Chapter 20 Questions and Non-Answers
Questions and Non-Answers
Despite her melted bones, Cha tensed. Here we go again. “But I did come, over and over. I lost count of how many times. All your doing, so you can hardly chide me for it.”
“Ha ha,” he retorted, not cracking a smile.
“Surely that’s my line.”
He still didn’t smile. Nor did he withdraw from her body. Not that she minded. She liked his weight on her as much as she loved the cocoon of his suede-soft wings. His stony stillness was a caution, however. “Time’s up. Tell me who hurt you.”
“She didn’t know who I was to you,” Cha began. “So—”
“Arantxa.”
“I’m trying to tell you. But it might be hard to figure out who she is. I don’t know her name and—”
“Arantxa.”
“Fine,” she snapped, pushing at him ineffectually. “We dubbed her Sunshine. Blonde, gorgeous, likes to walk around naked, turned into a thing like a mushy preying mantis when—”
“Fuck!” He exploded away from her, his clothes miraculously draping around him again.
Guess he did know who Sunshine was.
Fury radiated off of Azul, his wings extended as if he might take flight at any moment. Good thing there weren’t any windows. Azul glared at Cha, who felt oddly guilty, as if it had all been her fault. Which… maybe it kind of was, given her slutty, easily seducible nature.
“Tell me exactly what she did,” Azul instructed icily.
Cha, not wanting to be naked for this—well, mostly, as she still had her shirt on, more or less, much good that did—looked around for her pants and boots.
Hopefully Azul hadn’t simply vanished them.
But no, there they were on the floor, as if tossed there by impatient hands.
Which, she supposed they had been, just of the magical variety.
She grabbed her pants and pulled them up.
“Arantxa…”
Cha flipped him off. “Stop using that tone with me. You’re not my dad and I’m not doing this naked.” Okay, that sounded really wrong. She plowed on. “I was walking up to the castle right at sunrise—”
“Walking up from where?”
“The wall where I crossed into the palace grounds. Cut it out with the interrupting me. Do you want to hear about Sunshine or not?”
He grunted, which she took as an affirmative.
Wise man to at least keep his mouth shut now.
She told him about Sunshine coming toward her, inviting her to sit.
She told it fast and matter-of-factly, reminding herself that it had been an enchantment and for thousands of years mortals had been falling for this kind of fae seduction.
Still, she still felt like a fucking idiot.
She could just hear her mother’s voice. If you’d just learn to keep your legs closed, you wouldn’t be getting yourself into this kind of trouble.
Full of shame as she hadn’t felt since those days, Cha used the excuse of pulling on her boots to avoid Azul’s gaze as she rushed through the transformation and battle, and how they’d bargained for Sunshine to get them into the castle proper.
Azul was suddenly very close, sitting beside her on the sofa, a long finger under her chin, tipping her face up so she was forced to either close her eyes or meet his gaze. Well, she might be a slut, but she was no coward. She made herself look him in the eye.
She nearly lost her nerve though when he softly said, “This wasn’t your fault.”
Stupidly, she felt tears well up in her eyes. “I want you to know it’s not the same as I feel with you…”
His lips quirked and she narrowed her eyes, ready to let him have it for laughing at her.
So wrong to kick a woman when she’s down.
He stopped her scathing remark with a quick kiss that then softened and lingered.
“Arantxa, believe me when I tell you this: I have never once used any kind of enchantment to seduce you.”
“You promise?” she asked before she remembered who she was asking this of. You didn’t ask the fae to make vows any more than you thanked them or bargained with them. She’d clearly lost her mind. She blamed the very thorough sex for scrambling her brains.
“Never once,” he answered with such solemnity that she did believe him. Then his lips quirked in wicked mischief. “Of course, you’re so easily seduced through normal methods that—hey! Ouch!”
She punched his chest again for good measure, knowing it hadn’t hurt him in the least, especially since he was laughing too hard to breathe at the moment. “It’s not nice to make fun of me,” she informed him primly.
“I’m not. I’m not.” He held up his hands in surrender, struggling to catch his breath.
Then he took her—gently—by the shoulders and also embraced her lightly with his wings.
“I adore that about you, Arantxa, and would not make fun of your for it. Your open and honest enjoyment of sex is one of the things that makes you so very compelling.”
Aww. She softened, unexpectedly sentimental. No wonder she liked him so dammed much.
His hands flexed on her shoulders. “But you still shouldn’t have come.”
“Funny, you could’ve mentioned that earlier.”
“You’re not funny. What made you think I was in need of rescue? Tell me that part next.”
Deciding to get it over with so they could move on with the actual rescuing—and maybe he’d forget about Sunshine and avoid starting a war between fae realms, if the agnicurna she’d brought wasn’t doing that already—she told him about Lenorae’s arrival and insistence on Cha coming with her.
He sat and listened to the entire tale, without interrupting this time, though she almost wished he would since he seemed to be calcifying before her very eyes, going immobile in a way humans never could.
Worse, she knew it was because the rage building in him was heating to flashpoint and he was holding himself contained to the point of not breathing in order to control it.
When she finished, they sat for a long, tense, and awkward silence while he glared at her steadily and she did her utmost not to squirm like an ant under the magnified heat of his gaze, which seemed as if it could fry her at any moment.
“And why,” he said at last, very quietly and still not moving more than his lips—frankly she was surprised he had breath to speak with—“would you believe anything Lenorae says?”
“For starters, because the fae can’t lie,” she pointed out defensively. “Plus she called me “Bridget,’ so I know you had to tell her that name for me. I figured it was a code from you to tell me that you legitimately needed my help.”
He didn’t immediately reply to that. Instead he took in a deep and shuddering breath. “Did it never occur to you that I told her that name in order to protect your real one?”
Well, yes, but… “How about you answer some questions now?” she countered.
“What the hell is going on here anyway? Why are you in Citrine instead of married to Lenorae?” A thought occurred to her.
“Are you married to Lenorae?” She didn’t really know how marriage worked among the fae, but she rather suspected monogamy wasn’t part of the bargain.
His expression shuttered and he shook his head, saliently not answering that question. “You should not be here. When I get my hands on Lenorae, I will—” He bit that off, cursing under his breath. “First, I’m dealing with Sunshine.”
So much for the hope he’d forget about that. “While I’m no fan of hers,” Cha said, “it’s not her fault. I was trespassing and she didn’t know who I was.”
“Oh, she knows who you are.” He stood, uncoiling gracefully and bonelessly, holding a hand down to her.
“How could she know?” Cha protested, but she gave him her hand. “I’m nobody. So far as she knew I was just some hapless ley rider out for the joy of it. I never told her my name.”
“Because I marked you,” he answered, pulling her toward a different door than Dy had gone through.
Cha dug in her heels. Literally and figuratively. “Whoa there, Nelly,” she exclaimed. “What was that?”
Azul turned back to her with a hint of impatience and an oh-so-casual tilt of the head that didn’t fool her for a second. “Which part didn’t you understand?” he inquired in a silky, polished voice.
“Oh, no, buddy.” She yanked her hand from his and planted her fists on her hips. pointed a finger in his face. “You don’t get to play that game with me. Fess up. Right now.”
He sighed and rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “It’s not something anyone but another fae would be able to detect.”
She yanked her hand from his and planted her fists on her hips. “Where is it?” She gestured to herself. “Show me.”
“It doesn’t work that way. It’s not in one specific spot. It’s more a part of your essence.”
“Keep going,” she prodded when he stopped, as if that was explanation enough. “What, exactly, are they detecting?”
“It’s just like… a sign. A notice that… that I marked you,” he finished awkwardly, making her really wonder what he’d been about to say instead.
“What kind of sign, Azul? You might as well just spit out.”
“That they shouldn’t do to you what Sunshine did,” he replied with exasperation. “It’s not worth the time discussing it.”
Oh, if it wasn’t a big deal, he wouldn’t be tiptoeing around this conversation like the ground had been mined with explosive gremlins.
“A no trespassing sign?” she suggested sweetly, her ire growing.
“An invisible collar, perhaps, with a tag that says ‘This human pet belongs to Azul of Amethyst. If found please return to nearest fae depot,’ perhaps?”
He shook his head in annoyance. “This is why I didn’t discuss this. I knew you’d misinterpret my intentions.”
“And just what were those intentions?”
“To protect your idiotic ass, of course!” he exploded.
“The Moonstone fae very nearly killed you. Have you forgotten that in your high and mighty indignation? It’s bad enough that you’re mortal and I can’t be around you constantly to prevent your death or fatal injury.
Do you want me to live in constant fear that your brutal carelessness with your fragile mortal coil will simply remove you from the face of the realms from moment to the next? ”
She paused, taken aback. “I didn’t imagine you were thinking about me at all.”
“Well, you have a poor imagination then,” he snapped, sounding for all the world like she’d hurt his feelings. “Are we done with this conversation now? I have some retribution to visit on a certain cheeky Citrine fae who crossed a serious line.”
She didn’t want to be done with the conversation. The question hovered on her tongue. If you worry about my idotic ass, why did you say I was nobody? “I’m willing to be done, but I want to talk more later.”
“About what now?” He sounded entirely beleaguered.
“I want you to explain what’s going on here, remember?”
He looked cagey. “It’s fae politics and—”
“And I’m hip-deep in them. Up to my idiotic ass in them, so I need to know what the deal is, Azul.”
Giving her a long considering look, he finally said. “I don’t suppose I could talk you into simply going home.”
“Not a chance. The worst part was getting here. Now that I’m here, I might as well be useful.”
“Oh, Arantxa.” He shook his head again. “That was not the worst part.”
She grinned. “See how much I don’t know? This is why you need to explain everything to me.”
He sighed, rather dramatically. “Do all humans want to have long conversations like this?”
“Tell you what, sport,” she answered, “you explain everything that’s going on and I’ll suck your cock as long as you’re talking.”
His violet eyes gleamed with interest. “You are very good at that.”
“Thank you. I know. Thus the compelling offer.”
“It’s an interesting bargain you’re offering me,” he said thoughtfully.
Oh shit. Her and her big mouth. “I wasn’t offering an actual bargain,” she explained hurriedly.
His elegant purple-black brows arched. “You’re reneging?”
Gah. The only thing worse than bargaining with the fae was violating the rules of the deal. “No.” She sighed internally. “I’ll make good on it.”
“The prospect is quite appealing,” he mused, then took pity on her. “I’m not sure I’d last long enough under your expert ministrations to explain everything. And there’s still a great deal I cannot say,” he added.
He was referring to the geas that bound his tongue regarding whatever was going on with Lenorae and that cursed wedding. “You’re not married now, are you?” she asked again, watching his body language for clues.
“Would I have just fucked your brains out on that sofa if I were?” he countered.
“I don’t know. I’ve heard that fae are all kinds of polyamorous and so forth.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he asked, setting his teeth so that his jaw flexed. “You with a lover in every town.”
She’d once thought so. Now… Well, no way was she telling Azul she couldn’t seem to summon the pussy sparkle for anyone but him anymore. “That’s me,” she answered cheerfully.
“Indeed. Can we proceed now?”
It was only later that she realized he’d neatly deflected her question, never answering at all.