She gave him a halfhearted salute. “Glad I could help. I’ll see you back in the pit tomorrow.”
“You’re not running back with me?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized how stupid they sounded. Why would she return to the palace with him only to have to take a carriage home?
“I think you can make it back yourself. If you need company, I’m sure with your high social standing, you could call for a servant to accompany you.” She wrinkled her nose.
Ouch. Apparently Harlow wasn’t quite as forgiving as she seemed. Marius searched for the right words to say to appease her, but then stopped himself. He wasn’t wrong for asking her what he had. “I’ll do just fine on my own,” he growled.
She gave him a dismissive wave and took off toward Swilton.
Marius stared at the forest beyond his balcony the next morning, mulling over his conversation with Harlow. The damned woman was a walking contradiction! She admitted she wanted to kiss him but then insisted she wasn’t interested in marriage. At least it was clear she needed the money, but then why the almost-kiss? As he turned, he caught sight of himself in the wall mirror and frowned. He was a specter. A monster. He turned his face away from the white hair and pale eyes of his reflection. One thing was for sure, she hadn’t wanted to kiss him for his looks. If it wasn’t for his position, he still didn’t understand her motivation.
“Marius.” Alexander appeared in the hallway outside the open door of his room, sketchbook in hand. “Glad I caught you. Raven sent me to—”
“Sketch the symbols?” Marius said gruffly, tearing himself from his thoughts of Harlow. He’d been expecting this. “Right. Come in. Let’s get this over with.”
Grabbing the hem of the light tunic he was wearing, he pulled it over his head. The symbols seemed to taunt him in the light streaming in from his balcony.
Alexander whistled. “You are a work of art, my brother.”
“Fuck you.”
“No, I’m serious. In the human world where I spent the past three hundred years, tattoos are quite popular. Let’s just say yours would be appreciated by the ladies in that world. Plus, I was serious. They have artistic merit.” He dragged a stool from the kitchenette out onto the balcony. “Sit here. I’ll start with your back.”
Marius sat facing the forest. “They make me feel like a freak,” he admitted.
Alexander snorted. “Bro, we are all freaks. Our mother was a monster. Who murdered you. And then became a goddess. Whom we murdered. Our family history is nothing but bloodthirsty drama. I understand feeling like a freak. There was a time on Earth that the only thing I wanted in life was to end it all.”
Marius shot him an incredulous look. “You? But you found your mate and your purpose. You have everything you ever wanted. Why would you want to kill yourself?”
“It’s a long story. Suffice it to say that it wasn’t always so. Maiara and I are the result of a lot of faith and a little magic.”
“Nothing I can repeat, then.”
Alexander frowned. “I’m sure it will happen for you someday if you stay open to it.”
He looked over his shoulder at his brother, whose charcoal moved quickly over his pad of paper. “I doubt any female wakes up in the morning and thinks, ‘You know what I need? A mate who was once dead.’”
Alexander laughed. “I don’t see why not. Maiara was once dead.”
Marius gave him an incredulous look. “What are you talking about?”
Without missing a stroke, Alexander broke into the story of how he met his mate. It was long but also incredible, and the hours flew by. He’d just explained her resurrection when he asked Marius to turn around.
And he almost fell off his stool. Behind Alexander, half his room had faded away into a red haze. Killian was there, mouthing something to him, his lips and hands working frantically. He thumped his chest while a weasel of a man sniveled at his side— Brynhoff! The image was clear now in his waking mind. They stood in a thick forest, balls of fire exploding in the sky behind them.
“Marius, are you okay, man?” Alexander glanced over his shoulder toward the spot where he was staring.
“Do you see them?” Pins of icy fear needled his skin. Rare for a dragon who had fire in his blood.
“See who?” Alexander glanced at the spot again and then back at him. He shuddered, stumbling from his stool and backing up a step. “Marius, look at the symbol near your rib.”
Marius glanced down at himself. One of the symbols was moving, rippling under his skin as if it were alive. He slapped a hand over it as if it were a mouse or a bug. When he looked back up, the mist, Killian, and Brynhoff were gone.
Alexander was in front of him, hand on his shoulder. “Are you all right?”
He nodded. “Yeah. It stopped. Side effect of being dead.” Although he chuckled at his own words, Alexander didn’t. He pulled him into a tight embrace, thumping his back three times before releasing him.
“I have what Raven needs. She’s going to figure this out. You know she will. There’s a reason she’s the queen. Just hang in there until she does.” Alexander slapped him on the shoulder and glanced at the door. “I’ve got another project, but you’re going to be okay, right?”
