Not that it was much different than before, he’d rarely had the time to rest for more than a few hours in the day. But lately, even those few hours of attempted rest were fruitless, and Aziel was left staring at the ceiling of his room until he dragged himself from whatever bed he’d stumbled into the night before.
Alone, of course.
He’d made himself very clear when he’d said that he would be with no other woman than the one who haunted his dreams. He had no desire for another. He had no fantasies, no sudden or impulsive urge to entertain the women that were all more than happy to take him to their beds.
Still.
He’d slept in forty-three different beds on that blasted continent in the last month, hoping to find one that was perfect enough to bring him relief, only to end up frustrated and even more exhausted than he’d been before.
Drinking did not help.
The only thing that helped was Desi wrestling with him and forcing him into a blackened state that lasted four days. Even then, he awoke enraged and snarling at everyone until they all made the unanimous decision to kick him out of the palace until he could“behave”.
Tonight was different, though. His anxious thoughts, a whirlpool of a thousand different scenarios that were centered around a wandering goddess and her ghostly companion.
Aziel was not generally the type of man to allow himself to become distracted by a beautiful face, but he allowed himself this single moment to admire her beauty. Her hair was tied back by a strip of leather, her blouse was torn in one place above her shoulder, where a delicate dusting of silver splotches were visible. Dirt streaked her pale white skin, her lips swollen and parted, head titled upwards. Eyes, those beautiful eyes that held every color of the universe in their depths, were wide.
Fear.
His body reacted before his mind could. He sprang from the bed, hissing curses under his breath as he sprinted to the door and down the hall to where heknewTrio would be sleeping. His friend tried to be as inconspicuous as possible when he followed Aziel around, but the young god could always sense the deathly chill of Trio’s shadows wherever he was. He was not stealthy. He could fool no one.
Regardless, it was a relief for Aziel to open the door and find Trio lounging on the sofa at the foot of his bed, his eyes snapping open the moment the door clanged against the wall behind it, surely leaving a large hole that Aziel would have to pay for.
“What’s happened?” Trio asked groggily, eyes narrowed to fight the blurring of his vision. Aziel was panting—pacing. His hands braced his naked hips, having forgotten to clothe himself properly before leaving his room. “Listen, I told you already, thatthe one tryst I had with you was enough to quell the thought that I was attracted to you, Aziel. I’m not–”
“I think she’s in trouble.” Aziel blurted, finally able to locate his voice. “I can feel it.”
Trio groaned, pushing himself up. “Can you put some clothes on first?” He asked. “It’s a bit distracting.”
Aziel glanced down briefly at his nakedness, cursing under his breath as he reached forward to snatch a pair of trousers from the back of one of Trio’s chairs. He slipped them on clumsily, heart pounding loud enough to make him feel as if the room were spinning. If he had to guess why his panic was so fierce, it was because she was close. And it was not just his fear for her safety that he was feeling, but Nymiria’s own fear—heremotions. Not just his.
“So,” Trio began. “Are we leaving?”
He stared at his friend for a moment. He’d thought of going to her, traveling to her through Trio’s shadows, snatching her up, and bringing her back, but that was not an option. He’d embarrassed her on that ship and he knew that if he showed his face before Nymiria was ready to see him, she’d sooner punch him in the throat again than allow him to lay a single finger on her.
Trying his best not to think of his cruelty on that ship, he winced. “No. No, I can’t go.”
“Then, what the hell do you want me to do?” Trio snapped. “You barred me from using the shadows to spy on her.”
“Use the shadows to spy on her.”
Clicking his tongue and shooting his friend a quick sidelong glare, Trio let his eyes fall closed, relaxing his muscles in order to get to work. Aziel waited, his fingers stuffed into his hair as he watched Trio’s brow furrow. The shadows spilled out from around him like a dense black smoke, coating their surroundingsin impenetrable darkness. And then, a loud screech penetrated the air around them.
Aziel stepped forward into the darkness, already gripping the sword that’d been propped at the end of Trio’s bed.
He could see her through the dark mist, hand grappling at tree limbs, toes pressing into bark as she scaled a large tree. The beast behind her was wild with hunger, its red eyes glowing in the dark as it swung and thrashed at the air in a famished attempt to grab at her.
Nymiria climbed higher, taking quick glances down below and spewing every dirty word she knew as she went.
The beast stood roughly seven feet in height on all fours, but seemingly doubled in size when it reared up on its hind legs, its long black claws protruding from leathery black skin. It narrowly missed the lace of her boot.
Aziel’s hands gripped at the sword, nearly bending the metal with the amount of force he used. “Fuck,” he hissed. “She doesn’t have a single fucking weapon on her.”
“She’s got the dagger.” Trio pointed to the blade that was lodged into the trunk of the tree, as if she’d thrown it at the beast and missed. He shook his head. “Should we gonow?”
“No,” Aziel snapped. But against his will, seemingly by force of nature, his feet carried him forward. “No, she can kill it.”
The shadow wielder knew that much, as he’d been the one to help clean up the mess she’d made a few weeks ago in the inn washroom. Fear, it seemed, was a catalyst to rouse the power inside of her. And itwasvicious.
