He didn’t even look peaceful as he slept. There was a pained grimace on his face. Velra’s shadows swirled around him. And inside them on Win’s right side was Ketheron’s bear with the button eyes, Maximus. On his left side was Evira’s plush polar bear, Nuvri, that she’d brought from her dorm room.
So much comfort, but comfort he couldn’t feel right now. Or maybe he could feel the shadows aspect?
I rubbed my bracelet, my thumb brushing back and forth over the fuchsia worry stone.
“Zayn?”
I started at the sound of Vaxan’s firm whisper, and spun toward the door.
Fuck me.He was shirtless.
All that hard, defined muscle was on display. A pair of luxurious black silk pajama pants hung low on his hips, and he was even barefoot. His spiky black hair was all mussed too, and he wasn’t wearing his crown.
He’d been resting in the guest room down the hall after I’d called in Cassius when Evira and I had noticed he hadn’t been feeling well after channeling all that Celestial power from Ketheron earlier.
Cassius had done something tosettle his system, as he’d called it. Vax had then come down for dinner where they’d included specific foods that his strict Basilisk diet allowed, but he’d dosed off halfway through. Evira, with her sexy dragon strength, had carried him to bed.
Dinner had finished up but everyone was down there talking and having calming herbal tea—and blood, where Remnant and Lazriel were concerned. But I’d excused myself to pop to the bathroom—really, I’d obviously come up here to check on Win.
Vaxan stepped across the threshold, power rolling off him again, indicating he was feeling better.
“Everyone’s downstairs still,” I told him.
He nodded.
Right, Basilisk senses and all.
Hold on.“Did I wake you up? You know, inadvertently?”
He got my meaning and shook his head. “No. I woke up on my own.” He came to me, sliding his hand to my cheek. “You’re doing extraordinarily well. Your power isn’t flaring or anything of the sort.” He smiled. “You can be upset without burying it. You know that now, remember? You’ve been opening up for the three of us and doing so safely. What happened today was a lot to absorb, so if you do actually need to unleash some of that, we can venture outside to the grounds and you can let loose. It’s safe to do so here. There’s no shame in it. But, smoldering beauty, I really don’t think you require that sort of containment at this stage. You’ve come a long way with your control and allowing yourself to express sentiment.”
“You’re saying with me no longer burying it, it can’t build up to the point of a crazy-ass dangerous detonation?”
“Essentially,” he said, his eyes sparkling as I turned into his hand stroking my cheek.
That sparkle faded as his gaze fell on Win.
And I saw it then, concern mixed in with something else. Something that hurt.
He dropped his hand from me, then scrubbed it over his face, trying to wipe it away, I guess.
“He’ll get it,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“You tagging him. Yeah, it’s gonna come out, because it’s Win. He knows his shit and he’ll realize there was no obvious known way to track him down earlier. No way through with the usual three—magical signature, scent, blood. So he’ll ask, and the vibrational tracking will come up—you kind of marking him in a way. But he’ll also—”
“He wants to be free and he’s already not. Something he is acutely aware of. Not with circumstances being what they were even before this deplorable development with Ruxnoth. He was infected by that dangerous opportunist, and even though we don’t know of the precise details at this point, with the state of him, it strongly points toward him being violated in some manner during his captivity. Then, to find out Itaggedhim without his knowledge or permission… how on earth could that be understood, let alone accepted by him?”
I frowned. He really was distressed if he couldn’t recognize the reason—or reasons. He was the insanely perceptive one, so attuned to everything.
“The reason you did it,” I told him.
“Yes, because I clearly couldn’t overcome my animal instincts, my territorial nature.”
“That’s not at the heart of why you did it.”
“What are you driving at?”
