Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 216

Chapter 216: Not very interesting
Ford’s eyes widened, and a fresh influx of emotion boiled up from within him. Of course. Of course this perfect girl, with her pretty face and loving family and perfect life also had magic. Just to absolutely perfect the unfairness of the world.

He tried to smile instead of sneer. It was hard, and he wanted information. She talked more readily when he wasn’t glaring at her.

“What’s your power?”

“I find things,” Mia shrugged at him, as if that was nothing.

“What kinds of things?” He pressed.

“All kinds. Anything I’m looking for, I feel a sort of pull in that direction, until I find it. Nobody wants to play hide-and-seek with me.”

The light joke was accompanied by a pretty smile, which faded quickly when Ford didn’t laugh. He just stared at her.

“Anything?” He clarified. Mia thought about it a moment and then nodded slowly.

“Anything physical. Anything that exists. Sometimes I even forgot what I’m looking for, but I still get pulled there until I realize what it was.” Her little sigh was slightly self-deprecating.

He hated it.

But he loved the idea of this gift.

“I might be looking for something soon, once I’m healed up,” He said quietly. “Maybe… you might be willing to help?”

“Of course!” Mia brightened. “I love to help others. What are you going to be looking for?”

Ford wondered whether any of her family were listening in right now. It was probable.

“It’s a secret,” He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I can’t tell you yet.”

Mia’s eyes widened, and her smile grew. “That sounds like an adventure.”

“It could be,” He sat back and watched the way his words affected the girl. She was clearly excited. Enthralled, even, at the chance to learn a secret.

She would be incredibly easy to manipulate.

Ford had learned about manipulation early on. It was a hard life, in the mines. Especially since he was small when he began, people would guilt him into crawling into tiny spaces for tasks they could not complete themselves. More than one rescue mission involved sending in children who could squeeze through the cracks the adults couldn’t.

In retrospect, it was abhorrent. Ford had learned to recognize and spit at the manipulation, but he knew the ins and outs well enough to use them on this pampered girl. This beloved starlet of her family.

She had magic and everything she could ever want. Surely he could make her feel obligated to help him get his own wealth.

He smiled slowly over the idea of stealing her away, and she smiled back at him. The barest twinge of guilt nudged at the back of his mind, but he’d learned this lesson the hard way, and now, so would she.

Never trust anyone.

Happily, she turned back to her sewing, moving more easily and rapidly than before. As if they could go on the adventure as soon as she finished her chores.

He wondered which might be easier: getting her family to agree to let her go with him, or convincing her to sneak away with him.

Wavering between the two options, Ford considered. Mia was obviously a treasure to her family, and he was utterly worthless. Then again, they seemed rather trusting so far. Perhaps he could fool them all.

That left the problem on whether to tell them the truth about why he wanted to take her along with him. There was only one reason he could think of that parents would let go of their daughter, and he found that level of deception distasteful, even if he thought he could pull it off.

He didn’t.

That left convincing her to leave with him. So he would have to isolate her, make her think that it was right to go with or without her family’s permission. That was a challenge, but he didn’t think it was an insurmountable one.

She was willing enough to be in his presence alone even now. Was manipulating women different from manipulating men?

“Tell me more about farming,” He invited. “I’ve never been on a farm before.”

As long as she was talking, she would feel heard. Valued. She was already highly valued by her entire family, but if he could draw some of that to himself, it would be easier to manipulate her.

“I don’t really know what to say,” Her head tilted slightly as she working on repairing a ripped seam. One strand of hair had come loose from the braid that kept the bulk of the mass constrained.

Most of her hair was a light brown, but this strand, originating near her temple, was almost blonde. Perhaps it was just the way the light from the window was hitting it.

“I’ve grown up on a farm, so I don’t know anything different. I did travel once with my aunt and uncle to the capital to see what it was like. I even got to meet the princess!” Her face became animated. “She looks so much like my aunt that they could be sisters, but of course they’re very different.”

Ford couldn’t keep the incredulity from his expression. Every new piece of information he found out about Mia was even more ridiculous than the last. This farm girl was friends with royalty on top of every other tiny thing that was overtly fantastic about her life?

“Really?” He tried to be bright instead of bitter. He hoped it came off that way. She was enjoying sharing with him and he needed her to like him quite a lot for the manipulation to have its greatest chance of success. “That sounds exciting, did you just go to meet her?”

This current journey was the first traveling he’d ever done. If you didn’t count walking underground, then before he’d left the mine he had probably traveled less than a half-hour walk in any direction from his leaky bunkhouse.

“It was very exciting! My aunt and uncle travel there two or three times a year, since my aunt is technically a Countess, and I begged them to take me along to see the city. Finally last year they did, and I’ve never had such fun.”

Ford’s jaw fell open and snapped shut. It felt like a long time before he could formulate a reply.