by Imogen Sera
"She's not working for--" I begin, ready to defend her.
"No, she's not," he agrees. "I don't think she has any idea what happened. But I had someone look into what she was doing, and the house that she was staying in is deeded to a well-known witch with close ties to a Council member."
"What are you saying?" I ask.
"I'm saying that the Council wanted her in that house, and that they must have figured out some way to send her here by having her there."
I'm silent for a moment. "Are we sure it's not some kind of peace offering?"
"With the welcome I just got?" he scoffs. "Pretty fucking sure. They're setting you up for something."
I really look at him for the first time, and I can see bruises that have already formed over his cheek. "So the...attraction. It's witchcraft?"
"That's the worst part," he says, and he looks completely miserable as he glances at me. "It's not witchcraft. It's that somehow the Council has learned that we have human mates."
I relax. "That's a really old superstition, Nox."
"Old and true," he says. "You know the stories. You know the real reason for separating the worlds."
The reason I didn't share with Eve, because even if I know it, I still don't know if I believe it.
All of our kind had mates, once. The kind that you find and are bonded to for life. And a quirk of the Yremy was that the best way to make more Yremy was to pass on our genes through a human, which led to our mates almost always inevitably being human.
There are not as many of us as there are humans, and as the story goes, the bulk of humanity was distrustful. Distrustful but manipulative, and we have abilities that they could never have. It was so easy, then, to abduct a Yremy's mate and force them to do the abductor's bidding.
And eventually, it was too much. Our kind was entirely subservient to the fragile little humans, solely because those fragile little humans were too willing to harm other humans who were precious to us.
When the decision was made to separate worlds, it wasn't the humans who decided. It was us, and it was done in secret so that the humans wouldn't have a chance to stop us. It meant giving up the chance of a fated mate, but it also meant that we became our own masters.
All memory of us was wiped from humanity, save for the occasional mention in literature. We didn't want them to remember us, to remember the power that we had that they so easily wielded.
But if the Council knows that...
"You're saying that Eve is fated for me."
Nox nods. "All of the signs are there, Az."
"I shouldn't be happy about this."
"You really fucking shouldn't be." He sighs. "They know. Somehow, they know. And what worries me is that they sent her, and I'm not about to start believing that it's a coincidence that she's your mate. Anyone else's might have been a coincidence, but you're too important to us, Az."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that Eve is a vulnerability that the Council slapped a bow on and sent to you as a gift."
He's right. I lean my head back against the wall and sigh. She's vulnerable, but she's also mine, and the last thing I'll do is let something happen to her. "Show me exactly where you found her," I say.
I follow him through the castle and out the back door, flying from the steep cliffs to the rocky beach. It's unsettling, knowing that there's a way between worlds near here, and I find myself keeping an even closer eye than usual on my surroundings. I know that Nox is doing the same.
There's a small cove a little way down the beach, with a massive rock overhanging it. It's here that Nox leads me, and he's so thorough in his observations that he describes to me exactly the way that she was positioned.
"A dozen guards here. Always," I say. "If they sent her, there's no reason to think that they won't send more. And there's no reason to think that whatever they send next will be as...friendly."
"I agree," says Nox. "I'll see that it's done."
Eve is still asleep when I return to my bedroom, and I wrap her tightly in my arms and try to focus on anything besides how fragile she feels against me.
Chapter 16
Eve
I didn't think I was tired, but I totally ended up falling asleep against Az. He's so warm and his skin is soft and I want to lay next to him forever, and I'm thoroughly sated after several rounds of insanely good sex.
Which was, admittedly, kind of weird at first. But that's kind of my fault for assuming that everything would be exactly like normal human sex, when he's so obviously not a human. It was uncomfortable for a bit, but I'm already planning every way that I'm going to touch him next time.
Because there's going to be a next time. I want it and he obviously does too. I pretty much can't believe how obviously he's into me, and it should probably we weirding me out, but it's just so nice. I know exactly where I stand with him, and even if it's just as the girl he wants to fuck, at least he's not playing weird games.
But if I'm honest, I think he wants more than that from me. And my sex-addled brain is pleased with that, because I really like Az so far. It's just the 'so far' part that I'm hung up on, because there are about a million things that I don't know about him.
This is what I'm thinking about as I'm waking up, and it prompts me to turn over and face him. He's awake; I don't think he slept at all.
"You're not married, right?" Which is maybe a question that I should have led off with two days ago, but at least I'm asking.
He smiles his pretty, fangy smile at me. "Why do you ask?"
"Umm..." I gesture between us. "Because I got the impression from Nox that it's not a big deal to just fuck whoever all the time, and I just want to make sure that you're not...I don't know. Attached."
He puts his finger on the tip of my nose and moves it down to run over my lips and chin. "Nox needs sex. It's what he feeds on. Besides, he's very single, and he keeps it that way so that things are easy."
I can't help notice that he didn't answer for himself. "But what about you?"
"Being unattached is easier," he says. "I have to make decisions that would be harder if they would hurt a partner. I'm frequently busy and I can't devote the time I wish I could to someone. And I've spent a long time to ensure that I appear ruthless, because it's easiest to squash dissent before it ever begins. Being attached would make me vulnerable to political enemies."
I nod.
"But I wouldn't say that I'm unattached," he continues, and my heart sinks. "You and I discussed the dreams before, right? They've been there, every time I sleep, for almost half a year now. And all of the women in the castle and all of the nights in the world with my hand have done nothing for me. Because I was waiting for you, dream girl. And I'm very attached."
"You were dreaming about me every time? I thought it was just--I don't really remember them, just impressions."
"Every time," he says. "I thought of nothing else. And now you're real. So you can see how you're mine."
I press my mouth against his, just briefly, and then sit up to stretch. "I feel like I should argue about that, but I just don't have the energy right now."
He flashes a wry smile at me. "I'll argue with you later all you want. But now I want to show you around."
"Yes." I perk up and climb out of bed, acutely aware of the fact that I'm nude. He is too, but he's basically a statue and I'm a pudgy, pasty girl who hasn't shaved her legs in weeks. To be fair, it's winter in Alaska.
Az isn't looking at me like I'm any of those things, though. He's just watching me like he can't look enough, and it makes me nipples harden into point and goosebumps form down my spine. I could really get used to being looked at that way.
I find my dress cloth thing on the floor against the wall, and I attempt to tie it twice and fail before I hand it over to him. And then I see where he sliced through it. He grins sheepishly at me and then pulls another one from a drawer, draping it around me and tying it.
"You're going to have to teach me this eventually," I s
ay, reaching behind me to feel the knot in my fingers.
"I suppose I should," he says. "But I like you being naked and asking me for help."
He gets dressed then, and I wish he wouldn't because good grief he's nice to look at. But I can still ogle his back and his arms and his wings, and then he turns to face me and his face is gorgeous and I just don't understand how I got so lucky.
His hand is warm in mine as we leave the room, and we wander through the castle as he points things out. I get the impression that he doesn't actually spend a ton of time in Poremi, and he prefers the little house when he is here.
"So is this what you guys wear everywhere, or is it like a regional thing?" I ask, lifting the skirt of my dress slightly. They're pretty in an interesting way, but it's really weird to see a sea of people all dressed the same.
"It's the traditional dress in Poremi," he says. "It's the traditional dress across many regions, really, but the residents of Poremi tend to like traditions more than in other places."
"Is there a reason for that?" I ask, looking up at him.
He smiles a half smile down at me. "Mostly pride, I think. The last seven lords that ruled over the entire realm have been born here."
The whole castle is pretty much amazing. We're walking down a white corridor when I see bright light ahead, streaming through actual windows. I haven't seen a window since I've come to this place.
So I drop Az's hand and run ahead a little bit until I can see out of it. And it's...outside. Like actual outside, with the sun and sky and I can even imagine birds chirping.
"Take me outside," I demand, too excited to even ask nicely, but Az just grins at me like I'm something cute and guides me down several sets of stairs and through a big door.
There are people out here. Lots and lots of people, but it's almost totally silent. They're also all facing us, and it's so freaking weird that I want to turn around and go back inside until I realize that they're soldiers. They're all lined up in sections, and they're not looking at me so much as facing me.
But they are watching someone in front, and he's kind of scary. Actually, a lot scary, but I've got Az next to me and I don't really feel like he'd take me out here if some scary looking guy was going to hurt me.
He's wearing armor--or I think he is until he turns and I get a look at him from the front. He's wearing boots and gauntlets, and the rest of him is...terrifying. He's just a mess of charred flesh, with white bones visible on his legs and his shoulders and his ribs. He has a helmet that cover his face, and there are horns curling out from it. The worst part, though, is that I can see right into his chest cavity, and there are glowing orange embers in there. It looks like he's burning from the inside out, and it's awful.
There's a sword in his hand which I realize at the same time as I realize that he's moving toward us.
Chapter 17
Az'ralon
Eve is watching me nervously as she twists her hands in front of her. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is open, and want to tell her that she will never, never be in danger while I'm next to her.
Ronan makes his way over, and Eve turns her attention to him. He's purposely meandering, and I know it's to scope her out, so I put my arm over her shoulder and kiss the top of her head and glare at him the entire time.
I can see him laugh before he finally reaches us. Fires are burning in his eyes and Eve shivers against me, so I'm relieved when he pulls off his helmet.
The helmet contains the force of him, trapping him between his two forms in something that's more powerful than either. But I suppose being in a permanent state of seeing his flesh being seared off is probably unsettling to a human.
But without the helmet he's forced to pick a form, and he shifts back into the human half in front of us. He's utterly human in this form, because that's what he is. It's his mother's heritage, who died when Ronan and his sister clawed their way out of her womb. But for all of his half-humanity, his long white hair and sharply cut features are nothing like sweet, soft little Eve.
"Ronan," he says to her, in that terse, low, distinctly Ronan way of his.
Eve just nods with her eyes wide, and I wish that she wasn't afraid. I press my fingers softly into her spine at the top of her neck, and she leans back just slightly into my touch.
Ronan is silent as he strides away from the soldiers quickly, and I have to remember not to keep up with him, because Eve's legs are short, and I don't think she'd appreciate me carrying her. I want to, because she's mine, but I don't want to annoy her. Pleasing my mate is the only thing that matters.
Eve's hand is small but warm in mine, and we follow Ronan as he leads us to the orchard. In Poremi, we have limited fertile land under the sun, so everything that is available is used for growing food.
Ronan plucks a peach from a tree before turning around and facing us. When we catch up to him, he walks again, silent again, in his very Ronan like way.
"Nox said you lost your mind," he finally says, finishing the fruit and tossing the pit into the bushes nearby.
I sigh. "Nox might be right, for once."
He looks at me for a long minute, and his hand is on his sword. "If she's causing so many problems, I could kill her right now."
He's obviously testing me, but Eve stiffens beside me so I pull her into my side and look down at her. "He won't. Don't be an ass," I add, turning to Ronan.
He shrugs. "You're not losing your mind anymore, so that's good news."
"You are kind of an ass," says Eve from under my arm, and I'm pleased that she's spoken up.
Ronan at least has the grace to look sheepish about it. "Sorry. I won't kill you."
"Good," she says. The look she gives him is withering, and it's so adorable on her sweet face that I want to lift her up and kiss her hard. Instead I just squeeze her hand.
"So what's changed, if you're suddenly not in danger of murdering your only friends?" asks Ronan.
"Nothing," I say, at the same moment that Eve says, "Sex."
I look down at her, semi-surprised, and she shrugs. "I mean, right? We did it and now I'm not insane. And you're not insane. Hooray."
And she's right. Of course she's right.
Chapter 18
Eve
The ease with which we've settled into a routine surprises me--being with Az is just so nice. The intense attraction between us is still there, but I don't think it's the reason that we get along. The sex is great, of course, but so is falling asleep next to him and hearing about what he and Nox are working on and making him laugh. It's all great, and it all makes me happy, and it's all so strangely different that I feel like I should be more overwhelmed by all of this. But I'm not. I'm just happy.
When I'm not bored.
Az's room is pretty great, which is a good thing, because I'm spending more time in here than I want to. The hot spring is nice, and I have fun learning the dozens of ways that I can tie my dress, and obviously the bed is amazing, but after I've been here for weeks and nothing has happened and I have nothing to do, I'm bored out of my mind.
It's not so bad when I'm with Az, which is a small portion of the time, but for several hours every day, he's holed up in a room with Nox and some other Nox-like characters trying to figure out what the hell to do about...me, I guess. I know he'd take me with him to the meetings if I asked, but it's a pretty delicate situation to figure out, and when we're together, we're still having trouble concentrating on anything but each other.
Which is nice when we're alone, but it's starting to be inconvenient at other times. Last week, a lord from Deveri, which is the closest neighbor to Poremi and also under Az'ralon's rule, came for some official dinner. Az and I had to disappear twice in what was I'm sure the most obvious disappearing-for-a-quickie act ever, and I'm sure we made a bad impression. Well, I did. I don't think it matters what Az does, because he's been in charge here for so long and everyone's so used to him that basically whatever he does is automatically fine.
But I complained about being bore
d last night, and after he fucked me until I was thoroughly not bored, he promised to find a way to entertain me today.
He stays with me all morning, and then leads me outside to the courtyard. I'm relieved when he walks right past Ronan, and I try really hard not to look at his creepy burning body. He takes me around where the terrace narrows into several paths, following one to the right for a while. We're walking through a heavily manicured garden, with neatly trimmed trees and perfectly round rose bushes. I didn't even know this was here.
I tug on Az's hand to get him to stop walking for a second, and then reach up to grab his face and pull it down to mine. I like kissing him in the sunlight. I like kissing him anywhere, really, but I'm under a rock ceiling so much that this feels like a novelty.
He grins at me when I pull away, and then I move first and pull him after me. His pace slows as we approach a small field. A small portion of it is planted nicely, but the majority is overgrown with weeds and wildflowers.
"Ayelet," says Az, and a ridiculously gorgeous horned woman stands from where she was hidden in the weeds. She smiles brilliantly and approaches us. She's wearing gloves that are covered in dirt, and she pulls them off and offers a hand to me.
"I'm so happy to finally get to meet you, Eve," she says. "Everyone's been so eager to actually meet you, but Az'ralon has been very selfish."
I smile unsurely at her.
"Ayelet is Ronan's sister," Az says, wrapping one arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him.
She must see my eyes widen slightly, because she laughs and reaches for my hands again. "You can't judge me by my brother, Eve. Ronan and I shared a womb, but nothing else.
That's not true, though. She looks almost exactly like him. When he's not a terrifying monster, at least. She has the same silvery hair, the same dark eyes, the same unnaturally pale skin. Her face is similar to his, too. His jaw is wider, and her cheeks are fuller, but otherwise they're the same. Except for the dazzling smile that seems to be permanently affixed to her. I've seen Ronan every day for weeks and haven't seen him smile even once.
