“I did.” Nephele reaches for her wine glass, and a blonde curl slips over her shoulder and tumbles down the front of her blue-gray dress. It draws my eyes not only to the tender curves peeking from her low-cut bodice, but to the chain holding the remnant of my heart between her lovely breasts as well.
She doesn’t turn up her glass, but instead, only worries the stem between her fingers. “I actually had a dream of my mother. That’s what spurred yesterday’s behavior. I had a memory of my life here, and I wanted to uncover more.”
The look in her eyes pins me in place. This memory caused her great joy and great pain. I don’t understand the bond between a parent and child, certainly not parents who hid so much from their daughters. But Nephele loved them. And she still does, regardless of what she’s learned about them recently. That much is evident.
“The thought of waiting was torture,” she goes on. “I needed to see Ingrid. And when she wasn’t there, it was disappointing. But something she said the last time inspired me to go to the barracks, and while I was there, I remembered more of my life here in Malgros. So much more.” She leans in a little, her eyes narrowing like a storyteller trying to hook the listener. “One thing in particular. A verycuriousthing.”
I smile on the inside, because there’s something so endearing about this woman when her claws aren’t out. Not that I mind getting scratched. But I keep my face trained to seriousness.
“Tell me about it,” I say, my voice filled with rapt interest.
“There was a secret room at the barracks. Next door to where I lived when I was a little girl. It had no window, though it had a door. I remembered my father telling me that it was a special room that housed many magickal things from faraway lands.” Her eyes fall at the corners, like a pouting puppy. “But the door is gone now. So I couldn’t get inside.”
“But now you can.” I hold my spoon suspended over the stew. “Now that you can use the aether.”
She shifts in her chair as though suddenly uncomfortable. “Yes, I suppose so. But I was hoping you might go with me. When this issue with Eryx is sorted out, anyway.”
There’s a nervous edge to her voice. As if I would deny her.
“Consider it done. Just say when.”
She leans back and nods, a look of relief passing over her face. Everything about her softens now that she’s gotten what she wants.
“I have no explanation for the aether,” she continues, her voice almost apologetic. “I saw what looked like quicksilver on the ground the night we arrived, moments after you left the beach. I picked it up out of sheer curiosity. But then I was looking at the tor and thinking about wanting to be there, and I justwas. It was so strange and so unexpected when that wind and that…presence…arrived and swept me away. And then last night, I noticed the aether on the ground around you and decided to try to make our trip… a little shorter.”
Because she had wanted me as much as I wanted her. Our kiss might have started as mere pretense, but it ended as something very, very real. I hadn’t imagined it.
I pull myself back to task and begin searching through centuries of memories. “Because of Raina’s ability with herabyss, I entertained the notion that the pair of you are descended from Loria. But realm walking was for Witch Walkers who moved between this realm and Eridan. Not three hundred years back in time. Besides, if you were descended, chances are you’d already have the markings.”
She takes a long sip of wine. “I know. I thought about it all night. It makes no sense.”
“Did you tell Thibault?”
Her eyes go round. “No. Absolutely not. He has enough worries. This would only make matters worse for him. And for me.”
I swallow one more bite of stew, which, if I have to be honest, is a bit addicting. But I push the dish aside and rest my forearms on the table, devoting my focus to Nephele and the subject at hand.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he would have a right to be worried. The aether shouldn’t recognize you. It shouldn’t carry you. It shouldn’t heed your wishes at all.” I scrub my fingers across my chin. “I suppose it could have something to do with the curse, but I can’t figure out what. Why would the grove take the aether from me and give it to you? It pisses me off, and it’s inconvenient as fuck, but other than that, what purpose does that serve toward real punishment?”
She shrugs one delicate shoulder. “I don’t know, but it seems that’s what’s happening. I do have a theory, however.” She drags my dish back in front of me. “I just need you to finish your meal so I can test it.”
My wolf was right to be suspicious. I narrow my eyes as she folds her slender hands atop the table. “Poison doesn’t work on gods, little bird. Just so you’re aware.”
She chuckles, and damn the Nether Reaches if I don’t I love the sound.
“It isn’t poisoned. Just eat. Please?”
It’s the bird-like tilt of her head that does me in when she saysplease. So I eat, her watching me all the while.
Once the bowl is empty, I set it on the lunch cart along with Nephele’s dishes and turn up my glass for a healthy guzzle of wine.
“Still hungry?” she asks.
“Not at all. I’m quite full. It wasn’t as awful as I was expecting.” She just stares at me, the bright-eyed expression on her face entrancing. “What is it?”
She smiles, enough that her teeth are revealed, pearly white and lovely as the rest of her. “Nothing. I just didn’t expect you to do as I asked when it comes to such mundane things, and so easily at that.” Something dances in her eyes, and a trickle of her deepening scent wafts through the air. “I might like you when you’re submissive, wolf.”
And there it is. The key.
