AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You do that,” Ezra replied with a smile, the skin around her eyes and mouth crinkling—her wrinkles a testament to a life well lived.
Once Graiyson had left the tent, Ezra gave a satisfied nod at his departure. Her voice grew soft as her other hand fell over mine. “Tell me everything,” she said, those three little words warming my heart—which, I reminded myself, did not quite belong to me.
It was his.
. . .his.
Memories of his body over mine, his lips kissing mine and his—No!
I shoved off from the memory and focused on telling Ezra everything that had happened—everything butthat.
That . . .I would never tell a soul.
When I was nearly finished going over what had happened over the past few months, Ezra’s hand never leaving mine throughout the entirety of it, the tent flaps flipped open and in walked a male who made my inflated lungs falter on their exhale.
Obsidian eyes locked with mine.
But that connection—the one that felt like there was a vine or a string or something tethered between us—it wasn’t there. I took in the rest of his face, realizing that although he had the same eyes as Von, he was not him.
Shadows didn’t linger at his fingertips or curl around his feet like some faithful house cat, not like they did with Von. In their place, a scentless smoke drifted from him—as if he were a smoldering fire, one windy breath away from erupting into destructive flames.
Onyx leather that could easily pass as light armor wound tightly around his mountainous body, from his booted heel to his trim, narrow waist to his broad—broad—shoulders. So broad, they looked as if he swam the entirety of the Selenian Sea each morning before breakfast.
My gaze flitted back up to his smirking face. His features were a bit finer than Von’s, but Creator above did they look alike, so much so they could pass as twins. Speaking of twins, he had two identical piercings beneath his bottom lip, their placement reminding me of a snake’s fangs. Above them, a nose ring. A scar ran down the left side of his handsome face from forehead to diamond-carved jaw—a crack in the perfect canvas.
Washethe brother Von spoke of?
That would certainly make sense. When we were in Belamour, Von had said his brother was in the Spirit Realm, and I had thought that meant he was dead. But no, looking at the dark, ethereal male before me, he wasverymuch alive. And if he was Von’s brother, that made him—
“You’re a god,” I stated bluntly as he strode towards me, his long legs chewing up the distance.
“I’m well aware.” A toying grin grew on his full lips. “Females tend to scream those exact same words when I’m between their legs.” His voice tasted like luxurious chocolate on my tongue—rich and dark and dangerous, like once you had a taste, you couldn’t stop with just one.
Ezra clicked her tongue. “Folkoln.”
He chuckled—a smooth, velvety laugh. “What’s the problem, Ezra?” He gave her a wink. “The offer I made you all those centuries ago still stands.”
Ezra sucked a tooth. “I’d rather not get a disease.”
That only made him laugh more, the smoke at his sides growing ever so slightly—like they had been fed with oxygen. He raised one lone black brow, the twist of his smirking lips exuding a cocky arrogance that might even surpass Von’s. “Oh, come on,old girl. You know I’m clean.”
“As clean as the bottom of my shoe,” she muttered admonishingly, finishing her statement with a shake of her head. “And quit feeding off me, you energy-sucking leech. I know what you’re doing.”
He licked his lips, something demonic flashing over his fiery black irises. “But you taste so good, Ezravaynia. You always have.”
. . . quit feeding off her? An offer from all those years ago?
Ezravaynia?!
My head swiveled, shifting back and forth from Ezra and Folkoln.
“What exactly am I looking at here?” I asked them both.
“A conversation between two old friends,” Folkoln answered first, his gaze shifting to mine.
I looked to Ezra. “Howold?” I wasn’tjustasking about age.
“Old,” she said with a crooked smile, her blind eyes staring at nothing. She took a breath before she said, “I am immortal, although I’ve never accepted the title of goddess, because in truth, I’m not one. I come from something much older than the divine—much older than the changing languages passed down by the human tongue. You see, child, the word for what I am no longer exists.”
