Mia
A few weeks later...
Dolores Villanueva was Nazzar’s–Xavir’s older brother’s–wife.
I’d met her about a week after moving in with Xavir in our new home.
She’d marched up the front of our house and knocked on the door.
I’d opened it and found a beautiful, big, brown skinned woman with curls framing a round face and a smile that was almost as blinding as the sunlight.
She’d introduced herself, and I’d invited her in, and we’d become fast friends.
I enjoyed her dramatic flare, and she claimed she enjoyed my quiet sarcasm. We were opposites in almost every way, but united by our love for gargoyle brothers who’d stolen and loved us in equal measure.
Xavir and I had had a couple of weeks of bliss before the kings of hell called upon him and Nazzar to get back to work doing… whatever it was they did. It had left Dolores and I alone for several days, missing our husbands as they did general and battle and Spymaster things.
Meanwhile, we lounged by the oasis beneath the shade of a palm tree on cute little lounge chairs that seemed to be made from bamboo and soft cushions.
Each of us had a demon on either side of the lounge chair holding up a silver tray with drinks and snacks, balanced on thick, sturdy claws.
I’d found myself laughing the first time I’d seen one of these demons.
They wore aprons with little shapes on them.
I hadn’t even known that was a thing and yet here we were.
Now, they catered to both Dolores and I. She told me they also served as protection while our husbands were gone.
“I agree.” I squeezed her hand back. “My vision was starting to blur the longer I was staring at those music sheets. I just really needed a break.”
“Maybe after this you can come over to my place and we can watch a KDrama.”
I readily agreed.
I liked living a life of leisure. Though I still worked by making music, it was nice to be taken care of, to have the loneliness that woven its way into my bones finally pushed away. This was what I’d been missing.
Not just a friend in Dolores and Nazzar–who was quiet, stoic, and a bit broody-looking–but Xavir. Someone to share my days and my nights with. Someone who had loved me from the moment he saw me, who had conquered my heart with his words on letters, and made me feel like no one else ever had before.
“I wonder what Qanek’s really like,” Dolores hummed out of the blue.
I pushed my shades up to my forehead and turned to her. “Xavir says he’s angry.”
Dolores nodded. “Yeah, but I wonder what he’ll be like when he finds his person.
From what Nazzar tells me, Qanek has no intention of taking his advice or trying to woo a human.
He wants to go old school, caveman on her.
” Dolores shuddered. “If Qanek is half as scary as I thought Nazzar was when I first saw him, I know whoever he steals away is in for a wild ride…”
“Let’s just hope he finds someone strong enough to deal with his personality…”
I didn’t know him at all. I only knew him from the stories that Xavir and Nazzar shared with us. But one thing was for certain… Qanek had an anger problem.
And I hoped that the human he chose, whoever they may be, was ready.