I. THE BLACK NIGHT
Old Ekiosh: Zhal’ven Noctair
Often translated as: The night when nothing remains hidden.
CHAPTER ONE
PHOENIX
“You don’t like your apartment?”
The knife in my hand stills, mid-slicing a carrot. I look over to Daegel standing over the sink, plucking the poor quail.
I’m not sure if I feel worse for the dead bird, or for Daegel. Just like all fae, he doesn’t eat animal products and finds it repulsive. I can tell from the way his mouth twitches in disgust once in a while.
Yet, he still does it for me.
My chest is full, my heart is warm. It’s such a small gesture, yet it means the world.
I frown. “Why do you say that?”
Daegel glances over at me and then over his shoulder at the humble little studio I’ve been calling my own for the last two months.
After joining the Order of Ezkai, I was assigned this place in Yursus, just like all the other new Ezkai. It’s on a top floor of a simple earthen building, has only one window overlooking a busy street, but it’s good enough.
A low double bed is perched against the wall with the window, two nightstands stand on each side of it. I have a decent-sized armory against the right wall, and a desk with a chair against the left wall.
I even got a bookshelf. It’s empty, granted, but still.
A small round wooden table with two chairs separates the sleeping space from the simple kitchen we currently stand in.
“It’s been two months. But you haven’t done a single thing to it,” Daegel says.
He continues plucking the bird we’ll roast just for me. I finish chopping the carrots for the veggie stew he’s making. A family recipe, it turns out.
When I first met Daegel, never once did I consider him a fae who can cook. Not after seeing the size of his estate. He’s got servants to do it for him. Yet, every week, he stays in my humble place at least two nights and we cook dinner.
It’s so…domestic. And grounding. A stark contrast considering we spend our days running life-threatening missions for the Order.
I toss the carrots in the copper pot that’s simmering over the fire on the stove. “What was I supposed to do to it? It has everything I need.”
“You don’t have to do anything to it, if you don’t want,” Daegel says. Masterfully, he uses a large knife to butcher the plucked bird and get the insides out. “But most would make the space feel more…personal. You said it yourself, Roman painted the walls of his place.”
Roman’s name is forced, which only makes me smile. Daegel’s jealousy is cute. And sexy, to be honest. Roman’s my best friend, though. Myonlyfriend here in Ekios. Daegel has nothing to worry about.
“Yeah, it’s pretty badass,” I murmur, stirring the stew in the pot. The rosemary and thyme smell delicious.
My favorite part about living in this place is the fact that Roman’s studio is on the first floor of the same tenement. It turns out, they move new Ezkai into the same block. That means The Giant, Bloom, and the others from our squad who managed to graduate also live in the same living quarters.
Everyone, except for The Giant, have grown to like me. At least, a little. So, it’s okay we’re located in the same building.
“I guess I could ask him to do a nice mural for me, too,” I say with a shrug. “I just didn’t feel the need to do anything to the place. I don’t?—”
I don’t have any personal belongings, or decor pieces to add.All I have is a leather backpack with civilian clothes, a couple of Ezkai leather uniforms, and my bow with the beautiful set of arrows Daegel gave me as my graduation gift.
I did place the burned picture of my family, the only thing I managed to salvage from the flames that devoured them, on my nightstand.
Every morning, it’s the first thing I see. Every night, it’s the last thing I look at. This way, I always know why I am where I am.
