Chapter 3 Vynsiel
VYNSIEL
What was the deal with that incubus? Was he an idiot? Couldn’t he see Izzy was intelligent, beautiful and powerful? Why in hell would he push her away? Yet, that seemed to be exactly what he was doing.
I’d never understand demons.
Because to me, Izzy was perfect. Sure, I was biased, my spirit knew her to be my ideal mate, but it didn’t affect my mind, didn’t skew my thoughts.
I could still see reason and the truth of the matter was…
when Koar had told me Izzy was a royal, everything had clicked for me.
She wasn’t just perfect for me, she was perfect for this world, exactly what Seial needed.
I could see in her gorgeous, sea-green eyes that she didn’t believe it yet, didn’t see it in herself, but I did.
She was pure and kind and smart. She didn’t have a hair-trigger temper, like some other princesses.
Izzy’s anger was a righteous thing, meant to help the innocent and punish those who sought to oppress others.
And even if she hadn’t learned much magic yet, she was powerful.
She’d healed me from the brink of death after having been here for less than a week, knowing so little of what she could do.
When she came into her own, she’d be a force to be reckoned with.
That’s why Izzy was perfect.
That and… a part of me still hoped that by serving her, being closer to her, loving her, she could wipe the filth from my soul and mend what had been torn asunder within me: the stain I’d acquired while being Saldrea’s brute for far too long.
It no longer mattered to me that Izzy was mate-bonded to a shifter, or that she’d had intercourse with a demon.
It was clear Myel loved her deeply and Rook, well he didn’t seem to want her, which baffled me.
I could share this wonderful woman, and if the demon didn’t want her, that suited me just fine.
Because when I was close to her, I felt more like the man I wanted to be, the man I should be.
I would follow Izzy to the ends of the earth…
but first I needed to go home to Elysial and make sure my family was safe.
They may not care for me, other than as a tool to elevate their status.
And I shouldn’t care what happened to them after how they’d treated me my entire life, but I did.
I hoped that was the “good man” in me coming out.
Because no one — not even my petty, self-serving family — deserved to face Saldrea’s wrath.
And they would. Saldrea was furious at me for leaving her and would take it out on my family. I needed to warn them.
I’d ask Koar to take me home, it would be a quick journey for him. Hopefully he’d have time before whatever else these folks had planned.
Safir, the tiger shifter, finally responded to Izzy’s question after mulling it over.
“I need to get you off campus, at least for now,” he said, pacing the limited space. “You should be safe with your grandmother. And she may know of some elves willing to train you.”
He spun and pinned Myel down with his intense gaze. “Can you shadow-step us directly to the sigil point, Izzy and myself?”
Shadow-step, is that what the shifter had done to get us in here? A puff of shadow-smoke and he’d transported me from outside into this room. A curious and powerful ability.
“Yes,” Myel responded. “It won’t be easy, but I can do it.”
“And myself,” Koar added.
Safir spun on him. “No, we can’t trust you yet.”
“I have old friends, contacts in the capital, good elves,” The dragon pleaded. It was clear he wanted to stay close to Izzy.
I’d known Koar a while. We’d served Saldrea together these past half-dozen years. He was as loyal and dependable as they came. He’d just been… misguided… in thinking Saldrea was worthy of his respect.
Now that he’d set his sights on Izzy, he’d protect her to the very end.
“Still, you’d be too much for Myel to shadow-step all at once, and we can only make one trip before someone will know we’re at the sigil point.”
Koar growled, going all alpha on the tiger shifter. Safir growled right back, smaller, but no less fierce.
“Actually!” I broke in. It seemed my time to speak had come. “Koar, I need you to return me home, to Elysial. Could you do that quickly… before you rejoin Izzy and Safir in the capital?”
“He isn’t going to the capital,” Safir muttered.
“Wouldn’t it be better to keep him close, keep an eye on him?” Izzy offered. “Keep your enemies closer and all that?”
Safir practically vibrated with frustration.
I was beginning to understand the old man.
All his life he’d served Izzy’s family and now wished to serve her in the same way.
He wanted to be the primary protector and advisor in her life.
But if so, he shouldn’t have kept her in the dark for so long.
She didn’t know him, didn’t trust him. Hell, she didn’t know Koar either, but Koar had saved her life.
Safir had done nothing to earn her trust yet.
“If that is what you wish,” Safir said to Izzy.
“It is.” She turned to Koar. “If you take Vyns home and return, can you find us in the capital?”
He nodded once. “I know your spirit, your scent. I could track you from half a world away.”
Her eyes went wide at that. “Oh,” she breathed.
“He meant that in a good way,” I added. “He’ll always find you so he can protect you.”
She nodded. “Ah, yes, of course.”
Safir grumbled something under his breath.
“Someone will get suspicious if I miss training,” Myel said. “I can’t be away for long.”
“You’re right, you can’t, which is why you’re not coming with us,” Safir said, his tone stern. “You need to stay here and maintain your schedule so no one suspects anything.”
Myel clearly deferred to Safir… but his back went ramrod straight at this. “I can’t leave Izzy’s side. I… our bond…”
“Can wait a few days,” Safir said, dismissing the tall, lean man. “Just satisfy it before we leave and you’ll survive. We hopefully won’t be gone for too long.”
Myel shimmered, a shift nearly taking him as his anger grew.
I’d thought he and this elder shifter were friends, but several things were becoming clear to me.
First, Safir was the boss and liked it that way.
He’d bristled, clearly not liking it when others took control.
That was going to be an issue, since Izzy didn’t like being told what to do.
Second, Myel looked up to the man, followed him…
in most things. But when it came to Izzy, Myel clearly didn’t like how Safir handled things.
“Safir!” Myel growled.
It was Safir’s turn to shimmer, and his beast was much bigger. A tiger shifter’s beast form was second in size only to a bear’s.
“We don’t have time to argue. This is the way it must be.” He turned to Izzy. “Get your mate under control!”
Izzy slapped Safir hard enough to send the old man to the floor.
“I know Myel,” she hissed. “I don’t know you. Do not speak to me like that. Do not presume to know me or attempt to dictate how my life should be.”
And there it was. The first of probably many confrontations between the two of them.
Safir shook off the hit and rose slowly. “Of course, Izzy.”
“I don’t think I like you using my name anymore. Your Majesty will do.”
Ouch.
Safir bowed his head. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”
She turned to Myel. “How long do you think we can hold out? Two days?” she asked him.
He nodded at that. “The bond is mostly settled now. If we sate it before you leave, two days should be doable.”
She nodded. “Then you stay and maintain your schedule while we go to the capital. We’ll be back in two days.” That last bit was to Safir.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“What about me?” Rook asked. “If I can’t leave, am I stuck here?”
Izzy glared at him.
“No,” Safir said, before Izzy could explode on the incubus. “You should be safe if you return to your master and stick close to him. Don’t show your face in public though. If you lay low, Saldrea will probably forget about you eventually.”
Rook raised a brow. “And what do you know of my master?”
“The dwarf, Svokol? I know him well,” Safir said with a grin which spoke of secrets and his sense of superiority. “He’s been working for me for some time.”
I choked on my next breath and Rook sputtered.
A dwarf working for a shifter? That seemed highly unlikely.
“He doesn’t know it, of course,” Safir said, preening like a peacock. The man clearly loved controlling others. “Are you aware of a dryad named Elnori?” he asked Rook.
Rook nodded. “My master trusts her, a source of… ah… So you’re her source of information, are you?”
Safir nodded. “She’s with me. And we’ll need your master with me fully before Izzy returns from the capital.”
Izzy growled.
“Before Her Majesty returns from the capital,” Safir corrected himself.
“Work with Elnori to find a way to tell your master the truth about Izzy. Sway him to our side, or at least to remain neutral. He won’t turn her in.
He’s a good man. But, if he joins us, that would be the first step in getting other dwarves to follow us. ”
Rook sighed heavily. “Fine. Sure. But let me be clear, I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing it for Izzy… my… friend.”
Izzy scoffed.
Safir waited to see if there were any other objections, then nodded and turned to Myel. “Please relay to Zora what’s happened here tonight. Our plans are changing rapidly. I’m hoping she’ll have a new plan by the time Izzy and I return from the capital.”
“Wait… Zora? My housekeeper?” Izzy interrupted.
Myel answered, “Yes, she’s with us too. We wanted another friend close to you.”
Izzy’s eyes went wide. “That’s why! When you two met in my room, she hid it well, but you knew her!”
Myel nodded. “Yes.”
“Huh,” Izzy mused.
“Are we done?” Safir asked.
No one said anything.
“Good, then Myel and Izzy, I do apologize, but we cannot leave to give you the privacy you require.”
“Leave it to me,” I said, indicating everyone else should join me at one side of the room. Then I raised a barrier of light, enough to block our view of Izzy and Myel.
“Thanks, Vyns, you’re a lifesaver,” Izzy’s voice drifted over to me.
I smiled, heart warmed.
“Any way you can block sound too?” Rook grumped.
“We’ll be quiet,” Izzy said, though her tone sounded mocking, kidding.
Rook sighed, sliding down the wall to sit, head in hands. “Doesn’t matter. I’m going to feel it anyway.”
Huh… I supposed he would. That made me smile all the more.
Served him right for how he’d treated Izzy.
Koar tapped me on the shoulder.
“Izzy is… mate-bonded to the little shifter?” he whispered.
I nodded. “Makes things far more interesting, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” the big man said, mulling this over. He shook his head and sighed. “No matter… Once they’re done. I’ll take you home.”
Home… right. Soon enough, I’d have to face the music… and my family.