Chapter 7 #2
“Why would that be terrifying?” He opened the armoire, eyes focused on the clothes as he sifted through them.
She went still, her brow wrinkling. “I’m beginning to think that you don’t know me all that well, Mr. Haze.
” He shot her a dead-panned stare from around the armoire door, lips in a harsh line.
“Do not look at me like that. There is hardly anything I have done that has not been acted out on impulse.”
Aziel tugged a dress shirt from his collection and shut the door, turning to her slowly. “Then I suppose our next lesson would be you learning how to control that.”
“That could take years.”
He gripped the hem of his tunic and pulled it over his head, revealing impeccably toned muscles that rippled underneath the gruesome twist of branches and roots that covered his torso.
“I have the time.” He said simply, shrugging into his shirt.
He watched himself button it and Nymiria, already missing the beautiful expanse of his skin, watched as well. Unashamed.
Partially ashamed.
“I have somewhere to be.” He grabbed a suit coat from the back of the desk chair and headed to the washroom.
Nymiria rolled her eyes, still trailing after him. She couldn’t quite understand his sudden shift in mood and perhaps he was perfectly entitled to feeling whatever it was he wanted to feel about her, but there was still that nagging thought in her mind that’d bothered her the majority of the day.
He came to her the night before. When her nightmare had done such a thorough job with her mind that it made her physically ill, he’d carted her off to his room and tucked her into his bed as if she’d belonged there. And now…
Forget it. Walk away.
She started to back away from the washroom, but Aziel was suddenly turning to her, that sharp look back in his eyes that made her freeze in place. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were engaged to Everand?”
It took her a moment to process what he’d asked, the words arousing some long-forgotten memory.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t remembered she was engaged to Everand as a child, but even as a child, the words meant very little to her.
As time passed and the idea of Everand still being alive faded, so did any thought of their betrothal and what it meant for Nymirian and Alvarian people.
“Didn’t seem as important as all of the other things that have been going on in the last eleven years.” She said with a shrug. “I’m not a princess anymore, Aziel. That betrothal…”
“You didn’t want it?” He inquired.
Just by looking at him, it seemed as if he were merely asking a question out of sheer curiosity.
But Nymiria knew him. She knew that what he’d told her, all those months ago, still stood.
If Aziel was anything, he was devoted. Loyal to a fault, and even beyond that.
It made that ache in her chest feel as if all of the air had been squeezed from her lungs.
“Does it matter?” She asked, scoffing, already regretting how the words sounded before they even left her mouth.
Aziel faced her then, smoothing a tendril of hair back and away from his forehead.
“No,” he smiled. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.
” He stood in front of her, both of them staring at one another in a tense silence until he cleared his throat.
“Excuse me. I’d prefer not to use the balcony as an escape route today, if you don’t mind. ”
Nymiria blinked out of her stupor, nearly jumping out of his way. She watched his retreating form with narrowed eyes, her heart thrumming quickly in her chest.
“I almost forgot,” His voice echoed from the dining room to where she stood, but she dared not seek him out. “If the nightmares get bad again, my door is always unlocked.”
She spent the majority of the day debating on whether or not she should look around.
Eventually, Nymiria figured that becoming used to her surroundings was better than subjecting herself to only three rooms at all times.
Even when she had first visited Eadyn, he’d only ever allowed her to be in his rooms. She never wandered and while he’d never specifically forbidden her from becoming familiar with his home, she felt as if it was some sort of unspoken rule—like she was uncovering secrets about him that he did not want her to know.
Mindlessly wandering the halls of Aziel’s home felt oddly intimate.
She tried her best to look at everything with a distinct sort of disdain that separated her from him, but everywhere she looked and everything she saw was just a piece of him placed in random corners and hanging on the walls.
She’d come to learn that he had an extensive rock collection.
Or… gem collection, rather. They were everywhere, either hanging from the ceiling like shimmering mobiles or placed obscurely along the windowsills.
The paintings that hung on his walls were dark and beautiful—pictures of gods and goddesses, pictures of gardens and crows and every odd thing that one could possibly think of. If it hadn’t been for the pale stone walls and flooring, his palace would have been utterly terrifying to navigate.
She climbed the stairs, following the distant sounds of laughter and shouted curses with a shadow of a smile lingering on her face.
“You asshole!” Trio exclaimed, his loud laugh booming through the silence of the hall. Nymiria drew closer to the doorway, leaning against the threshold with her arms crossed. Aziel hid his smile with a set of cards, his eyes gleaming in Trio’s direction. “I think you’re cheating.”
Aziel reared back, his brow furrowed. “You are the one dealing the cards!”
The other male shrugged as he frowned down at his own hand, obviously displeased. “You’re the god here. How do I know you aren’t doing some kind of sorcery on the deck?”
“I would have had all of your money two hours ago—that’s how.”
“You do have all of my money!”
“Then why are we still playing? Because, to be frankly honest with you, I don’t want what you’re offering.
” Aziel placed his cards face-down on the table, eyes turning to where Nymiria was standing.
The smile on his face slipped just slightly, but quickly flashed to something smug.
Her cheeks heated in response. She righted herself, hands tangling in front of her. “Spying?” He hummed.
Nymiria scoffed, slowly sauntering into the room.
“I’d hardly call it spying. The door was open.
” She plopped herself into the chair farthest away from him, using Trio as a wall between them.
Their interaction from earlier ran through her mind, tension gathering in her shoulders.
Aziel gave her a curious look when she took Trio’s glass of whiskey and allotted herself a small sip. “Is there room for another player?”
Aziel smirked at her, his hand flexing in his gloves before pouring another glass of amber liquid into an empty glass and sliding it in her direction. “Depends. Are you going to pretend you don’t know how to play?”
Though she pretended to be unfazed, her irritation was palpable to everyone in the room. She lifted her shoulder lazily in response. “Depends. Is your brother around for me to flirt with?” She shot back.
Something wild flickered in Aziel’s eyes, his whole body seeming to grow larger as she peered at him from across the table. She hid the raised hairs on her arms by crossing them, arching her brow in his direction. “Still planning on killing him?”
Her lips pursed, a satisfaction coursing through her like a warm balm. “Change of plans, remember?”
Nymiria didn’t miss the slight tick of his jaw, nor the way his fingers tapped impatiently along the glass of whiskey in front of him.
She lifted her own glass to her lips, letting the drink slide down her throat and warm her belly.
Between them, Trio bristled uncomfortably. “Should I see myself out?” He asked.
“No.” The word was spoken by both of them, their eyes meeting and then moving away from one another immediately.
Again, Trio expressed his discomfort. “I feel like I am intruding.”
“You were here first.” Aziel snapped.
Trio moved to stand. “Then, I suppose I should also be the first to leave.”
Nymiria reached for his hand, offering him a warm smile as she tugged him back in the direction of his chair. “Stay.” She begged. “Please?”
The shadow wielder glanced between the two of them, eyes snagging on Aziel’s.
Nymiria didn’t know what unheard conversation passed between the two of them, but no sooner than the curiosity bloomed inside of her, did Trio slowly move back into his seat.
He didn’t fidget, but was so still that something was obviously and laughably wrong with him.
Nymiria reached for the cards, gathering them in her hands and straightening the deck. “I’ll deal.” She sighed.
Round after round passed with ease. Aziel’s body relaxed significantly, his laugh returned whenever Trio would lose (which was more often than not).
But when Trio finally won back half of his losses, his eyes were red with liquid happiness, eyes droopy and his mouth permanently fixed into a drunken smile.
Aziel practically forced him to return to his rooms, threatening to cheat if they played another round.
He left them in a sulking fashion, attempting a sad, round-eyed look at Nymiria before he finally left the room.
Nymiria was still nursing her second drink.
She’d taken it rather slow, already knowing that being inebriated would not benefit her in any way at all.
She would surely make a fool of herself.
There was a pleasant, comforting heat thrumming in her veins, relaxing her muscles that were threatening to tense in response to Aziel’s gaze.
He was still blindly shuffling the cards, his lips swollen and pink. Nymiria couldn’t help staring at them. Not when they looked so inviting. As much as she should have been ashamed, she simply did not have the resolve to care.
“There’s a war going on and the two of you are here playing a card game?” Said Nymiria, searching for any sort of topic to end the deafening silence.
Aziel stared at her for a moment longer before his eyes finally dropped to the cards in his hands. He’d removed his gloves at some point, his long fingers skillfully toying with the deck. “We’ve been in a war room all morning,” he sighed. “It’s as close as I can get without breaking the rules.”
“Rules?”
He nodded. “Rules.” He placed the cards onto the table in a neat stack before taking up his glass.
“Even the gods have limits. One of mine is that I cannot offer aid in warfare. I can create strategies and offer my insight in terms of tactics, but beyond that it would be a crime, for lack of better words.”
“Do I have any rules?” She didn’t mean to ask the question aloud, but perhaps it was better that she had.
Aziel nodded slowly, eyes glazed as if deep in thought. “Using Life’s powers for your own personal gain. Attaining riches, granting yourself fertility. Using any of your powers for yourself is a big rule-breaker.”
“That’s it, then?” She cringed at the final swallow of the whiskey, her face scrunching up. “I can’t be selfish?”
“Correct.”
“Have you ever broken the rules?”
Aziel’s eyes met hers for a moment before he tossed back the remnants of amber liquid in his glass.
He let out a soft grunt, that rigidity returning to his muscles.
“Yes,” he began. “And I can sincerely say that the risk was far more impactful than the reward.” Nymiria could tell that he didn’t want her to press the matter, so she left the conversation to die where it was.
They sat in that thick silence for a while longer before Aziel rose to his feet. “Come. I’ll walk you to your rooms.”
She eyed him as he approached, her cheeks shamelessly blazing when he extended his hand in her direction.
Her fingers fell into his palm and he was guiding her to her feet and then towards the door.
Her body was on fire—every inch of her skin responding to that single touch.
Perhaps she was imagining it, but she swore she saw the blacks of his eyes flare the moment it happened.
Her mind buzzed with ceaseless thoughts as they walked towards her rooms. She felt like she was floating on air—like the hand that was resting against the small of her back would burn through her clothing and melt away all of her defenses.
“Are you alright?” Aziel asked, his sure stride faltering as he looked down at her.
Nymiria felt his fingers spread against her back, her breath hitching slightly when his thumb drew a little too close to the curve of her waist. “I’m…
drunk.” She lied. Perhaps it wasn’t exactly a lie.
She wasn’t sober, by any means, but she also hadn’t drank enough to feel quite like this. What she felt now was…
Other. A heat that was not simple arousal or even inebriation.
Aziel was no fool. He could see through every single one of her lies, as always.
Even when she desperately wished he couldn’t.
Nymiria could see it in his eyes—an unspoken truth that lingered between the two of them.
The attraction was undeniable. Perhaps, she thought, it was fine to let it exist; to let their attraction to one another linger, but never come to fruition again.
She believed that it could be alright knowing that it was there, like an understanding both of them had to soothe their horrible and aching hearts.
Never crossing that line would be difficult, but she’d managed years without his touch. She could do it again.
Maybe.
Even though Nymiria knew that nightmares waited for her on the other side of the door they were now standing in front of, she was grateful to see it.
Grateful to know that once that door closed, she could wallow in her misery all she wanted and be angry at him all she wanted.
It was so much harder being angry when he stood in front of her looking like this.
“Goodnight, Moonflower.”
His voice, thick with something undeniably sensual, cascaded over her skin like warm honey. She forced a weak and worthless smile. “Goodnight, demon.”
Hours later, when the nightmares and screams and prayers of haunted, helpless souls returned and not even the faint glow of aura-lights dispersed around her room brought her comfort, Nymiria sat up in her bed and sighed.