Chapter 27
I set the pink wine down, changing my mind before I take a sip. Just because I’m bummed that a certain dragon shifter isn’t coming doesn’t mean I need to get lost in the blissful ignorance of the drink. I have a big day tomorrow. We have a lot to discuss and a lot to plan.
If I can ever get just the three of us alone again. It’s becoming increasingly harder lately. It almost feels like the world doesn’t want us to be alone. Like it’s pushing these people on us.
“Raef, don’t you dare!” I chastise him as he peruses the table of nox wine beside me. “I don’t ever want to see you like that.”
“Like what?” he asks, pouting.
“Gloomy. Not smiling.”
“I can be gloomy.”
“No, you can’t. I’ve literally never seen it. Even when you were almost d—”
His eyes grow wide. He for sure thought I was about to say that out loud at a social gathering with far too many pointed ears around.
I almost did.
“Anyway…” I say nonchalantly. I knock the cup of wine in his hand to the ground, spilling it everywhere. “Don’t drink that.”
I throw a nearby cloth over the spill and absently wipe it with my foot.
He looks at me, aghast, and it’s the exact reaction I was hoping for. Teasing Raef seems like the perfect distraction right now.
“You know I can just get another one,” he says slowly, eyeing the table that has ten more filled glasses of nox wine.
“Oh. Yeah. Don’t do that.”
“Do it? Okay.”
He grabs one and pours the contents of it in his mouth before I can do anything to stop him.
“Well, friend. Have fun on your journey, I suppose…”
“Thank you,” he grins.
“You know what? This might actually be the entertaining distraction I was looking for.” I change my mind and grab the pink wine, taking just one sip. I don’t want to go too far.
He lifts an eyebrow, grinning ridiculously. “What did you need a distraction from?”
“Oh, you know. Life. Things.”
“Things like… a certain dragon dick?”
I slap his arm. “What is up with you all saying that.”
“It has a nice ring to it.”
“Dragon dick,” I say jokingly, pretending to try out how it sounds. “Dragon dick,” I say again, enunciating slowly.
Raef tilts his head back and laughs, his long, bronzed neck contracting.
He looks behind me and tries his best to stifle a smile, but of course, it’s impossible for him.
I turn to find two dark blueish eyes gazing down at me, causing my stomach to do a twirl.
Damn him and those intense eyes that pierce straight into my soul.
And that woodsy, smoky scent of his. He’s wearing a short-sleeved black shirt tonight, with black pants and boots. His muscular arms are on full display.
Damn him.
I love a guy in all black. I don’t know what it is.
“You came…”
He nods, his mouth forming a tight-lipped smile.
I subtly look behind him.
“She’s not here,” he says cooly, fixing his heavy-lidded eyes on me.
“I didn’t—"
“Since we trust each other now,” he says, stepping closer. His scent overwhelms my senses. “And you’re so curious… Yara and I used to fuck. Long before we came here. It was never anything more.”
My heart has stopped beating as the smooth words drip from his mouth. I don’t know what curse he’s put on me, but I can’t seem to think straight when he looks at me like that. Jealousy churns inside me, and yet I’m also drowning in this… other feeling he stirs in of me. One I don’t want to name.
“O…kay. So why didn’t she come?”
“I couldn’t bring her here tonight. She kind of hates you.”
I could have guessed that, based on the way she glares at me. “Is she the one who was told to go home, but didn’t?” I ask, feeling emboldened. My stomach is beginning to feel lighter, and so is my head.
That damn pink wine.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” he asks.
“Why did you tell her to go?”
“Because she wasn’t needed here…” he says.
“Oh.”
He releases a breath through his nose and smirks.
“Wine?” I offer him when he doesn’t say anything more on the matter.
“I’m good,” he replies, crossing his arms and glancing at the people standing around.
Meela has one rather large main room, plus her bedroom, closet, and a bathroom.
Not a lot of space, but enough for twenty to thirty people to stand around comfortably.
A musician stands in the corner, softly playing a smooth string instrument.
Most of the people here are elves we grew up with.
Daughters or sons of castle staff or members of my father’s court, a handmaiden or two…
most of them have intermingled over the years, though I usually kept to myself.
There’d been a night or two when I’d had a few drinks and kissed a random elf, but never anything more.
She really threw this all together nicely with such short notice. Speaking of…
“Do you see Meela anywhere?” I ask.
Daegan shakes his head. “Raef disappeared too…”
“He drank nox wine. I told him not to.”
Daegan cups a hand to his forehead. “Great.”
“I need to witness this,” I say through a laugh. “I’m going to look for him.”
“Coming with you.”
I smile to myself and lead him through the open doorway to her massive bedroom. There are a few random elves standing around talking, but no Raef or Meela.
“Hmm.”
I make my way through the entry room, then to the bathroom. It’s wide open, and when I peek inside, there’s no one in there.
I turn and look at Daegan, shrugging.
He nods his head toward the front door.
As soon as we emerge into the dimly lit hall, we find Raef standing across the way, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Meela is standing across from him with her arms crossed.
“I told you not to drink that shit,” I say to him as we approach.
He shrugs, his moody eyes only landing on us for a second.
“I’ve never seen it hit someone so fast…” I muse.
“That’s because you’re always with me when I drink it. And I’m always frowning anyway so you don’t notice the shift,” Meela explains.
I can’t help but laugh at the situation. Raef shoots me an annoyed look that makes me laugh even more. “I’m sorry,” I tell him, trying to stifle my laughter.
Daegan looks like he’s suppressing a smile himself.
“I thought you were the life of the party, huh?” Meela teases him sarcastically.
“I hate it here,” Raef drawls, glancing out the glass window into the dark night. “It’s cold. And you elves are so serious all the time.”
“And you’re never serious,” Meela shoots back.
“And that forest was terrible…” Raef continues, staring out the window more.
Uh oh.
Meela narrows her gaze at him.
“What if we give him some of the pink stuff? Will it counteract it?” Daegan asks, trying to divert the conversation.
“Sometimes it does…” Meela ponders the idea. “It just depends. Could make things worse.”
“I’ll go get it,” Daegan says.
“No, let me,” I say. “You should stay with this one.”
He offers an appreciative nod.
I return inside and grab two pink wines, just in case. Raef is large.
When I return to the hallway, everyone is in the same position I left them in and Raef is mumbling about something.
“…and what’s the point of it all?” Raef grumbles.
I stifle a laugh.
“There is no point,” Meela grunts back.
“Oh not you too,” I sigh.
“I didn’t drink anything,” she says plainly.
Of course.
I hand the drink to Daegan. I’m not going to be the one who attempts to pour it down Raef’s throat.
“Here, buddy.” Daegan holds the drink out to Raef, who takes it reluctantly.
“Do I have to?”
“No,” Daegan says.
“I love you,” Raef tells him. Clearly not the romantic kind, but rather like two friends who have been through a lifetime of trials together. He’s not smiling though. He has a faraway look, like he’s reminiscing on the past.
“I know,” Daegan says with an arrogant smirk.
“Are you guys going to kiss, or…” Meela cuts in.
Raef rolls his eyes. He looks back at Daegan, holding his drink up. “Only if you do too.” He gestures to the other glass in Daegan’s hand.
“No.”
“Then I shall sit here in my misery.” And possibly say more revealing things. Even I nearly had a slipup earlier. We need to be more careful.
Daegan shares a look with me. “Cheers,” he says, clinking his glass against Raef’s.
He takes a small sip, making a face as he does so, while Raef chugs the entire thing.
“That was good,” he says. “Can I have another?”
“No,” I tell him. “Let’s see how this one does first.”
He shrugs.
We all stand around in silence for a moment, waiting for something to happen. Daegan studies his almost-full glass, then offers it to Meela.
“No,” Raef cuts in, pushing it away. “She’s fine as she is.”
I don’t miss the way Meela looks at him, even though it’s gone in a flash.
“How do you feel?” I ask Raef again after another silent moment passes.
A serene look washes over his face, the clouds disappearing.
Is that what it will be like when we finally break the curse? The dark, gloomy haze slowly peeling back to reveal a brilliant, bright night sky full of stars?
“That was weird,” he muses. And then his mouth tugs into a smile that he simply can’t help.
“Thank goodness,” Meela says, relieved. “That was weird for all of us, I think.”
He looks across at Daegan, who’s also trying to stifle a small grin.
“I meant what I said. I love you, brother.” He smiles large and wide, trying to bring Daegan in for a hug.
Daegan dodges it with ease, standing in a completely different spot with his arms crossed and his head shaking. “No,” he says.
His empty arms still outstretched, he turns toward Meela with mock pouting.
She pinches her eyebrows and shakes her head.
Then he turns toward me, one last bit of hope in his eyes, and I step in and let him wrap his giant arms around me. I wrap my own around his large torso. He has the same smoky scent as Daegan, mixed with something different. Something a little sweeter.
“Even though I was the last choice,” I mumble into his chest.
“Never. That would’ve been the Dothronite, probably.”
We all laugh as I pull back, and Daegan watches me with a grin. The pink wine has done its job.
“Thanks, Sand,” Raef says with a wink.
I tilt my head in confusion. “Sand?”
“Yeah. Some people call you Elle, so I called you Sand. Like Elysande.”