With each minute that passed in peace, Freya breathed a little easier and finally allowed herself to enjoy her baby’s laughter.
“Come and play too, Mama,” Daisy ordered.
With one last worried look at the door, Freya joined her daughter on the bed. She slipped the back hem of her skirt between her legs and under the ankle chain to hold it up and out of the way. Then she and Daisy jumped and laughed until exhaustion finally took over.
They were laying quietly, snuggled together on the bed when Daisy voiced Freya’s thoughts. “Something is different, Mama. The beast was almost…nice.”
“Yes, he was.” And she didn’t trust it. She kept her thoughts to herself, though. There had already been too much fear in Daisy’s young life and Freya was determined to shield her sweet baby from as much nastiness as she could.
She dozed off and the next thing she knew, the key was rattling in the lock. She grabbed Daisy and shuffled to the far corner as fast as her hobble would allow. Daisy took up her usually position on the floor behind her.
The dragon slowly entered the room and placed two dishes heaped with food on the table without so much as a glance at his prisoners.
Freya didn’t know what to make of this new behaviour at all. It made no sense. Was he planning to kill them and lulling them into a false sense of security, first? Was the food poisoned? It smelled delicious.
Stew. It had been so many years since she’d had stew. The beast never let them go hungry, but their meals tended to be what she’d consider the bare minimum to sustain life.
She eyed the door warily before she approached the table. She would take a small taste and wait. If it was poisoned, she should know fairly quickly and be able to warn her daughter off. If she were dead, perhaps the beast would let Daisy go. She wouldn’t allow her delusions to get to the point of hoping the beast would go so far as to return her daughter to Graeme.
The stew tasted heavenly and it was hard for her to stop at just the one spoonful. “Be patient, my lovely. A few minutes more. And if all seems well, you may eat it.”
Freya made herself silently sing every lullaby she knew twice before she allowed herself to believe the food hadn’t been poisoned.
She sat Daisy down to eat from the dish she’d already sampled, then ate a spoonful from the other dish and silently sang lullabies. After all this time, she wasn’t about to let her guard down over a few nice gestures.
“This so good, Mama. How come we’ve never had this before?”
“I don’t know, my lovely. Enjoy it now, but remember it is probably only a very special treat and everything will be back to the way it was tomorrow.”
“I like very special treats.”
Freya groaned inwardly even as she agreed with her baby. The last thing she needed was for Daisy to expect their lives to now be filled with comfort and delicious food. It will be all the harder for her to cope when it was all yanked away.
For the moment, Freya would gratefully accept any kindnesses the beast bestowed upon them. But she wouldn’t allow herself to take them for granted. If she ever escaped this place, she would take nothing for granted.
***
From the top step, the dragon sat and listened to Freya and the child. His guilt weighed heavy on his heart when the child had said she liked very special treats. When had he become such an evil creature? Being conscious of his irrational reaction the night before had been like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on his face.
From the beginning, he’d known he was being contemptible, but he’d justified himself by blaming Greymoor. Eventually his anger diminished, but by the time he’d calmed down, he’d established their way of life and he felt urge to disrupt the status quo.
When he’d heard the child ask about a man, his anger resurfaced with an intensity he hadn’t felt in years and he’d reacted without thinking. Of course there was no man up there and the realisation hit him square in the chest when he opened the door and surveyed the room.
After all these years, he knew there was no where for even the wee girl to hide except behind her mother. Unfortunately, by that point, the dragon was feeding off his anger and had taken over completely. And as hard as he’d tried, he’d been unable to stop it.
The child’s silent tears had been more than his heart could bear. No matter how angry he’d been at Freya and Greymoor, he had no business punishing the child.
He returned to his room and pondered the situation. Something had to change.
***
Walter still wasn’t sure how he would be able to ensure Eadlin’s safety if she were to agree to his hair-brained plan, but after watching the dragon transferring most of his furniture up to the upstairs room, he felt a little more comfortable with the idea.