He’d hurt her feelings. Though necessary, from his own perspective,hehad caused this. And he hated it. “At this very moment?Nothing.” Hewantedto hold her. He wanted to clean the mess off of her skin and kiss every inch of it until she forgot who they were and where they came from. He wanted so much, but to ask anything of her beyond what she was ready to accept would be selfish.
When the silence between them became too much to bear, he cleared his throat. “I’m the one that has been chasing you, Nymiria. And I will chase you even after you tell me to stop—I will chase you through every universe, through every lifetime. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t get tired sometimes. And, right now, I am exhausted.”
Gorford was now returning from the supply closet with a cleaning bucket and other various supplies in hand, his face still scowling at the mess Aziel made.
Refusing to face her, to see the damage his words caused, Aziel stepped forward. “You should go to the palace and get cleaned up. Dieve will be serving dinner soon.”
“And our lessons?”
He stilled. “We will resume them in a few more days. In the meantime, meet with Trio for further instructions in regards to the prince.”
Chapter 13
Trio was not pleased to see him. After having passed a rather solemn and silent Nymiria on his way to the Twisted Willow, he’d drawn the conclusion that something had happened. He wasn’t sure if it had anything to do with the blood splattered all over Nymiria’s body, but when arrived at the tavern, he gathered that Aziel had misbehaved once again.
For nearly twenty years, Trio stood by Aziel’s side. He was the closest thing to a brother that Trio ever had. Although he’d left Yaar at the young age of fifteen, he never abandoned Aziel entirely. They would meet frequently—sneaking off into the forests and getting drunk, exchanging stories, sharing news. And up until they were nineteen, Trio lived on his own. He roamed around from place to place in Gaellagh, finding hovels and dilapidated homes to spend a few nights in before he moved on to another location.
He never imagined that his best friend would grow up to be a god. He never imagined that the young boy he’d spent hisentire childhood following around would be able to accomplish something this great, and that they would lead a revolution together.
For all intents and purposes, Trio was extremely proud to call Aziel his brother. He was proud of all that they accomplished. But not even Trio could even begin to understand the way that Aziel’s mind worked.
He was a complicated man; one that guarded himself, that’d built nearly impenetrable walls around his heart. And when Nymiria Celentas strode back into his life like a raging storm, she’d torn every stone out of that wall. Aziel liked to pretend that the wall was still there, but Trio had never seen him this concerned over another human being.
Of course, Aziel cared about other people. He cared so deeply that he’d risked almost everything to ensure their people were liberated and freed from their prisons. But Aziel’s care for Nymiria bordered on the lines of obsession. Every Mystic heard about mates at least once in their lives, but it was such a rare occurrence that they were now considered to be blessed by the gods. A special gift, rather than something natural.
Trio didn’t know what it was like to care for another individual so deeply, but he could imagine, just by the way Nymiria and Aziel looked at each other, it was absolute hell.
Two people drawn together, but too afraid of pain to let go of the pasts that haunted them. It was easily fixable, in his opinion, but trying to talk either of them into giving the other a little grace was like trying to convince a pig that it was a cow.
“You’ve been very, very bad.” Trio sighed, leaning against the twisted railings along the staircase.
Aziel looked up from the floor, blood coating the skin from his hands to his elbows as he scrubbed at the gore that caked the wooden flooring. A roll of tobacco hung from his lips, smoke rolling up into his squinted eyes. “Any news?” He asked,pinching the roll from his mouth and flicking the ashes onto the blood.
“I believe there are more dire conversations that are needing to be had at the moment. Perhaps we should begin with you telling me why I just passed Nym, completelycoveredin blood, and why all signs are leading back to you.” He chuckled, swiping up the mop that was propped against the railing.
The young god flicked his hair out of his eyes and pressed his cigarette between his lips again, taking a long drag. “I killed a few people.”
“He made them explode!” Gorford called out from behind the counter.
Aziel shrugged, smiling cheekily. “Ididmake them explode.”
Trio snorted. The damned fool sounded so proud of himself. But, hell, Trio would be rather pleased with himself, too. Finding a new trick with your Graces was always quite thrilling.
“Nymiria didn’t seem very pleased about it. Did this have anything to do with her?”
“What makes you think that?”
Trio snorted. “Lucky guess, I suppose.” He began mopping at the blood, but there was so much of it that it was practically useless. He was simply smearing guts across the floor at this rate. “Can’t you clean this up with a simple flick of the wrist?”
Aziel shrugged, scrubbing harder. “Yes, but this instills discipline. It reminds me that even the gods still have to clean up their messes.” He grunted and the cigarette fell from his lips and to the floor, the white rolling paper soaking up the blood and sizzling out. “Shit.”
“How unnecessarily humble of you.” Trio tisked. He continued to mop, thankful that the thick red was now turning pink. “What happened?”
“A few of Dorid’s men were on my toll.”
“And Nymiria?”
Aziel’s body tensed, but he continued with his task. “They recognized her.”
