“Get up,” he muttered, now nudging Adrissu with his boot. “He might come looking for us.”
“I don’t think so. You ripped up his wing and damaged his ego, if nothing else,” Adrissu replied, trying to push himself up off the ground. His limbs didn’t quite feel normal, and it took a few tries before he managed to stumble to his feet.
“Why are you even here?” the elf pressed.
“For that,” Adrissu said, gesturing toward the weapon in his hand. “I can see you’re involved somehow. Would you mind putting the pieces together for me? You know who I am, don’t you?”
“Yes,” the elf spat, his expression darkening again. “I know who you are. That’s why I’m here, and you’re not supposed to be here.”
Distantly, Adrissu felt like the words should have stung, but he could barely keep up with the conversation as it was.
“What’s your name?” he asked, realizing he still didn’t know.
“Pollux Blackthorn,” the elf replied, and Adrissu couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the absurdity of it all. “Does that amuse you?”
“It’s not that,” he said, biting his lip to stifle himself. “No, the only lead I had about this dragon slaying weapon of yours was the name Pollux Blackthorn. I was in your enchantment studio right before the red showed up. Of course it would be you. Ofcourse.”
Pollux was still looking at him with a cold expression; Adrissu couldn’t get a read on what he was thinking, except that the other elf was extremely unhappy to be in this situation.
“I still don’t understand why you’re involved in this,” he said, gesturing again at the weapon. “If you remember me... Do you really hate me so much now?”
“I don’t hate you,” Pollux said, though his expression implied otherwise. “I hate what you’ve done to me. I’d hoped I’d have the means to kill you if you came looking for me, so you could get a sense of what this misery is like.”
Adrissu frowned, his head clearing up enough for the words to trouble him. He extended his arms at his sides, fingers splayed wide. “Well, here I am, perhaps the weakest I’ll ever be around you. I already told you to kill me if that’s what you want.”
Pollux’s eyes tightened, and he looked away, glaring down at the dirt. “I don’t want to kill you now.”
That heartened him, if only a bit. His mate still seemed to really hate him this time, but at least he wouldn’t die by his hand. That had to count for something, didn’t it?
“I don’t think I entirely understand,” Adrissu said, shaking his head. “But I’m not exactly in great shape to be having a deep discussion at the moment, I think.”
“I would agree with that,” Pollux said, eyeing Adrissu’s feet, which were unsteady even as he stood still.
“You live in Wintergrove, don’t you? Can we maybe meet over a meal and clear the air?”
Pollux’s frown deepened, but he remained silent for a long moment.
“One meal. That’s all,” he finally relented, still frowning over at Adrissu. “There’s a restaurant in the town square run by an elven family. We can have dinner there. You’re paying.”
“Do you really want to have this kind of conversation in public?” Adrissu protested.
“Yes,” the elf answered dryly, already turning to leave. “Don’t get eaten by a bear out here. I’ll see you at sundown tomorrow.”
When Pollux turned aside, Adrissu leaned heavily against a tree, his hands trembling. Still, he watched the elf walk away as if transfixed, unable to focus on anything but his mate. Pollux washere—he had been so close to him all afternoon. Pollux had wanted to kill him. The thought should have frightened him, should have concerned him wildly; but in truth, it only made him wonder how violent their sex might be. There was a certain appeal to fucking someone who wanted him dead, now that he considered it.
When Pollux had vanished amid the trees, presumably walking back to town, Adrissu allowed himself to slump back down to the dirt, closing his eyes as his head still swam and his heart slowed to a less rapid thrum. He would not be disturbed here in the middle of the woods, he thought, so he curled up on the ground and almost instantly fell asleep.
Adrissu awoke with a start just after sunset, the sky dark, but with a faint tinge of orange to the west. He almost thought he had dreamed it all—the confrontation with Tyrsun, finally meeting his mate, all of it. But waking alone in the middle of the forest, his body still sore while his mind began to clear, snapped it all into focus. A sinking feeling of dread settled into the pit of his stomach as it all replayed in his head. He had been entirely foolish, and his matehatedhim. No, he had said he hated what Adrissu had done to him, but there was barely a distinction. How was he going to fix this?
He mulled it over during his long walk back to town, through the main avenue, and back to the tavern where he was staying. He lay awake thinking about it for several hours, unable to sleep as he played the strange interaction over in his mind again and again. It occurred to him, too, that Pollux was very young for an elf—he couldn’t be more than thirty, and elves only considered themselves full adults at twenty-five. Did he have a family here, parents and siblings? He must have been very accomplished to have an entire enchantment studio in his name only a few short years into adulthood.
It was difficult not to speculate, even though he knew that he would get no answers until they were able to meet and discuss everything. Still, it perturbed him for his mate to be so outwardly hostile toward him; Kian had been prickly at first, too, but had only tried to avoid Adrissu. He would not have ever expected his mate to threaten to kill him, holding a loaded weapon made specifically to slay dragons up to his chest. What had happened for his mate to be so angry with him? Would he really try to kill Adrissu?
As long as Pollux lived, Adrissu’s soul would be tethered to him, so while he was not entirely enthused at the prospect of death, neither was it so terrifying as to put him off all interaction with his mate. Pollux appeared to know that as well; but Adrissu was uncertain as to what, exactly, the other man did and did not remember about their past lives together. If he were so unhappy with what Adrissu had done to him—which he assumed to mean the cycle of reincarnation, since Kian had expressed some dissatisfaction with that as well—why wouldn’t he seek Adrissu out sooner to perform the soul transference and be done with the cycle he seemed to hate so much?
He knew mortals were not always the most logical of creatures, but still, it did not make sense to him. He would just have to wait.
The next day was maddeningly slow, and it felt as though he were simply wasting his time waiting for sundown, until he could meet with Pollux again. He only bothered leaving his room to ask the innkeeper about the restaurant Pollux had mentioned, which was easy enough to puzzle out: it was the only one owned and operated by an elven family in all of Wintergrove. The innkeeper gave him the name and a recommendation to try their house white wine.
