Chapter 13 Evira
~Evira~
Zayn was late.
To this wonderful place that he’d chosen for our date.
It was a little fusion bar that sold non-alcoholic magical drinks and special pastries.
Vantiqe was its name according to the gold-accented sign with the curling script outside where there was a patio of cream and pink tables and wrought iron chairs with rainbow-colored cushions.
I’d found a spot inside close to one of the exits by a frosted glass window and I was sitting in a plush lavender booth.
The whole place was full of soft chairs and booths like this one, all in pastel colors like blush-punk, baby-blue, and cream.
Fairy lights were strung throughout the place that reflected off the cream floors with the rose-colored shag rugs, and also served to highlight the whimsical murals on the walls of mythical creatures drinking and eating pastries.
Over on the far side near the main entrance was a long, white and cream marble counter, one half housing numerous pastries on display behind glass cases, and the other full of magical stations creating the special drinks.
It was so sweet and thoughtful that Zayn had chosen a place like this.
I didn’t know what was going on to have made him late, but I knew he’d been looking forward to it, so whatever had gone down had to be important, or out of his control.
I wasn’t going anywhere yet.
I’d wait it out for another half hour and if he still didn’t show, I’d track him.
For now, I was really enjoying the Sigil Swirls and the Cinder Milk Tea that I’d ordered.
The creamy, cheesy filling inside the rolled pastry of the Sigil Swirls reminded me of the quiches my dad and I used to make during my childhood.
It had that same warm, savory comfort baked right into it.
It was a father-daughter bonding thing we’d had going on.
While he was an amazing cook, I definitely wasn’t the best—except when it came to quiches.
I took a sip of the Cinder Milk Tea. It was a smoky black tea with oat milk and ginger sugar pearls that had cinnamon foam dusted with spices that gave it a nice kick and tickled my throat.
With Zayn being late, it actually gave me time to attend to another matter.
One that had been lingering for too long.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled to Torvek’s number.
We’d never had our discussion about him and Fanor in the end.
I’d been waiting patiently for him to get back to me about it, but he hadn’t.
The actual night we’d set aside to talk about it, he’d texted claiming that he’d had a diplomatic situation to attend to with Dyna Bivan at the Dracoryn Core.
But since then, it had been days and we’d just briefly checked in with each other, and he’d been keeping an emotional distance.
Something was wrong.
I’d given him time, but he still wasn’t coming around. And Torvek bottling things up—more than he already did—wasn’t a good thing by any means.
I fired off a text.
All right, a series of texts.
A barrage.
Evira: Hey, flame bite.
Evira: Miss me?
Evira: I miss you.
Evira: On a date tonight. Cute little place with scrumptious pastries.
Evira: Want me to send you one over? Seen a few you’d like. Think my dad would drop the ward for a magical pastry delivery?
Evira: How’s your day been?
Evira: Well, it’s night now, but you get my meaning.
Evira: You used to, anyway. Not sure what’s going on with you lately, though. Feel like finally elaborating?
Torvek: Hades, woman. You’ve got me. I’m here.
Evira: Finally ready to talk about the Fanor of it all? Last I heard she was taking you to Ignis Row, and updates were coming my way. Ready now?
Torvek: Nope.
Evira: What’s wrong, T? What’s really going on? Please don’t shut me out.
Torvek: We’re taking some time apart.
Evira: What? Why?
Torvek: I explained my reservations to her and it didn’t go over well.
Evira: WHAT? She dumped you because you wouldn’t fuck her?
Torvek: Hades, Evi, no. It was more in the way I explained things. I couldn’t risk telling her about the Celestial aspect, so it… I didn’t explain it well. I got unusually ruffled and you know what that does to me.
Evira: Yeah, it makes you upset and angry.
Torvek: So you can imagine how that panned out. I snapped at her. She’s not one to be unloaded on like that, nor should she be. I’ve been told to “fuck off” until she’s ready to interact with me again.
Evira: Fuck, I’m so sorry, flame bite. Do you want me to try to talk to her for you?
Torvek: Absolutely not.
Evira: I’ll come back for a bit, be with you.
Torvek: Aren’t you on a date right now?
Evira: Will be. He’s running a little late.
Torvek: Late? Or he stood you up?
Evira: There’s no way he’d do that. He’s just late. Now stop deflecting. I can be back there later tonight with you if you need me. I mean it.
Torvek: No need at all. I’m well.
Evira: You do tend to downplay things. Namely, your feelings.
Torvek: Promise I’m all good, snow cub.
Torvek: Need to go. Olaren just showed up at training asking for me. Something urgent he needs my assistance with.
Evira: Olaren? Keuric’s friend?
Torvek: Former friend after Olaren recognized that bastard had fallen out of favor with me in a major way.
Evira: Yeah, he looks up to you. Last thing he wants is to get on your bad side. But do you think it could be about me kicking Keuric’s ass?
Torvek: Not without Keuric making it known he had his ass kicked.
The fact it was done by you would also risk his family’s political standing with House Vortimer.
It’s not in his best interests to spread that around.
Don’t worry. It could be about any number of things.
Either way, I’m here, I’ll see to it. You enjoy your date and your time at Loxley.
Evira: Okay, yeah. Love you, T.
Torvek: Love you too, E. Always.
I smiled to myself and sucked in a steadying breath, then slid my phone into the built-in pocket in my fur-trimmed thigh-high boots that I’d paired with a deep gray skirt.
A scoop-neck black silk top with pale blue swirls on it completed my outfit.
And I had my hair in a half-up, half-down style with my blue and white-silver strands cascading about my face.
I took a bite of one of my Sigil Swirls, then almost choked when I caught sight of a particular somebody walking in.
He strode up to the counter in his familiar jeans and cozy charcoal hoodie in his usual calm and non-threatening way.
Of course, being what he was and who his parents were, that low profile energy he tried to put out there didn’t stop the dozen beings in here from looking up or turning their heads his way.
There was a group of six magic-wielders hanging out around one of the center tables staring at him as he ordered up at the counter.
A werewolf-sorcerer and a vampire-sorceress who seemed to be on a date started whispering in a corner booth about him, and I forced myself to tune out what they were saying when I heard the words “Death walks among us. Watch out.”
There was a Dark Fae over in the corner in a beautiful glittering black dress that matched her hair, who I’d noticed staring out the window, seeming to be waiting on somebody like I was, just looking up briefly and smiling at his back, then returning to the book she’d been reading while waiting.
That was something at least.
Winter paid, then turned with a to-go drink and pastry. I saw from the labels that he’d ordered a Frosted Moon Petal Cake and the same drink as me, Cinder Milk Tea.
He faltered in his step as he noticed the magic-wielders eyeing him.
“Winter!” I called out.
His head swung toward the sound of my voice and relief flooded me when a great deal of that unease that had taken him over slipped away when he caught sight of a friendly face.
I gestured for him to come over.
He reached me and stopped beside the booth. “I should’ve gone to my usual place. The one my mom frequents. This was just closer to campus. Note to self: stick to the usual next time.”
“No. Don’t let others’ stupid, uneducated reactions dictate your movements. And—hold on, your mom frequents a place like this?”
“Exactly like this. Vantiqe bars are all over the supernatural world now. Thanks to Father actually. After discovering her love for them, he invested and helped create a whole chain of them.” He smiled fondly.
“He’s really romantic like that toward her.
With Pops too, actually. Dad… not exactly his thing. ”
It hit me then. “That’s how Zayn knows about this place? From you and your family?”
He frowned. “Zayn?” I saw the moment he realized the bigger picture. “He brought you here on a date.”
“Yeah.”
A huge smile spread over his face. “This is… it’s really something.”
“You’re happy about it?”
“This is him being a sweetheart. Being open. Being thoughtful. To the both of us. Just believing I wouldn’t know about it on my end. Even more thoughtful with that a factor.”
“You see it?”
He rolled his eyes, then slid into the side of the booth opposite me. “Yes. Of course I do.”
“That’s what I thought. What I told him actually.”
“In the past, he’d do one thing, then go right back to his previous ways with me.”
“Ah, I see.”
“This time, though, that’s not the case.” His eyes twinkled at me. “Some of that is because of you. And also, Vax.”
“Vaxan thinks it’s a balance that’s been struck—between our four personalities, I guess.”
“You check him. Vax softens him.”
“Huh. I figured it would be seen as the other way around.”
“No. You’re fierce and uncompromising with how people treat you.
Especially now you’ve dealt with the Keuric of it all, and now you’re outside the limits of the Dracoryn Realm.
And Vax with that aura of dominance melded with understanding gives space for Zayn to lower his defenses and all his abrasive—often false—dominant energy. ”
“Wow, that’s the nicest thing you’ve said about me in ages,” a voice rang out.
I jolted and Winter swung his head to see Zayn just a few feet out from us.