Five #4
I didn’t remember how I went from being in Mateo’s arms to being slung over Acheron’s shoulder. Or how I ended up dancing with Neil again. No recollection of what happened between fumbling into Acheron and where I was now, or how many glasses of wine I’d had since then. Too many, I think.
I danced and danced and danced the night away. Neil’s lips nearly touched mine when a noticeable buzz in the back of my head caught my attention. A shift in the air, one that simply could not be ignored.
Neil’s hands were on my hips, my back against his front. I was lost in the moment. Lost in the music. Lost in this Realm. Lost until my eyes met his.
“Adrian?” I froze in the middle of the dance floor.
He looked as if he was seeing red. His nostrils flared, his lips tightened, and his jaw clenched.
His eyebrows scrunched together, and his breathing quickened.
I tilted my head. He wore the same colors as that man that was with Acheron.
What was his name again? Oh, right, Mateo.
Mateo with the curls I wanted to touch. His strides were large, making haste to close the distance between us.
“What are you doing here?” I questioned.
“A better question is what in the Four Realms are you doing here, Aerilyn.” His tone was venomous, and he reached for my wrist, grabbing it tightly and jerking me away from Neil.
I stumbled forward into him, far too drunk to process what was happening. It felt like a dream turned into a nightmare when in truth, this was my reality.
He smelled like vanilla beans and bourbon.
“You are not supposed to be here! This was never supposed to happen and it’s your fault.” He looked between Neil and me.
What does he mean by that? Does he know something I don’t?
“You let her go this instant, Zathrian,” Neil hissed.
Our eyes met, and his grip tightened around my wrist.
He turned to Neil. “That is High Lord to you,” he spat.
Neil growled, clenching his jaw. His lips parted to speak, but I interrupted him before he could.
“Zathrian?” I muttered. What did he mean, Zathrian? That’s Adrian.
“My business is not with you but with her. She is my property. She is my—” He stopped mid-sentence. Adrian, er, Zathrian’s eyes softened as he looked down at me.
I bit my bottom lip, choking back my emotions. I shook my head, but no words came to me. I wasn’t anyone’s but my own. Zathrian looked exactly like Adrian, down to the very freckles on his nose. My mind was racing, trying to search for answers that weren’t there.
Inebriated or not, I was flabbergasted. This was too much. Far too much too fast. My head was spinning.
“Not anymore, she’s not. You see the colors she’s wearing? She’s mine.” Neil placed his hand on Zathrian’s forearm. I didn’t dare move. I drank too much sweet wine. The world was spinning all around me. Is this real?
“You—” I choked out. “You-you’re not—” I tripped over my words. Realizing that the Adrian I knew and grew up with wasn’t Adrian, but a lie.
It was all a lie.
Adrian was Zathrian. High Lord of the Realm of Stars. I stared into those eyes that I grew up with and didn’t recognize who they belonged to anymore.
“Who are you?” I whispered, tears rolling down my cheeks.
He let go of me, and I stumbled back into Neil, who wasted no time in pushing me behind him. Adrian, er, Zathrian looked at me with the same expression he did that day. The day Gelia died.
I was nauseous, and it took everything in me not to throw up in front of everyone.
The argument between Zathrian and Neil was a blur. I couldn’t focus on the present anymore, feeling myself pulled back into the past. Back to that day. Back when he—I snapped back into the present, trying to process what was happening before me.
“I know what you did,” Zathrian said to Neil.
Nothing but venom and spite within his tone.
His chest puffed out. “And you will pay. The Gods will smite you when you least expect it, and I will ensure that everything you love will be taken from you, and you will do nothing but stand and watch as I do so.”
“ENOUGH!” Calix’s voice echoed so that the entire Summer Solstice celebration went silent, the music included. “This is a party, come on now. Play nice,” Calix sang the words, goblet in hand.
Zathrian’s eyes met mine. Without another word, he stormed off, knocking over a table of drinks on the way out. Glass shattered. Wine spilled onto the floor, and audible gasps could be heard by the other guests in attendance.
Calix looked slightly annoyed. The tension between the Lords was in the air all around us.
He pinched the bridge of his nose with his pointer finger and his thumb, not that I was paying much attention.
With a single wave of Calix’s hand, the celebration resumed.
The music played from where it had left off.
Whispers and rumors about what had just transpired spread faster than wildfire.
The room was spinning before, but now it was spinning in a different way. Blips, memories, or perhaps visions from another set of eyes were displayed on my own. I was far too drunk to understand, nor process what was happening anymore, but I could feel him. His breath, his emotions. His—
I was standing, and I heard my name from Neil’s lips. And in the next moment, everything went black.