Inheritance

Chapter 33: Motivations

"I'm hungry." Eory answered Pollyanna—eagerly wanting to leave the room and wanting to leave behind the memories of what just happened.

Pollyanna felt much the same and she nodded eagerly. Together, the two approached the door.

"Stay close to me, Eory." Pollyanna commanded him as she put her hand on the knob. "I don't trust anyone in this castle."

Eory nodded and felt extremely awkward and embarrassed about what had transpired between them just moments before. I hope she doesn't know I like her now... Eory thought to himself as he stepped outside of his room and followed Pollyanna very closely as they turned left down the hall.

Are you stupid? Of course she does. I'm sure she's laughing at your stupid attempts to romance her right now! Taylor mocked him relentlessly.

Paranoia crept up on him as he passed many people walking by him in the hall. He had no Kori to cling to like he did on the way into the castle, and so he nervously hid behind Pollyanna who kept glancing back to make sure he was there.

Pollyanna rolled her eyes, annoyed by how frightened he was of the world, but in a moment, her angry grimace melted into a smile. There was something charming about how pathetic he was... And something nice about the fact that he needed her more than any other member of his family ever did.

The people who passed them by looked upon the pair with either distaste or fear. Some of the humans whispered amongst themselves about how much they hated fairies and, moreover, how much they hated Pollyanna.

Eory supposed the king must have alerted the castle that he and Pollyanna had arrived, and he probably had no kind words about either of them.

Eory's face fell when he heard them talking about him, but Pollyanna didn't budge an inch.

As they went down the long hall, Pollyanna saw Kori approaching from a few paces away. "Ah, there she is. And look, Eory. She's got your silly dog."

Eory peeked out from behind Pollyanna and his face lit up. "Gershom!"

Kori grinned and released the dog who she promised Eory would be well-taken care of during his stay.

The dog bounded down the hallway with its tongue hanging out and Eory knelt with his arms open—ready to embrace the it.

Gershom threw himself into Eory's arms and Eory lifted him up and laughed joyously as the dog licked his face.

Pollyanna watched with intrigue at how much he loved the dog.

Arrozans are usually so cruel to their animals...

She recalled a memory with Eory's older brother, Gershom, kicking the family dog when he was frustrated and the moment of the poor thing's grisly demise by Gershom's hands.

For the most part, Pollyanna adhered to and loved the Arrozan philosophy of devouring the weak, but hurting dogs and similar animals never sat right with her.

They're guiless and love you no matter how much you hurt them. I suppose there's a line between being cruel with a point and being cruel for the sake of it... Pollyanna thought to herself.

Pollyanna remembered thinking that Gershom had been an odd Arrozan to begin with, as had Eory. The two had always seemed particularly weak and oddly animated and expressive for Arrozans, and so she was doubly surprised when the elder sibling had suddenly been so wicked to the family dog out of nowhere.

She preferred not to think of the moment of that dog's death and instead focused on Eory's smile which she wished didn't make her stomach churn.

She never liked that feeling and was glad she had only rarely felt it within her absurdly long lifetime. She wasn't even sure what it was.