Chapter 23
I t turns out Draevyn and I had a true ally in Dax. Melysah had brought the incident in the alleyway to his doorstep. He’d heard her every word and had given her all the attention she desperately sought. Then—in so many words—he advised that he’d never presume to tell her how to run the council and asked Melysah to stop trying to tell him how to run the Guardians.
At least, this was the story relayed to Draevyn. He’d told me as much as we ascended the steps for my lesson with Myles—the light filtering in from the tall arch windows catching on the lighter brown strands of his hair. “I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about,” he assured me with his hand on the small of my back.
We sifted through the crowd of students in the hallway. “What is with her? And why do I get the feeling that there’s more to the story than I’m aware of?” I inquired with an arch of my brow.
Draevyn let loose a long sigh. “A long story for another time.”
“Hmph,” I replied. I left him in his usual spot beyond the classroom door, throwing him an expression that promised retribution if he didn’t give me the details later.
When I stepped into the room, I paused. “Roarvyn?”
His crossed legs rested on top of the desk, and his chair was tilted back as he casually thumbed through a book. He glanced my way with one of his charming smiles rumored to bring the females in Atlantis to their knees. Quite literally, from what I hear. “Welcome, Your Highness.”
I cautiously stepped forward. “What are you doing here?”
Roarvyn’s chair came to rest on the ground as he rose and bowed with a flourish—strands of his long, brown hair falling forward. “I am here for your lesson, of course.”
“Huh.” I strode to my usual table just before his desk. “And Myles is?”
“Occupied in the Above World, I’m afraid,” he informed, crossing his arms over his scaled chest.
“I see.” I slid into my seat and extracted my journal, giving him a small smile. “And what are we learning today? How to disarm women and make their panties melt with a look?”
His face brightened, his gleaming teeth peeking. “Why? Is it working? Because if so, I believe my work here is done.”
I snorted. “Yeah, okay.”
Roarvyn bellowed with laughter. “Regardless of all my experience with the…how do you call it in the Above World? The birds and the bees?”
“I know plenty about the birds and bees—”
“I’m here to teach you how to survive the council and when needed, manipulate them.”
I jerked back. “Manipulate them?”
He tilted his head with a mocking grin. “Oh, you sweet little thing. You don’t believe Melysah isn’t studying every tome in Atlantis to see how she can get her way? Aw,” he cooed, shaking his head. “I didn’t take you for a simpleton.”
My blood boiled. “I’m not a simpleton . I’ve been thrown into a world I’m still learning about, fuck you very much.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think better of them.
Roarvyn reared back, his hand coming to his collarbone. “Oh, she bites. Good. You’re gonna want to hold on to that fight, Princess.”
He sauntered to the bookshelves at the back of the room, his fingers trailing over spine after spine until he plucked a crimson-clothed book from a shelf within reach. He deftly thumbed through it and placed it on the desk before me. “If you would read amendment eighty-eight of the Queen however, the Prince was a very gifted Fire Fae. He arose from his sleep when he sensed the intruder’s energy in his home. When he opened his daughter’s bedroom door, he was shocked to discover one of their trusted friends in Yari’s room, and he was momentarily stunned. That moment cost him his life. If Behuko wasn’t directly behind Fynlor as he turned to ash, I suspect Yari would’ve been the next to die. But Behuko took him out. She and Yari returned to Atlantis after Fynlor’s death, but Behuko died of a broken heart, leaving Yari to a queendom she grew up resenting.
“She lived the rest of her days in Atlantis, spewing her hatred of humans. She was the first of our kind to begin a rebel movement. Like Behuko, Yari had her loyal little band of supporters. She married a Water Fae, and when her daughter was born, she taught her to believe in those same hateful Corenathian ideologies. Please read the final name on Behuko’s branch for me if you would.”
My gaze dropped to the final few names on Behuko’s branch—Prince Fynlor Velafyn, Behuko Delmar (surname renounced) Velafyn, Melysah Delmar (surname renounced) Velafyn—and everything clicked together.
My head snapped up. “Melysah’s next in line for the crown.”
Roarvyn smiled slowly. “Well, well. She does catch on. Yes, Your Highness. She is next in line—after you, of course—for the crown. She takes your ability to rule away? It goes directly to her. This plan of hers goes back centuries. Melysah has had plenty of time and preparation to devise her strategy.”
I huffed, rubbing a hand down my face. “And I’m an interloper who just got here.”
“Stop.” Roarvyn’s face had gone serious. “You will stop. I’ll not have that kind of attitude from you. Not now and not ever. You may have just gotten here, but I’ve spent a lifetime observing the game unraveling before me—staying devoted to what Neleah intended for her queendom. I’ll not fail her, and I certainly will not fail you. I am your ally. And you have many who are willing to help you. We’ll see this through, but you must overcome this ridiculous idea that you don’t belong here—quite the contrary. Of all the Fae and humans in Atlantis, you are the best suited for this role. You understand the humans, and you have something Melysah doesn’t.”
I swallowed past the lump that had formed in my throat. “And what’s that?”
“Empathy.” He spread his hands on the desk, leaning toward me. “I have your back, Ash. I have your back in that council room when you feel the weight of it all. We all do.”
My heart was warmed by his support. There was a game I honestly felt unprepared for occurring within the council chamber. I’d take every ally I could find, and the look in his eyes told me Roarvyn was one of them. I gave him a solemn nod. “Thank you.”
He tapped his knuckles against the top of the desk. “Good. Now, prepare yourself for a full afternoon of the council ins and outs, my future Queen. By the time you leave this room, you’ll be an expert on all the council politics.”
I meandered out of the classroom in a total daze, my mind foggy from information overload. Roarvyn didn’t hold back a single council detail, and as I dodged a few students giggling and chatting on their way to their lessons, a faint buzz expanded in my ear. I hadn’t even noticed when Draevyn lifted the bag from my shoulder, his lips tilting up in a smile. “Rough day?”
I sighed. “Just a lot of information. Like…a lot.”
He placed himself before me as we cut through the crowded hall, the skin of my hand tingling when he threaded his hand through mine. As we reached the dark cavern that led to the Shingu, I glanced up in time to catch his lips lifting slightly. “Do you want to go with me to the gardens for a bit? Get away from everything?”
“You think that’s a good idea?”
A shrug. “It seems to me that you need it.” We shuffled across the sandy shore, the water lapping at our webbed toes. “Come. The Shingu leads to one of my favorite places in the palace gardens. No one will bother us there.”
As we entered the river, I shamelessly let him pull me through the water, my emotions drowning me inside. So many revelations regarding the Atlantian council came to light, and the prospect of dealing with it all weighed heavily on my soul. Who was an ally? Who would seek to undermine me by using archaic rules in a book with binding so sensitive it could break upon opening it? Give me all the marine life in the world, all the different species, and their qualities any day.
Underwater politics?
Not so much.
It wasn’t long before we were breaking through the surface of the Shingu. My breath caught as I took in the scene beyond the shoreline. A small clearing was covered in a carpet of lush green grass, and towering rose bushes painted in hues of red, orange, and yellow adorned the surroundings. Arches lined the walkways, leading to the other side of the gardens. The palace loomed in the distance, its faelights glowing against the setting sun, casting a soothing calm over the land. At the heart of the clearing, a stark white gazebo stood, bathed in the warm glow of copper Moroccan lanterns. Vermilion orange-colored cushions and pillows lined the floor, creating an inviting and serene atmosphere. Draevyn’s enthusiasm could be felt a mile away. “Amazing, isn’t it?
“It’s so beautiful.”
His strong arm snaked around my waist as he guided me up the steps. “I used to come here to unwind when training became too much, which was nearly every other day.”
I leaned into his warmth. “Dax was that hard on you, huh?”
He huffed a laugh. “Some days, I could barely walk, and then it wouldn’t matter how much rest we would get overnight. We’d be up training hard again the next day. There were some days I swore my arms would fall off. I’m pretty sure that’s what Dax intended anyway.” He dropped my bag in one of the gazebo’s octagon corners and threw himself amongst the sea of pillows in such a childlike fashion that it warmed my heart to witness his elation. He patted the cushion beside him for me to follow suit.
I tucked myself snugly into his side, extending my legs before me—my scales shimmering against the warm glow of the lanterns—and rested my head on his muscular shoulder. I let loose a sigh with all my worries and fears about the dreaded council carrying into the wind and let my body go limp. The Shingu moved lazily along its path, the dome wall sitting just beyond dark, but providing a window into the ocean floor that encompassed Atlantis. Every now and then, some large gray sea animal moved back and forth in curiosity. “This is just what I needed.” The lantern light glinted in his eyes as I brought my lips an inch away from his. “Thank you.”
Draevyn pressed his soft lips to mine in a chaste kiss, igniting my core. “You’re welcome, nanichi .”
My brow furrowed. “What does nanichi mean?”
His thumb moved in lazy circles over the scales at my hip. “It’s a term of endearment reserved for those who mean something. Something more. Like, let’s say, a bondmate.”
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. I couldn’t help the smile that emerged on my face. My lips were pulled to his once more, the essence of him driving deeper into my heart.
As he ever so slowly broke our kiss, he placed his head upon mine, his thumb now tracing a pathway on my bare arm.
“Tell me more about you,” I pleaded.
“What did you want to know?”
“Well, everything.”
His chest vibrated with a chuckle. “Everything is a lot.”
“Where are you from? I mean. I know you’re from Atlantis, but what part?”
“I grew up in the outskirts, right along the southern border of Atlantis. It’s called Sabana. It’s a farming town where most gardening and farming elementals live. They’re responsible for feeding the whole of Atlantis and trading produce and wine amongst the other queendoms.”
“So, your parents are farmers, then?”
He brought a leg to cross over the other. “Yes, and they’re really good at it too. Vegetables, meat, poultry. They also produce some of the best wine in the farming country.”
“They must have been shocked when you were called to join the Guard.”
“Understatement of a lifetime. They were furious.”
My fingertips crested the ridges of his abdomen as I lazily traced over his scales there with a deep furrow on my brow. “But they have to be proud of you now, yes?”
My head bobbed upward as his shoulder lifted in a shrug. “I suppose they are now. It took them a while to come around. They weren’t keen on having their only son become a Guardian when they’d planned for me to enter the family business. It also didn’t help that they’d waited an eternity for the goddess to bless them with a faeling.”
“Because the Fae have trouble conceiving?”
His body stiffened. “Because the Fae have trouble conceiving.”
I rose to lean against my arm to take in the expression of solemn concern that graced his features. “Why do you think that is?”
He twisted a strand of my dark brown hair within his fingers as he said, “Because we are blessed with a longer life span, but faelings? Not so much. Faelings are such a blessing among us. It is why some Fae choose to take humans as their partners. Their conception rate is much higher. Of course, the human life span is so short. The choice is not an easy one. The way I look at it, it’s a guaranteed heartbreak. I couldn’t bear it—falling in love with someone only to lose them a few decades later. And then watching your children die a few more decades after that.”
“Sounds tragic,” I murmured.
“Yes. Quite.” He gazed off into the distance, his green eyes holding untold grief. It had me wondering whether a human woman had captured his heart in the past.
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Hmph. When I was coming into my manhood, I used to think I loved Melysah.” I felt my heart constrict and desperately tried to control my breathing. “I wasn’t aware of the evil manipulator she is today. I was very taken by her beauty at first. I courted her for a while until I realized that her beauty was a mask for something much darker. I slowly began to withdraw from her. But one day, she showed up at my quarters in the Guardian wing of the palace. She requested I accompany her to Guake’te—the bonding ceremony—to see if we were goddess-blessed as bondmates. I refused to present her.”
I picked at a wayward thread in the seam of a neighboring pillow. “The rejection must have been heartbreaking for her.”
“It was. Still is, apparently. I regret ever courting her. What I felt for her was lust. Nothing more. I had no idea what love was back then.”
My breath hitched. I didn’t dare look at him as I asked, “And you know what love is now?”
His fingers came under my chin, lifting my gaze to his. “And now, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I had no idea what love was. I had no idea what it meant to find your perfect bonded mate. Not even close.” His breath crested across my lips as his deep baritone voice murmured, “Now…I’m so dangerously close to losing myself in someone who deserves it.”
His hand slid into my hair at the back of my neck—pulling me to meet the warmth of his lips. I lost myself in his kiss, in the sensation of his tongue. He devoured me, pulling me down to the cushions till I lay over him. Panting. Breathing. Taking. Needing. I wanted to experience it all with this marvelous male.
Draevyn tipped me on my back, the length of him pressing into my thigh. His mouth traveled down my neck, his tongue moving in delicious swirls, causing my toes to curl. When his lips met the scales at my collarbone, he glanced at me with a heated question in his eyes.
And I answered.
I willed the scales over my breast and abdomen away, the cool late afternoon air pebbling my skin as I bared myself to him. He paused, his gaze roaming over me with such reverence, such adoration, that my core instantly melted with every careful caress upon my breast. “So beautiful,” he whispered against my skin as he captured my taut nipple in his warm mouth. My back arced into him, gripping the thick strands of his silky dark hair as he teased the tip of my other nipple between his skilled fingers. My core went molten as he sucked so hard that I felt it all the way down my body. I let loose a moan of complete desperation.
“I don’t believe this is what they had in mind when they asked you to be her Guardian, Draevyn.”
The cold voice had Draevyn jumping to his feet. My scales rose back up my body as I bolted upright. Melysah stood on the pathway just outside of the gazebo, seething. “You dare to fuck her in public?”
Draevyn balled his fists. “What are you doing out here?”
The nostrils of her defined nose flared. “I can go wherever I please.”
“And you just so happen to be in the outer gardens?”
I wanted to smack the evil grin off her face. “Perhaps.” Melysah turned, meeting my furious gaze. “I would watch yourself with him.”
“What I do with him is none of your business,” I bit out.
Her perfectly sculpted brow rose. “Want to bet?”
“That’s enough, Melysah,” he admonished.
She began walking backward. “For now. I’ll see you all around, but hopefully not as much as I’ve seen today.” She spun on her heels and disappeared beyond the garden.
Draevyn ran a hand through his hair. “I’m so sorry. I should have realized…”
I placed a hand on his calf. “Realized what?”
He landed on his knees before me. “Now that she knows about us, we’ll be watched.”
I reared back a little. “But why?”
“This is who she is. Her little games with me. They’re what she lives for. If she can’t have me, no one can.”
“But I thought what happened between the both of you was history.”
“It’s history to me but not to her. She’s never stopped pursuing me, no matter how often I’ve told her that I feel nothing for her.” His eyes narrowed on the pathway. “There’s only one sure way to get my feelings across.”
My heart rate kicked when the words settled. “And what’s that?”
Draevyn’s face flashed with pure unguarded delight. “We present ourselves before the Bohiti at Guake’te.”