AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"We both know you wouldn't leave unless you want to," I told him. "If I told you I wanted you to go, you'd feel the lie. But I don't want you to stay here just because of me. I'm not that Silent Maiden anymore. I'm—" I twisted around in his arms to look at my reflection again.
"I'm Fae." Even saying that, evenseeingit didn't make it seem real. The face staring back at me was still a stranger, even with the familiar features.
"And I'm not," he said. "What you are doesn't make me want you any less." He rested his chin lightly on my shoulder. "Should I ask if they can change me too?"
"I don't think it works that way," I said. "Even if they could, I don't want you to change. You're gorgeous just the way you are. Besides, if you were Fae, you might be taller than me again."
He chuckled. "That's as good a reason as any not to change." He stopped and frowned at his own reflection.
"What?" I asked. The sudden change in his demeanour put me back on edge. Although, edge seemed to be the default emotion of the day. I was teetering on it, hoping not to plunge over it.
"I was just wishing I was an alpha," he admitted. "Maybe then…"
"It might not have happened?" I guessed. "If you're part Fae, it still would have."
"But then Ryze wouldn't have touched you. You know, if I knew this might happen, I would have told you. Fuck keeping quiet because Ryze said so." His expression suggested he lay the blame for that firmly on all three Fae.
"Would you?" I asked challengingly. "Knowing I might run away from you? Knowing I probably would have kept you at arm's length, as a friend, and locked myself in a room until the heat was over?"
He shrugged. "I would have broken the door down. Like Ryze said, fated mate and all that."
"They are bonded to me too," I reminded him. "If Ryze is to be believed, this was how the gods wanted it. Wanted me."
Why did they decide to invest so much interest in me? Maybe they should mind their own fucking business.
"I've always said the gods have a sense of humour," Zared sighed.
"This is definitely not how I expected the rest of the year to go," I said. "I thought I'd be at Havenmoor right now, sweeping floors and taking offerings from worshippers. With any luck, I might have been allowed to change the candles on the altars by now. Instead, I'm in Lysarial, hundreds of kilometres from Havenmoor, looking completely different. Bonded to three Fae men and a human."
"A gorgeous human," Zared said, his reflection grinning.
"A modest human," I said after I'd rolled my eyes at him. "What you're saying is I attract immodest assholes. What does that say about me?" Exactly which of the gods did I irritate? The way things were going, I might have to conclude it was several of them. Maybe all of them.
"I'd say it says you have exceptional taste in humans and that the Fae have their own agenda." His expression was serious again. "Can you make a portal?" I wasn't sure if he was scared of the idea or hopeful. A combination of the two, perhaps. Very much my response to the idea.
"I have no idea. I'm too scared to try. I might end up in the middle of the ocean or worse." If Ryze was right, a Fae could only make one to a place they’d already been. That was a fate I wasn't prepared to tempt. We already established the fact he didn't know everything, as much as he liked to pretend otherwise. The gods only know what might actually happen.
"If you could make one, you could leave here," he pointed out.
"If I walked out the door, I could leave here," I said. Where there hells would I go though? I had no idea. I wouldn't be as noticeable now as I was as a human. The Fae— the other Fae, probably wouldn't give me a second glance now. Why would they? I was one of them.
"Promise me something," he said earnestly. "Don't leave without telling me. Even if I can't go with you, I need to know."
"I don't know if I can promise that," I admitted. "I have no idea what might happen. But I promise that, if I can tell you, I will." He'd follow me anyway, so I might as well tell him.
He didn't look like it was enough, but that was all he was going to get and he knew it, so he nodded.
The door handle rattled and it swung open. Tavian pushed it with his back and elbow. When he turned around, he held a steaming bowl of soup in his hands.
"I thought you'd like to eat," he said softly.
As soon as the smell hit my nose, my stomach rumbled. Zared and I stepped apart, but he stayed close to me, protective. Possessive.
I’d eat, but then I still had many questions.
23
Khala
