“You should go find your fiancé, then,” she teased. I laughed a full laugh, something that hadn’t broken from me in days, and this made her light up in relief.
I sat beside her so I could shove her, shaking my head to myself. “I didn’t mean a dick, Praxis. My life doesn’t revolve around sex, ya know.”
“It should. Sex is great.” She wagged her blonde eyebrows. “Especially with a handsome God in your bed.”
“Alright, alright...” I chuckled again and took another long drag before looking her over.
She had changed so much since we were teenagers. Her hair was still long and wavy, the perfect beach blonde, but she had it twisted into an alligator clip to keep it from her eyes. Still, tendrils snuck down her cheeks and forehead, swaying in the wind that she soaked in intensely. She had filled her frame out quite a bit, with her chest full compared to the smaller nature she had adorned much of her teenage years. Her waist tapered sexily, and her long legs were graceful, like a gazelle’s. She was obnoxiously beautiful, especially as she grew older. There was nodenying that. I somewhat missed her backwards baseball caps and jerseys she adorned when we were younger. This new Praxis felt foreign to me. This overly feminine young woman was not the tom boy I had come to love, and I felt a piece of my childhood die when I realized this.
She flicked her lilac eyes to me curiously, soaking in my intense aura. “You look like you’ve had the shittiest day in history.”
“I have,” I admitted.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Not really.” I watched the smoke from our cigarettes mingle with one another, doing a two-step dance amongst the rain-filled sky. Praxis did this as well, then conjured a gust of wind to brush it away from us. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while. You and Griff are off in your own world.”
“I know. We’ve been so preoccupied with training and our Elites... I kind of have been neglecting my friends.” She laid her head on my shoulder and wrapped both arms around mine, pressing her cheek to my sleeve. “I worry about you a lot. I feel like this weight on your shoulders is getting to be too much to bear.”
“I agree, sadly, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m hanging in.”
She nodded once, sighing to herself. “What can we do to relieve some of the pressure?”
“Just stick by me, especially when I need you most. Moments like this... they mean the world to me. Time with you all, away from the chaos... it brings me immense joy, something I don’t feel often anymore.” I snuggled into her hair, and she into my chest. “Sometimes I need a reminder that there are some people in my world that don’t expect perfection from me.”
“We certainly don’t. We like our normal Nick just the way he is.” She squished my cheeks together to make me force a grin.“Except when he’s the grumpy Grim Reaper. Then he’s a little too scary for my liking!”
“I know, because you tumbling around as a giant tornado isn’t terrifying, either.” I swished her away and died out the cigarette, kissing her hair three times before standing. “How about we have a movie night? I’ll order Chinese and set up the lounge, and you wrangle the guys up and pick a movie. I think I need an evening off from the chaos.”
“That sounds amazing!” she squealed, jumping up. “How does six sound?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter twelve
Every Promise in Vain
Atlas
Erasmus and Seraphine returned from their nightly walk with Xenobia, swinging their daughter’s hands in between them. It was nice to see the small family connect in their own special way. Seeing them together made my heart burn. I missed when Nicodemus was young enough to do this with Ashlynn and me. I remembered pulling him upright so he could swing back and forth, letting out loud laughs I wished I could hear one more time spill from him. The longer I watched the family the harder it became to focus, so I shook my head and went back to fastening my buttons into place.
Ashlynn came into the room and settled against the doorframe, watching me spritz my best cologne over sensitive spots on my neck. I fixed the cuffs on my sleeves before kneeling to fasten my laces together. When I came back up, she crossed the room and moved to soften my hair and brush it down myshoulders gently. “You never know how to style these waves properly,” she complained as she smoothed the mess down.
“That’s what I have you for,” I joked lovingly.
Once I was presentable enough for her liking, she gripped my shoulders tightly and looked me over once more, as if taking in my image for the very last time. I let her have her moment but interrupted it with a romantic kiss. She physically relaxed when she felt my lips on hers and hummed when she allowed herself to enjoy the gesture. My kiss turned desperate, and my hands moved to hold her face to mine. I couldn’t stop kissing her, worshipping her, and knew if I didn’t try, I'd never make it to Ambermourn’s tonight.
“You need to leave...” she whispered against my lips, breaking the gesture to say this.
I nodded, my eyes still closed, and leaned my forehead down on hers. “Please... do not think for a moment that I am doing this for pleasure. This is purely to find out what he wants with Nick and Pandora.”
“I know, darling, I know.” She smoothed her thumb over my jaw carefully. “I trust you more than you will ever know. I only ask that, if things get too overwhelming, that you come right home and abandon this whole thing.”
“I’ll do my best.” My promise was weak, but it was a promise, nonetheless. She accepted it and allowed me to ghost through a portal I conjured back to the Everglades. Once the portal closed on her saddened expression, I knew my mission had begun, and that I needed to shake off my worries and focus.
The key Ambermourn gave me opened the stairway fluidly, which perfumed incense and sage. The smell was very familiar, as this was usually how his office smelled back at Chandler, but the smell made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I descended the steps and crossed the foyer, moving through the hall until I was met with his grand book room once again.This time, he was nowhere to be found, so I took it upon myself to snoop. My fingers walked the edge of the archaic tomes he had lovingly sewn, jumping between pages so old that dust collected in their corners. My gaze gravitated to the desk, where an assortment of notes was splayed across the surface. I let my fingertips trail the papers until I found one that piqued my interest. “Incantations and spells for Gods and Mortals...?” I whispered to myself.
“This seems like major bad news,”Callaway groaned within my head.
