Don’t ever do that again. The words struck him like a well deserved blow. Or maybe it was just the tone of her voice, final, reminding him of his pride. Once more, his mind wandered back through the years, wading through the metaphorical shit that had accumulated on the bottom of his shoes. He would like to have blamed this on the time he spent in the cave, slowly going bad, then being frozen in time for so many years. He also would have liked to blame the pain, constant as it was, from the mark embedded in his leg. He would like to have blamed a good number of things when the reality was his own selfish vanity. Perhaps, this time, it was time to simply allow his natural course to come to pass and for him to die. He had lived enough lifetimes to satisfy his lust for knowledge. Hadn’t he?<br/><br/><br/>“I won’t,” he vowed, his voice rumbling deep, though there was a twist of uncertainty that clouded his conscience. “And if I do, I deserve to be left in the dust,” he affirmed darkly, making the sign of the cross against his breast.<br/><br/><br/>Only then did he try and make a move, a tentative flex of his arm that brought his fingertips against her soft cheek, straying a ways to brush through the silky soft tendrils of her fair hair. He tucked a lock behind her ear, tenderly, and only then did he lean forward so that the scruff of the beginnings of a beard scraped against her cheek as his mouth pressed firmly just below, teasing the very corner of her mouth.<br/><br/>“If you really want to help, you’ll give me a vial of your blood, hide that book, go home, get a good night’s sleep,” he suggested seriously. Even though that selfish part of his being struggled with the concept of letting her walk out the door. “The blood I can use to mutate what’s making me look like crap for a while. It’ll give me a little boost,” he explained, drawing back enough to study her face. His arcane abilities might not come as naturally, as strongly, or as raw as her own abilities did, but he knew his fair share of tricks when it came to anything arcane. Though his methods tended to garner more than a few strange looks.<br/><br/><br/>“As for Fiora, I’m coming with you, period,” he said with finality, the stubborn tightening of his jaw setting as his eyes burned into hers. “Seriously, Lane, the fae are a particular kind of scary. If you don’t know how to deal with them with an expert level, they will suck you in and spit the bones out. I’m coming with you if you’re going to meet her. I’ll be your escort,” he snarked, cracking a bit of a grin.