Devious bastards took what they wanted in any which way they could, never offering a kind gesture or instance of goodwill, even if it was more prudent to do so. Ghanon wondered what she saw him as, for it was more than obvious with the way he looked at her that she could sense his own deviousness, but even if he had no intentions to directly harm her, he knew that she would be no more a tool to him, as everyone was. When he looked at her now, beautiful as she ever was, he saw not the goddess he first met in a small town market, dressed like a fool and acting as one.
He had played his part and she had as well, yet here they were now, wanderers crossing paths again that was more than coincidence. He wondered if she was wise to his habits, as she'd gotten a taste of his character before. Ghanon was always a hard one to predict, his loyalties were his own and even if he'd let her go before, and watched over her through her pendant, he knew he'd have to play his hand well if he was going to keep her around. She would bolt, no doubt, at the first hint of danger.
Ghanon saw that she was guarded, but it was only natural. He wanted to reach under that guard, to reach that level of familiarity that had come between them during their first encounter. But after having been away for so long, a distance had taken place that would work against him if he wasn't careful. There was a solemnity in his gaze as he looked at her, but a softened one that saw her as something of an ally. Even if it was a little convoluted. He could not determine, however, if he wanted that familiarity only to use her...or because he himself wanted her? He cringed at the thought of the latter idea. He wanted the shard. And if he had to use her to get it....then so be it.
He reached for her hand and took it firmly in his. "Always quicker. Anywhere or any time you want. I can take you there." He grinned slyly and let his form begin to fade, to shimmer like a ripples in water. If he so much as wished it, she would as well, fading along with him as if her body and soul were combined in a manner very much like a ghost. Reality wavered and warped around them until it wrapped them in a rough embrace as he plunged them down in a portal that opened up when they vanished from the room.
It was like flying through a tunnel that transported them at speeds beyond the mortal imagination. All he had to do was see the image clearly in his mind's eye and he could take them anywhere she wanted. If that was their destination, they'd arrive in a moment's notice. But...it seemed to feel slower than usual and something was strange about the sensation of the portal. Their surroundings had melted away, but soon he felt reality bend around him once more and suddenly it spewed him out, rejecting him violently and they appeared as if thrown from mid-air to the road outside.
He rolled onto the ground, confused and clearly shaken by the ordeal, but he looked behind him as the portal closing without a second's notice. What had happened? And why? Ghanon looked around him and felt along his side as his wound began to throb. "Gods be damned," he muttered and looked around, savagely, angrily. "That son of a bitch! How would he even know I could teleport? And how could he have stopped me from doing so?" he said to himself, beyond audible range. The wound had sapped him, how, he didn't know. But it had, it was the only way it could have happened.
"I'm sorry Lana," he said apologetically. "I guess we'll have to be taking the old fashioned way after all." And he frowned as he got to his feet.