Malice hasn’t caught up to her since she ditched him in the crowd in the VCU library twenty minutes ago. Aerin knows she’s pushing her luck, that he’ll appear eventually, land with a thud from the sky any minute now, but she keeps going.
She’d run to her destination, if it wasn’t for the cameras feeding back to the Valtara Royal Guard perched on every corner. No part of Valtara is absent of her father’s watchful eye. Though, where Aerin is heading, there is something of a blind spot.
Carefully crossing the street and ducking down another alleyway, Aerin doesn’t draw attention to herself, using her magic to appear as a Fawn Shifter, Fae-like in her entirety except for the tawny ears that poke out from her brown hair. As a random Shifter, she won’t be tracked by the guards whose job it is to monitor the video feeds. No one, aside from Malice, will betracking her, and maybe that’s why Father hired him in the first place.
Aerin dodges a bustling restaurant back door as she picks up her pace.
It’s been two weeks since Malice’s meltdown at Tower 77 ended in their searing kiss. Despite not being able to stop thinking about his hands branded on her hip bones, his teeth on her bottom lip, or his tongue sweeping over hers, they haven’t talked about it since.
In fact, they’ve hardly talked at all. When they do, Aerin asks Malice to become bonded-mates with her. Malice says no. They move on.
The alleyway spits Aerin out a few blocks north of her destination, the massive walls of Valtara looming before her. Ivy snakes its way upwards, already losing the vibrant green of spring and turning brittle for summer. This part of Valtara is quieter; hardly any creatures are on the streets and the few who are don’t pay Aerin any attention.
As Aerin approaches her destination, the Dragon-Fae lands gracefully. She freezes, but Malice doesn’t narrow in on her the way he usually does—blue eyes finding her like a lighthouse in a storm. Instead, he merely glances left and right before approaching the wall without realizing she’s there.
Ducking around the corner of the nearest building, Aerin peeks out just in time to watch Malice approach the spot in the massive wall that Aerin had been heading to.
Very few creatures know of their existence at all, let alonewherethey are located, but every City-State barrier has weak points. Added in the event of an emergency, they would reveal themselves as exits should Valtara need to be evacuated, preventing bottlenecks at the main entrances.
When Malice’s hand tentatively passes through the weak spot, he glances left and right one more time before slipping through.
Curiosity peaked, Aerin pulls herself from behind the building and approaches. Years ago, when she was still a Faeling, she figured out that this particular emergency exit lies perfectly in a blind spot of the Royal Guard Surveillance. Aerin hopes that’s still the case.
As she approaches, Aerin takes a deep breath. The blood-contract has been tentative in its withdrawal from her, like tentacles slowly releasing, one by one. She’s been able to speak to Theo, but still can’t go down to the beach. She can use most of her magic, but still not all. And every time she’s been able to slip away to this spot along the wall and test the limits of the contract, she’s been barred from passing through.
A part of Aerin worries that the contract is done bending, that this is the extent of her reward in exchange for her father’s violation of the terms. But as Aerin pushes her hand forward, it passes through the wall. Elation races up her spine as Aerin stumbles forward, allowing the wall to swallow her and spit her back out on the grass on the other side.
Aerin falls to her hands and knees, her façade gone. Her golden hair hangs like curtains on either side of her head as she curls her fingers in the grass beneath her.
She’s free.Holy hell. Maybe the contract is fully dissolving. She’s free.
Aerin could laugh, could cry. But instead, she listens for the crunch of boots over dirt. Malice is out here somewhere. Aerin wants to know why.
17
MALICE
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The pounding on the door buried deep in Malice’s mind is incessant as he stumbles between the trees outside of Valtara. The air just outside the walls seems crisper, a breeze rustling the massive leaves above him as the sun dips below the horizon.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
[Will you stop! I’m going,]Malice snarls in his mind.
[Faster,]the beast demands.
Malice grinds his teeth but continues forward. The beast is relentless, always demanding. But every day as a Faeling Malice was trained how to control him, how to lock him away deep in the recesses of his own mind. How to protect himself and those around him from this thing that lives within.
The need rises. The creature grasps more power, ripping it from Malice all claws and teeth in his head.
[Enough!]Malice demands, keeping his feet moving but Gods, his head is pounding.
This time, the creature doesn’t bother responding. Only slamming against the door once more.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Malice growls, startling the small non-sentient birds that live in the trees. Many take off, creating a cascade of noise.
