Bonds of the Mazza

by Blake Blessing

  “It’s going to be okay, Issy girl.”

  I sighed and it was such a pitiful sound. “I don’t see how. At least anytime soon. Sage must hate me right now. There’s no way he can’t. I probably made him hate Rand a little more too.”

  Egan buried his nose behind my ear. “We know your decision was rushed and it was either Rand or Sage as your Janer mate. I know that, they know that. Sage knows you have some level of feeling for Rand, even without that little moment.”

  I twisted to face him, twining my fingers through the hair at the base of his neck. “I get that. It makes perfect sense. But there’s a difference between knowing something and having it shoved down your throat with a barbed cat dildo. And that’s what I did. I’m the barbed dildo.”

  Egan’s lips twitched before he pressed his lips together.

  “It’s not funny.”

  “I know it’s not, Issy. It’s just that you make me smile. That’s not a bad thing. And you’re more of a rose. Beautiful, but deadly, thorny rose.”

  I scoffed. “Flowers are delicate and easily crushed. I’d rather be the barbed dildo so I can fuck people up the ass.”

  That pulled a rumbly laugh from him and he slapped my ass.

  “Let’s get you ready. The court dinner isn’t going to be any fun for any of us. I’m sure they’re going to introduce you as the Mazza so we need people to think you know your shit. The best thing we can do now is make you look the part.”

  “Fake it till I make it.”

  “Exactly.”

  I was pleasantly surprised at how well Egan did as a hairdresser and makeup artist. I laughed right in his face when he told me he’d do my makeup but he was dead serious.

  Now looking in the mirror, I was damn glad I let him. He had better skills than I did, but that wasn’t saying much. With light blush and two swipes of mascara, I was good on most days.

  “Egan, if I weren’t already bonded to you, I’d have my dirty way with you right here on the bathroom counter.”

  He ran his nose along the column of my throat. “Been there, done that.”

  I swatted him away, shooting a goofy grin over my shoulder. We totally checked bathroom sex off the list.

  “Let’s go shake stuff up.” He took my hand and pulled me out of the bathroom.

  I caught one final look at myself in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize myself. My hair was woven into an intricate pattern, finished with a bun at the crown. My make-up was so flawless with sweeping lines of eyeliner and gold, shimmer dust, I felt like Queen Bey. It was a perfect match for the simple gold shift that fell to my knees. At least this one was more modest than what Cabbie had supplied.

  As far as confidence went, Egan definitely boosted mine. Now I just had to keep it through dinner.

  The guys were all in the main room in opposite corners studying different items in the suite. They were avoiding all contact with each other, as the awkwardness was still very present.

  They each were wearing the outfits the kid brought up, looking pretty handsome in their own ways. The general make of the clothes looked the same as the white linen outfits Yunez kitted them out with before, only these were made of richer materials with a noticeable sheen. Fancy.

  Egan cleared his throat and all eyes swung our way. Their scrutiny was intense and I fought the urge to fidget.

  “Isolde, you look…” Nato trailed off, swallowing hard.

  In the farthest corner, Sage set me on fire with the heat in his gaze. Then he froze me out when he turned away. I knew it was going to take some time for him to get over it, but I didn’t mean to act that way. I hadn’t been myself. But I had a feeling I was going to get my feelings hurt a lot more before it got better.

  “Beautiful. You’re stunning, Iss.” Rand walked up and picked my hand up in his, gliding a finger over my palm, before bringing it to his mouth for a soft kiss.

  I eyed him suspiciously. This was totally something he would do, but given the last hour or two, I would have imagined he would keep his distance.

  Across the room, Sage completely ignored us, picking up something on a table by the door.

  “Thanks, Rand.” I murmured.

  Nato stepped up to me and pressed his lips to mine for a brief moment. It was only enough to let me know that he appreciated Egan’s effort.

  Egan was proud of his handiwork. His smile alone could have powered all of Fennina.

  “Do we have to wait for someone to come get us?” The urge hit to wipe my face, but I clasped my hands together to keep from messing up Egan’s hard work.

  Nato ran his fingers down the inside of my wrist, separating my hands to take one in his own. “Should we? Yes. Are we? No. There’s not a lot of power we can exert right now. The one thing we can do, is passive-aggressively show up in court. Make a statement that we can’t be controlled without technically breaking any of their rules.”

  I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the evening to come. I was getting a headache already from all of the political bullshit and I hadn’t even left the suite.

  “Before we head out that door, tell me what I need to know. Who all should be here and what should I do? No, scratch that. What shouldn’t I do?” Because that list would be shorter, right?

  Behind me, Egan laid his hands on my shoulders. “It’s a toss-up. It could be Theon and his cronies. It could be Aamori and her inner circle, or it could be a full court with visiting ruling members from other cities. What’s important is that you hold your head up high and make them think you know everything there is to know about your powers. About being Mazza. About being better at life than they are.”

  “Egan, I know none of that. My arsenal contains maybe like four percent of what being the Mazza is all about and what my powers are.” I rolled my eyes.

  Egan massaged my shoulders, eliciting a quiet moan from my lips. “Yes, but they only have to think you know all of that. If someone asks you something you’re unsure of, just tilt your chin up and look one of us in the eye discreetly. We’ll take it from there.”

  “When am I going to start learning all about how to navigate this world? I think it would be useful information at this point.” I deadpanned.

  It had been one crazy disaster after another with these guys, so I knew educating me was low on the priority chain. But they needed to realize that the more informed I was, the better chance we had at succeeding. Hell, I wouldn’t have needed Nato’s little demonstration out there and saved myself some trouble if I knew how the powers worked and how they affected people. Fuck, it hurt to think about it.

  Nato headed for the door. “As soon as we meet back up with Yunez and Jari. We’ll hopefully be able to leave this place and go to another safe house that Yunez has in Fennina.”

  We filed out of the room and strolled toward the stairs at the end of the hallway. Even though our suite was opulence defined, I was struck by how elaborate the beauty of this place was. Tall ceilings, intricate crown molding and traditional masterpieces hung periodically in the hall.

  Maybe I was just a small town girl from a simple world, but I felt like the majority of the world didn’t live this way.

  “Does one of you know where we’re going?” I whispered.

  The stairs were carpeted, muting our footsteps on the climb down.

  “I do. I’ve been inside these walls many times. A tedious duty of being my father’s son.” Rand kept his voice low, he must have been afraid of echoing too.

  At the foot of the staircase, we entered the large room we passed through before. This time there were tons of people standing about but oddly, there was no conversation.

  Rand walked in front of our group, heading for a door at the end of the gallery. People turned and stared, giving us their undivided, silent attention. Not going to lie, it was a little weird.

  I was able to breathe a little easier as soon as we were cleared the room. Although there was an energy here that pulsed with each step, ratcheting my emotions in a different way. Rand directed us t
o a new hallway, and instead of dying down, the weird feeling wound up. At least in here there wasn’t anyone to gawk at us.

  It was a short walk before we came into a new room. Where the other screamed old fancy house, this room exuded modern luxury. Silk panels hung around the walls, alternating between burgundy red and sky blue. The furniture was sparse except for a large abstract statue in the middle of the floor and three large chairs on a platform above us. They had to be the equivalent of a throne, but they were so simplistic, there weren’t even any cushions. That would hurt the butt if someone had to sit there too long. No, the fanciest thing about them was the shiny coat of gloss covering the metal.

  Otherwise, the room was empty. A gentle circulation of air touched us, which made the room about ten degrees cooler than the ones we passed on our way here. As one, we moved to study the statue. I guessed it was the only real option open to our group. Otherwise, we’d look like we’re just standing around. That wouldn’t have been conducive for throwing off badass vibes. Now staring at art without a care in the world, that definitely said we weren’t to be trifled with, I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts.

  Red and blue threads ran down the metal statue. The shape was somewhat reminiscent of a roller coaster track with all of the dips and peaks, definitely something I would expect to see in a big city. To get a better look at how the colors were melded on the surface, I leaned so close my nose almost touched the metal. My first thought was that the statue was cold, especially with the cool temperature of the room. Instead, I could feel heat radiating off of it.

  A door mechanically opened behind the chairs, and I jumped back. Theon walked in side by side with Aamori, a small crowd of people following. All the newcomers were young and beautiful, pristine and straight-faced. Theon and Aamori took a seat in two of the modern chairs, while the other men and women dispersed around the room.

  The guys assembled behind me as everyone’s gazes found their way to us. I tipped my chin and stepped around the artwork, moving into their unobstructed view. My heart jackhammered in my chest, but I couldn’t be seen hiding. If these people didn’t know I was the Mazza yet, they would soon. The last thing we needed was for people to think the Mazza was a coward with one dish short of a full set.

  “Nice to see you again.” Aamori spoke, dragging her nails across the arms of the chair. She didn’t smile, but she wasn’t entirely unfriendly either.

  Theon cut eyes at his mother. I had wondered if Aamori shared with him that we had met, but it appeared she kept it a secret. Yunez must be a bigger player in the game than I thought for Aamori to hold information from her son. That or they weren’t the tightest anyway.

  I was silent as I waited for one of the guys to answer her. The pause lengthened until it bordered on uncomfortable. I peeked at Egan next to me and his brows twitched as if to say, you’re in charge here.

  Hell, that meant I’d have to do the talking.

  “It’s great to see you again as well.” There. That was both polite and formal.

  I was killing it.

  “I didn’t realize you had met before?” Petulance smeared all over Theon’s face.

  “I didn’t realize that you should be aware of all my acquaintances.” Aamori sniped back confirming my latter thought.

  I used the distraction of their bickering to examine everyone in the room, as the attention was back on Theon and Aamori. There was no surprise on the faces here, more like reserved boredom as they watched the back and forth.

  “It was a brief dinner. We were glad to host Aamori.” I chimed in, trying to diffuse their obvious aggravation with each other but Nato nudged my ribs. When I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, he shook his head.

  Okay, wrong move.

  Now Aamori was smiling at me and it was a triumphant look. Ah hell, did I just align myself with her or something?

  “Yes, Theon. I had dinner with the Mazza in the Earth realm. I knew she was in our city. How did she come to be at court? I was under the impression she was out by the portal.”

  “There was some kind of bar brawl at the Rusty Nail. I heard word the Mazza was caught up in it so I sent Travon to escort her here. Court is where she should be anyway, not on the dirty fringes of town.”

  I loved how he glossed over the attack as a bar brawl. Actually, he might not even be aware of what happened. It that was the case then that was scary. Who knew how much actually went on in their territory without their knowledge?

  Aamori studied Theon as if she doesn’t quite believe him, then she turned back to us. “Mazza, how long have you been at court?”

  How was I supposed to answer that?

  Rand stepped up behind me, placing his palm on my lower back. “We just arrived a few hours ago. Theon was gracious enough to show us to our quarters and provide proper attire.”

  Theon pointed a finger at Rand. “I thought the mongrel was her Janer mate. Why are you touching the Mazza?”

  Tension radiated off of Rand from his comment. The desire to look at Sage was so strong, it felt like hot needles were waiting to poke me in the eyes if I didn’t turn my head soon.

  “We are all friends here, Theon. We have no jealousy among us.” Sage replied smoothly.

  Liar, liar, dick on fire.

  Sage wedged himself between Nato and me, tossing his arm around Rand. Lines appeared in Theon’s forehead as if he was confused. I was sure he didn’t believe a word Sage had just said, and why should he? Sage lied through his tight ass cheeks. I internally groaned, Cabbie was rubbing off on me.

  Aamori even looked skeptical with her head tilted.

  “Right.” Theon tapped his nails on the metal. “It’s time for dinner. Is everyone hungry?” He raised his voice and a ‘yes’ chorused through the room.

  Creepy.

  A few people broke away from the crowd to open hidden panels in the walls. Metal flowed out, forming a circle around the statue where it took the shape of a plain table to match the chairs on the platform. Small bursts of gray liquid rolled past us and created chairs at the last minute before they were pushed under the table.

  By the time all the seats were spaced evenly, it could easily have fit fifty people. The men and women all selected an empty spot, standing behind the chairs. I followed them, but there weren’t enough seats for us all to sit together.

  Surprisingly, Sage ended up at the empty seat next to mine, and the others had to scatter to any open spot. Sage and I were the only ones to stay together.

  Aamori and Theon stood, gliding down the steps of the platform together. They seemed to have equal standing as if they ruled together but I was almost positive someone said Theon was Aamori’s son.

  They walked to the last two empty seats opposite each other in the circular table. I wondered how the guys knew not to take those seats? The chairs might have been marked.

  Aamori lifted her hand and sat gracefully into her chair the same time Theon took his seat. Chairs scraped on the floor when everyone else followed suit. It was all a big production and so robotic, it made me wonder if it was this formal all the time, or because the Mazza was here.

  I started to get Sage’s attention to ask, but small doors on either side of the platform opened and servants flooded the room carrying dishes upon dishes of food. Savory, delicious smelling food.

  For the first time since we came downstairs, I was actually excited. A large rotisserie chicken, perfectly roasted with bright green kale garnishes, was set between Sage and me. My fingers swiped at the corner of my mouth to make sure there wasn’t any drool.

  The large elaborate doors behind me burst open and banged against the walls, causing me to hit myself in the nose with my lifted hand. I peeked over my shoulder to see who was coming in with so much drama, half afraid it was someone from the Shadow Society, and I guess in a way it was.

  Rainer stood in the door with his hands on his hips and a strained smile on his face.

  Lavi and Ralina stopped behind him with varying expressions. Lavi had that sa
me blank stare and Ralina huffed, looking off into the corner as if she’d rather be anywhere else than here.

  Same, girl. Same.

  The only person to react at all was Aamori. She pushed her chair back to greet them, spreading her arms wide.

  “Welcome Rainer. I wasn’t aware you were planning to join us at Court. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “Why, I heard you had the Mazza in attendance as well as my own son.” Rainer bit off the last word. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Nice you see you again, Isolde.” Rainer speared me with his gaze as he walked deeper into the room.

  Aamori snapped her fingers. “Wen, bring extra chairs and place settings. Rainer, I believe there’s room for you and your family on my side of the table.”

  At her words, people started shifting down to make extra room. Sage and I were on Theon’s side so we kept our spots.

  Rand was tense, not budging when the man next to him scooted closer. His eyes were downcast, locked on his clean plate. This was possibly one of the worst scenarios that could have possibly played out for Rand.

  Loud clicking of heels entered the room and I found myself once again turning to see who was crashing dinner.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Lucia waved a distracted hand as she headed to where Rainer and his family were waiting. Her eyes roamed the occupants of the table and when she spotted Sage, she winked and smiled sweetly. That all disappeared when she noticed me next to him, an ugly sneer replacing any mask of innocence.

  Next to me, Sage angled away from me, then seemed to catch what he was doing and straightened back up. Sage could not buy any of her act at this point. If he were, then I would… I didn’t know what I’d do but it wouldn’t be pretty.

  I jabbed his thigh with my fingers and raised my eyebrows. He shook his head and pulled my hand into his, trapping mine between his own hand and thigh. I guessed that was a decent apology, and the fact that he was doing this right after my fuck up, well I wasn’t going to dwell on it.

  He leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “She doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. I know the truth now.”