Gilded Chaos

Little Dragon

Eric just heated the metal with his glare.

Maybe the world really has granted this man a gift just for being this good-looking. Maybe this is all normal and logical and-... Oh God, he heated the metal with his body or eyes or something but it certainly wasn't fire.

  "You had better promise never to glare at me again if this is what it does. I warn you, I have a good aim", I say, much too flippantly. My heart is beating up a storm. 

He lifts his eyes from the heated bar of metal in hands to look at me quizzically, as though he's gauging my reaction. I raise the fireplace iron defensively in his direction, I don't care if he can burn me to a crisp- I'll go down swinging.

"Calm down, Pandora. My gaze does not burn. Now put the poker down and let me explain."

I don't trust this unsmiling man for a second. I point him to a chair- with the poker- and he drags it close to my desk, takes a seat and watches me expectantly. Making my way to my seat, I abandon the poker- within lunging distance, though.

Now it's my turn to look at him expectantly. For someone who has a world of explaining to do, he looks annoyingly collected.

"Pandora."

"Eric." Queue an eye roll. 

"I can control fire."

"That's lovely. Guess I won't be needing to buy tea from the corner shops anymore, they're terribly overpriced."

"Be serious for a moment. I can control fire, to some extent. Those of my.. kind who have an affinity for fire are known as the Ignus. You may have realized by now that the material I've provided you with for the dagger is of a very rare quality. I believe this particular piece of metal will only be responsive to my heat. So I'll be your forge."

All I can do in the situation the universe has seen fit to deliver me into is stare. I think I've simply been watching his mouth move. Much more preferable to all the rubbish that's coming out of it.

I think I'm in shock. 

"We should get started immediately, our departure will have to be sooner rather than later. Finish up the work today. If not, I'll help you finish with this dagger on our journey. We'll be leaving tomorrow so pack whatever's necessary and pack light."

Alright, forget the shock, this man must have lost his marbles the moment he put on the apron. 

"Sir! Have you lost your mind? Ignus? Forge on our journey through the sea? Tomorrow? I have an entire room of books that I consider far more valuable than your pretty face, your silly dagger and all of London, for that matter! There's no packing light and there's no leaving tomorrow. I would kindly like to decline your employment offer. If Mr Murphy doesn't take me back into his employ then I'll make him take me back, damn you!"

Bolting upright, I storm out of the room- almost. I would have stormed out of the room were it not for a particularly strong man pulling me back then backing me up against my desk. Right about now I wish I could burn him with the intensity of my glare. 

He's glaring right back, which makes me thankful for the fact that he's already revealed that his glare can't kill. His proximity, however, just might scorch my soul. A few centimetres is all that divides our faces as his chest brushes mine in a way that might just make him overly confident of my feminity. He cages me in with his hands on either side of my hips, leaning on the desk behind me. The blood that had slowly been draining from my face with his every word suddenly comes rushing back with a vengeance, one could probably see my flush despite my ever-sooty face, and that's saying a lot.

"Pandora, will you trust me? Please", he speaks in a low rumble, somehow making this situation more intimate than it already is as his breath brushes my face. 

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

Clenching his jaw and looking heavenward, he just about commands the powers that be to grant him patience. Looking back at me with no less conviction than before, he continues: "Listen to me, Hephaestus is in trouble. He hasn't actually gone away on business. You have to work with me- I'm trying to help him".

Mr Murphy is in trouble? I still can't think of him as Hephaestus- it's too laughable. Mr Murphy's the only father-figure I've ever know, albeit a lousy one. Would he try to help me if I was in trouble? Maybe- with a good bit of complaining and cuts from my salary... A big maybe. I suppose it would have to do.

"As long as I get to bring along at least thirty books."

"Thi-?!"

"Thirty or I'm not going anywhere with you. And I still want whatever salary Mr Murphy spoke of with you, plus a few bonuses."

Eric is looking at me incredulously, again, "I will forever wonder what goes in your head. Who knew the great Pandora would be more like a leprechaun than anything."

"You'd better guard your gold, little dragon", I say, rolling my eyes as I push past him and take a seat at my desk.

After a moment, Eric does the same so he's sitting facing me. He suddenly takes the ingot of metal and holds it up in his hands.

"Let's start."

Fire erupts from the palms of his hands.