Chapter Eight #3
I smiled. Whether human or demon, warriors loved picking on each other. It made me think of my knights and their constant banter. Maybe I should head to the kitchen and whip them up something for lunch, then go to the training field to surprise them. Cook enough for the demon warriors too.
As I mulled over ideas, a flash of orange caught my eye.
“Pumpkin?” I faltered in step.
Cheep. The arbordu sat on the windowsill at the end of the corridor.
The window had been propped open to let in the fresh spring air. To let in adorably fuzzy critters too. I approached him, excited to see the tree demon again. But before I reached him, he leapt from the window and ran down the corridor.
“Wait!” I picked up my pace.
He stopped when reaching the corner and looked back at me.
I paused in step. “What’s up, boy?”
He wiggled his butt in that cute way, and I took a step closer. He waited until I was a few strides away before taking off again, his little toe beans lightly thudding against the floor. Like before, he stopped after a few moments and looked at me, as though making sure I was still there.
Did he want to lead me somewhere?
Curious, I followed him down the corridor, then through a set of open doors that led to a vine covered terrace. “Where are we going?”
Pumpkin rose up on his hind legs and pawed the air with his front feet before springing back into action.
“You’re not leading me into some kind of trap, right?”
Cheep.
If that was a yes, I wouldn’t know. But I’d soon find out, I guess. My legs moved on their own, following the cute and fuzzy creature regardless of not knowing where he was taking me.
He led me from the terrace and to a side courtyard, passing patches of yellow and orange flowers, a small pond, and a weathered stone bench that was cracked on the edge, allowing weeds to spring through.
The scenery seemed familiar. A few more steps down a rock path that wound through the overgrown courtyard then told me why. A tree with long, sweeping branches came into view.
The willow tree.
I paused in step, remembering the day I’d stumbled upon Onyx sitting beneath it. He had invited me to sit with him, and we’d talked about books and the draw we felt for each other, one that had started the first time we’d ever met in the dark wood.
Beneath the willow tree, our fated bond had stirred even stronger, propelled by our close proximity and inevitable attraction. The place where that restless ache in my chest had started to calm as our lips met for the first time.
“Since the day I first laid eyes on you, I sensed a fire in you, Evan. A quiet intensity that drew me in. Here I am still, unequivocally drawn to you.”
Onyx’s words, as well as the silkiness of his voice when saying them, had caused my heart to skip a beat. It had been the proof I’d needed to know that he felt our bond too.
As I stood there, lost in that memory, I recalled the intensity of his scent. Cedar and woodsmoke. It had wrapped around me as we’d kissed.
Pumpkin dashed beneath the willow tree and chittered in his adorable way. Blurs of orange could be seen through the long, leafy branches.
“So, this is where you wanted to lead me?” I sighed and stepped forward, moving some branches aside. “I don’t see why you—”
A small intake of air cut off my next words, and the gears in my brain came to a crashing halt, much like my freaking heart.
Onyx sat against the trunk of the tree. And Pumpkin, the mischievous turd, sat on his shoulder.
Cheep.
“Oh. Um.” My voice veered on squeaking. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Seemed the woodsy scent I smelled hadn’t just been in my memory after all. It had come from the demon lord beneath the tree. One currently glaring at me.
“Why am I not surprised?” Onyx said with a click in his jaw. “Here you are, once again being a pest.”
“Not on purpose,” I shakily responded. “I was following Pumpkin.”
The arbordu leapt from Onyx’s shoulder and scurried up the tree. Feeling guilty, maybe? That scheming little rascal.
His hard expression faltered, if only a little. “Must you name every creature you encounter?”
“Yep.” I took a half step closer, just enough for the branches to fall back into place behind me. Enclosing us within their barrier. “Everyone deserves a name. I think he likes it too. He wiggled his butt when I gave it to him.”
Onyx regarded me, silent and with a pensive set to his brow.
Throat suddenly tight, I averted my gaze. “I’ll leave now and let you get back to… well, whatever you were doing before I came bursting in here.”
“You would leave so easily?” Onyx asked, drawing my attention back to him. One leg was stretched out in front of him in the grass, and the other was bent with a leatherbound book resting on his knee. “I’m surprised. Pests aren’t usually so reasonable.”
“Guess this one is just tired of being swatted at,” I said, battling the deep ache in my core. “But anyway. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”
I turned to leave.
“Evan.”
I stilled in place and, after taking a steading breath, glanced back at him. There was a softness to his eyes that hadn’t been there seconds earlier. It caused a pang in my chest.
“Yes?” I shakily asked.
His lips parted, and the soft gleam in his eyes became more fragile. As though there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t put into words. The emotion fled, and his mask slipped back into place, replacing the softness with a hard layer. “Did you meet with Phantasia?”
I got the feeling it wasn’t what he’d actually wanted to ask, but I didn’t have the energy to challenge him on it. My chest ached too much for that.
I nodded. “She assessed my mana levels.”
“What did she learn?”
“She said she senses strong magic in me,” I answered. “But there’s a block in my mind keeping it locked away. Apparently, I’m resisting my powers, preventing them from fully awakening.”
“Magic and emotions go hand in hand.” Onyx relaxed more against the tree and smoothed his hand over the leatherbound book. “The uncertainty you feel in regard to your powers is, in turn, making them waiver as well.”
“Can you blame me?” I breathed out and tipped my face.
Pumpkin had settled on a thicker branch a short way up and swished his fuzzy tail in the air.
“I spent my whole life thinking I was an ordinary guy, only to learn I’m some powerful saint with a grand destiny. I want no part in it. In… any of it.”
“I see.” He watched me for a moment. “It’s not merely fear of your powers that keeps them at bay, but of your destiny. Dreading the path chosen for you. I can relate.”
“You can?” I asked, taking an impulsive step closer. Like several times before, my legs drew me toward him without my conscious decision to do so.
“It’s a burden placed on you by force,” he said, his mask wavering at the edges as something dark clouded in his eyes. “A thing you didn’t choose but must endure anyway.”
Understanding seeped into my chest like a cold draft through a window in the dead of winter. “A burden… like our fated mate bond?”
There was a hard swallow in his throat as he averted his gaze from mine. The lack of a response was just as loud as if he’d screamed the answer at me.
“Well, I meant what I said last night.” I took a step back, my heart sinking with the distance between us. One that could never be closed. I knew that now. “I’m not going to keep chasing after you, Onyx. Hopefully that will lift some of your burden.”
Just as I turned around to leave—for good this time—the air stirred at my back.
Arms came around me from behind.
“Don’t leave me,” Onyx whispered at my nape.
Hot prickles settled behind my eyes. Every time I tried to leave, he dragged me back. Back into the confusion. Back into the whirlwind of his mercurial mood swings.