“My mother wouldn’t poison your wine.”
He tipped his head. “You underestimate her dislike for me.”
“Well,” I said slowly. “You did steal me from my crib. I’d say that her allowing you to live this long has been a miracle in itself.”
Ylang sniffed. “Yes well, the woman is unpredictable and volatile, so I’d like to enjoy the celebration from another table.”
Irritation prickled under my skin. “I’m not here to talk about the seating chart.”
Ylang sat down, arranging his velvet robes in his chair. “Yes, well what exactly do you need the book for then?” When I didn’t respond right away, one of his tufted eyebrows rose. “Is Emma alright?”
“Yes,” I said though I felt the sting of my own lie. As far as the Orders knew, Emma’s powers had faded after our escape and had not returned. To keep the Orders out of our business, we’d kept the secret. Only Krystan and Travis were aware of her abilities.
“Then why the sudden need?”
Emma had helped prepare me for the lie. “Emma has been in distress over the wedding preparations. Then as planning went on, she began to worry about even more things, the Reckoning was one of them. While I’m not as helpful deciding on wedding décor, I told her I could find out if there would be any troubles of the supernatural kind. Make sure no world-ending prophecies would coincide with our wedding day.”
Emma assured me I would be appealing to Ylang’s sexist nature that a woman would be driven nutty in the throes of wedding planning.
He waved a hand, looking away in disinterest. “The Reckoning is a communion with the dark spirits. They taint the subject with their darkness. Humans cannot withstand such a pure source of evil and are overtaken. We used the ritual on those who were touched by darkness, compelled to betray their order by submerging them in the true darkness they were serving.”
His eyes met mine. We were silent for a moment as the realization sunk in. I had betrayed and left the Order of Luxis. This would have been my fate. They would have chained me to the ground and forced me to undergo the Reckoning.
“You’re sure everything is alright?” he repeated.
I did my best to keep my face neutral. “Yes, of course.”
We stared at each other for several long breaths, unblinking. I kept my breathing even as I let my patience spread like an endless blanket.
Ylang broke first. “I will allow you to hold the book for an hour.”
“A morning,” I said.
His body tensed as he rapidly blinked.
Before he could form the words to object, I said, “We are planning a wedding after all.”
His jaw snapped shut. “Fine.” He walked over to the edge of the room and pulled on a dangling rope, ringing a bell. A robed order member entered almost instantly and scurried, head down to Ylang’s side. Ylang whispered instructions to him, and the man rushed back out.
“At risk of jeopardizing my hard-won invitation, I must ask. Are you sure you are doing the right thing, marrying Emma?”
I was taken aback. Emma and I had been to hell and back, literally, for each other. Ylang had seen, firsthand, the level of our devotion to each other.
“It seems to me that you might be picking an attractive doctrine rather than a partner,” he said in a cool, unaffected way.
“What do you mean?” My pulse quickened, my irritation rising. I didn’t understand what he was implying, but I’d be hard pressed to miss his imperious, judgmental tone.
“I mean, you went to great lengths to free yourself from us”—he opened his arms to his opulent surroundings—“sowecould not tell you what to think, where to go, what to do. But did you really free yourself? Or did you simply trade in one master for another?” He rose a tufted eyebrow.
The order member reentered; the large musty book clutched reverently in his hands.
I took the book. Once the order member had left, I said to Ylang, “Emma is not my master."
Hadn’t I just told myself I would do anything she asked of me? That without her I would be lost?
I brushed the thoughts aside. Ylang was trying to get in my head and I no longer allowed him to reside there. I trusted Emma, and my reliance on her judgment wasn’t a weakness. Unlike the Luxis, Emma would never betray me. I knew where my allegiance lay.
“Hmm, you think for yourself now do you?” The folded his hands behind his back. “Good for you.”
