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“Who’re you?”
Draven lifted off the counter and turned to Axel as if he didn’t know he’d been there long before. “Apologies. Am I interrupting something?”
It’s too late to salvage this. Lily cocked a loose wrist to one man then the other. “Axel, this is my chain. Chain, Axel.”
Both of their faces contorted in her direction.
“You’re married?”
A sputter of laughter building in her chest slipped out. “Did I forget to mention that? My mistake.”
“I apologize,” Draven said after a very uncomfortable moment of silence. “She can be rather… difficult. You can’t imagine how many instances I do this in a single moon and after all the time I’ve put in. Do you have any—”
Axel scooped up his drink and earned copper, firing more than one expletive as he stomped off in the opposite direction.
“My, my, you are restless,” Draven said, watching him leave.
“What was that?” Lily snapped, swatting his arm. “I thought you said no more games!”
He frowned at her, then his arm like a bloodsucking insect bit him.
The same hand recoiled to her mouth as worry flitted through her veins. I promised not to touch him.
The warmth of the alcohol smothered her anxiety as she watched Draven Hazevale, Valen’s fearsome God Eating Incarnation, patiently puzzle over the contact. How many could say they got away with striking imperial royalty, let alone someone whose touch could kill him on the spot? Were there any?
A smile pulled at her cheeks. “Are you going to take my hand for that?”
For the second time, Draven laughed, a sound she didn’t realize she was missing until now. Lily broke and dropped her head into her arms, overcome in a fit of giggles.
“I’ve taken hands for less,” he said with a grin. “I’ll let this one slide considering I broke our agreement first. We’re even.”
She grinned back. “For now.”
Draven’s gaze clung to her a little longer than it usually did. “I’m sorry. I think I’ve mistaken you for someone else. I’m looking for a woman about your height, a royal pain in the ass, a scowl perpetually glued to her face. You’re smiling more than she does.”
“And I was expecting to meet a grumpy prick who’s incapable of minding his own business.” Lily kept her voice light despite the vitriol in her words. “You’re too funny to be him.”
Draven’s smirk grew wider. “You think I’m funny?”
“I don’t know. Do you notice my smiles more than my scowls?”
And with that, his humor fell away. “Alright, Evelian, that’s enough debauchery for one night.”
“Evelian who? There’s no Evelians here.” Lily twisted a piece of her blackened hair between her fingers. “Gods, you could try and act a little younger. Who says ‘debauchery’ anymore?”
“It’s fitting. I know some who think you should be conducting yourself with more grace and virtue considering your stature,” he said.
Lily frowned. “What’s wrong with my virtue?”
“I didn’t say—”
“You can’t tell me you didn’t have your fun before your responsibilities kicked in.”
“I am not a part of the some I speak of,” Draven said. “Nor am I earning a title as a rightful Imordial.”
Lily smiled sardonically. No matter how hard she tried, there was no way she could truly earn it after how bad of a fuck-up she was. “And what makes you think I am?”
”Being in denial doesn’t change it.”
