“I want—”
“Mae!” I turn, finding Barrett looking at me, his eyes quickly darting between Asmo and me, a smirk beginning to form. “Marik and I won!”
August and Koa are getting out of the pool, beginning to undress. I look at Marik, to find him already staring at me. No, staring at Asmo, his eyes completely black. Asmo’s grip around my waist tightens beneath the water.
I try to put some distance between Asmo and me, but he holds me tightly.
I look back at him to tell him to let me go, but the look in his eyes is deadly.
“Just stay with me for a second,” he says.
“But—"
“Mae, please just listen,” he whispers. I can feel the power brimming within him.
It shuts me up, and I stop trying to leave his embrace. His body is tense beneath me, and my anxiety skyrockets. I turn to him and ask, “What’s going on?”
He returns his eyes to mine and says, “Nothing, princess. Just a little brotherly spat.” But his tone and his body language indicate it’s more than that.
Shouts ring out from the other side of the pool, and my head whips around to find the source, but it’s just Koa and August racing across the terrace, fully nude. Both princes run toward the pool now, hands on their groins, covering their most prized possessions. They sprint toward the pool and cannonball in, making the water splash and lap against the sides of the pool.
Asmo’s arms loosen around me, and I look back to Marik, but he’s gone. He must have left the pool while I was watching Koa and August. He grabs his clothes from a chair and stalks away, leaving the terrace and out into the night.
“Give him some space,” Asmo mutters behind me.
But I’m done listening to him. I stand up, leaving him sitting on the steps of the pool. I hear the water move as he stands up behind me, but I turn around and say, “Let mego, Asmo.” My words land, and his face falls, like my command hurt him. Then his usual mask of indifference returns. I leave him sitting on the stairs of the pool.
I summon a warm wind to dry my body quickly before throwing my clothes back on and hurrying after Marik. The night has only gotten colder, and I fight back a shiver. The moon is out, lighting the path before me.
I focus my senses, listening for sounds of Marik. He can’t have gone that far. I assume he would go back to the guest cottage, so I head further down the path toward the cottage.
Normally, I’d hear the sounds of the forest around me, but the night is silent. I don’t hear the usual scuffling of the squirrels scurrying over pine straw, jumping in between trees. I don’t hear rabbits leaping over fallen branches or deer filtering between the trees. My deer and Fae lineage allows me to sense more than a human can, and my senses are telling me there are no animals around me right now, which is abnormal.
My ears perk, hearing something off to the left. I head in that direction, trying to pick up on the sound. It sounds like someone’s talking, but I can’t make out the words. I step closer, trying to quiet the sounds of my feet on the forest floor. If I can hear them, they can likely hear me. I don’t want to sneak up on Marik and scare him, but I also don’t know that itisMarik, and I’d rather be cautious, especially because I just ran off into the woods by myself. Elle and Ivan will kill me when they find out.
As I get closer, I can hear a male and a female voice. The male voice sounds like Marik. The female voice sounds familiar, but I can’t place it. Marik sounds angry and the female voice is whispering at him, trying to calm him down.
“—starting to form a relationship with him—” Marik is saying.
“Then you need to stop it,” the female voice whispers back to him urgently.
I still can’t see them, but I’m getting closer. Who the hell is he talking to?
“It’s not that easy,” he counters.
“Do whatev—" She stops suddenly.
I bring a curl of heatless fire to my palm to light my way.
“Marik?” I call out.
He emerges from behind a tree just off the path. I look behind him, but I don’t see anyone else. He’s alone.
He smiles when he sees me, but his eyes are lifeless. “Hey,” he says.
“Who were you talking to?” I ask him, looking around.
“I saw you and Asmo together, and I got upset and just needed a second. Sometimes I talk to myself to calm myself down.”
