Chapter 48 #2
Again, I have far too much experience with this brand of wanting to recognize the signs. I’ve been staring at them in the mirror daily for more than a year now.
Moe, meanwhile, remains blissfully unaware she is being hunted.
They pause at a fabric merchant, and Lis drifts behind her lifting a curtain of black silk and holding it beside Moe’s shoulder as if assessing how it would look draped over her body.
My stomach drops.
She is envisioning outfits for her. Probably already undressing her in her mind.
Planning, perhaps, how best to present her female once she has succeeded in stealing her away.
The silk brushes Moe’s arm. Lis murmurs something into her ear. Moe laughs.
I grip the nearest stone column so hard dust crumbles beneath my fingers.
How much has she laughed today? More than she laughed with me yesterday?
That thought lands like a blade to the ribs. No matter how injured I’ve been since we got to Aimaxion, I’ve never felt a pain so potent.
At one point the crowd thickens and a group of larger warriors shoves between them.
Before I can react, Lis catches Moe by the waist and pulls her neatly against her side to keep her from being jostled.
My vision tunnels.
Waist. She touched her waist. That is not accidental. That is not protective. That is ownership.
Possession.
By the Seven, that is a declaration, clear like the two moons!
Moe’s hand catches briefly against Lis’s forearm as she steadies herself. Neither of them immediately move away.
My heartbeat pounds in my ears so violently I scarcely hear the market around me anymore.
Gods. I don’t know how much longer I can stand in the shadows and not do anything.
They stop at a perfume stall and Lis selects a vial. She uncaps it, and gently takes Moe’s wrist.
My entire body goes rigid.
She presses the scent against her pulse point. Then leans in to smell her skin.
Everything inside me goes perfectly still. I may actually black out.
She is smelling her.
Smelling. My. Female.
And she’s doing it in public. Without shame. Without even pretending subtlety.
And Moe—my sweet, innocent Moe… She blushes.
A roaring sound fills my ears.
This is catastrophic!
This has progressed far beyond what I initially feared. This is no mere flirtation. This is active courtship. Aggressive courtship. Possibly pre-betrothal.
My thoughts begin deteriorating completely.
Has Lis already confessed to her?
Has Moe confessed back?
Are they speaking in code right now?
Was this entire outing a date?
Am I following them on a date?
The realization hits with enough force to make me physically stagger.
A date…
I am watching them on a date.
Like some pathetic, lovesick fool skulking through alleyways while the female I love is entertaining another.
At this rate they will be exchanging vows by sunset.
Perhaps that is why Lis brought her here—to purchase rings.
My gaze snaps wildly to the nearby ring jewelers.
Fuck! This is the plan. She has softened her up with sweets and flowers and compliments, and now she will propose.
That’s it. I shove through the crowd, my pulse hammering in my chest. I can no longer stand still and observe this madness. Because if I wait any longer… If I give them even ten more minutes…
I may turn around and find Moe draped in jewels, promised to a lunatic, and halfway through planning their wedding when she promised she would be planning our own.
This is what I get for being a nearly destitute nobody.
I shove through the crowd before reason can stop me. Pedestrians scatter as I plow a path forward, cursing me, some even challenging me to a fight.
I ignore all noise, my vision tunneled to the extreme.
Enough is enough.
“Moe.”
My voice cuts through the marketplace chatter.
Both of Moe and Lis turn.
Moe startles so violently she nearly drops the flowers in her hands.
“Nyk?” Her brows knit together. “What are you doing here—”
“You are coming with me.” I seize her wrist and drag her with me.
She blinks. “What?”
“Now.”
Lis steps smoothly between us before I can pull Moe away.
“Unhand her.”
My eyes narrow. Protective already. Bold of her to try this with Moe’s mate.
“I am removing her from an obviously compromised situation,” I say coldly.
Moe stares between us. “Compromised? What are you talking about?”
I point at Lis. “Her.”
Lis’s eyes grow wide. “...Me?” she asks.
“Yes, you.”
Moe looks at me as though I have sustained severe head trauma. “Nyk, what is wrong with you?”
“What is wrong with me?” I repeat in disbelief. “What is wrong with me? I should be asking what is wrong with you, wandering around unattended with someone whose intentions are clearly predatory—”
Lis lets out a short laugh.
I glare at her.
“You think this is amusing?”
“A little,” she admits.
My eye twitches. Every killing instinct in my body tells me to act.
Moe pulls her wrist free from my grip. “Explain yourself, Nyk. Right now.”
I stare at her. Then at Lis. Then back at Moe.
“You cannot seriously be this oblivious.” I tell her.
“To what?” She tilts her head to the side.
“To this,” I snap, gesturing aggressively between them. “The gifts, the touching, the whispering, the staring, the flowers, the perfume, the sweets…. The jewelry—By the Seven, the jewelry!”
Understanding dawns on Moe’s face. Then horror. Then her cheeks turn a bright red.
“Oh my goodness,” she whispers.
“Yes,” I say grimly. “Exactly.”
I knew she was a sensible female. Surely now that I’ve pointed out those events specifically she can finally see that Lis doesn’t have honorable intentions towards her.
Lis presses her lips together, her shoulders trembling with mirth.
Moe covers her face with one hand. “Nyk…”
“You may not realize it yet,” I continue, laying out the facts in the open. “But this female has spent the entire day courting you while you smiled through it.”
No sooner do I finish speaking than Lis doubles over laughing.
Nearby shoppers begin staring and whispering about us.
I stand there seething while she clutches her stomach and tries—and fails—to compose herself.
Moe makes a strangled noise into her hands.
“You think—” Lis gasps between laughter, “you genuinely think I am trying to seduce her?”
“I know what I saw.” I say confidently and cross my arms over my chest.
That only makes her laugh harder.
Moe finally drops her hands from her face, mortified. “Nyk, she is not trying to seduce me!”
“Then explain the flowers.” I demand.
“She was being nice!”
“The sweets.”
“She was sharing!”
“The perfume on your wrist.”
“She wanted me to smell it!”
“The hand on your waist? Why did she touch you?”
“There was a cart!”
“The necklace at your throat?”
“She thought it matched my dress!”
I glare at them.
“Convenient explanations.”
Lis wipes tears from her eyes, still grinning like a lunatic. “You are unbelievable.”
“No,” I say coldly. “I am observant, and perhaps the only one who can see through your schemes.”
“You followed us through half the market because you thought I was trying to steal your mate.” Lis shakes her head, still laughing.
Heat floods my face at being called out in the open like this. Especially when several nearby merchants turn to look at us, chuckling and gossiping about me.
Moe goes utterly still beside me.
“That is not what happened.”
Lis arches a brow. “Really? Because from where I stood, you looked one moment away from starting a bloodbath over candied fruit.”
“I was assessing a threat.”
“You were stalking us through alleyways and glaring from behind pillars like a deranged ex-lover.”
“I was being discreet,” I say in my defense. I am a shadow wielder now so I can at least cover my tracks.
Moe makes a choking noise.
Lis turns to her with a look of theatrical sympathy. “My condolences. Possessive males are exhausting.”
“I am not possessive,” I snap. Well, perhaps a little. But she says it like it’s a bad thing. I’m just protecting what’s mine.
Both of them stare at me. Then both burst out laughing. Again.
Lis steps closer, lowering her voice with infuriating amusement.
“For the record,” she murmurs, “if I wanted to steal her from you…”
Her gaze flicks deliberately to Moe.
“I would be very direct about it.”
My teeth bare instantly.
“Try it.”
That only widens her smile.
“Oh, I think I’m starting to like you,” she says. “You remind me of someone I know.”
“I assure you the feeling is not mutual,” I grit out.
Moe groans and covers her face with both hands. “Please stop threatening each other in public.”
“I am not threatening her,” I say flatly.
Lis smiles. “He is absolutely threatening me.”
“I am promising consequences.”
Moe makes a strangled sound of despair.
And I continue glaring at Lis, still unconvinced she is as innocent as she claims.
But before I can continue grilling her, a loud siren rings out in the entire district.
I grab Moe’s hand, looking everywhere around us for any upcoming danger.
Lis notices our changed demeanors and asks, “You can hear it?”
“Why? Are we not supposed to?” I snap.
She smiles. “How many Ascension points do you have?”
“As of this morning, four hundred and three.”
“Ah. That explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“Once you reach four hundred points, the battle system changes.”
Both Moe and I look at her in disbelief.
“What do you mean?” Moe asks.
“Only those with four hundred points or more hear the siren. It signals the start of the draw. In short, you no longer get the option to challenge people or be challenged in return. The system chooses your opponent and you must fight them. Usually the fights are between people with similar points regardless of rank.”
“And no one was going to tell us that?” I grumble.
“What, you thought Aimaxion was fair? This is a harvesting realm, Nykander. You either bleed well, or you bleed out.”
“She sounds just like the wraith,” I whisper to Moe. “See, I told you there’s something strange about her.”
Moe elbows me in the stomach.
“So what now?” She asks Lis.
“You should head to the nearest obelisk to see if you’ve been assigned a fight.” She gazes in the distance. “Oh, and one more thing. Battles at this level are open to the public. Anyone can watch you, study your abilities, fighting style and figure out your weaknesses.”