39. Lois
Lois
“Oh, my God, he’s gonna kill him,” I say to no one in particular as we watch Az beat the ever-loving shit out of Pax on the biggest screen in front of us. “Come on.” I tug on Zek’s arm and hurry through the room, trying to find the exit.
“Where are we going?” he asks when we burst through into a sprawling corridor.
Looking left and then right, I try to find some signage. “Get me to the arena. I need to speak to Az.”
What I just witnessed was horrific. A blatantly morally-shitty manipulation tactic. And, as much as it has pissed me off – it seemed to have turned Az insane.
I don’t even know for sure if Pax stole my Permission.
He sure did spend enough time tinkering around in DJ to try and connect me to Mom.
Maybe he could have? But it sounds very much like humans don’t have any rights, anyway, so maybe he didn’t even need my Permission to conjure the image of me in the game?
I don’t know.
The only thing I’m sure of right now is I have to be with Az.
At least to stop him from committing murder.
“This way,” Zek says, leading me.
We get to what I think is a maintenance entrance. Above the door, in giant, neon-glowing letters, reads, ‘Do not enter, gameplay in hand’.
I give the thing a push. It doesn’t budge. “It’s locked.”
“Here, let me,” Zek says, stepping up and pressing numbers onto an electronic keypad. The thing makes an affirmative happy-ping noise, and we hear the door unlock with a click.
I look up to Zek with a creased brow. How would he know the code? He doesn’t work-
“Rykor brought me here a couple of nights ago,” he explains in a clipped tone, not making eye contact. “He wanted to show me his little tricks with the terrain cells.”
“I bet he did,” I say, smirking as I push open the door.
What greets us is a wall of jungle plants – scratch that… alien jungle plants. They’re huge. Some of the leaves are bigger than I am. But I don’t care. I plunge into that fake jungle headfirst and don’t look back.
“Az! Az!” I call, stumbling over fake tree roots and climbing over giant fake fallen trees. How do these guys make this look so easy?
“Prince Az and his old teammate, Paxariah Joridan, really getting into it now,” the commentator’s voice booms overhead as the crowds cheer for the violence around me.
“Are any of the other team members going to step in? Neither of them seem to be going for the game-stones. Az, in particular, has had several opportunities in this scuffle to deactivate Pax’s game-stone, and he just hasn’t done it.
What do you think the game plan is here? ”
The two keep talking. Chatting on about nonsense drakball game tactics.
I keep going. “Az!”
This arena is so huge. He could be anywhere!
Overhead, the double screech of a drak makes my soul practically leave my body. It lands in a tree nearby, and I see a huge Xaviann jump down from the saddle and expertly descend from the tree limbs.
“Varrex!” I say as soon as I recognize him.
He stops short of reaching me, his chest heaving as he huffs. “You real?” is all he says, his eyes narrowing at me.
“Yes! Can you take me to him, Varrex? Please?!”
Varrex looks me up and down for a moment, obviously trying to assess whether I’m telling the truth. Once he makes his mind up, he grunts to himself before turning to whistle for his drak. “Lindarr, Soozunn, come!”
I have neither the time nor the mental capacity to address the fact that Varrex’s draks are called what sounds like ‘Linda’ and ‘Susan’ right now.
So instead, I hold my breath when the huge guy lifts me using only one arm and grabs hold of the great beast as it swoops down low enough for his reach.
We are quite literally staying on this giant flying creature purely through the grip strength of Varrex’s hand on a saddle strap. Holy shit!
I close my eyes tightly and pray to God and all of Az’s Goddesses to keep me safe. To keep Az safe. To make it so I don’t throw up all over Linda and Susan.
A series of mouth-clicks and whistles from Varrex seems to tell the drak where he wants to go, and before I know it, we’ve landed in a clearing part of the arena. I want to kiss the holographic ground as soon as my feet make contact. But I don’t have time for that, either.
Az is on top of what looks like an unconscious Pax – and he’s still swinging at him.
“Oh my! This is going too far! Is nobody going to stop the play? I think someone should-” the commentators say, but I’m too busy running over to my man to hear the rest.
“Az! Az!” I shout. Others are rushing forward, apparently having stopped attacking monsters or throwing drakballs through hoops.
Varrex goes in behind Az and drags him off of a lifeless-looking Pax. “You’re done. You’re done, brother,” he murmurs to him, holding him back from going in for more.
“Az!” I cry, kneeling in front of him, cradling his bloody knuckles. “What happened?”
His hazy eyes come into focus again, and it’s like he’s finally seeing me. “You’re here,” he whispers, sagging back against Varrex and lifting a bloody hand to cup my cheek. “Pax showed me something awful, Lois. Something no one should ever see.”
I shake my head. “It wasn’t real. You must’ve known that.”
“I…” Az stares at me, his eyes darting all around my features like he’s still checking that I’m real.
Then, before I can even comprehend what’s happening, he shrugs off Varrex’s hold and scoops me up, pressing me impossibly close.
I’m completely surrounded by him – his big frame enveloping me into a desperate embrace.
I hug him back, almost just as desperate.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I hear the collective gasp of the other players, the spectators, and maybe even the commentators, too.
Xavianns, after all, are not meant to touch females like this.
“It didn’t matter to me if it was real or not,” Az murmurs into my hair, clutching me tightly. “Even the mere thought of the female I am in love with being scared and-”
I pull away, looking up at him. “In love with?” My voice chokes. “Since when were you in love with me?”
Az chuckles and cradles my face in one big, bloody, and bruised hand. “Lois, you are an incredibly intelligent person. Since when do you think?”
I don’t start analyzing our whole past – I just know.
I know it in my bones, just looking at him.
It’s been right there all along, and I’ve been too scared to trust it.
Too scared to challenge that once I get past the fun, friendly, lovely shell of this guy, that it’s inevitable that I’ll find that rotten core.
But there’s no rotten core to Az.
How could there be?
Instead of answering, I thread my fingers through his hair and drag him down for his lips to meet mine. The sweet desperation of the kiss is only punctuated by the distant screech of a drak and the deafening silence of a whole stadium holding their breath.
If our hug was scandalous, then this kiss is probably the equivalent of us fucking on the big screen.
I don’t give a shit.
I only care about him.
“I love you,” I murmur into our kiss.
But Az stills. He pulls away, blinking. “Say that again.”
I smile. “I love you, Prince Az Zerradaeth Xeverrique, Ninth Son of King Zeelix Xeverrique IV, Second Prince of the Northern Principality, First Drak Rider, Seven Times Xaviann drakball Champion.” He’s grinning now, too.
“Tamer of stand-offish creatures,” I continue, “Owner of far too many abs, and-”
Az lets out a bark of laughter before stealing a quick kiss that he can’t help but chuckle into. “And?”
I take a breath, staring at my everything, right in front of me.
“And mine.”