Chapter Sixteen
Avari
River’s eyes widened so much I thought they might burst. The gold in his irises burned brighter against the tight black of his pupils. ‘Your sister and your brother?’
I stretched, arms reaching toward the sky as I rose onto my toes. Nosy mirrored me, looping around my neck before draping down my spine. The journey had taken forever, and both our muscles ached for relief.
‘I mean, when you say it like that, it sounds disturbing. They’re not related.’
He slowed to a stop, eyeing my acrobatics with a puzzled expression. His attention lingered on my snake before returning to me. ‘Are you fine with it then?’
‘Fuck no,’ I exclaimed, and he grinned. That quiet half-smile of his made me falter mid-movement. ‘It’s driving me insane.’
‘Which part exactly? I know you don’t have the best relationship with your sisters.’
‘That’s an understatement. It’s like calling Anya a lizard.’ As soon as the words escaped me, the dragon roared a litany of insults in my mind.
Temperamental and nosy lizard suited her more anyway.
River scratched the side of his beard before speaking with a tinge of melancholy, his gaze locked on mine as he hypothesised, ‘I’m guessing it’s the fact you’ve only just found your family, and you couldn’t even keep them to yourself for a few weeks before the phantom of your dark past caught up with you? ’
Fucking hell. That psychoanalysis crap I didn’t miss. I braced a hand on my hip before addressing him. ‘Are you playing therapist?’
‘Nah, it’s just a habit,’ he admitted, darting his eyes around the tiny pathway that led to the heart of the forest. His powers kept overreacting and shielding us from vicious canaries quite a few times. I wondered what that was about.
‘Habit?’ I asked after a few seconds when curiosity got the better of me.
River released a breathy sigh. ‘I analyse people and situations all the time; it helps with being a commander and king.’
The past few weeks spent apart, I wondered whether he returned to fighting on the Gem Fields. I guessed that was my answer.
The way he strategised his search for me and how his soldiers actively fought off my mother… I had to admit his knack for analysis was probably a blessing in disguise. ‘Your grandma likely sparked that in you. Gods, that woman was so… um… so…’
‘I know,’ he chuckled softly. ‘My grandad has the patience of a saint, though he knew what he was getting into by mating a Volcano Land woman. They’re… intense. She’s the reason I studied psychology in the first place.’
The confession had so many layers it stopped me in my tracks. ‘You speak from experience?’
‘About wha— Oh.’ His posture tightened as he blinked rapidly before turning to me with a deliberate smirk. ‘Jealous much?’
I scoffed. ‘Excuse me? You’re the one who brought it up. You’re ancient, I was expecting a few females to have crossed your path.’
‘Ohh right, so you thought about me with other women? Is that a witchly preference of harems thing?’ Pride and intrigue coloured his stride as he neared me. ‘That’s a kink I haven’t encountered yet.’
‘What? No! I haven’t… Stop it, or I will listen to Anya and scorch your hair.' I jabbed my finger in the air to look fierce, but he laughed.
Maybe I really needed to show him I wouldn’t be messed with. I had enough power to do it too. I just needed to tap into my viciousness, and lately, that felt more attainable than ever.
‘Go on then, unleash your flames on me, little witch,’ he teased in a velvety tone that scraped at something buried deep inside me.
‘A little warning, though; I’m not sure whether I’ll keep mine in check for long when you do.
And I’m fae, my hair will grow back pretty quickly.
Find something else to torch,’ the bastard winked, and I felt myself overheat.
Skies above, help me.
Daring myself to assess his physique, strictly for analytical purposes, it was as I’d presumed. ‘Did you seriously just get turned on talking about your grandma?’
‘Ew,’ River scowled, seemingly released from the momentary trance of passion. ‘Like a bucket of ice.’
‘What?’
Sidestepping a massive fallen branch, he offered me his hand, and I whacked it. ‘Doused my flames in a second.’
I barely contained my smirk, let alone the chuckle bubbling in my chest. ‘I would be a little concerned if it hadn’t.’
‘So would I.’ He winced, visibly more relaxed. ‘Back to our earlier conversation, what about Willow and Alexander bothers you the most then?’
We walked ahead, and my mind jumped between so many issues that I found it difficult to focus on just one.
They weren’t even my biggest worries, just the most immediate.
Willow and Alec, my mother, how this whole Crone search was supposed to look…
There was so much weighing on my mind that sometimes it felt like one more problem would send me into a coma.
‘I guess the fact she is in the Isles now,’ my words came out quieter, the shame of admitting it aloud eating away at me. ‘It started to feel like my place.’
Lips pressed into a thin line, he looked ahead even when I searched for his eyes. I shouldn’t have been so forward, perhaps my honesty insulted him. After all, Fogoya had been so welcoming.
‘They keep fighting and screaming,’ I said, trying to change the subject, focusing on the crunch of soil beneath my boots to distract myself from the sound of my racing heart. ‘None of us can sleep with that ruckus going on. You’d think it was a battlefield.’
‘That bad?’ A faint crease formed between his brows. ‘I assumed the problem was that they accepted each other.’
I shook my head. ‘Quite the opposite. Willow wants off the Isles and back to Ortensia; he doesn’t want her going back because she’s depleted and possibly in danger. She keeps screwing everyone that crosses her path out of spite, and Alec’s beginning to lose his mind.’
‘Phew. What the f–' River paused. ‘Sounds horrible.’
‘It is funny at times,’ I chuckled at the memory. ‘One time she threw water in his face knowing she could die because she’s drained. It’s like an unhinged TV drama that you can’t switch off.’
He didn't laugh. ‘You know you can always come back to my castle, right? Platonic, or not, the room stays yours.’
I was beginning to think he misunderstood what the word meant. ‘No, thanks. I need my own space. Besides, it’s only a matter of time before he realises what a mess she is and lets her go.’
Something in him shifted. Stiffened.
‘No, he won’t,’ he claimed with confidence.
‘How would you know? You don’t know what she’s like and what she puts him through daily,’ I said, noting the sudden change. His aura seemed to darken, heavy with grief.
River held my gaze, clearly bothered by something he wouldn’t share. ‘Because he’s fae. In the grand scheme of things, he won’t care about any of that.’
That old chestnut… the fae and witch divide. The invisible differences that fae kept claiming put us apart.
I sighed, feeling a little frustrated. ‘And what would he care about?’
His gaze flickered away while he tried to calm himself down. There was real fire lurking in his eyes, burning beneath a frown as he looked ready to pounce.
I took a step back to give him some room to calm down, and they snapped to mine.
My mouth went dry. I swallowed, hoping he could keep it contained. There was no telling what might come of our connection. My fire was too eager, too volatile.
My heart raced, fear curling in my chest as I wondered if it might push us into something I wasn’t ready for.
With his fiery eyes, he looked more regal than I had ever seen him. Magic swirled viciously in his gaze as he struggled to steady his breathing. It was frightening.
I had never seen him so lost to his element… reduced to his fire, more force than man. It was fascinating.
I longed to touch his eyelids, to feel the warmth of the flames racing beneath them, but I couldn’t cross that line. Not when he was already struggling to contain himself.
‘Fae feel it differently, you know that…’ he said after a moment, sounding a little winded.
Books really couldn’t teach me much about this—the intensity of matehood. I just hoped that we were still talking about them and not us. ‘Knowing doesn’t make it easier to understand.’
River laughed, stepping closer as if testing the waters, gauging whether he was still in control.
Relief softened his smile as the flames gradually dissipated, and his eyes returned to their usual amber.
‘I’m yet to meet a fae male that would reject his mate.
Let alone for acting out before they’ve even bonded. They’re not a sealed unit yet.’
Sealed? Chills spread down my spine, it sounded so irreversible. ‘And if she were to sleep around after she mated him?’
For a brief second, fire flared in his eyes again, but he quickly reined it in. ‘I’ve heard stories, mostly about interspecies pairings with witches. It’s possible to be rejected but… Once the bond’s in place for a fae, it will never go away. Are your sister’s ears like yours?’
How her anatomy had anything to do with this was beyond me. ‘What do her ears have to do with anything?’
His cheeks flushing a little, River admitted, ‘The past few weeks I’ve had a few scholars dig for research focusing on fae and halfling matings. The findings differ based on whether the person’s genetics are predominantly fae or witch.’
He really thought I would mate him after everything that happened... The realisation made me sad for him. ‘And ears tell you that?’
‘Yes,’ he hushed out, avoiding my glare like he could sense my disapproval.
The conviction that sluttiness—or lack thereof—could be related to ear shape was almost funny. ‘I find it hard to believe, but for the sake of the conversation—yes—Willow’s ears are a little pointed too.’
River stopped, watching my reaction. ‘Then she’s unlikely to sleep around after they bond.’
I laughed. ‘You really don’t know what a slut she is.’
‘It doesn’t matter; she will feel the effects of the bond more than a regular witch,’ he said, looking away. ‘Anyway, this is one of the few pine forests we have. It’s not for the faint-hearted.’
‘I’m not—’
Taking a step away, he raised his hands in surrender. ‘I wasn’t suggesting you were, Ava. Have you ever heard of shimmering chasers?’
It rang a bell.