"Bless, you're a sicko." Fawn's spirit magic seemed to grab hold of his spirit.
"Sick?" His eyes bulged in surprise, but his smirk widened. "You have no idea, immortal mage. None at all."
All at once, our magic lurched for him.
"Don'teverspeak to her like that again." Silas's water magic blasted Matthieu off his feet.
Matthieu gasped, his eyes rolling back in his head in a way that made me think Fawn still held onto his spirit.
I summoned vines to wrap around his body, keeping him against the ground. "I don't care how important you seem to be. You will not talk to her so disrespectfully."
"I want to kill you so fucking bad." Jasper's darkness took the shape of a blade and pierced his left shoulder.
Casper's light magic did the same, plunging into his right shoulder. "You do need to be put down."
"Wewill put you down if you ever come at her like that again." Bastian tossed a potion at his feet, and an acid-like substance burned through his shoe and the skin of his foot until it showed the tendons.
Matthieu's cries were more like cries of ecstasy, and my stomach rolled from the sound.
"Bless.I can't stand another second around him," Fawn snarled, and the muscles around her eyes relaxed as Matthieu stopped his antics.
He pushed up off the ground and winked at her. "You should look into Emperor and Empress Lovington. Dig into their connections with the Revivium Empire in general. Empress Hayes has been spending a whole lot oftimewith Emperor Lovington. I'm pretty sure in the same kind of way you and the shield of the Lethium Empire have."
"You're implying an affair?" Fawn asked flatly, her eyes narrowing.
Matthieu shrugged, lips tugging into a smirk. "Check into it yourself. Emperor Lloyd will agree that all possible allies should be checked out."
"I couldn't agree more." Her brows dipped as she frowned at him. "Emperor Lloyd mentioned you were a spy within the Revivium Empire and are close to Empress Hayes. How come you never said anything about their potion experiments?"
"What potion experiments?" His lips twitched before he ran a hand through his hair. "Any experiments are news to me, but the world power move she played with the other empires was too. I just figured she was power-hungry. Emperor Hayes is dealing with a magical alcohol addiction, so that's why he's been away. She's clearly taking advantage of his absence."
"The emperor is dealing with addiction?" Silas raised a brow.
"And a hex..." Matthieu trailed off before his gaze turned cloudy, and he stared off into the distance.
I'd never seen a mage whose spirit disconnected from his vessel, making them black out like this. Everyone around him seemed to be used to it. It was odd that he couldn't speak or see what was around him when this happened, but Matthieu was also one of the strangest mages I'd ever met. His spirit reminded me of another's, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.
"Fuck. We lost him." Silas groaned, pushing his hair back with both of his hands. "What the fuck was all that information anyway?" He turned and started to walk a bit away before calling over his shoulder, "I'm calling Emperor Lloyd."
"And we need to eat something," I murmured, gesturing toward Fawn's cottage. "Let's relax and collect our thoughts."
"That sounds like a damned good plan." Jasper smirked.
"I want stew," Casper requested with a pleading expression.
"That sounds delicious." Fawn placed her hand on her stomach before it growled.
"Sounds like you need to eat," Bastian teased her, holding open her door and allowing her to go inside first.
A smile spread over my lips as I followed them in. I didn't want to lose this. Fawn had joined our family so quickly, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I just hoped we could make her happy.
4
FAWN
Emperor Lloyd approvedoursnoopingaround the Allura Empire--encouraged it, really. He'd agreed whole-heartedly with Matthieu's suggestion regarding gaining intel on the Allura Empire. It was a commonsense strategy to check out all potential allies and threats during war, I acknowledged that. Maybe it was because Matthieu had suggested it that it left a bad taste in my mouth.
