Page 110 of The Knucker King
“I apologise. My thoughts wandered to last night.” He coughed. “But yes, the human male mentioned his wife, Emma.”
Avice blushed and crouched by his lower belly. “Then I will go to her once we are done here.”
Trewoofe bit his forked tongue, she was a hairbreadth away from his groin.
“Ashling?” she called. “It is a little gloomy, and I could use your light.”
The Wisp gave a sleepy chime and wafted over to her. “I am tired from last night.”
“I know, my darling,” she comforted. “Just a moment and then you can rest.”
Ashling bobbed in the air and brightened his illumination.
“I never asked,” Avice began as she unwound the remaining bandages from his lower belly. “How do you know you can turn back into a Knucker?”
Trewoofe chuckled. “Is this really the time to seek information?”
He peered down at her as she ducked before him. Words to excite her caught on his tongue at the sight. He swallowed them back, sensing it was not the time for that.
Avice shrugged as she pulled away the final wrap. “You will have to stop your swaying when I take out the stitches, and the sound of our voices may help the baby stay asleep. She went to sleep listening to us talk, so a change may wake her.”
“My little witch is clever,” Trewoofe praised. He had not even realised he was still rocking; it came so naturally to him to soothe a youngling. “I know I can, because Lindana could. She had both a Knucker and—”
Avice brandished her tiny copper knife, and he stilled. “I am about to take out the first stitch.”
“—human shape.” A snick and tugging sensation at his skin had him scrunching his nose. “She loved a woman; many turns of seasons before she met me. The woman – Guinivere – had given her some of her blood so she could change into a woman too, so they could be together in the physical way.”
“What happened to the woman?” Avice asked. “Second one now.”
“She…” He paused as the peculiar feeling made him want to squirm, but like the good patient he was, he kept still as a stone. “She got sent away, to marry a human male. It broke Lindana’s heart.”
Avice leant back and smiled up at him. “But then she met you.”
Trewoofe nodded with a gentle smile. “But then she met me.”
He had never seen Lindana in her human shape. Once they were together, Lindana saw no reason to shift from her Knucker body.
She hovered her knife above the final stitch, pausing for a moment. “Did it not concern you?”
“Did what not concern me?” he asked, drawing his brows together.
“That Lindana was in love with a woman.”
His frown deepened. “Why would it concern me?”
Avice beamed at him. “No reason. It is just, it troubles many humans.”
“I…” Irritation needled at him. “…do not understand. If you love someone, you love someone. It is that simple.”
Like I love you. He bit back the words. Calm your fire, Trewoofe.
“I agree,” she replied.
She cut the last stitch and tugged it through his twitching skin.
How is it? Bramble asked.
“The wound has healed well.” Avice rose stiffly, her knees clicking.
