18. Zakkai
The power radiatingoff of Aflora seduced my senses, taunting my Quandary Blood abilities. I kept losing myself in her cloak, the tendrils whirling around her filled with delicious energy.
She leaned into my side, her strength waning despite the blood in Zenaida’s shake. Aflora would need to properly feed soon. Yesterday’s training and today’s trial had left her replete and in need of more sustenance. I would ensure she received those nutrients just as soon as we finished up with whatever game Zenaida wanted to play.
She’d made a show of cleaning up the dining table, but Kodiak had insisted on helping her with the dishes, saying she needed to focus on the guests. I gathered from her pinched brow that she would be having a word with him on that later, her desire as an Omega to manage her space evident in the way she kept glancing over to inspect his work in the kitchen.
Her eyes took on a silvery gleam for a moment as the future presented itself to her. After a beat, her features relaxed and she led us to the living area—which expanded like the dining room to accommodate everyone.
I took a seat on a couch with Aflora. Zephyrus settled into the cushion on her opposite side, his arm stretching out behind her while I clasped her hand in my lap.
Shadow and Kolstov took over the love seat.
Ella, short for Isabella, sat in a solitary chair, her shoulders hunched. However, her eyes were vivid and very much alive. I’d never met the girl, but I knew of her through Aflora.
A Halfling.
Mate to Trayton Nacht.
Not all that powerful, but an Elite Blood with mortal qualities after being raised in the Human Realm.
Aflora liked her. They were friends. Therefore, I would protect her by default. Even if I didn’t approve of her mating a Nacht.
Kolstov’s twin, I thought, pinching my lips a little.
Well, if Trayton ended up like Kolstov, I would forgive it.
Maybe.
Aflora laid her head on my shoulder. Tray’s a good Midnight Fae, she told me softly, showing me a strand in her mind that blinked brightly within the dark source. We will save him.
As you wish, little star, I whispered, awed by how easily she pulled up the life strands of Midnight Fae within the dark source. She didn’t seem to realize how advanced that was in terms of power. The dark source was already treating her like a queen, despite the four trials ahead.
“This is the staff,” Zenaida said, pointing at the table.
I arched a brow at the flat, empty surface.
But Aflora gasped as something revealed itself to her exclusively. “May I?” she asked.
Zephyrus met my gaze over her head, his bemused expression rivaling my own feelings. What do you see, little star?
Magic, she whispered. Beautiful magic.
“Yes,” Zenaida replied as she settled onto Vadim’s lap. The chair he’d taken over was wide enough for them to share it side by side, but the Omega seemed to be craving the touch of her mate. Perhaps because her Alpha was still cleaning the kitchen and she needed someone to hold her back from taking over the task.
Or maybe she just wanted to be held.
He wrapped his arms around her, the adoration in his face reminding me of the way Shade often looked at Aflora.
Aflora leaned forward, her fingers curling around air—air that manifested in a vine as she lifted it from the table.
My eyes widened.
Not a vine. A staff.
But the obsidian rock curled around the long, dark pole like a snake-vine up to the impressive sphere at the top. Color glittered from the orb, flashes of cerulean, purple, red, and green, with the underlying core being as black as a starless night.
Magic hummed through the air, reminding me of a wand, the staff immediately taking to Aflora and alighting with powerful approval.
I pulled out the wand Aflora had been using to compare, noting how the magical conduit no longer acknowledged her as the owner.
Because she’d just inherited her true source—the staff. “Where did you find this, Zen?” I asked, using her preferred name only because I wanted her to give me a real answer, not a riddle.
“It’s the royal staff,” Kolstov whispered, awe in his tone.
I glanced at him, having never heard of such a thing. “Royal staff?”
“A relic.” He admired the electricity swirling around the circle at the top. “It was rumored to have been stolen and destroyed by the Quandary Bloods.”
Zenaida snorted. “Not stolen or destroyed, but rightfully mine as the Midnight Fae Queen. However, that cloak around Aflora’s shoulders is a sign from the dark source. The staff has chosen a new owner. Which is why she could see it when the rest of you couldn’t. Set it back down, Aflora, and show them.”
Aflora bent to lay it on the table, and sure enough, the magical conduit disappeared.
However, the energy lingered behind it, my Source Architect power allowing me to identify the general makeup of the staff without actually seeing it. Sort of like looking into an electrical field and sensing the magnetic pulses but being unable to identify the unique layers themselves.
“That’s fascinating,” I said, impressed. “Who created it?”
“Who creates wands?” she countered.
A fair retort to a stupid question on my part. “The source.” Of course. Just like the dark source had created the cloak around Aflora’s shoulders and the choker at her throat holding it on her.
The clothes beneath the cloak were magical as well, but I suspected those were born of necessity for propriety more than the dark source gifting her magic. She would have been naked when she’d shadowed to the village. Just as I’d been naked when I’d started running toward the meadow earlier to find her.
A quick spell had gifted me a button-down shirt, pants, and proper shoes.
Zephyrus wore a matching outfit.
Kolstov and Shade were just in their sleep bottoms and T-shirts.
What an interesting pack we made, our magic all unevenly matched and yet complementary to each other.
I lifted my ankle to rest it on my opposite knee, my focus on Zenaida. “What else did you and Lucifer negotiate?” I asked her, changing the topic away from the staff because I knew that wasn’t the only reason she wanted us here.
Zenaida adored her word games.
And I was a master at solving riddles.
Her blue eyes gleamed with amusement, pleased to have had her game spoiled. Of course, we both knew I’d been aware from the beginning that she was hiding something from us.
I’d just given her time to play hostess, had indulged in breakfast—which, thankfully, had not been poisoned, something I’d verified with magic before taking a bite—and had allowed her to give Aflora the staff because I’d assumed it would be beneficial for her next trial.
“Your father has requested entry,” Zenaida said softly. “I negotiated it, and the request has been granted.”
“Unity trial,” I replied, looking at Kolstov and then at Aflora before refocusing on Zenaida. “How long do we have to prepare?”
The Fortune Fae Omega blinked. “Not long.”
Meaning he was already on his way here. “Is he at the gates yet?” I asked casually, already mentally considering our options.
“Yes,” Aflora replied, reaching for the staff, power rippling around her. “I can feel them.” Her blue eyes met mine. “He’s brought several Quandary Bloods with him.”
“That’s quite the negotiation, Zenaida,” I muttered, glancing at the seer. “I assume you failed to give us notice for a reason?”
“There are no other paths, Zakkai. We were always destined to meet again. And Aflora deserved the break, regardless of how fleeting it could be.” She clasped her hands in her lap. “So now the sides will either join forces or…”
“Destroy each other,” I finished for her. “Thank you for the meal.” That’d been her version of helping us rejuvenate before Aflora’s next trial. My poor mate wasn’t even being given days to recover, just hours. But now that the source had marked her with the cloak, it would want to accelerate her ascension—something Constantine had assured would happen with his antics today.
The Elder had out-strategized me again.
My jaw ticked at the knowledge, my veins flooding with anticipation. “Time to go.”
“There’s more blood in the fridge,” Zenaida murmured. “Take it with you. Aflora will need it.”
Rather than take the offer, I bit into my wrist and held it to Aflora’s mouth.
My mate didn’t hesitate, taking what she needed before Zephyrus followed suit.
Zenaida merely smiled, her gaze knowing. “We’ll keep Ella here while you negotiate,” she said softly. Then she looked at the woman, her expression brightening. “I’ll make you cookies, dear. You’ll love them.”
Shade glanced sharply at his grandmother, but she was already on her way back to shoo Kodiak out of her kitchen.
His icy eyes met mine, his concern palpable.
“We approach them as a unit,” I said as Aflora finished drinking from Kolstov’s vein. Shade was last.
Then the five of us left with Aflora carrying her new staff and leading the way, her confident strides a novel behavior that I hadn’t seen from her before.
It was a definite improvement.
And befitted a queen.
My lips curled at the sight, and I realized all the others wore similar expressions.
Because they were all thinking the same thing as me.
She’s ready.