Chapter 3
Lexi
The party is in full swing by the time I arrive through the passageway that leads to one of the many secret rooms within the walls of Rosewood Academy.
I don't really know why we have to have parties in secret when the youngest students are already twenty, but apparently, this is a centuries-old tradition that no one wants to mess with.
Music flows through the room from some magical speakers, allowing those in the middle to dance. Even the people at the edges of the room who are too busy with their conversations for anything like dancing, are moving along with it without realising.
I head over to the makeshift bar to get myself a drink, opting for something not too strong. The last few parties I've been to lasted for hours, I need to pace myself, or I'm going to regret it.
There are so many people that it's hard to get a sense of what's going on, and it isn't until I've looked over most of the room that I realise I'm disappointed that I haven't found Edur among the guests.
I know I shouldn't let it bother me so much, especially when we already have a date planned, but I'm disappointed not to get to see him.
I push the thought to the side as I spot a purple-skinned demon waving me over.
I weave through the party-goers until I get to her, flashing my friend a smile and trying to ignore the slight hint of imposter syndrome that comes with being friends with a princess.
No one would know it from hanging out with her, but I've heard too many of the other demons at Rosewood refer to her by her title for it not to be true, even if she insists on it not being used.
"Hey," Sophia says brightly.
"Good party," I say.
She shrugs. "I haven't been here long enough for that. Lucas and I had a date before we came."
"Oh? Where is he now?" I ask, looking around for her boyfriend.
"Getting us drinks." She lets out a sigh.
"That's sweet. So everything is okay after the whole secretly-being-your-bodyguard thing?"
She wrinkles her nose and leans back against the wall.
"I'm getting there. But we've got a mate bond, and I feel better around him than I do around anyone else.
When I first found out about it, I didn't want to talk to him, but after I thought it through, I realised I'm angry at my parents for not trusting me, and for taking advantage of the fact he needed the money to come here, rather than Lucas. "
"That's very considerate of you."
"He's also really good with his tail, if you know what I mean."
I snort. "Sure." Though not having slept with anyone with a tail, or having any desire to, I'm not sure exactly what she means.
"That's not really it, though," she admits. "I mean, it is fun. But I wouldn't be with someone just because of that. It's just that he's sweet, and he feels bad about what happened."
"Probably because it is bad."
"Yeah, but mostly on my parents."
I nod in agreement. I know I wouldn't be happy if my parents had secretly hired a bodyguard to watch over me while I'm studying. But then again, it would be weirder for my parents to do that when I'm not a princess.
The conversation is cut short by Lucas approaching Sophia and handing her a drink. He wraps his tail around her waist and pulls her closer. She smiles and leans into him, causing a pang of longing to travel through me. Not towards Lucas, but to have someone be like that with me.
Except that I might do. All I have to do is trust Edur with the mate bond between us. I reach up to touch my necklace, rubbing my fingers over the two charms attached to it. The water plant and the snowflake might seem like a strange choice to most people, but not to me.
The sound of a familiar voice catches my attention, and I look up to find Edur greeting Sophia and Lucas. He looks over, his whole face lighting up when he sees me and making my stomach all kinds of fluttery in response. "Hey."
"Hi," I respond a little breathlessly.
"I see introductions aren't necessary," Sophia says.
Edur chuckles. "No, Lexi and I are old friends."
"Ah, this is who you've been talking about," Lucas says, giving him a knowing look.
"I feel like I'm missing how you all know one another," I say, looking between them.
"Lucas is my flatmate," Edur says.
"Oh. Small world."
"I think that's our cue to go and dance," Sophia says, resting her hand on Lucas' arm and gesturing to the dance floor with her tail. She waves goodbye and steers him towards the other dancers.
"That wasn't subtle at all," Edur says.
"It wasn't." I fiddle with my necklace, which causes his gaze to drop to my neck.
"You're wearing it." His dark blue eyes sparkle even more than the frosts beside them.
I pause, holding it without moving. "I always wear it."
A strange expression crosses his face. "Always?"
I swallow hard. How do I tell him that I've thought about him every day? That he's occupied a lot of my thoughts, and all of my regrets? I may have physically run away, but I'm not sure that I've ever done anything to actually reject the bond between us.
"Every day," I whisper.
"I didn't realise."
"It would be hard to when you didn't see me," I point out.
His eyes fill with pain as my words register, and I regret saying them. No doubt he's already hurting over our separation. I have, and I'm the one who enforced it in the first place.
"You gave it to me," I murmur. "The necklace and water plant for my sixteenth, and the snowflake for my seventeenth.
" I touch it as I talk about it, thinking back to the day he'd eagerly given me them.
People had teased me at the time about it being more than just friendship between us, but I'd dismissed them.
The mate bond proved that wrong.
"The snowflake was a rather conceited gift now I'm five years older."
I laugh. "Not at all. Your magic is part of you. And you were my favourite person." I frown. "Maybe you still are my favourite person."
"I hope to be." Even in the dim light of the secret room, I can see the hope in his eyes.
I swallow hard, not really sure how to respond to that.
Though at least the burning of the word mate through my system has subsided somewhat now that I've agreed to a date with him.
It's still there. I can feel it pulsing away within me, but it's softer, as if it knows that I'm not going to ignore it this time.
Or I hope that's what the reaction is.
"So, are you going to tell me where we're going for our date?" I ask, not really knowing how else to continue the conversation.
"I can't because I haven't heard back from the place I want to go yet," he responds. "And I don't want it to be disappointing if we can't go."
"Intriguing." I take a sip of my drink, realising that I've quite forgotten about it in the time that we've been talking. Having Edur back in my life is certainly distracting.
"I promise it'll be fun."
"I don't have any doubt about that." I smile at him, resisting the urge to reach out and touch him.
We used to show each other affection like that all the time, but I know it's been a while, and he has every reason not to want to return to the same easy way of interacting with one another.
It just felt so good when he held my hand during my panic attack.
The moment he touched me, it felt like I could focus on that and not on the impending doom that was racing around my head.
And it's nothing to do with the fact we're mates.
He's helped me through panic attacks before, when he was my friend.
It reminded me of that time. When it was easy between us.
"Lexi?"
I look up, meeting his dazzling blue eyes and seeing concern there. "Yes?"
"I asked you a question, and you didn't answer."
"Oh, sorry. I guess I was lost in thought."
"Anything interesting?"
I chew on my bottom lip, not missing the fact his gaze strays there when I do.
Should I tell him about what I'm thinking?
I have no real reason not to, especially when we're trying to rebuild the friendship we had.
"I was thinking about you helping me with my panic attack," I admit.
"And how it reminded me of how we used to be. "
To my surprise, he seems to relax at my response. "I'm glad. I was worried about overstepping when I touched you."
"No. I mean, yes, maybe? But in a good way."
He chuckles. "All right..."
"It felt familiar. Like all the times we've touched before, and how comfortable that was. It reminded me how much you care."
"I do care, Lexi." His voice dips low, and he steps closer. "Not because of the mate bond. You were my best friend."
"And you were mine."
"I want that again."
My breath catches in my throat, and I realise that what he's saying is what I want to hear. "Me too."
"Then we know where to start," he responds. "And we can make that our reality."
"I thought we were trying to date?"
"We are," he agrees. "But we should also be friends."
It's hard to explain the feeling within me, though I suspect my reaction is mostly coming from how right it feels to be friends with Edur.
He's always been someone I can rely on, and I look forward to having that back.
More than that, I'm lucky to have it back when I'm the one who broke our friendship in the first place.
"Edur!" someone shouts across the room.
He glances over in that direction, a frustrated expression on his face.
"You should go," I respond. "We'll spend time with each other on our date." I flash him a smile that I hope he takes to mean what it does. That I'm okay being left because I know that it's not going to be the end of us.
"We're going to have a great time," he promises.
"I know." I smile, hoping that he sees on my face how much I believe that.
I might be nervous about how the two of us are going to progress our relationship when sex is a potential issue, but I trust him, and I know that we're going to have fun.
The rest will either fall into place, or it won't. I just have to trust myself.