregrine.

Fiona smiled at Gollum who stopped a few metres ahead of them, one foot raised in the air tentatively, his body positioned to bound again as soon as his mistress would tell him where they were off to. She spoke to the dog before she replied to her mother, "Freddie. School. Go. Calm," she added, waving the leash towards him in a silent reminder of the consequences of any misbehaviour on his part.

As Gollum bounded in the appointed direction, silent like a shadow, steering carefully from the passersby  who might fear him, she told Alexandra, "No, Mum. I'm not going to restrain him unless he misbehaves. He is harmless, and he needs some freedom. He spends so much time alone in that flat, poor thing."

"He might just fare better in Silmarea," Peregrine mused aloud, admiring Fiona's relationship with her dog. It told him so much more about her than hours of talking to her would; it was the way one treated his inferiors and animals that reflected their character the best. "Alaric's castle is huge, and there are many gardens. And Gollum might just enjoy getting to know the courtiers." He chuckled, imagining some of them jumping at the sight of the beast of the dog suddenly materialising in their midst.

Well, at least someone would benefit from this crazy move, Fiona mused even as Alexandra, having heard what Peregrine had said, fell into step with them.

Fiona, feeling a slight change in the dragon shifter's behaviour after their near kiss, used it as an excuse to walk ahead alone; they didn't fit in three on the narrow pavement.

"Tell me something about Alaric, Fiona said he's married now?"

She heard her mother enquire, claiming Peregrine's attention while she let her thoughts wander. Botheration! No one had made her feel like this dark and mysterious man did for too long. He made her blush with a mere look, made her heart race with the simplest, most accidental touch, made her want to kiss him whenever he stepped too close... She knew where this would lead if she let herself go. And she didn't want that... not as much for her sake than for him. Fiona could feel him struggle against some deep-rooted ideas; she could perceive the wall growing between them even as he started building it to protect himself from the attraction they were both influenced by. She wasn't going to make his life difficult. She wasn't going to be... clingy and needy only because he was the first man she liked in years. She had been just fine alone for so long, she could go on this way even in the new world she was going to, she wasn't ready for a new heartbreak anyway...

"Married to a man? Well, I did not expect that. However, things change, I suppose," her mum called, disturbing her reverie even as they reached the park and turned right.

Fiona could see Gollum under a clump of trees on the other side of the road, a spot that offered a good view of the building's entrance without being too close. He wasn't allowed to cross the road alone, but she would forgive him this time as he simply followed his new friends, Gilderoy and Leodhais, who were hiding in the shadows cast by the trees.

Peregrine's arm came to rest on her waist before they crossed the road, too, and the touch made her breath hitch. He did it without thinking, quite instinctively, the touch didn't mean anything apart acknowledging the strong attraction between them which they needed to learn to subdue and hide before reaching her father's castle.