17. Raelyna #3
I smiled sadly. “I told everyone I could at the time. And you—you were far too young. You didn’t need that burden weighing on you.”
I took a sip of my drink, my eyes drifting across the living room. A space my friends and I had gathered at thousands of times, usually for nights filled with games and laughter, except now . . . now our path had been altered, and we found ourselves at the crossroads of oblivion and illumination.
“So,” Sage began. “What’s next?”
All eyes turned to me in that moment, and I froze, my heart racing faster than it had previously.
“Why are you all looking at me?” I questioned as my gaze fastened on Finn.
“The first thing we need is information,” Finn replied for me. “We need to learn what we can about the affinities—how they tie directly to the gods and what we’re missing about them.”
“And to do that, we need to get access to the historical records—”
“Before you suggest anything, it’s not that easy,” Sage interrupted.
“It’s our only option.” Finn insisted. “The Temple District is known to have all the historical records of Aurelia. We need to find a way in.”
Sage sighed heavily. “I could lose my job over this.”
“I’m beginning to feel like there’s more at stake here than just jobs,” I said.
“Probably,” she grumbled. “But fine. It will take me a day or so to figure out how best to get you access.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
“Well, don’t thank me just yet. I can’t make any promises.”
“Until we do more research,” Finn added, “this stays between us.”
Everyone nodded in confirmation at the words, a heavy silence lingering in the air at the information we’d learned tonight.
It was at that moment that Loxl yelped in his sleep, springing up in a violent jerk and stumbling off the edge of the couch. A chorus of laughter broke out as the poor fox began to look around in confusion before he covered his face with his tail and slunk under the sofa in embarrassment.
A knock sounded at the door, and Finn jumped up from his seat, heading to open it. He returned a few moments later with two boxes of pizza, and we all grabbed slices.
“Well then, now that we decided on that,” Emberly stated as she drank the remainder of her drink and shifted on the couch, fully facing me. “Can we address the more important topic of the night?”
I shot the female a questioning look, my brow furrowing as I tried to determine what she was referring to. “What?”
“Don’t play dumb with me—” she chided as she took a bite of her pizza. “You . . . Blackwood . . . don’t even try to deny it. What’s going on there?”
My face heated at the insinuation, and I quickly shook my head. “Nothing.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Literally nothing, ever.”
“Don’t say ever.” She pouted. “A male like that . . . you don’t close a door on that.”
“It’s already closed,” I stated firmly, praying I wasn’t lying. “Nothing can happen. He’s a member of Luc’s royal guard. I refuse to be in a relationship with someone under his control.”
“I never said anything about a relationship.” She smirked as the words left her mouth. “There are plenty of other things you can do. I’m just saying . . . you can’t deny the chemistry there.”
“Em—” I began. “It’s not happening. He’s not even that attractive.”
She laughed, and better yet, even Finn joined.
“Even I know you’re lying on that statement, darling.” Finn retorted, and I shot him a scathing glare.
Emberly pulled out her phone, scrolling until she found what she was looking for. Then phones chimed in the room, and I glanced at the photo she’d sent . . . a photo of Blackwood, smirking down at me with a victorious grin on his lips.
“Stars-damned,” Sage proclaimed in a gasp as she stared at the photo. “Girl, you’re just lying to yourself if you’re saying there’s no chance.”
I groaned, burying my face in my hands as I tuned out my closest friends, all discussing the male—the same one I’d already firmly decided was entirely off-limits for far too many reasons.
“He’s off-limits, okay?” I replied in a muffled voice from behind my hands. “It doesn’t matter if he’s insanely hot or a god himself. And it certainly doesn’t matter whether I feel drawn to him or not . . . because he’s RSG, and I’m not getting caught up in those politics.”
“So you admit you do feel a draw to him?” Sage chided, and I dropped my hands to glare over at her.
“No—” I snapped, and she raised a single eyebrow at me in disbelief. “Fine, yes, maybe I do. I don’t know. But he’s a member of the RSG and I can’t do that to myself,” I admitted.
“You can say that all you want,” Emberly stated. “But that look between you two there”—she gestured to the photo she’d taken of us—“that isn’t a look of there’s nothing there.”
“At the bare minimum,” Finn teased, “that look says you could do me here and now if you wanted.”
“Shut up!” I scolded Finn, my cheeks burning at the thought as I looked between my best friends. “It doesn’t matter, okay? I’m not letting myself get that close to someone who works for the male who killed my father. So please, please, please, for the love of Astara, just drop it.”
“We will,” Emberly confirmed.
“For now,” Finn tacked on. “This conversation is far from over, though.”