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The truth of last night is humiliating enough without having to put words to it, but I have to try, even if she’s unwilling to believe that a demon could possibly possess any penchant for tenderness.
I open my mouth, hoping that once I start speaking the words will come freely, but Natalie beats me to the punch.
“I’m sorry.”
The statement comes as such a shock that it doesn’t occur to me to close my mouth. I gape at her, sitting quietly like a fool in my chair while she looks down at her hands in her lap.
“I’m sorry for this morning,” she repeats softly, catching my eyes for a brief second before looking back down. “It was unfair of me to accuse you of that.”
“It wasn’t unfair,” I say, finally finding my voice. I hold her gaze as her eyes dart to mine, surprise and confusion knitting her brows together.
“You awoke to me in your bed, with no memory of how I’d gotten there. The last conversation we had, I’d told you I was coming to… make good on the King’s demands. It was a natural leap, given our circumstances, not to mention everything you’ve been through.” I watch her carefully, noting the relief on her face before continuing.
“However,” I say slowly, “I’d appreciate the opportunity to speak with you calmly before you jump to conclusions the next time there’s a misunderstanding.”
Natalie nods, though the crease between her brows doesn’t smooth. “Why were you in my bed?” She asks, uncommonly direct. I shift uncomfortably, not entirely certain how to answer her question without sounding wholly pathetic.
“I had remembered our… engagement a bit later than I’d intended,” I reply, suddenly finding a piece of lint on the sleeve of my tunic very interesting. “By the time I got to your rooms, you were already asleep. I knocked. But when you didn’t answer, I was concerned that something had happened, so I let myself in.
“You looked so peaceful, sleeping in that bed, that I didn’t want to wake you. I don’t know what came over me,” I admit, hating the embarrassment coating my words. “I must have fallen asleep.”
Trying to regain some semblance of the dignity befitting a soz’garoth of my standing, I look up, keeping my chin high as I look her in the eyes.
“I apologize for violating your privacy. It won’t happen again.”
A small smile plays on Natalie’s lips as she holds my gaze, surveying me with careful wonder. She nods thoughtfully, her eyes roving over my face as if to judge the sincerity of my words, before nodding again.
“I appreciate the apology,” she says. I sigh, relieved that we’ve reached a conclusion and can put this whole mess of a morning behind us.
“Might we start over?” I ask, the words coming faster than I intend. Natalie laughs, the sound reminding me of running water and the way a soft breeze teases the branches of trees. It occurs to me that I’ve never heard her laugh before, and I can’t help but wonder when the last time was that she felt free enough to do so.
“I’d like that,” she admits, laughter still lacing her voice. I can’t help the smile tugging at my lips.
“I’m Kha’zeth,” I reply, Natalie’s smile growing again.
“Hi, Kha’zeth. I’m Natalie,” she grins, a teasing glint in her eye. I don’t bother hiding my pleasure at this turn of events, grinning widely at her. We stare at each other quietly for a minute, grinning like a pair of fools, before I come to my senses.
I summon another course of food, being sure to include pastries and fruits that would be familiar to Natalie from her time on Protheka. She smiles, reaching for another pastry before turning to me with an inquisitive look.
“How do you do that? Summon food?” she asks as she nibbles on the edge of her sweetbread. “I’ve never seen magic like that before.”
I shrug, a small swell of pride filling me at her awe. Chaos magic is a fickle thing, but I figure starting with the basics is the best way to answer her question.
“I’m a soz’garoth. You’ll notice during your time here that there are different types of demons, all with different abilities and suited to different roles. Soz’garoths have a natural penchant for chaos magic, some of us more than others,” I add playfully, eliciting a grin from Natalie as she rolls her eyes.
“Well you still haven’t answered my question, oh mighty soz’garoth,” she quips back, playful sarcasm dancing in her voice. I like this side of her- this easy, teasing banter. I find myself hoping that it’ll linger during our time together.
“You have to start somewhere,” I chide her gently before continuing. “Chaos magic is an unstable, extremely powerful type of magic, very different to the type of magic dark elves and other beings wield. These,” I brush my hair aside, exposing the markings on my face more clearly. “Allow me to harness and direct it without leveling my surroundings.”
Natalie’s mouth opens, almost certainly to point out that I still haven’t answered her question, but I continue before she has the chance to needle me further about summoning food.
“Using chaos magic allows me to summon whatever it is that I desire, be it food, weapons, or other objects. It also allows me to relocate, in a word, items from anywhere I please.”
“Where do things go when you want to relocate them? Where does the food come from? How does chaos magic even work?” Natalie rattles off her questions faster than I can answer them, her eyes wide in wonder, a hand tucked beneath her chin as she leans forward. I bite back a laugh at how much it reminds me of talking to the girls.
“Chaos magic isn’t easily explained, especially over breakfast,” I tell her. “But everything comes at a price. I have to be wary of how I expend my energy, and careful not to take it from the wrong source. The food can be summoned from where it’s already prepared in the kitchens, or I can borrow the ingredients from other places and will it into whatever it is I’d like.
“When I dismiss it, or anything else for that matter, it goes where I want it to. I can either dispose of it like I would anything else, sending it to another location on this plane, or it can go to a sort of in-between space, where I can summon it again without expending too much power.”
