25. Aflora
AFLORA
I claspedmy cloak around my neck, my fingers drawing over the collar beneath. Kols had taken it off me again last night, then held me while I slept in his bed. Zeph hadn’t joined us, choosing to stay in the guest room for the fourth day in a row.
It sort of felt like he was avoiding me. Although, I’d seen and spoken to him several times because he’d essentially moved into Kols’s guest suite. And he’d led class yesterday, as well as two days before that, so he wasn’t entirely evading me. He just had this distant air about him that I didn’t understand.
We also hadn’t been intimate since the day I returned with Shade—an oddity only because we’d spent every day for a week prior to that getting to know each other between the sheets. Then this week, he’d barely kissed me.
Something was definitely bothering him.
Which, in turn, left me uneasy.
Shade had sent a message saying he’d meet us in the village later. He wanted to check on Ajax because he hadn’t been in class since the attack on the tavern. I’d told him not to worry about me, that I’d be fine with Zeph. But as I studied myself in the mirror, I wondered if that were true.
Then the male in question knocked on my door, his voice soft as he uttered my name from the hallway. “Are you ready?” he added in that same tone.
I swallowed and nodded, more to myself than to him since he couldn’t see me. “Yeah,” I called back to him, then grabbed my wand from my nightstand, tucked it into my cloak, and met him at the threshold of my room.
His green eyes roamed over me with interest, his lips curling a little. “Casual looks good on you,” he murmured, noting my jeans and cream-colored sweater. I had on a pair of boots as well that covered my calves up to my knees. It seemed a bit strange, but Ella showed me how to wear them on the outside of my pants. She claimed it was all the rage in the Human Realm.
Some days I really missed my Elemental Fae roots and the wardrobe that came with it. Those outfits were far simpler and nature friendly. Mostly because I used to make my clothes out of the earth.
These were… not as natural.
But Zeph seemed to approve.
He wrapped his palm around my nape, drawing me to him for a long, sensuous kiss that had me wondering if I’d just misunderstood his behavior these last few days. Because wow. His tongue really knew how to engage mine. I hummed against him in approval, my body melting into his as one of his arms cradled my lower back while his opposite remained against my neck.
Minutes passed, his warmth bleeding into me and claiming me in a sensual manner. I pressed my palms to his black sweater, the soft material gliding across his hard abdomen beneath.
He nipped my lower lip, then deepened our kiss with a groan before walking me backward into my room. It was the wrong direction, but I didn’t mind. I’d missed him. I’d missed this.
And it was our first time doing this without any sort of audience.
Because we were finally alone.
Pleasure zipped down my spine, my heart racing with excitement.
Yes, yes. More, please.
Zeph must have read the need building inside me, because the arm around my back slid lower, his palm grabbing my ass to yank me flush against his growing arousal. I moaned in response, my fingers gliding up his sweater to his broad shoulders.
The back of my knees hit the edge of my bed, when a giggling in the hallway interrupted our moment. Zeph broke away from me so quickly I nearly fell onto the mattress, but my legs locked into place, keeping me upright.
“You think that’s cute, do you?” Tray asked, sounding genuinely amused by whatever Ella had just done.
The door to their bedroom closed as Ella replied, “I do, yep. If you’re nice to me, I’ll consider handling that issue for you later.”
“Oh, you’ll be handling it all right, El. I guarantee it.”
“Now who’s being cocky?”
“I called you confident, not cocky.”
“Uh-huh,” she replied, her voice growing fainter as they walked toward the living area and away from the bedrooms. “It held the same implication.”
“We should probably go,” Zeph said, his voice low.
I swallowed, nodding. “Yeah.”
Ella and Tray didn’t know about our quad-bond, something Zeph made apparent by leaving my room ahead of me and leading the way down the hall in his usual aloof manner. His presence in the guest suite didn’t seem to raise any questions. He shared a history with Kols, so Ella and Tray had just sort of accepted his staying here even though he had a place next door.
“Where are you two heading off to?” Tray asked as we entered the living area. He had Ella’s hips pressed up against the counter that divided the kitchen from the rest of the room. It was set up like a little eating nook with stools, but most of us used the dining table beside the kitchen instead.
“Aflora wants a proper loaf,” Zeph replied, sounding annoyed. “Because apparently my magicked ones aren’t good enough for her.”
“Well, if you just figured out what mouseberries were, this wouldn’t be a problem,” I shot back, playing along.
He grunted and grabbed his cloak from the back of the couch. “Let’s go, Earth Fae.”
“Hold on,” Tray said, stepping away from Ella to give us an incredulous look. “Are you going to the village?”
“Where else would we go?” Zeph asked, arching a brow. “New York? London? Oh, no, I know—we’ll just go visit Elemental Fae Academy. I’m sure no one will mind at all.”
“Don’t be a dick,” Tray snapped. “Why the hell would you go to the tavern right now?”
Zeph waved at me. “Because Aflora wants some mustard berries.”
“Mouseberries,” I corrected him.
He gave Tray a look that said, Do you see what I’m dealing with here?
Tray wasn’t amused, nor was he buying the excuse. “Kols is with my father right now trying to convince him that he’s innocent, and you’re heading off to the scene of the crime. Don’t think for one second I believe your bullshit about mouseberries.”
“You’re right,” Zeph drawled. “It’s the spritemead she’s really after.”
Ella cleared her throat. “Guys, Tray has a point. The village has to be crawling with Warrior Bloods right now, and I doubt the tavern is even open.”
“It is,” Zeph replied. “I already spoke to Anrika. She said it’s perfectly safe for us to come in, so we’re going for a midnight lunch. You can believe whatever you want, Tray. As for the Warrior Bloods, then I guess it’s a good thing I’m one of them. Now let’s go, Aflora.” He walked through the threshold before either of them could comment, clearly done with the conversation.
“Bastard,” Tray muttered. “This is a horrible idea.”
“I’ll be okay,” I promised him.
“I don’t know what you two are up to, but be careful,” Ella pressed, obviously seeing right through our excuse as well.
At least we tried. “We’ll be fine,” I told her, forcing a smile. “See you in a few hours.”
Taking a page from Zeph’s book, I slipped through the threshold before they could argue and found him waiting against the wall for me in the residential hallway. He arched a brow, then cocked his head to the side as if to say, Let’s go.
I followed him silently past all the creepy gargoyles and continued to trail after him down the two flights of stairs. He led me outside and along the various paths to the raven field without saying a word and called up the portal for us to step through.
It wasn’t until the birds began to swarm around us that he touched me, his palm a brand to my lower back as he pulled me close under the guise of keeping me safe during transport. But I felt the lingering need in his embrace, just as I sensed his lips in my hair as he gifted me a kiss where no one could see.
My mouth curled upward.
This side of Zeph—the quietly affectionate side—excited me. Mostly because he didn’t let anyone else see this part of him. He sometimes revealed it in front of Kols and had sort of showed it to Shade the other night, but it all tied back to his tenderness with me. I suspected it was a foreign reaction for him, which only made it more special.
“We’re here,” he whispered, drawing my attention to the cloak closet around us.
I glanced up at him and went to my toes to kiss the edge of his mouth. “They’re mouseberries,” I informed him softly, earning a smile in return. “And I’m going to make you try one today.”
He smirked. “Can’t wait.” His lips captured mine unexpectedly, his tongue dominating mine in a sweep of power that left me weak in the knees.
Just as quickly, he stepped back, leaving me reeling in his wake, and opened the door to reveal the exit into the street. He winked and turned, expecting me to follow.
“Willow stump,” I muttered, stepping out of the closet and onto the cobblestone streets. He was only a foot ahead, his gait intentionally slow to allow me to keep up.
The village was less busy than my last visit, most of the Midnight Fae walking with a businesslike briskness rather than meandering and socializing with one another.
My stomach twisted at the change in atmosphere and the resulting sense of unease in the air. It reminded me of why we were here, especially as we rounded the corner to see the tavern’s exterior. While the stones resembled the same restaurant I’d visited a few weeks ago, I could feel the newness of it and the residual magic left behind from the restoration. Just like the Death Blood Education Building.
I swallowed, my palms dampening with each step.
Dark power lingered in the air.
Quandary magic, I recognized with a breath. That was why it felt familiar. It reminded me of a puzzle recently undone and put back together, only the strings were left behind for a Midnight Fae to tease and unwind.
A Midnight Fae like me.
I paused on the sidewalk, a few steps away from the tavern.
“He knew I’d come,” I said to myself, glancing around, trying to find what other clues he left for me to unravel.
“What?” Zeph asked, coming to my side.
“I can feel him,” I whispered, startled by the realization. “His energy signature is thick, like he left it for me as a clue to find. But why would he do that?”
Was it even intentional?
I frowned.
Yes. It was definitely intentional. Just like the rock.
“We should?—”
“Ah, you’re here!” Anrika rushed outside with a giant grin on her face that didn’t quite reach her eyes, silencing what I’d been about to say. “When Guardian Zephyrus called to say you wanted to stop by, I prepped my kitchen and have quite the buffet of items for you to enjoy. Come on in and I’ll get you both settled.”
Zeph made a gesture with his hand. “After you, Aflora.”
This was where having the mate bond in place would be really handy because I could tell him with my mind how bad an idea this was, but I had no way of communicating that without alerting Anrika. So I gave him a tight smile and followed our hostess inside to the same booth I’d sat in with Tray and Ella a few weeks prior.
The gargoyle who served us, however, was nowhere in sight.
I frowned, wondering where he’d run off to, but Anrika distracted me with a large glass of spritemead a few seconds after I sat down.
“I had this waiting for you,” she explained with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Thank you,” I said, uncertain of how I felt about that.
She called up some American drink for Zeph. “Your usual,” she drawled. “Be back in a jiffy.” She disappeared into a puff of glitter that made me sneeze.
Zeph’s lips curved upward, his amusement palpable. “I think you have a fan.”
“Something’s not right,” I rushed to say, my voice quiet. “I think he’s here, Zeph.” Because I still felt him. Everywhere.
Yet the tavern was empty—the complete opposite of my last visit here. There’d been Midnight Fae coming and going throughout our meal, everyone jovial and chatty.
Today felt like… a funeral.
I shivered at the thought, the hairs along my arms rising on end.
What’s wrong, little rose?
I jumped at Shade’s mental interruption, my eyes flying around the room to search for him. Where are you?
With Ajax,he replied. I can sense your panic. What’s going on?
The tavern, it feels?—
“Aflora?” Zeph said, his brow creased. “Are you listening to me?”
“Shade,” I replied, shaking my head as my Death Blood mate began talking again.
It feels like what?
It feels like he’s here,I rushed to say to him, then focused on Zeph. “He’s—Shade’s—in my head. He…”
Are you sure? Or is it his energy signature you’re sensing?Shade asked, his voice sounding rushed in my thoughts, like he was pacing while speaking.
It feels fresh. Too fresh. Like the day of the attack.I hadn’t felt him at all at the Death Blood Education Building that day we worked on psychometry spells, yet I sensed him everywhere here. This feels intentional. Like he knew I’d come.
I’m on my way.
I opened my mouth to let Zeph know, when his phone began to ring. With a frown, he pulled it from his cloak pocket and brought it to his ear. “Zephyrus.” His expression gave nothing away as whoever it was spoke on the other line, his green eyes holding mine the entire time. “I see.” The masculine tones of the speaker created a deep hum.
Did you call Zeph?I asked Shade.
No reply, suggesting it was him.
“Understood. You know where we’ll be.” Zeph hung up the phone, sliding it into his pocket once more.
“Shade?” I guessed.
“No. Kols. He’s been called into an emergency Council meeting with the Elders.” His lips flattened. “It doesn’t look good, Aflora. We should go.”
I nodded, agreeing, just as Anrika appeared with a tray of delicious-smelling loaves. My mouth practically watered for them, but my pulse thrummed a warning in my ears that I couldn’t ignore.
“Can we wrap these up to go?” Zeph asked her softly. “I just received a call from Prince Kolstov, and we’ve been requested at Nacht Manor.”
The Council is convening with the Elders,Shade informed me, his mental voice annoyed. Get the hell out of there, Aflora. This can’t be a coincidence.
We’re working on leaving, but Zeph just said we’re needed at Nacht Manor?I phrased it as a question because it seemed strange to me.
He must be lying to protect you. Trust him, Aflora. He won’t let you down.
Famous last words,I thought back at him. The last time I trusted Zeph, I ended up in a dungeon.
I won’t let anything happen to you, little rose, Shade vowed. And neither will Zeph. Trust your mates.
It said a lot that Shade wanted me to put my faith in Zeph. They constantly bickered with one another, but it seemed, on this point, my Death Blood mate trusted my Warrior Blood mate.
Anrika had been in the middle of talking to Zeph, her excitement lost to a cloud of concern. “Of course,” she was saying, picking up our untouched glasses. She disappeared without the glitter this time.
Zeph sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “I hate doing this to her.”
“Doing what?” I asked, wondering what else he had planned.
“Everyone is too unnerved by what happened here to come in for a bite, and I’d hoped to provide her with a little bit of normalcy today. Unfortunately, I’ve just further driven the proverbial stake through her heart.” He shook his head. “Things are changing. It unsettles people.”
I leaned forward, dropping my voice to a whisper. “Can you feel the magic?” I asked him. “The lingering spells?”
He frowned. “From the restoration?”
“No, the at?—”
“Here you are,” Anrika announced, reappearing with a floating bag beside her and two plastic cups. She tried to smile, but it turned into more of a grimace. Her disappointment was palpable.
“Thank you, Anrika,” Zeph murmured, holding out a card. “Aflora has been craving food from home, so I’m wondering if there’s a way to start ordering a few meals a week. I’ll talk to Kolstov to see if Sir Kristoff is open to picking it up for us.”
“You don’t need to do that, Zephyrus.”
“Oh, but I do,” he replied, grinning. “Aflora needs the sustenance and hates the Academy food.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong about that. But I also knew he was doing this to be supportive, and seeing that side of him warmed my heart.
He stood and kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks again,” he said to her before waving his hand over the bags. “I’ll be in touch soon.”
Anrika nodded, tears glistening in her eyes. I stood to follow him, but she stepped into my path, her hands finding my shoulders. “Be careful,” she said in a voice so soft I could barely hear her. “If they find out what you are, they’ll come for you, too.”
I froze as she disappeared.
Zeph turned with an arched eyebrow, having missed her words.
I opened my mouth to tell him, when a strange energy caressed my skin, causing all the hairs along my arms to stand—just like it did that day at the Academy. Right before the attack. “We need to run,” I told him urgently, my eyes rounding.
Chills skated up and down my body, that familiar magic kissing my senses.
Zeph grabbed my hand and yanked me forward, the food and drinks forgotten as he pulled me outside and into the empty street.
Not a soul in sight.
Similar to what I’d seen in the vision after the mysterious male had woven spells to vacate the building.
Zeph didn’t seem to notice, his focus on getting me to the portal, but the cobblestones began to shake beneath a wave of harsh power.
I jolted to a stop, my essence reacting to the incoming attack. No!
Electricity hummed over my being, crafting an enchanted net of cerulean blue. I didn’t allow myself a moment to consider the repercussions, my instincts roaring to life and forcing me to wrap the buzzing cloak around myself and Zeph to block the incoming meddlesome energy.
Wind soared around us, the familiar caw of alarms and stone shifting to fight.
I caught the glimpse of white, there and gone in a flash, a warm chuckle brushing my ear. I whirled around, searching for the culprit, only to find air.
Zeph was speaking, his tone insistent, but I couldn’t stop hunting for the source of power.
Who are you?I demanded, the words in my mind rather than out loud.
Your destiny, a deep, sensual voice replied. My darling Aflora, you truly have grown into a beautiful woman. Just like your mother.
Another kiss of power touched my heart, working its way through my blood, heating all my frozen limbs beneath a ripple of authority and awareness. I tried to track him, but he lingered in the shadows, his presence there and gone in the breeze.
We’ll play again soon,he promised darkly. Retribution will be ours.
He started to hum the song my mother taught me as a child, the haunting melody weaving an enchantment through my spirit and drawing out the memory of my past.
Only it was no longer my mother singing to me, but another—a male without a face, his voice hypnotic and empowering. I closed my eyes, lost to the sound, to the moment in my history that seemed forever changed.
I began to sing with him.
A promise.
Our futures forever intertwined.
He owned half my soul.
“I’ll protect her,” I heard him saying. “Always.”
“Then our deal is done,” another voice replied. Lighter. Feminine.
“Mom?” I asked.
But no one heard me. They were too busy enacting a blood vow, with my life at the center of the puzzle.
Something sharp bit into my neck. His teeth. He swallowed. Binding us as one in a forbidden claim.
“Aflora!”
I couldn’t open my eyes, my world painted in shades of black. Of a destiny I never desired, but chosen for me by another.
“Aflora!”
The voice had begun to change, the deep quality one I recognized.
My vision wavered, someone shaking me to awareness once more.
And I opened my eyes to see bright green orbs of horror staring down at me, his beautiful lips reddened by my blood.
“Zeph?” I whispered, my voice a rasp of sound. Had his been the bite I felt?
“Fuck,” he breathed. “You scared the shit out of me.”
His mouth touched mine, my essence sweet on his tongue.
He’d bitten me again, tying us closer together.
Yet it wasn’t his image in my mind but one of a male cloaked in white.
My other half.
Then everything went black once more, Zeph’s curse the last sound to grace my thoughts.