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Her question surprises me.
I didn't expect her to show any form of interest toward me. In the years she’s spent here, she's kept a purposeful wall between herself and the rest of Five, yet, her enquiry sounds almost like an invitation. “Why?” I sit on a chair close to hers, fascinated by this strange woman my friend took a liking to.
Really, we ought to get to know each other. She'll marry Reiks, and I'll stand as his witness before the year is out, if he has his way.
And the heir to Anderkanian crown generally does.
“Why would you come?" She seems confused. "I don’t know. I assumed you were invited.”
I chuckle. “I meant, why do you care if I’m showing up?” It's just not like her.
She attended one of the meetings Reiks likes to hold with the rest of the future—and current, in my case—leaders attending Five, and she did her best to blend in with the furniture.
Now she’s engaging me.
In the last five weeks or so, something fundamental about her has changed. If it weren’t Lughnasadh, I might care to find out what.
She purses her lips. “I was making conversation.”
“Mmkay." I lie back, increasingly amused. "So long as that’s all. I don’t poach pretty faces from my friends, tempting though they can be.”
I'm flirting a little, because I can’t stop myself this time of the year, but I'd seriously never attempt to seduce her in earnest. Mostly because Reiks would kill me in my sleep if I was serious. He’s never been possessive of women before, and we’ve shared a fair number of conquests in the past, but Alis Frejr is it. His future queen. Once he makes his mind up, there’s no changing it, and he’s had his eyes on her for much longer than she knows.
“I—I wasn’t…” She looks horrified, poor thing. “I’m not—”
“Interested? You’re gay, I take it.” She isn't, but I can't help teasing her.
I'm in the mood for mirth and games, enthused by what I have in store for a certain hapless vixen later.
“I’m not gay,” she grumbles.
“Ah. In love, then.” Reiks will be glad to hear it.
She half laughs, half chokes. “Absolutely fucking not.”
“The lady doth protest too much.” I lean forward and whisper, “Let me tell you a secret, Frejr. No one can resist me. I need sex to survive, so my kind has evolved to appeal to every other creature. Even goddesses would fall at my feet if I wished them to. There are few exceptions on Xhera.”
One such exception comes to mind.
“The one exception is men and women in love—or not interested in my sex, naturally.”
And Helyn Stovrj.
I dug into Helyn this week, and I doubt she's ever been in a relationship, let alone one deep enough to build shields against my power. Her resistance is, shockingly, innate.
No common girl ought to have such power over me, yet she does. No common girl should have been able to beat me in tests or do better than the rest of our class, either.
I have come to the conclusion Helyn is not entirely common—or my knowledge of their kind is a lot weaker than I care to admit.
“I’m not in love with anyone.” She shakes her head for good measure. “Not even a little bit.”
I smile at the poor Frejr girl indulgently. “You haven’t completely fallen yet, that’s true. I could fill you with desire if I set out to." I can sense I'm stirring her more than I did Helyn in alchemy, and I'm not even using much of my influence. And I won't. Early demise holds no appeal to me. "Don’t fret. You’re safe from me.”
“Good. Keep me out of your power plays.”
I'm amused she thinks I'm trying to enter a pissing contest with Reiks when I am, in fact, doing him a favor—and admittedly, entertaining myself.
“Sorry, sweetling. Just checking if I have lost my touch.” I wink at her.
