Chapter 56 Nox
Nox
For the second time in as many days, the nightmares didn’t find me that night. I did wake up several times, though. Not out of distress or despair. Just because…I wanted to see her.
That red hair like fire spilling across my arm, her curves tucked into my side, the way her nose scrunched in sleep and her toes twitched beneath the covers. I wanted to hear her soft, steady breaths and watch the rise and fall of her chest. To know she was safe and not back in those chains.
I hadn’t meant to stay there all night. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave.
Until a sharp knock pounded on the door.
“Hey, get up,” Rose’s muffled voice rang out. “This isn’t a vacation. We’ve got work to do.” There was one more knock, and then, “I know Nox is in there. Be downstairs in twenty minutes, or I’m releasing the bride on you.”
Devora flipped onto her back with a groan and stretched her arms above her head.
I couldn’t help but smile when her sleepy eyes met mine.
The terrors of her nightmare were still there, but somehow, seeing her like this dimmed their sharp edges.
Her bright blue-green eyes were crinkled, an adorable crease appearing at her brow as she fought a yawn.
Her lips slowly pulled into a grin, and it transformed her entire face. “What are you staring at?” she asked, voice still raspy.
“Nothing.” I shrugged. “I just never get to see you like this. I like it.”
She chuckled. “What, morning breath and tangled hair?”
I propped my elbow on the pillow. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. “You’re beautiful, Devora. No matter the time of day.”
Her smile faltered, a hint of vulnerability sliding into her gaze. She tried to dip her head, but I put a finger under her chin, leaning forward to brush my lips against hers—a promise and a reminder all at once. That our kiss last night had been real. That it meant something to me.
When I broke away, she let out a soft breath that sent fire to my core. Her hand came up to the side of my neck to pull me closer.
Another bang sounded on the door. This time, it was a deeper voice that yelled at us. “Rose wasn’t kidding. Up. Now.”
Devora sighed. Her mouth was still close enough to mine that her breath made goosebumps rise along my neck. “Leo. That Shifter hearing is annoying.”
I froze with my lips on the edge of her mouth. Heat surged as my dragon half growled, possessiveness boiling to the surface.
I hummed and traced a path down her jaw. “Think very carefully before saying another man’s name right now, darling.”
She chuckled and pushed my shoulders. “Are all Shifters so territorial?”
“You have no idea,” I murmured. That little smirk I loved toyed across her features, and in that moment, I didn’t care if Rissa sent her entire Royal Guard to beat down the door. Placing a hand on her hip, I moved back in for another kiss.
My lips met the back of her hand. I narrowed my eyes as she giggled. “We have to go help with wedding stuff, Nox.”
“I don’t care. It’s not like it’s my wedding.”
She swatted my shoulder. “You’re a bad influence.” When she leaned against the headboard, her head hit the back wall. She reached for it with a wince, then snorted as we both remembered her shadows had destroyed the entire bedframe.
“Great, now I have to tell Clarissa about this.” She hitched a thumb at the hunk of broken wood. “She’s barely forgiven me as it is.”
I hauled myself off the bed and lifted my arms high in a stretch. I caught her staring with her teeth dragging at her bottom lip. “You can’t keep looking at me like that, darling,” I rasped.
She shuffled to the edge of the bed and looped a finger in the waistband of my cotton pants. “Like what?” Her bright eyes flared.
I dragged my nose along her temple, then down to her jaw and below her ear. Her breath hitched when I gently pulled at her earlobe with my teeth. “Like you want me to be a bad influence.”
She tugged me closer to her. “I’m probably worse,” she whispered. Without warning, she turned her head to capture my lips again, and, Fates, I was helpless. I wrapped her long hair around my fist, then pulled her head back to deepen the kiss.
More pounding at the door. “I swear, if you two don’t—”
Devora broke away right as we both shouted, “We’re coming!”
She looked back at me, chest heaving, and pointed at the adjoining door between our two chambers. “Go. Now. Before I do something I’ll regret.”
I chuckled. With one last kiss to the curve of her neck, I pushed away. “Yes, ma’am.”
The last thing I saw before I shut the door was her smiling face, and it was the happiest I’d been in decades.
We spent the day running around the palace and the central sector of Veridia City, picking up last-minute orders for both the welcome feast and the wedding. Considering this was the first royal wedding since Rissa’s own parents were married, the entire capital was buzzing with excitement.
I barely saw Devora all day. She was overseeing floral arrangements with Rose, and then delivering gowns and suits to the family. Leo and I were in the kitchen, making sure the food and cakes were on time.
The day passed in a whirlwind of lace, flower petals, and icing, but it was all worth it to see the look on Rissa and Thorne’s face when we celebrated them at the welcome feast. I was worried she wouldn’t be able to put last night’s conversation behind her and simply enjoy herself—Rissa had always viewed taking care of her own needs as selfish—but the smile on her face said it all.
She, Thorne, and Marigold were the perfect family. Happy and adored and loved without condition.
I had a sense of happiness and love with my Order, but this…this kind of love was something I had fought against ever since I learned it could be weaponized. And yet, I felt it trying to slip its way through in a swath of shadows and red waves.
The worst part was that I didn’t know how to stop it.
I didn’t know if I could stop it anymore.
I knew deep down that I wasn’t like my half-brother, however much my own fears tried to twist my thoughts.
But part of me wondered if I wasn’t my own brand of monster.
Knowing the way I felt about someone would only hurt them in the end, and being selfish enough to take what I wanted anyway.
Being with Devora didn’t make me forget about the consequences—she made me unafraid to face them. She made me feel brave and bold, passionate and slightly irresponsible. She made me feel free. Something I hadn’t felt since I was taken from my home and forced in a cell.
But in those moments when she was gone, the doubts rose again.
If my happiness was her death sentence, how could I ever let myself keep her?
The welcome feast bled into night, and as the guests made their way back to the guest wing or to their own homes in the capital, our little group found ourselves up in Rissa’s personal study with the leftover wine and several plates of cake.
Chaz, the burly guard who was the biggest goof of us all, was laughing with Leo in the corner by Rissa’s desk.
Rose sat on a nearby settee next to Lark, and every once in a while, Rose would leisurely reach behind and rest a hand on Leo’s knee.
Thorne was rubbing Rissa’s feet in front of the fireplace while she ate small pieces of cake.
The crackling fire sent a pleasant, sleepy haze over the room.
When Devora settled next to me on the couch with another plate of sweets, I had to physically restrain myself from pulling her onto my lap.
Fates, she looked good. She had on a dark purple pantsuit with sheer sleeves that accentuated her curves, and a cape attached at the waist that gave the illusion of a dress.
My eyes kept straying to her, even when others tried to talk to me.
“Who gave these two adjoining rooms, anyway?” Rose said from across the office, tipping her chin toward us. “You know, it would be a shame if someone just so happened to spell your doors shut tonight.”
I gave her a lazy grin. “Your little spells can’t hold me for long, viper. I’m immune to all your little tricks.”
Her green eyes sparkled. “That’s what they always say.”
“What about Grimlock?” Rissa called from her chair, where Thorne still massaged her feet and calves. “Is the mighty dragon Shifter immune to that?”
“What’s Grimlock?” Devora asked.
“A specialty drink of the capital,” Rose said. “I discovered it for the first time last year. It makes you unable to tell lies.”
Devora raised an eyebrow. “And people drink this for fun?”
“It’s mostly used for interrogations,” I said with a shrug.
Lark added, “But dear Rissa likes to make it into a game.”
“Not this again,” Leo grumbled.
“What? It is fun,” Rissa said innocently when her brother shot her a look.
To Devora, she said, “Someone gives you a dare, and you either do it, or take a drink of Grimlock while they ask you whatever they want. I call it Grimlock or Glory. We used to play it at our favorite tavern when we were younger and one of us had snuck in a bottle of it.”
I hummed. “Perhaps the night before your wedding isn’t the best time to play, Rissa.”
She gave me a sweet smile. “I’m the bride.” She cocked her head. “And the empress, for that matter.”
“I mean, I’m down,” Chaz boomed from his seat by the desk. He propped his boots on top of Rissa’s desk, and when she arched an eyebrow at him, he hastily removed them.
“Fine. Chaz, you go first,” Rissa said. “Grimlock or Glory?”
He puffed out his large chest. “Glory. Always.”
Rissa held out her empty plate, her lips turning up into a fox-like grin. “Stride to the kitchens and get me more cake.” Chaz scoffed and crossed the room to grab her plate, but she snatched it back and added, “And bring back the cook’s undergarments.”
“Done and done. I’ve been trying to get Lyra to go out with me for ages anyway,” Chaz said, swiping the plate from her with a salute. “Come on, Rissa. At least give me a challenge.” Then he vanished into thin air.
“Alright, Leo, while we’re waiting for him, it’s your turn,” Rissa said in a sing-song voice. “Grimlock or Glory?”
“I’ve been burned one too many times by you, sister,” Leo said. “Grimlock.”
Rissa got up and walked to her desk, opened a cabinet, and pulled out a bottle of gray liquid. She poured a small amount into a glass and held it out to Leo. When he drank it, she waited a few seconds before asking, “Who would win in a fight, you or Nox?”
He gave her a bland look. “Seriously? That’s not even a good question.”
“I don’t know, sounds good to me,” I interjected.
“You know the rules, Leo,” Rissa said.
Leo sighed. “Fine. I guess…” He gave a little growl. “Nox.”
Rose snickered, and I barked out a laugh. Leo had slowly warmed up to me over the year I’d known him, but it took a while for the broody half Shifter, half Alchemist to fully trust me. It didn’t help that I knew how to push his buttons.
“I’m touched, monkey boy,” I crooned, using the nickname Rose affectionately gave him.
“You’re a dragon,” he mumbled under his breath, shifting in his seat as if the words pained him to say. He looked like he was trying to burrow into the ground. “Nobody can beat a dragon. You’re too amazing.” He clamped his lips shut and glared at me.
My grin broadened. “I knew you liked me.”
“Fates, as if his ego wasn’t already large enough,” Devora said with a roll of her eyes, then shot me a wink.
“Your turn then, Devora, darling,” I teased. “Grimlock or Glory?”
Devora’s smile slowly faded as she looked between Rissa and me, holding our stares for several seconds. Finally, she turned to me. “Grimlock.”
The steadfast look in her eyes made all the humor leave me. It felt like a turning point. A full white flag of surrender. If there was any part of me that didn’t trust her, this was her way of proving once and for all that she was on our side. The Grimlock would make her spill any secret, any lie.
But I didn’t need her to prove herself. I trusted her beyond the shadow of a doubt.
The others might have used this opportunity to ask her if she was truly loyal to us.
To make sure she regretted her actions with Rissa in Mysthelm, to appease their own worries that she might betray one of us again.
That was what Devora expected. I could see it in her eyes, like she was preparing for battle.
She was always shielding herself against the words and expectations of others. A quick joke, a sarcastic comment, a defensive stance. Even her shadows liked to guard her, a second layer of skin she subconsciously developed.
I knew I was partially responsible for putting it there, with the way I treated her in the beginning. But I wanted her to know that I didn’t need proof of the kind of person she was. I knew the truth in my bones.
“Nox?” Rissa held out a glass of Grimlock. I took it, then slowly handed it to Devora. She didn’t take her eyes off me as she downed the contents in one go.
“Devora…” I started, lingering on her name. Her heartbeat remained steady, her shoulders straight, her stare unwavering.
My lips tilted into a smirk. “Petunias or tulips?”
Her head reared back. “What?”
“Marigold told me I should get you flowers for the wedding. So, which do you prefer, petunias or tulips?”
A soft laugh escaped her, and I could have sworn her eyes misted over before she blinked it back. “Tulips. But only the dark ones.”
“Whatever you want, darling.” My fingers brushed hers as I took back the glass, then I looked at Thorne. “That little girl of yours is far more perceptive than I gave her credit for.”
“And she knows it,” Thorne agreed.
Thud. A heavy pair of boots hit the floor as Chaz reappeared. He had a plate piled high with meats, cheese, and all sorts of pastries in one hand, and a pair of black boxers in the other.
When we all glanced between him and the boxers, he grunted. “I thought Lyra would be the cook on duty tonight, but she wasn’t. Say hello to Matthias.”
He waved the boxers in the air, and we all burst into laughter.