As soon as I got off the stage, a guy that looked around my age, with two glasses of ale in his hands, and the brightest red hair I have ever seen, sidled up to me. “I was thinking you needed a cool drink after a stunning demonstration like that.”
I smiled up at him, still riding the high I was on as I looked him up and down. He had the most gorgeous facial features, soft and striking at the same time, slightly feminine, but with the way he was looking and the aura he was giving off, he was all male. His eyes shined in the light like two gemstones, changing from a light sea blue to an even lighter green as the light shifted. I almost tripped over him to get a closer look, but he caught my arm as he whispered to me, “Finally, the right one is falling into my arms.”
I laughed it off immediately, not because I thought it was funny, but because I was so incredibly nervous. I had never really spent a lot of time around a boy my age, only having Vance, but it was nothing like this. Nothing like my heart pumping a mile a minute as my palms got sweaty. I just hoped he didn’t notice it.
He smiled at my laughing face as he passed me the ale. I grabbed it, needing something to do so I would stop making a fool of myself, lifting the glass up and feeling the cool liquid on my tongue, sliding down my throat to calm my nerves.
“You from here?” He asked, both of us standing as he leaned up against the table I was sitting at.
“No. First time.” I told myself early on that I didn’t want to give anyone lots of information about myself, just enough so that I was passable in conversation.
His smile got wide as he lifted his glass. “Then let me and my two friends show you what this city has to offer. We know all the best spots and tricks that tourists fall for.” I remembered what I promised myself in that dressing room, resolve for my mission took over, as I smiled brightly at him.
“Yes! I would love that.”
He grabbed my hand immediately and dragged me over to his table where two of his friends our age were already sitting.
“I’m Zayden but you can call me Zay, this one,” he pointed to the guy in the middle seat with eyes like neon emeralds, a deep green that shined brightly against his tan skin and dark hair, “this one is Rykon but you can call him Ry.” He lifted his ale to me and winked before his eyes wandered to my breast and hips. My chest started to get hot under his gaze and I liked it. “This one,” he pointed to the one on the far right, a fellow that was definitely larger than the other two, you can tell he’ll have big broad shoulders when he grows up, but he had a softness, almost like he was unsure of himself and it instantly made me bond with him. We can be the odd ones together. “He’s Ajax, but we call him Jax.”
I lifted my hand, smiling widely as I nodded to all of them. “I’m Mika.”
“You have the voice of a goddess.” I turned and looked at Jax, who immediately looked down at his mug of ale, embarrassed.
Ry poked him with a smile, looking like he was about to raze him, when I slid my hand over his and gave it a squeeze. Jax’s eye snapped up to mine, and I smiled widely. “Thank you. That was my first time, and I was so nervous. Your kind words fill my heart with joy.” His face lit up and his eyes looked down at our hands in wonder.
Ry stopped his jabbing as he told me what he liked about my singing too and I joked with him about how he should have a turn up there.
I snapped out of the memory, but I could still feel Ajax’s deep, dark eyes on me. That night, Ajax stayed silent for most of that time in that pub, not opening up to me til later but I remember the heat of his stare on me the entire two days, like he just couldn’t bear to look away from me, afraid I would vanish in front of his eyes. Yet now he looks at me like I’m some liar, some imposter, and that hurts more than I cared to admit.
Chapter 15
Ididn’twanttotalk to the guys, but I couldn’t leave them on their own. I doubled back, but I climbed into the trees, hopping from branch to branch. The trees in this forest were so dense and strong that I did it with ease, not making more noise than the squirrels as they scurried overhead.
Zayden’s voice was the one that was the easiest to pick out, talking like he didn’t have shadow fae after him.
“What’s your problem, Ajax!?” I saw him shove Ajax’s shoulder. His eyes flared at Zayden, looking like he might retaliate, then he just deflated, shoulders caving in as he turned and walked in the direction I was going.
“Let’s just go.”
“No.” Rykon suddenly said, kicking off the tree he was leaning on. “I think we’re going to talk about this now because even I’m itching to put some hurtin’ down on you. What’s your deal here? Do you really hate her that much? Is this a rival thing? What the fuck is it? Because it’s starting to piss me off and not in a jealous way I can ignore.”
Ajax kept walking at a slow pace in the direction that I headed in, but Zayden and Rykon were having none of that as they both ran in front of him, blocking him from continuing.
“Oh no you aren’t, big man. You need to explain yourself before we catch up to her so we can make sure we are on the right side when she tries to kill you next time.” Zayden crossed his arms as he raised one eyebrow at him, looking like he had already chosen my side of the argument but wanting to hear what kind of lame excuse he was going to give.
Ajax blew out a ragged breath, tilting his head to the sky, “It’s just… It was hard for me to believe that someone could dedicate their life like that to the craft, to be ready for any and all types of situations.”
Rykon rolled his eyes to the sky, mumbling about why he was put here with these two idiots. Zayden, on the other hand, looked at Ajax like he lost all of his marbles. It was strange since it was usually the look we all gave him.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Did you not just hear the words that came out of her mouth? What I’m sure was just the scrape of the surface of her childhood and what life was like for her. That woman has gone through more in her life than the three of us put together. I’m surprised she even knows how to smile.” Zayden looked up at the sky, sounding winded after his long tirade.
Ajax was looking at the ground as he mumbled, “It didn’t seem like she was that traumatized or heartbroken over it.” He at least had the decency to wince as he said it.
Zayden vibrated with fury and instead of yelling, like before, it was this low tone of violence that burned out of him as he clenched his fists at his sides. “Yes, I’m sure it seemed that way to you, but I can tell when a life is full of shit. Maybe she has been in the shit so long that she didn’t realize it’s shit. That maybe the smell isn’t so horrible, that it really does wonders for your skin, but the fact of the matter is it’s still shit, and all she has done is learn to live with it. Make the most of it. That’s more than I can say for the rest of us.”
He immediately turned around, stomping ahead a few feet before he turned back and yelled, “Which way do I go?!”
Rykon eyed Ajax, still not moving as he called out, “I’m not buying it. Sure, that might irritate you, might make you a little pissy, but to outright push her buttons like that? There has to be more to it. What is it, Jax?” He said his nickname in a sneer, trying to push him as he saw Ajax tremble, starting to break from the inside. I was curious too.
