“Your ascensions area lot more exciting than ours,” Cyrus murmured as he sipped from a glass of fiery lemonade. His water magic kept cooling the liquid before it reached his tongue, thereby defeating the entire purpose of the spell. But I wasn’t about to correct the Water Fae King.
“You turn former kings into trees, nearly burn down a forest with a bunch of flickering wands, and then throw one hell of a party,” he continued. “I mean seriously, I’m impressed, and a little miffed that this only happens once every thousand years.”
I snorted. “I assure you, they are not all like this.” At least, none that I knew about, which was arguably only one.
And actually, that’d been a rather deadly ascension considering the Quandary Blood extermination that had followed.
I frowned.
Maybe Cyrus had a point.
“I know a way to make this all even more exciting,” a deep voice said behind me, the tone reminding me of grating rocks.
I shivered as the giant boulder of an Earth Fae placed his palm on my shoulder and gave it a good, not-so-tender squeeze.
“Kolstov,” he said.
“Sol,” I replied. Shade? I might need you to shadow me in a moment.
His amusement came back through the bond. And miss watching that Earth Fae knock you in the face with his fist? Nah, I’m good right here.
I narrowed my gaze at him. Shall I tell him how you bit Aflora against her will? Then insist upon an introduction afterward?
“Cyrus,” Zeph’s voice interjected, his presence at my side reassuring and protective as he looked at the hand on my shoulder and followed it up to the owner. “Sol.”
“Zephyrus,” the Earth Fae replied coolly.
“Well, this ought to be fun,” someone said from behind us, causing Cyrus to roll his eyes.
“You just want to watch them fight,” the Water Fae King said.
“Correction,” Titus—who I assumed was the one to speak previously—joined our little circle and bumped shoulders with Zeph. “I want to see this one fight.”
My guardian snorted. “You couldn’t handle me in a fight.”
“Is that a threat?” Sol demanded.
I sighed. Aflora?
She shadowed over to us in a blink, her blue eyes blazing with power. The second she appeared, Sol released me and engulfed her much smaller frame in a hug that had Zeph growling beside me. She squealed as the larger Earth Fae picked her up and whirled her around, then she laughed as he set her down, their friendship clearly born of brotherly and sisterly love.
But I also knew she used to harbor a crush on the brute.
So that soured some of my amusement.
As did the look he gave me as he put his arm around her.
Protective didn’t even begin to describe that look. It was more of an expression that said, If you hurt her again, I will rip you apart and enjoy it.
Claire joined us then, her indulgent gaze going to Cyrus and Titus before Sol. “No, you can’t turn them into rocks. Aflora wouldn’t approve.”
He grunted. “Soiling my fun.”
Soil, I thought, snorted. Earth Fae puns?
I suddenly see where Aflora’s dictionary comes from,Zeph returned.
“Stop being such a boulder, Sol,” Aflora murmured, kissing him on the cheek and earning another low growl from Zeph.