Chapter 18
Eighteen
Elaine
Icouldn’t remember the last time I watched the sunset in peace. Not when I traveled to Ashgate in the cage, of course. Not in Teneris where the sky over the sarai was always closed with shutters until the sun disappeared.
The last time I watched the sunset without fear or worry must’ve happened back in my world, but I just couldn’t remember exactly when.
Timur stepped out onto our patio, shielding his face from the fading sunlight with one open wing.
“Tea?” He handed me the cup he held in his right hand.
The parts of him that no longer had skin lost their hypersensitivity to sunlight.
I knew that slowly losing himself to the dragon’s poison devastated Timur.
He viewed it as his greatest weakness. Yet in some ways, it had given him a few advantages over the rest of the shadow fae.
He now tolerated sunlight better than most, and he could fly.
“Thank you.” I took the cup from him and leaned against the side wall of the patio, taking a sip of the dark, warm tea sweetened with honey.
Honey was cheap in Ashgate. It was considered to be the least desirable food, with little useful nutrition. A Joy Vessel Keeper in the sarai once called it “the food of the poor” because it cost little and gave a quick boost of energy to those who couldn’t afford to eat anything else.
I loved the strong taste of the black tea sweetened with honey while I savored these evening hours of relative peace before the ever-bustling life of Ashgate was about to burst full force with the new night.
After spending most of our first night in the cave in bed, talking and making love, Timur and I had been busy catching up on our appointments the following week.
All our existing clients had been asking for repeat visits, and according to Timur, our list of new requests kept growing beyond what I could possibly manage.
It was nice that we no longer had to worry where our next meal would come from. But there were only so many meals I could eat and only so many baths I could enjoy before exhaustion and irritation started spoiling my clients’ joy.
Thankfully, having Timur at my side made every evening feel special. The warm, effervescent flutter of happiness in my chest grew stronger when he was with me. He made me feel intoxicated without wine. The clients didn’t just pay for my joy, they consumed my love for him.
I stepped closer to the edge of the patio, catching the last rays of sun on my face.
The beach below was already shrouded in darkness. The golden light of the sunset only lit the top few levels of the Wall now. The fae moving between the caves created dark streaks of shadows in the golden glow. Afraid to be spotted, I stepped back into the safety of Timur’s arms.
He hugged me from behind. The soft movement of his wings puffed the warm air into a breeze around us.
“It’s time,” he said with a light kiss on the side of my neck.
A shimmer of anticipation rushed me. We hadn’t had sex in our cave during the past week. Timur would touch and kiss me gently like he did now, but we’d been saving my orgasms for the clients, and I was looking forward to having his hands on me again tonight.
“Who are we seeing this evening?” I asked a little breathlessly already.
“Not a client.” Timur released me from his arms, then lowered himself into his chair, and folded his wings. “We’re going into the city tonight. Inside the Wall.”
“What?” I gaped at him in shock.
All this time, I’d been hiding either in a shack on the beach or in the cave, sneaking out only when absolutely necessary during the most deserted hours of the day.
Now, he was taking me inside the Wall? Into the tunnels and caves that were always filled with people?
Where escape wouldn’t be easy, even for someone with wings.
“Why, Timur?”
He took my hands in his. “I want you to see a mage. He recently moved here from Kalmena. They say he’s skilled in the healing magic of hags.”
“He is? But only women can be hags. Even I know that. Only the members of the hag covens can practice their magic. It’s forbidden for anyone else.”
I learned all I could about the Alveari Kingdom from the Joy Vessel Keepers back in the sarai in Teneris. I liked talking to the Keepers. There was so little else to do otherwise.
Timur shrugged. “Well, his knowledge is obviously stolen. That’s why he ran away to Ashgate to escape the prosecution of learning and practicing what he wasn’t supposed to. But I’ve been watching him do things for Ashgate dwellers, and I believe he can help us too.”
“Help us with what?”
“I want him to make new glasses for your eyes.”
“New glasses…” I raised my hand to my mouth as a wave of emotions rushed me.
“You need to be able to see, Elaine,” he said softly. “You have to see the danger in order to escape it, especially when I’m…”
He didn’t finish, but I knew what he meant.
“…when I’m no longer here.”
My hands trembled, and my chest tightened at the reminder of the future that waited for us. My future without Timur because he didn’t have one.
He cleared his voice, as if getting his own emotions under control.
“His name is Suhai. He arrived in Ashgate less than two weeks ago. I’ve watched him to figure out how well he knew his craft. I’ve seen him help people, and I’m confident he can help you too.”
Not trusting my voice to speak, I nodded, squeezing his hand in mine.
“He lives in a lower level of the Wall, with no access to a patio,” Timur continued. “We’ll have to walk through some of the busiest corridors of Ashgate to get to him. I can’t fly there. I’ll be in my chair, and you’ll walk next to me, alright?”
I nodded again. Normally, Timur had me on his lap when he was in his chair.
I loved that, and I knew he preferred having me close like that too.
If he wanted me to walk this time, there must be a good reason for that.
I trusted him. Still, the idea of going out into the crowd rushed me with the memories of the auction, filling me with apprehension.
“I’ll need free access to my knives,” he explained grimly and added, “Just in case.” He glanced at my hand, clutching his hand so hard, the skin over my knuckles turned paper white. “Elaine?”
“I’m okay,” I tried to assure him. “I’ll be fine.”
He brought my hand to his lips and touched my palm in a gentle kiss.
“I wouldn’t take you if I thought you’d be in imminent danger, sweetheart,” he murmured soothingly.
“Ashgate has no respect for the kingdom’s laws, but it does follow its own rules.
According to these rules, you belong to me.
Many would steal you if they could. But attacking us in public would be an act of open rebellion against the established order.
Even the most hardened criminals would consider the consequences of that. Hold my hand at all times. And…”
Thin, black filaments of shadow magic emerged from his left upper arm, reaching for me.
“The more that connects you to me, the better,” he explained as two tendrils aligned with the leilathas on my right arm.
“You have two tendrils?” I exclaimed in surprise.” I thought you only had one.”
“I have three.” He gave me an indulgent smile as the third tendril curled around his neck from behind. “For now, anyway,” he added as the smile slipped from his face.
I’d never seen him release all three at once. All this time, he’d been restraining himself, allowing only one single tendril to connect to me. Timur had the strongest self-control I’d ever seen in anyone.
“Okay.” I made an effort to chase away the sadness and apprehension before he connected to me.
He so rarely did this, I wished to share my best emotion with him while I could. I wanted him to feel the things I probably could never accurately convey in words. I gazed at him, took in his beloved features, and focused on savoring this moment of the evening peace.
“Fuuuck,” he moaned, tossing his head back.
His chest expanded with a deep breath, as if he tried to inhale every morsel of peace and tenderness I was sharing with him.
“Elaine… You are…” Tugging on my hand, he pulled me onto his lap.
“So, I’m not walking after all?” I teased, wrapping my arms around his neck as he buried his head in my shoulder.
His muscles flexed, but immediately after, the tension released with an all-body shiver.
“Are you alright?” I ran my fingers through his hair.
He lifted his head to meet my eyes.
“Better than alright, Elaine. I’m…happy, something I never thought I’d ever feel.”
I smiled, playing with his long hair.
“It’s you. You’re the one who makes me happy. Trust me, no man has even made me feel like this before.”
People stared as I walked next to Timur’s chair along the corridors of Ashgate.
The passersby stopped in their tracks, craning their necks and whispering to each other.
Unlike on the morning of the auction, no one dared trying to take a bite of me this time.
Timur wasn’t wearing his cloak, and his fierce appearance kept hecklers at bay.
Sitting straight in his chair, his wide shoulders spread proudly, Timur stared ahead with a determined look in his mismatched eyes.
Holding my hand in a firm grip, he had his tail draped over his right knee.
The slit of his skirt was open, revealing the row of throwing knives strapped to his left thigh.
He seemed calm. Only the spiked tip of his tail swayed a little, swatting at his ankles slightly, like the tail of an annoyed cat.
My instincts urged me to draw my head into my shoulders and hide my eyes from the onlookers.
But then I remembered that Ray had found my defiance off-putting.
I raised my head, holding it high, and glared at everyone who stared at me.
I let them see I was not afraid. If anyone thought they could snatch me, they wouldn’t be getting a “sweet vessel” to feed them joy.
I wouldn’t make it easy for them, and there’d be hell to pay.