Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
W ith an unsettling feeling swirling in the pit of my stomach, I made my way to the center of Ophelia.
Sebastian would’ve finished packing up his gear from archery by now, and with any luck, I could catch him before he made it home.
Thwack .
The sound pierced the air, clear and precise. I froze. Every bone in my body told me I had to be imagining things, instinct told me otherwise. A second thwack cut through the silence.
No friggin’ way.
The sound was unmistakable; an axe slicing through wood. On any other day, it would be commonplace, but today wasn’t a normal day. No one who lived in Ophelia would be cutting wood, at least not willingly, not on the day of the festival.
Another thwack followed, this one more forceful, like someone had something to prove.
It should’ve been easy to walk away without a second of hesitation. Not for me. Curiosity seethed, curling its white-hot tendrils through me until I couldn’t ignore the desire any longer.
Rounding a corner, I searched for the source of the sound. Homes still surrounded me—though most were empty at this time during the day, everyone at the tournaments, eating, and visiting with one another—but at the far end, just out of sight, was a small copse of tree stumps where everyone chopped their wood.
It sat on the corner, tucked far enough back that you couldn’t see it until you were almost on top of it. Whoever had pissed the chief off enough to be punished, was still hidden from my view—but I had a guess.
Sebastian.
The thought of my best friend being stupid enough to incur the chief’s wraith on a day like today brought an oddly satisfying smile to my lips.
Sebastian was the only person in Ophelia that could challenge me when it came to being a pain in my uncle’s arse.
Caught between our chaos, my uncle found himself in a never-ending battle. Balancing the two of us was like taming a storm—he never stood a chance.
It was hard to admit it to myself but I needed this. I needed to see my best friend covered in sweat and regret from whatever stupid decision led him to this situation. Some baser part of me… ached for the comfort carved into me by him alone. Even if it meant laughing at his misery.
Maybe it was selfish, but the part of me that was still broken from losing Dad… needed him. His familiarity. His warmth. He was my person.
Besides, there was nothing more delicious than watching Sebastian suffer—and I planned on enjoying every second. I practically sprinted around the corner, losing my balance and nearly landing arse-up in the dirt.
Straightening, I caught sight of him—and my stomach did that stupid, traitorous flip, the one that always seemed to betray me whenever he smirked like that.
I stopped moving.
Stopped breathing.
Sebastian was shirtless. Completely, unapologetically shirtless.
Droplets of sweat trailed down his naked torso, golden skin glistening as the translucent orbs clung to the curve of every muscle. Ink laced across his chest—a phoenix rising from his heart, its wings unfurling like flame given form, stretching up to kiss his collarbone. Flames curled over his right arm, winding up his bicep and seamlessly merging with the fire etched by the phoenix—like the two were made to burn as one.
Fuck he was glorious. No. He was more than that. It was like the Gods had hand sculpted my ideal temptation and then cursed me with it, just to watch me suffer.
No.
It wasn’t just suffering—it was exquisite torture.
I stood frozen, watching him sweep the soft brown strands of hair from his eyes, the ones that always danced just close enough to tease his lashes. I took a deep breath, watching as he raised the axe again, muscles flexing across his stomach, his smirk a sin all by itself.
His golden eyes found mine—and for a second, everything inside me locked up
His smile was instant.
All-consuming.
Devastating.
“Well, well. Look who finally decided to grace us with her presence.”
His voice was a teasing, cocky concoction that simultaneously lit the flame to my anger and turned my insides to ash. And that was nothing compared to the look that lingered in his eyes—the look that held for just a second too long.
The kind of look that could bring a lesser person to their knees.
“Screw you,” I said, but it didn’t hold the venom I intended.
His axe hit the wood with brutal precision. One clean strike. No wasted energy. Just raw, terrifying power wrapped in ridiculous charm.
“Admit it,” he said, voice lower now, scraping with an edge that coiled my insides a little too tightly. “You missed me.”
Gods help me—I had. Even if he knew all the wrong—or right ways—to wind me up to the point of breaking.
Worse still, I hated how good he looked while doing it. Hated the way my stomach twisted like it didn’t know that we were friends, nothing more.
He was my best friend.
My chaos.
And yet—Gods did he have to smirk like that?
I should’ve said something sarcastic. But my brain—traitorous thing—was too busy admiring the way his lips curved when he smirked.
How many times had that smirk unraveled me without permission?
“I missed watching you make a fool of yourself,” I muttered. “So yeah. A little.”
He straightened slowly, dragging a hand through his sweat-soaked hair, the brown strands clinging to his temples. His chest raising and falling like he was affected by far more than the physical activity—and the look in his eyes only confirmed it.
There was something between us.
Something unspoken.
A charged silence descended, beating with a silent pulse of a heart-beat. Neither of us moved. His liquid amber eyes didn’t waver—and for once, neither did mine.
He dragged his teeth across his full bottom lip–slow, controlled, like the movement alone might imprison the words we both knew he could never take back. And yet I wished he would finally speak them. But I knew he wouldn’t.
And neither would I.
This wasn’t just tension. This wasn’t just years of teasing and chaos, this was…
Something else .
Say something my mind begged.
Anything.
But the space between us wasn’t safe anymore. I knew if I moved even an inch, I wouldn’t be able to stop.
What would it mean if he rejected me?
What would it mean if he didn’t?
I was stuck in limbo, torn between what I so desperately wanted and afraid of ruining everything that was already so perfect between us.
He cleared his throat, the sound too sharp in the silence—like it alone could undo everything that had passed between us.
It didn’t.
The tension stayed. Intensified, even. Thick and pulsing, like a second heartbeat neither one of us would acknowledge.
“Maalikai,” Sebastian called, his voice rough with something untamed, “you’re really nailing the whole brooding thing, but if you feel like doing something useful , I wouldn’t mind some help.”
Who in Nexus was Maalikai?
The air shifted.
I didn’t see him at first.
I felt him.
The way you feel the weight of thunder before the sky cracks open. The way everything stills for just a heartbeat before it breaks.
My gaze lifted—and found his.
Who was he ?
He stood half-swallowed in the darkness of a narrow overhang, arms crossed, gaze unreadable—like he’d been watching long before I noticed. He filled the space without trying, his presence too heavy to ignore—a quiet storm, contained, but only just. Shoulders set like stone, eyes downcast like he had no interest in, well… anything. He was all hard edges and stillness of something barely leashed.
He didn’t speak.
Didn’t blink.
He didn’t need to.
He was the kind of quiet that felt dangerous
There was something in his composure. Like he was built to wait. To endure. To watch a war unfold before deciding whether to end it with his own hands or just let the whole world burn around him.
No softness.
Nor warmth.
Just the echo of something wild. Something caged. A violence held back by threadbare control.
It wasn’t an invitation.
It was a warning.
Yet I wanted to step closer anyway. The primal part of me wasn’t just drawn to him.
It demanded him.
“Maalikai?” Sebastian repeated.
His voice, when it came, was quiet, a low rumble edged with power. I felt it more than I heard it.
“It’s not my burden.”
Sebastian laughed. “No shit. That’s why I asked.”
Silence.
Like he had somehow learnt how to control the shadows and sat silent with them commanding the air around him.
Then—his gaze slid to mine.
As if in slow motion, thick, dark lashes swept up revealing the eyes of a God, and for a second I was completely engrossed in the deadly deep pools of azure.
He raised a single brow, and though no smile crossed his face, it almost felt like he was daring me to ignore the world around us, as if he and I were the only two in existence.
It wasn’t the first glance that undid me—it was the second, the one that lingered.
His stare didn’t just meet mine.
It swallowed it.
Taking the last of my breath with it.
His eyes didn’t soften. Not really. But they changed. Just enough. Like something flickered beneath the cold, something unspoken and wild, something that made my blood heat in a way I didn’t understand.
His stare pinned me, unreadable and sharp, and my heart betrayed me by thudding far too loudly, rushing through my head, each beat a treacherous roar.
Sebastian noticed.
Of course he did.
His next swing came faster, rougher, the axe biting deeper than before. He didn’t say a word, but the grin he’d worn seconds ago had slipped to a scowl.
“How about you do us all a favour and wipe the drool off your face?” A sweet feminine voice chided.
My eyes snapped up, capturing the demonic dark brown eyes of my least favorite person in the entire world.
“Josephine.” I practically spat the name out, saying it like it caused me physical pain.
She turned to me, her blonde, nearly white, hair slithering over her shoulder at her movement. The dress she wore was as intricate as mine but a golden yellow color. I could see lace swirls trailing up the bodice and hated how breathtaking she looked in it.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt your little moment, ” she purred. “I’d thought I’d save you the embarrassment but then I remembered… it’s you. Not even I can work miracles.”
“Still thriving on spite, I see.” I remarked, not bothering to hide the eye roll.
“Wearing blue again? Bold, considering how much it clashes with your lack of charm.”
Josephine’s smile was all teeth and venom. She cocked a hip, letting her fingers trail lazily through her long, gorgeous hair. Her eyes dragged over me, slow and dismissive, before turning to Evie with a soft, calculated laugh—like I was already forgotten.
Josephine didn’t faze me, I’d been tolerating her my entire life, and I knew exactly where to aim to wound her.
“Don’t be jealous Josie. I’m sure there is someone out there who is into girls with the emotional range of a dried horse poo.” I arched a brow, folding my arms as I leaned back just enough to let the smirk curl across my lips.
One slow blink.
A tilt of my head.
The verbal dagger had landed—and I didn’t even flinch.
The gasp from Evie only added to the sting in Josephine’s features. A hiccup of a second passed before her sneer returned, in full force.
“At least I don’t throw myself at anything with a pulse.” She snapped.
The insult was beyond laughable, I’d never even been kissed, not that she knew that. But if she wanted to go down a warpath, then fine. I was happy to oblige.
“No, you prefer the ones without a pulse and still you don’t have a chance.”
Evie snorted. Sebastian bit down on a laugh, swinging the axe like it would somehow distract from the tension.
“Must be exhausting.” I added, voice syrup-sweet, “waking up every day and deciding to be this insufferable.”
“Must be exhausting being an absolute cunt!” She spat back, venom flicking spittle in my face.
Well holy crap.
That was extreme.
Josephine was usually the picture of perfection, I’d never even heard her cuss. For her first time, I was almost impressed.
I opened my mouth to say something but didn’t get the chance.
“We haven’t met.” A deep timbre voice rumbled—low, rich—like something pulled from the embers of a dying fire.
A shadow of a smile touched his lips, if you could even call it that. His eyes dragged over me—slow, deliberate. Not like a lover’s touch, but something darker.
Curious.
His gaze didn’t so much as flicker as he held my stare—unfazed. Unreadable. Silently studying me, like he was trying to decide if I was a threat or temptation.
Maybe both.
And for a second—just a breath—his eyes softened. The hard glacier-blue flickering, like something wild stirred beneath the surface. Not enough to be certain. But enough to make me forget how to breathe.
Whoa .
What was wrong with me?
I was practically drooling over a perfect stranger.
That was crazy, especially for me.
I was the last person in the world who went crazy over guys, except maybe Sebastian. But he was on a level of his own.
Okay, fair enough—this guy was overbearingly tall, dark and freaking smoking. The worn fabric of his sleeves barely hid the muscles underneath—sinewy and strong, carved by strength and tempered through something that looked a lot like trial and pain. His abs were ridiculous. His chest? Impossible to miss. Not even his jet-black shirt could hide that level of sculpted sin.
Still.
That was no excuse.
Taking a deep breath, I decided to be logical and focus on the facts. He must’ve been passing through Ophelia and decided to stay for the Goddess festival. He had probably wormed his way into staying with Sebastian—they already seemed well acquainted, and Uncle Thrainn had a weakness for strays. Case and point: Sebastian. He’d lived with my uncle for over a decade—ever since losing both his parents.
I knew I should say something instead of staring at him like a freak, but what could I say without sounding like an idiot?
A simple hello seemed too trivial, too tame.
And I wasn’t about to hand him the satisfaction
of knowing he’d rattled me.
Not that I could form a coherent sentence anyway. My brain had abandoned all logic and tangled itself in chaos, and I was doing a terrible job of pretending otherwise.
There was a quiet authority in the way he moved, like the world was brought to its knees without needing a command.
He wiped his brow, his mouth tugging into something that wasn’t quite a smile—more like a shadow of one—an unreadable flicker barely decipherable in his expression.
With slow, precise grace, he crossed his arms over his chest–the movement coiled in quiet control. There was nothing rushed in the motion. Nothing casual. Just that same quiet power, like he was always on the edge of doing something violent, but hadn’t decided who deserved it yet.
Completely obliterating.
And undeniably him .
I fought the pull, forced myself not to stare—but his eyes, glacial and unyielding, held mine like they already knew too much.
Something tugged at me from within, deep and dangerous, and heat crept up my neck before I could stop it.
But I didn’t melt.
I didn’t run.
I held his gaze like it was a challenge.
Josephine took my inability to respond as as an invitation to invade his personal space, her arms wrapping around one of his behemoth arms as if he belonged to her.
His movement was instant. Subtle, but unmistakable. A quiet shift of muscle, as if her touch had scorched him. He didn’t just recoil—he rejected it, rejected her .
The air between them crackled, charged with an energy that almost visibly fractured.
Maalikai’s scowl was instant, coated so thickly in a layer of malice that I almost flinched.
Slowly, deliberately, he pulled his arm free, as if one more second of contact would make him physically ill.
“Playing hard to get?” she purred, trying to recover, tilting her head like she hadn’t just been dismissed .
My eyes darted between them, sickened by how comfortable she was trying to make herself in his personal space.
Who was I kidding?
Josephine was a straight-up slut. I was surprised she hadn’t already ripped her bodice open for him. She always was sniffing around Sebastian, trying to appeal to his baser instincts.
Maalikai didn’t dignify her with a response.
He didn’t even look at her.
Didn’t acknowledge her.
And somehow the silence was louder than any insult. The power of saying nothing at all was deafening.
And Gods, was it brutal.
My eyes snapped between them. Disbelief charging the air. The shadow that fell across Josephine’s eyes was sickening, realisation leaving its mark on her.
All because she didn’t have him.
Not even close. And she knew it.
I almost felt bad for her.
Almost.
I died a little inside from secondhand embarrassment.
“Well this is beyond mortifying.” The words left me before I had a chance to cage them.
Josephine’s eyes flared, her rejection unraveling into something wild.
She whipped toward me, vengeance burning in her gaze. “Honestly? I thought we’d be spared your presence this year. You know, with your dad being dead and all. But I guess I’m just not that lucky.”
Molten lava filed my stomach, a wrath so perverse and all-consuming, liquifying my insides. I was at risk of dismembering her right there.
“And you’re still bitch. So yeah—guess we’re both disappointed.”
I should’ve watched my mouth. I knew I should’ve. But she set the pyre, then sparked the flame—I just unapologetically fanned the flames just to watch it blaze.
Josephine’s words seethed in my mind. I didn’t think she could be capable of being so cold-blooded and heartless, I didn’t think even she would be capable of bringing my dead father into our vendetta.
But, I shouldn’t have been surprised; cold-hearted bitch was right in her repertoire. I’d always known she liked to play dirty. But if she wanted a fight, I’d give her a fight.
Squaring up, I took a step forward. Before I had a chance to say something I’d actually regret, a low voice cut clean through the tension.
“That’s enough.”
Maalikai didn’t raise his voice.
He didn’t need to.
He commanded an air of danger, like someone used to being obeyed without question.
Fair enough, he had that whole broody, alpha thing going for him. Undeniably sexy, dominating, even magnetic—like he owned the room just by existing.
Cute.
Too bad for him, I wasn’t in the mood to kneel.
I didn’t care how unnerving his power was.
He had no control over me.
None.
He didn’t get to command shit.
Especially not me.
“Screw. You.”
I didn’t soften my words.
I didn’t look away.
Didn’t flinch.
Let him see it—all of it—the fury, the fire, the part of me that refused to bend.
I was reckless and unapologetic. I definitely wasn’t one of those girl’s you brought home to meet your mother.
I was a troublemaker, and I didn’t have a second to waste on the bullshit. Josephine had claimed him—whether he realised it or not. There was no point competing. No matter how much I loathed her, even I could admit she was drop-dead gorgeous.
No guy in their right mind would pay me a single second of attention when Josephine could be their first choice. And even though he seemed to dismiss her for now, it wouldn’t take long.
She always sank her talons in eventually.
He didn’t blink.
No anger. No surprise.
Just the faintest pull at the corner of his mouth—like I was amusing.
“Noted.”
No reaction.
Not even a flicker.
Just that maddening stillness—like he was letting me burn out on my own.
And Gods, I hated him for it.
Almost as much as I hated how much I wanted to win whatever game this was.
“Well, this was fun.” I flashed Josephine the kind of smile that said choke on it. Then turned on my heel and walked away like I hadn’t just imagined smashing her head into the nearest wall.
“Good riddance.”
I paused just long enough to look over my shoulder, eyes narrowing. “Careful, Josie. The stick up your ass is showing.”
Her expression was priceless, all fury and full of murder. I didn’t wait to enjoy it.
Without a word, I turned, disappearing down the path. The last thing I saw before forcing myself to look away was the ghost of a smile on Maalikai’s lips.
Daring me.
Coaxing me.
His gazed pinned me like a question I hadn’t been asked—but was already expected to answer. Like he was daring me to rise to a challenge I didn’t even know I’d already accepted. And somehow, I could feel it burning beneath my skin–like it wasn’t just demanding I survive it, but conquer it.
Command it.
Rule it.
Like I was born to be its Gods-damned queen.
Vanishing down a side alley, I melted into the wall. The alley swallowed me whole. Only when I hit the stone wall did I let myself breathe—and barely.
Shallow.
Uneven.
Like I’d just sprinted for my life.
Finally alone.
Finally safe to lose control.
Gods, I hated him. Hated the way one look made feel exposed.
Vulnerable.
Hated how smug he looked about it.
Hated that I was so aware of him.
Blue. Cerulean blue.
The color blue was burned into my mind. I couldn’t shake it. Couldn’t think past it. It lingered, seared into my mind like a brand, haunting every breath I took.
Get a grip, Em.
I was going to blame this all on my virgin hormones.
They were clearly batshit crazy.
After a few eternal seconds, I managed to get my breathing under control. Pain helped. A particularly pointy stone edged itself into my spine, dragging me back to reality and out of my vrykolakas-like trance.
With a ragged sigh, I pushed myself off the wall. Straightening my dress, I finally regained a grip on my composure.
I wasn’t going to be that girl.
Not for him.
Not of anyone.
“Get a hold of yourself.” I scolded, barely above a whisper. “You’re better than this.”
And I was.
I refused to surrender to my body’s traitorous whims. It clearly didn’t know what was good for it.
But I did.
I wasn’t going to let Maalikai have this effect on me.
I wasn’t even going to think about him.
Not a single damn thought.
Screw him.