Ashton rose from his chair in an outrage, the piece of furniture, for the second time in his meetings with Ms. Hallowfen, being shoved back and tipping over. "You would protect its life over mine!?" he shouted. He didn't care, nor did he believe, that Corinna was the last of her kind. His instincts that had been all he survived on for a century by himself without guidance told him that she was a deer, she was prey, and that he was superior. And this witch, this human witch with her guardian familiar dog was trying to correct something that was set into motion for a reason. Dragons ate game and that was the way it was meant to be. The deer's misfortune to be cursed into transforming into a human was not the concern of the predator who would capture her.
It galled him that he was being threatened in order to protect an animal, and when Ms. Hallowfen brought up Blake, the Dragonslayer, Ashton had to bring his hands to his head, locking into his hair tightly to keep himself from transforming. He both feared and hated the man and his sword and knew he was not yet strong enough to face the Slayer's wrath. All for a deer. A deer and her glorious rack of golden horns. Ashton made a low growl, eyes gone silver and pupils split and narrowed into slits.