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Aodin let out a wave and a chuckle. “It’s a relic of an older time, that’s for certain. I guess you could say I come from old money. Incredibly old money. It’s one of the reasons I’ve dedicated so much of my adult life to trying to make our entire nation better for everyone. It’s not right that I just happened to luck out into wealth. It wasn’t like I was some particularly worthy baby.”
It made me smile to hear Aodin muse about the moral journey that had led him to being an ambassador for his people and eventually saving all of us. The fae could seem frou-frou, frivolous, and overly flirtatious, but that was just as much of a cover as Darla’s behavior. Beneath the deception, that interference, was a noble and just man who wanted the best for everyone.
Honestly, the palace could do so well with more people like Aodin. People who were less obsessed with status and gain and hoped to make the world a slightly better place when they left it.
“Come, this way. I’ll have some of my staff head to the market to make sure we have a satisfactory amount of food to feed all of you for lunch. Most people here have never had to directly feed a shifter.”
“It’s wild, isn’t it?” Darla mused, like she didn’t also shovel down food after she’d expended plenty of energy with her psychic abilities. She wasn’t really on par with any of us, but it was certainly more than anyone would expect of most cryptids her size.
“It is.” Aodin nodded along. “Honestly, if Camdaria and Vekas didn’t have such intense food requirements, I’m pretty sure one of them would have taken over the world already.”
“Silver lining to everything,” Kai mused, and in perfect timing, his stomach let out a rumble.
We burst into a soft round of laughter, and honestly, the moment was so lovely. For just a brief second, it was easy to imagine we were a group of friends meeting up to have a social or even a board game night. Wouldn’t that be something?
It was dangerous to hope for such things, to look forward to the future and daydream about things I’d love to experience. It was something I hadn’t allowed myself to do for years, but like many other things, I’d walked that back since getting to know Kai.
It wasn’t such a bad thing to have hope for the future or to allow myself to imagine. I had a long, long list of things I wanted to try, from having my own little escape in the forest, a bountiful garden, and an overflowing apothecary, to sitting on a couch, with Kai’s head resting on my thigh, the two of us reading as rain pelted the window. Why not add time with friends, vacations to Blath, and all sorts of other things on it? Because what was the point of fighting so hard if I didn’t have things to fight for?
My life had grown much more complicated and stressful since I’d given into my fated mate status and allowed myself to feel, but it was so worth it. I wouldn’t give up my connection with Kai, or Darla, Mad Dog or Oren, or even Seraphina. My life was so much richer because of them.
I was grateful not to be alone anymore, so I would fight as hard as I could to ensure they were never hurt by my curse again. It was time for all of that to end so I could focus on saving Camdaria with the people I loved.
A tall order, but I had faith in myself, in my friends, and in my mate.
Chapter 12
Ayla
I finished writing a couple more ingredients, then looked over my list one more time. After three full days of perusing all sorts of books in Aodin’s library, it felt like my head was bursting at the seams.
But the rest was appreciated, as were the new clothes. True to Aodin’s word, he’d gotten us all several outfits that fit us, so we could cycle them without having to sit in dirty linens all the time. It helped that all of us were used to having only three or four uniforms to spread throughout the week to make sure we could make it to laundry, but the hotter temperatures of Blathe did make sweat management difficult.
It wasn’t that it was blazing, by any means. The cool air from the ocean kept things from ever getting too sweltering, but the average temperature was much higher than we were used to.
“Please tell me you’re ready to take a break?” Darla asked from where she was, face down in a book. “Pretty, pretty please.”
She made me laugh, and honestly, I couldn’t blame her. After spending so much time trapped in the library at the palace, it seemed like a sin to do the exact same thing again on an island paradise. But what Darla didn’t know was that I needed time for my magic to fully heal. Yes, I’d tapped into it during the battle to flee the palace, but I’d faced some consequences for that. I could feel it stuttering to answer my call sometimes, simmering down low inside of me, like it resented that I’d called upon it before it was ready.
Oh, well. I didn’t regret it. I highly doubted Aodin would’ve had a chance to save us if I hadn’t used my shield or been able to pin the king back.
“Yeah. I’d like to do some perusing around Blath’s apothecary and magic shops. I’m interested to see if their magic users have similar supplies as the mainland, or more specialty items.”
“That’s a good question, actually,” Darla said, sitting up and grinning broadly, no doubt quite enthused at the idea of leaving Aodin’s library. Although the room was spacious, well lit, and quite comfortable, there was such a thing as going stir crazy. “I’m not really all that familiar with fae magic, but it doesn’t seem nearly as directly spell or component oriented.”
I nodded in complete agreement. “It’s fascinating, really. I’ve only seen Aodin use it in real time, but it felt more like watching you use an ability than like me or Yvonne casting a spell.”
“Damn, wish I’d been there to see it. I mean, I was there for the whole glamour thing, but that wasn’t exactly offensive or in the middle of a battle. I’d like to see it used in a more aggressive way.”
“Hopefully, you’ll never get the chance,” I said, knocking on the table. While I knew that didn’t do anything to ward off bad happenings, it still felt good, like jinxing someone when they said a word at the same time.
“Amen to that. So, what is it we need for this little blood threesome of yours?”
“Please, please never call it that again,” I asked, not sure if I wanted to groan or laugh. “I beg of you.”
“Aww, what’s wrong? Don’t like my take on your Blood Trifecta Curse?”
“If you know the title, why purposefully say it wrong?”
