Chapter 6 All That Glitters #3
Kat shoved the other half of the pastry into her mouth—if he could make her wait by chewing, then so could she—but her mind faltered.
Was it a mistake to ask and risk upsetting him?
Her jaw worked, the crumbly cake drier than she expected, and the lull dragged on.
Finally, she swallowed with a gulp of tea, and she could do nothing but cover her embarrassment with stammered words.
“Well, she’s the most important person—er, demon to convince, right?
It might make things easier if I know what will bother her, but also I, um…
I’ve been thinking about it, and I don’t…
um.” She swallowed again even though there wasn’t anything left to go down but the dryness her hesitation inspired.
“I don’t want to help you get her back if you did something awful to make her leave. ”
Azrion’s lavender face went very pale.
Fear crept over her skin like a coming storm when one was stranded outside in the middle of the night. Kat had always known love was painful, but she let her gaze fall to the painting on the teacup again and knew she had to ask. “Tell me what happened,” she said in a low, unwavering voice.
Azrion flicked a tongue over a fang as he visibly resigned himself, posture neither painfully stiff nor casually relaxed, just uncomfortable. “I didn’t propose to her. And yes, it has been four years, but I have a good reason.”
Kat waited.
Azrion huffed.
The human leveled a hand at him.
The demon twisted up his lips.
The din of the cafe’s courtyard grew.
“I know you want me to say,” he admitted, tone so low she had to lean in, “but it’s embarrassing.”
Kat brought the teacup to her mouth again, hiding away whatever her face was doing—she wasn’t sure what exactly, but whatever it was, she didn’t want him to see.
“We’ve not yet…that is, our love isn’t…well, you see, Melora and I haven’t…”
Despite that her cheeks flushed, Kat blurted out, “You haven’t made love?” Finally, someone else who…
The corner of Azrion’s mouth twitched. “Oh, darling, no. Not that.”
Kat’s heart raced, and she took a deep sip, hoping the tea’s heat would disguise the absolute scarlet her face must have turned.
“It’s our bond.” He scratched his neck as he tipped his head back and looked up and away from her. “It hasn’t fully formed yet, and despite that other demons do it all the time, I feel as though it would be insensitive to enter into a marriage that isn’t, you know…ordained by the stars.”
Kat cocked her head in thought. The words had been his heaviest yet and for once didn’t feel like an attempt at shielding his true feelings, yet she had no idea what the fuck he was talking about. “What does that mean?”
“Hmm?” Azrion pulled his gaze down from the sky where the stars were winking into life. “Oh, human, right. You don’t have soulbonds. Or at least, you don’t believe in them, though your kind are perfectly capable if my understanding of magic is correct—and it is.”
She chose to ignore the pompous smirk he flashed her. “What’s a soulbond?”
Azrion inhaled, chest rising as he squinted at the other demon pairs in the courtyard. “Imagine existing in a world without light.”
Kat clicked her tongue.
“Well, I didn’t mean how it is here, but perhaps the analogy is apt for a human coming from your world with your oversized star.
Finding your soulbond is like being handed a lantern for the first time—or rather a candle.
And I suppose a human would also need a primitive way to light said candle, but just imagine your soulbond provides a magical source to bring light to that wick. ”
“A soulbond is a candle being lit in the darkness,” she said carefully. Though the idea was hardly a novel one, there were really only so many analogies, and some were just too simple and clear to pass up.
“Yes. Like finally seeing everything around you and really knowing what’s there, but it’s much more than just vision. It’s a deep knowing—a primal knowing, gifted to us through ancient magic or the gods or…who knows, really? At least, that’s how it’s been explained to me.”
Kat smoothed her thumbs over the mouth on her cup, gaze trained on Azrion’s lips as they formed words she hadn’t at all expected. “That sounds a lot like love.”
He shrugged. “I suppose, though I’ve felt all sorts of love for plenty of demons in my life—my mother, my sister, friends, mates.
A soulbond involves love, but it’s deeper.
It’s supposed to be something ancient and primordial.
It should feel like the most complex magic cast with the greatest of ease. ”
There was a tickle under Kat’s skin as Azrion spoke, and it refused to relent when he fell into silence.
She might have scratched at her arms to send it away, but instead she let the discomfort linger as she admired the moth on her cup once again.
It still wasn’t fuzzy, but it was unendingly beautiful even without magic.
“You speak about a soulbond like you’ve felt it. ”
“No, no, I’ve just been told. But if I could…
” He chuckled wearily. “Well, I’d like to feel it if I’m going to marry someone.
Melora is slated to take her mother’s position as the Horn of Rudiments someday, and my father would like more pull at the Scholar’s Hall, so he’s been very…
encouraging of the match. Elder Itcheran’s been grooming Zelvax for the spot my father wants, though, so he needs friends on the council, and gods above and below, it’s all just so boring, isn’t it?
It’s like everyone’s forgotten how fascinating magic can be and they only care about bureaucracy instead.
” Azrion leaned on an elbow, chin propped up in his hand, and somehow his all-black eyes rolled, but there was a friendliness there, something deeper than what he showed her before, like a peek behind the mask.
Kat wanted to see more. “So you need to marry this demon to get your father a better job?”
“It would be the first correct thing I’ve ever done, so I should at least try.
” He laughed again, though it clearly wasn’t funny.
“Also, Melora and I have been together for years, so our bond just has to snap into place eventually, doesn’t it?
Though we probably haven’t made it easy what with all the arguments and name-calling and courtship severing, and I’m not sure you can count the beginning of things when our parents were simply playing matchmaker.
And we might have really set things back last year when we saw other demons but remained mates.
That only resulted in jealousy, which is exactly why this should work, and reminds me”—he sat up and released his chin—“give me your hand.” His palm stared up at her, admittedly inviting yet equally terrifying.
“Why?”
“For convincing purposes.” He wiggled his fingers. “Come on, it’s in the contract.”
“I haven’t signed that yet.” Kat scowled at the vellum, searching for what he meant then read aloud. “Physical contact may be necessary, and consent is assumed for non-erogenous—oh!” Kat covered her mouth.
“Those are highly sensitive spots on the body that often lead to arousal.”
“I know what that word means,” she snapped, eyes skimming the rest of the paragraph. “Why would either of us be touching one another in those kinds of places?”
“The point of the contract is that we won’t, but demons can be rather affectionate in public, and if we’re playacting as mates, an embrace or a kiss—”
“A kiss?”
“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that then.” Azrion snorted. “And one way to be sure it doesn’t might be to…” He wiggled his fingers again.
“Just don’t put your mouth on it,” she said and dropped her hand into his.
Kat would have pulled right out of his touch if his fingers didn’t wrap around her, a spark biting at her palm where their flesh collided.
Just like in the mail chamber when their fingers had glanced off one another, there was a warm jab, like an accidental needle poke, but without the pain after.
Instead there was just a presence somewhere under her skin, a foreign tapping that wouldn’t relent.
Azrion didn’t seem to notice, though, picking up his cup with his free hand and taking a graceful sip, pinky aloft.
Kat pinched her knees together, gaze flicking to the other tables.
There was another couple totally unconcerned with anyone around, their tails entwined.
The spade-shaped end of one was being caressed by the tuft of fur on the other.
Azrion had a fluffy tip to his tail too, but it was currently hidden below the table.
She wondered briefly if it would feel as soft as how the rest of his hair looked.
He probably spent hours making those silvery waves appear so disheveled.
And hours more shining up those curling horns and picking out all the matching pieces of jewelry.
Oh, gods, I’m staring.
Kat never stared, yet her eyes had searched his face and fallen still for longer than she could remember passing—seconds, probably, but the time felt uncountable. She snatched up her drink again, took a sip, studied the moth, found her breath.
“Would you like to take that teacup home?”
“Huh?”
“You’ve been admiring it quite a bit. Burgritz would be happy to sell me the set. Then you could have them both and look at them anytime you like.”
“What? No!”
Azrion’s excitement quickly shifted away. “So…you don’t like the cup?”
“No, I do. I think it’s beautiful. The painting is so realistic and touching and a little…sad.” She shook her head, not sure where that had come from. “But no, I don’t want them. I shouldn’t have them. They should stay here so others can enjoy them.”
Azrion made a thoughtful noise. “How…benevolent of you.”
And then his hand tightened on hers, and that tapping in her palm increased, distracting but intriguing. Almost interesting enough to squeeze back.
“Well, I’ll just have to lavish you with gifts the day after tomorrow on our first date.”
“Isn’t that this?”
“No, this doesn’t count—you haven’t signed the contract yet.
” Azrion threw her words back at her with a smirk that should have probably roused more anger, but Kat felt the corner of her mouth twitch up instead.
“And our next date is a necessity anyway. I can’t possibly be seen at the Vumheri wedding without a mate, and you can’t possibly be seen wearing… that.”
Kat frowned down at the dress she’d been gifted and worked on until her hands cramped. “What's wrong with this?”
“Well, the details on it are delightful—this fantastical creature here is especially charming.” His thumb slid up the back of her hand toward her sleeve where an embroidered cat chased a ball of yarn around the cuff.
“But my mate would wear something a little more fashionable. Something that, you know, fits her.”
Kat tensed against the shiver his touch elicited.
She’d taken in the dress but admittedly left it quite loose because…
well, she wasn’t sure since no one would see her in the post. But she’d added the kitty cat details just for herself as a reminder of Kaly, never expecting anyone else to call them delightful.
“We’ll get you a whole new wardrobe so you have plenty to pick from all month, not that you’ll need everything because I’ll have won Melora back well before then.”
“You’re very sure of yourself.”
“No, I’m sure of us.” With that, Azrion reached across the table and covertly placed a purse beside her teacup. It hit the table with a heavy thunk, and she knew if she peeked inside, it would hold more coin than she’d ever seen at one time.
“That’s half,” he said. “You’ll get the rest of it when I get Melora.”
“This is only half?” she whispered, doubts disappearing. “Where’s the quill?”
Azrion was already offering her a violet drayk feather with a drop of ink suspended at its tip. She could feel the pulse of magic running through it as she fit it into her fingers and pressed the tip to the vellum.
For Kalypso. She scribbled out her name, dropped the quill, and tugged her hand from the demon’s as she simultaneously swept the sack of gold into the pocket of her cloak.
“Oh!” Azrion spun the vellum toward himself. “You’re not really just called Kat. But of course you aren’t!”
“Almost no one calls me by my full name.”
“Well, they should.” He held up a finger, claw extended, and without ink or a quill, signed his name to the vellum as magic lit up the contract and sealed it. “It suits you perfectly, Katarina.”