“So, what do you want with us, then?” I asked.
“To help you all achieve your best fate.” She stepped away, behind the counter, and began making another drink. “I see a bit of myself in all of you. The power each of you holds is vast, greater than any other of your generation.”
My jaw tightened. Tears burned my eyes. I didn’t want the threads of fate to tie me to a future that was nothing but strife. I’d been a part of enough battles. My flesh had been torn open too many times to count. Just thinking about it had me running my hands up my arms.
Audra pulled my hands away from my own skin and pushed a warm drink into my palms. “While we are here, discussing my involvement with fate, there are people out there hurting.”
My head snapped up in surprise.
Audra waved a hand in the air. “Yes. I know. You believe me to be a demon, but that’s only a term for something as great as a god without a shrine where I’m from. I am not without kindness, as you should know.”
The weight of duty climbed upon my shoulders and tried to weigh me down. I’d been avoiding it up until now. To me, Lakesedge was in a time of peace. I couldn’t upset that with frivolous fights over titles.
Yet, Audra insinuated that there was more to this situation than I knew. I’d refused to look past the surface, because that meant acknowledging my hand in all of this. The longer I ignored the situation, the worse it could become.
The warm beverage in my hands suddenly wasn’t enough. I needed something harder.
“Every minute you spend running away from your title is a minute that your court suffers.” Audra placed her fingertips under the mug and gently lifted the drink so that I would sip it. “Don’t run too far, because then you will take longer running back to them when you finally decide to take a stand. I know Beryl does not look like Alvin on the surface, but I can promise you that she is just as bad.”
I finished the drink without saying another word. I couldn’t. My mind churned with everything that Audra had revealed. Once the drink was empty, I staggered out of the café and down the street.
Of course, the drink didn’t sit well. Audra had offered it to comfort me, but my body rebelled at the thought. There was no comforting me right now. A war loomed ahead of me. I’d already survived one. I couldn’t bear the thought of leading another.
I turned down an alley and bent as the drink came back up. It was nothing new for Syracuse. This wasn’t the prettiest city, but I still felt bad when I wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand.
My arcana swelled like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. Plant life sprang up from the cracks of the concrete and covered the mess I’d made. It was prettier than what I’d left.
Now my stomach was empty, and I needed something a little different to numb the wild thoughts consuming my mind.
Rhoan
I swallowed hard.
There hadn’t been a moment where my thoughts weren’t consumed by the sight I’d beheld this morning. The wild-haired fae woman standing in a beam of light in her kitchen, her thighs bare and smeared with flour, was the only thing I could think about.
A hundred and fifty years ago, I’d taken a vow. When I dropped to one knee for my king and queen, I pledged my entire life to them. There was no room for wives in the life of a knight. My duty was my entire world. That meant that I was not allowed to even lie with a woman.
Groaning, I pinched my nose. I definitely couldn’t lie with the lost princess. What a damn fine woman she made, though. Human life had given her the thick thighs that most fae women didn’t have. And her chest…
I shook myself and downed the last of my drink before pushing my glass back towards the bartender. He raised a brow as he looked me up and down. He and I had known each other for a long time. I didn’t say anything when he used bottom shelf liquor, and he didn’t say anything about how I didn’t age.
He sighed, shook his head, and poured me another which I quickly downed. I savored the burning sensation slithering down my throat. The pain was the least I deserved…
I’d lost my entire court, and now that the last savior was back, I couldn’t stop thinking about her thighs pressed against my ears. What a pitiful excuse of a knight I was.
The door opened. I glanced back if only because it was still early in the day, and the bar didn’t see many patrons at this time of day. Her silhouette backlit by the sun outside hit me first. My mouth went dry. The buzz that’d been slowly overtaking my head suddenly vanished.
What the hell was Cerridwen doing here?
I nearly threw myself out of my seat in my rush to get to her. I lifted her chin and turned her head back and forth. When I started patting her down in search of wounds, she grabbed my wrist and made a disgusted look up at me.
I jerked back as if burned. I’d been in such a rush to ensure her safety that I’d probably crossed several boundaries. If she poisoned me in my sleep, I deserved it.
Clearing my throat, I stepped back and straightened my spine.
Cerri grumbled something under her breath that I couldn’t quite understand. She shoved past me, went to the seat I’d vacated, and ordered a drink—neat.
Well, fuck. What’d happened? No one drank straight liquor unless something awful went down.