10. Zeph
ZEPH
I cleared my throat,attempting to dispel some of the tension in the air caused by Aflora’s abrupt entrance and subsequent exit.
“She’s still pissed,” Kols noted, vying for the role of Captain Obvious.
“She needs to get over it,” I replied. “We gave her three days to cool off. Now she’s just acting like a brat.”
Kols gave me a look. “We destroyed her trust.”
“By protecting her,” I pointed out.
“But she doesn’t get that.”
“Because she’s being a brat and choosing not to talk to us. Instead, she’s stomping around and throwing a fit.” As if she overheard me, a door slammed from her room, causing me to roll my eyes. “It’s as though she wants me to spank her.”
Kols grunted. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
“She’d be wet for me in a second and you know it.”
“And she’d hate you every step of the way.” Kols shook his head. “Seriously, we fucked up. It’s going to take time to fix that.”
“Something we don’t have on our side.”
“Well, tell her that,” Kols said, gesturing to the hallway. “Let me know how it goes.”
I huffed out a breath. It would go well until she came all over my cock. Then she’d go right back to hating me. While the former would be enjoyable, the latter wouldn’t help us move forward.
My elbows fell to my thighs as I leaned forward. “This is ridiculous. All we’ve done is to help her.”
“She doesn’t see it that way.”
“Clearly.” And while I could admit to some fault in the matter of the approach, she wasn’t exactly giving us a chance to explain.
Or maybe I hadn’t tried hard enough to be heard.
Or really at all,I thought to myself.
But that wasn’t the point. “Tell me what Sol said.” Kols had been in the middle of detailing his meeting with the Elemental Fae when Aflora stomped into the room. I’d been about to suggest she join us for the discussion, but her little temper tantrum reaction to seeing us in the living area had me biting my tongue.
Kols cleared his throat. “Right. Well, first, he threatened to kill me.”
“You told him about the mating?”
“No. He sensed it. Not sure he approves.”
I smirked. “I bet not. But he can’t do anything about it.”
“That’s exactly what I said. Then I asked him to help me help her.”
“And?”
“He told me to fuck off.” Kols picked up his beer and took a long swig. “So Cyrus stepped in and reminded Sol how I helped them with their Chancellor problem by providing dark-magic texts. And Exos commented on how working together would only help Aflora, not hurt her. As her Earth mate, I’m duty-bound to protect her and yada yada, so eventually Sol caved.”
He stood up to retrieve his suit jacket and pulled something from the pocket. “These are Aflora’s parents.” He handed me an old-fashioned-painting-styled photograph, one depicting a couple staring down at the baby in the female’s arms.
“Is that baby Aflora?”
“Yep.” Kols snagged his beer bottle by the neck and enjoyed another swallow while remaining on his feet.
I studied the photo. “She looks so much like her mother.” Gorgeous. Dark hair. Pale complexion. Beautiful smile. I felt my own lips curve at the sight, my heart warming a little at an innocent Aflora being loved on by her parents. Did they know then what a powerful child they’d created? I imagined they did.
“Do you recognize them?” Kols asked.
I studied both parents and slowly shook my head. “No. Should I?”
“No. I was just curious.”
“Wouldn’t you already know what they look like through all your royal training?” I meant the question earnestly. Kols had grown up studying fae politics. Surely he’d seen a photo of the Elemental Fae royals at some point.
“Elemental Fae are not known for capturing photos. They prefer to live life and enjoy the moment, and they balk at technology.”
“So why did her parents have a photo?”
“Exactly,” Kols replied, collapsing in the recliner once more. “Sol said that a lot of things about Aflora’s childhood were abnormal, including that photo. And when I asked him about the ballad, he recognized it. Aflora used to hum it often when she was younger, usually in moments of happiness.”
“But he didn’t recognize it otherwise?”
“Nope. None of them had ever heard it before, so it’s not like some Elemental Fae nursery rhyme.”
“Well, that’s something at least.” It would cause a lot of political strife if our kind found out that the little Elemental Fae were running around humming about how to realign the source of dark magic.
“It’s still troubling, and what I dislike even more is that Sol couldn’t tell me anything about Aflora’s grandparents. She’s a descendant of the royal Earth Fae line. How do they not know anything about those who came before her parents?”
I frowned. “Do they not believe in keeping records, in addition to their dislike of technology?”
Kols snorted. “I asked the same thing. Sol didn’t appreciate the comment.”
“It’s a fair statement.”
“I agree, as did Cyrus. He felt it very strange that not much is known about the Earth Fae royal line. They rely so much on whom the source has favored that they don’t focus much beyond that. And while they know the names of her ancestors, they couldn’t say much about them. Everyone who would have known them died in the plague that abomination caused.”
“Their former Chancellor?” I asked, seeking clarification. There were several abominations throughout our history, but she was the latest to cause issues among the realms.
“Yeah. Elana.”
I considered that. “Do you think she took out the Earth Fae on purpose?” I wondered out loud. “I mean, she targeted their element first. What if she did it to erase the history?”
“Why attack Aflora as a girl, then?”
“To cover up her actions?” I suggested.
Kols finished his beer in silence, contemplating my comments. Then his head bobbed side to side slowly. “Doesn’t feel right.”
While I agreed with his assessment, I still said, “But it’s worth keeping in mind.”
“True.” He set his empty bottle on the end table. “All right. So we know she has Quandary Blood in her. We know her lineage doesn’t have great records. And we know her powers are unraveling.”
“She feels grounded right now,” I replied, sensing my mate-bond with her. It tugged at my heart a little, mostly because I could feel her displeasure. Knowing I helped cause that emotion irked me. But I couldn’t change anything we’d done. It was all to keep her safe, whether she realized that or not.
“She does,” Kols agreed. “We need to keep her that way.”
“Is that why you fed while in the Human Realm?” I asked, arching a brow.
“You’re just as well fed as I am.”
“I ordered a catering service,” I admitted. Digesting food infused with blood wasn’t the same as feeding from a neck, but it did the trick and rejuvenated my magic.
“How was it?” Kols asked, genuine curiosity in his gaze.
“Different. Not nearly as enjoyable as biting Aflora.”
His lips curled. “I doubt much is as enjoyable as biting Aflora.”
“Did you think of her while you fed?”
“No. I didn’t want to make it intimate, and feeding without sex is hard enough already.”
I nodded, understanding. “Did you just enchant them?”
“Pretty much. They’ll have a memory of a heavy make-out session that left them light-headed afterward.” He lifted a shoulder. “There were a few other Midnight Fae roaming about, so I created a glamour for them as well. Have to keep up appearances and all that.”
“It worked,” I told him. “I overheard a few of them gossiping about it outside.”
“Good.” Then he frowned. “Do you think it got back to Aflora?”
“Probably.”
“Do you think it’ll bother her?”
“That her mate was seen in the Human Realm fucking around with mortals?” I asked. “Would it bother you if we heard Aflora was doing that?”
He scowled. “She doesn’t need blood.”
“What about sex?”
“Are you trying to piss me off?” he demanded.
“No, I’m trying to get you to see the obvious, idiot,” I replied. “Your reaction right now is your answer.”
He started to snap something back, only to pause, then he growled in annoyance. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.” I understood because I wouldn’t like hearing that about Aflora at all. In fact, I’d probably find the human who dared to touch her, and kill him. She might not feel like she was mine yet, but that didn’t make it any less true. I claimed her the moment my incisors met the plump flesh of her breasts. She just hadn’t accepted it yet.
“I suppose that’s another apology for my list,” Kols muttered.
“Maybe we should just give her a dozen orgasms instead. Most women prefer that to flowers.”
Kols snorted. “She’s an Earth Fae. You know she prefers the flowers.”
“Only because she doesn’t know any better,” I mused, finally taking a sip of my own beer. “I’ll happily show her when she’s ready.”
“In her dreams?” He sounded hopeful, but I turned him down with a look.
“No more dreams for her. Not until we’ve worked this all out.” It was what I’d said the other night, and I stood by it. We needed our mate to trust us before I could continue her sexual education. Otherwise, I risked pushing her too far, and I didn’t want to chance harming our already fractured bond.
“Ugh,” Kols groaned, his head falling back against the chair. “You have no idea how much I want to fuck right now.”
“You always want to fuck,” I pointed out. “And I’m very aware of that.”
He grunted. “Dick.”
“Not a good way to woo me into some temporary relief, Kolstov.”
“I’m not getting on my knees again,” he said, glancing at me. His reference to the other night in his room had my lips quirking upward in amusement.
“Then I guess you’re not getting fucked,” I replied.
“I said I want to fuck, not be fucked.”
“Semantics.”
“You’re an ass,” he chastised, standing up and tossing his bottle into a nearby trash can. “I’m having a date with my hand tonight. You can fuck off.”
“Enjoy,” I murmured, not moving from the couch.
“You can go now.”
“I’m good.”
He shook his head and grumbled a curse under his breath, then focused on the kitchen. “Leftover pizza?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Sure.”
“Good.”
I watched as he worked, the banter between us reminding me of an easier time between us—a time I wasn’t sure we’d ever experience again. However, as he pulled a box out of the refrigerator and slid the contents onto a tray, I started to entertain the notion of a different kind of future. One where we were friends like before, only closer.
Because of Aflora.
Or maybe it would all go up in flames and burn us all to the ground.
I rubbed a hand over my face and shut my eyes, the vision of a dark-haired beauty with cerulean magic flashing in my mind.
What am I going to do with you? I thought at her, aware that she couldn’t actually hear me. That wasn’t how the initial bond stages worked. I could sense her and manipulate her dreams with magic, but I couldn’t yet access her mind.
Soon, though.
Soon.