by A. K. Koonce
I thought he was charming.
I was wrong.
“I almost went over to you instead of him.” Sinister’s words are spoken so quietly, it’s like he doesn’t really want to say them. His eyes glisten in the morning light as my heart sinks low.
How different would my life have been if it had been Sinister who approached me? Emotion swells up in me, making it impossible to swallow for a moment. Life is made up of what if moments. And they don’t count for anything.
“Okay, so the demon den.” Chaos cuts off our reminiscing with a serious tone. “We’ll get Agatha back, just take us to him.”
“Demons like to keep moving. They travel a lot, and the dens travel with them. His home has a typical dwelling place like Arrie mentioned, but finding it now will be nearly impossible,” Sinister explains.
Three asshole dragon shifters pin him with hard glares as if Sin himself is responsible for Kreedence’s constant traveling.
“Can you use your magic, Arlow?” Kain turns toward me with hopeful eyes.
“I have a sight. It’s how I knew your names. It allows me to see into future, but black magic like Kreedence’s blots out scenes from my mind. I haven’t been able to see much of anything since I met him.”
A long puff of air slips from Kain’s lips as he shoves his hands through his crimson hair. It sticks up at different angles and my fingers twitch at my side to stroke his locks back into place.
“So… we’re fucked is what you’re saying?” Chaos sounds just as defeated as Kain looks.
I peer around at the four men who couldn’t be more different. And they’re all here. For me. They could walk away and their lives would be so much easier, but they’re here for me.
My heart warms and I try to think through everything. I’m not cut out for this really. I’m a mage who specializes in creatures. How the hell is that extensive knowledge going to help me? Why didn’t I put my magic into something useful like dark death spells or stealing power or tracking spells?
My eyes widen with that last thought.
“There’s a special breed of Minue quail that track lost objects and people. I sold one last winter to the Prince.”
A mixture of interest and excitement lights up Chaos’ two-toned eyes, making them look like liquid gold and sapphire diamonds shining down at me. His emotions are always right there in his features; he’s careless with his emotions and it… scares me.
“You’re a fucking genius.” In two big steps he’s in front of me, his palm pressing low against my back and I melt into his touch. His gaze skims to my lips but instead of kissing me there, he brushes his lips against my jaw. The small amount of praise and affection sends a burst of confidence all through me.
And that’s all it takes for me to believe we can save her. Her and Bobble. Because I’m not losing one single friend to that mother fucking demon ever again.
Four
The Road to Everywhere
“You took really good care of me, Arrie. I never got a chance to tell you that when I was… cursed. I just wanted to say thanks.” I’d forgotten how alluring his accent is. A hint of gentle roughness threads through the vowels of his words and leaves me staring at him with the sound of his voice circling my head.
As if he can feel my stare, Sinister peers over at me from the corner of his eye as we walk. The wind tussles the ends of his inky hair and he looks young and reckless despite his slow gait. He won’t admit it, but I can tell he’s hurt. Or maybe just weak from the transformation.
But he still has that mischievous, innocent demeanor. He’s exactly one year younger than I am, and he looks it. We share a birthday; September nineteenth. It’s one of the simple similarities in life that brought us closer together.
“You don’t have to thank me,” I say quietly. The few times I tried to sell Sinister—Grim flashes through my mind and I clamp my mouth shut. No one else wanted a hellhound so I was… kind of stuck with him.
He doesn’t need to know about that though.
“Well, it’s nice to hear she was sweet to one of her pets.” It’s the first thing Rime’s said to anyone all day. And it’s dripping in sarcastic anger.
I shift my small satchel containing a few of Agatha’s necessities and my eyes narrow on his broad shoulders as he walks ahead of us.
“I’ll have you know you were my favorite.”
“Your favorite? Really? Tell me what sweet things you did for your favorite fucktile.” His icy eyes look back at me from over his shoulder, his sauntering steps never missing a beat as he literally waits for me to tell him.
“You were my favorite until you could speak.”
Shaking laughter hums through Chaos as he bumps his shoulder into Rime’s. “Yeah, he’s good at ruining his charming personality when he opens his mouth.”
Rime narrows his gaze on Chaos, taking his anger away from me and pinning it on someone else. At least, that’s what I think, until Rime smirks at him. The corners of his lips tip up into an alluring but eerie look of happiness. Chaos’s dark hair and strange eyes are polar opposite to Rime’s pale features. But when they smile at one another, a feeling sparks through the air, warming my chest and making me realize the small similarities between the two men. Their strength and confidence are all right there on display down to the way they walk and talk and even little movements that they’re probably not even aware of. But the bond between them is what’s most alike. This sense of brotherhood that no one in the world could ever imitate because it’s something that comes with years of trust and love.
It’s something I can’t even begin to understand, if I’m being honest.
“Where are we headed exactly?” Kain falls back until he’s walking in step with Sinister and myself.
The dirt path winds out onto the horizon, guiding our way past the endless swaying fields of wheat. It’s the road to everywhere. That’s what I used to think when I was little. This endlessly winding road leads from my hometown all the way at the tip of the ocean to here in the middle of the country. This road leads right up to the castle gates.
And that is where we’re headed.
“Minue quail are inhabitants of the eastern coast. They prefer warm tropical locations.”
Kain’s lips part, his hand raising as he thinks through his thoughts before finally speaking.
“Then why are we heading away from the coast?”
“The eastern coast would take weeks to travel to. Even by dragon flight it’d still take at least a week.” I pause, hating what I’m about to say. “I sold Prince Linden a Minue quail when I first came here.”
“Prince Linden?” Chaos’ brows rise high. “The man you owe three dragons? The guy you sold us to?”
“Well… I would return the down payment he gave me, but a bunch of asshole shifters burnt that money to a crisp.” My jaw clenches and for a moment no one says anything. I try to find some meager existence of hope in my predicament. “I can pay him back.” I mentally calculate how many decades it’d take me to pay the Prince back for his investment of seven hundred and fifty thousand parchels.
“And just how do you intend to do that, My Tamer?”
My feet hit the ground harder as we walk and at first, I consider not answering Rime’s taunting little question. His nickname for me has started to do this weird tingling thing through my core every time he says it. It’s something I can’t seem to control and, oddly, I don’t want it to go away.
But I’ll still pretend to be irate about it because it feels more reasonable than the irrational alternative of crawling up in his lap and demanding he groan the term of endearment in a rasping tone.
My Tamer.
I blink the thought away.
“I can pay him back, don’t worry about it.” My lips purse with confused frustration.
Kain clears his throat gruffly and only Sinister has the guts to look my way. There’s this back and forth love—hate between us all and I can’t stand it. I wish we could just find steady ground between us. Ou
r relationship is easy when they let themselves care about me. And I guess… it’s easy when I let myself care about them as well.
“I guess, we’ll just let you do the talking. He does seem to like you.” Rime’s words seem hinting and taunting, and when he looks to Chaos I can just tell he’s trying to piss his friend off.
“What will you tell him about all your new friends?” Chaos’ tone doesn’t hold that light happiness that he always has. He’s entirely serious and I can tell that Rime’s efforts were a success.
The asshole.
My new friends. I look around from one gorgeous face to the next. Yes, explaining these four might be more trouble than I originally realized.
“I’ll figure it out. Stop making everyone worry so much, Rime.” On confident steps I skim past the arrogant man.
He almost kissed me once. There was this tension between us—there still is if I’m being honest—but rejecting that kiss hurt him and it shows.
I get the feeling Rime has a long past of people hurting him. And I can’t stand that I’m just like everyone else. I hate that I hurt him.
Now is not the time to be concerned about hurt feelings though.
The road to everywhere grows wider as I walk beneath the broken archway that still stands in the Queen’s honor and through the high brick gate. Just to be greeted with drawn swords and familiar men.
“I thought I told you to start making an appointment, Arlow?” The defeated voice of my favorite guard rings out as John takes a step forward, his dark hair wafting in the wind as he shakes his head at me. “No dragons today?” His eyes flicker to the men around me. The intimidating stance of the dragon shifters and the demon with the gleaming eyes seem to make him just as uneasy as any creature I’ve ever brought through these gates.
“Nothing special today, John.” I look around at my magical friends as the lie slip over my lips. “Nothing special at all.”
Five
The Worst Fucking Suggestion
I can’t hide Sinister no matter how many lies I tell. His eyes and his fuming appearance just won’t allow it. There’s literally a faint trail of smoke drifting out him like he’s burning a hole through the glossy tile floor where he stands. The chandelier overhead shines against his eyes and Prince Linden seems to hold his attention entirely on the demon who stands before him.
The Prince’s arms fold as he leans back against the enormous table sitting in the center of the room. Candlelight shines through the chandelier, casting glinting hues of the crystals over the white walls. He still passes cautious looks to the demon even as he peers over at me. He looks … frustrated with me. He’s one of a long list of people who look at me with this appearance of total disappointment.
“So …” The amount of dead air that he leaves after that word seems to linger around us until Prince Linden speaks again. “So, a demon—this gentleman’s friend—kidnapped your goldfish?”
My head tilts. What is so hard about understanding that Bobble is a special breed of fish? Why is this so hard?
“Well, no. He’s taken my friend, Agatha. She’s a woman. And he’s also taken my fish. A Tumid fish. Not goldfish. Tumid.” I mumble Tumid once more under my breath and Rime turns his head slowly, giving me a ‘we get it’ look.
But obviously they don’t though. They don’t get it, or they would start respecting Bobble’s breed a little bit more.
“I’m Sinister Savoy.” Seemingly changing the subject, my friend extends his hand between him and the Prince of Minden. A thin trail of black smoke twirls up from his fingertips and Linden watches that smoke for several long seconds.
I can’t help but watch the two men intently. Linden is nothing like his father. He isn’t cruel and careless. But this moment feels important. Anyone can act kind on the surface. Is the Prince truly as friendly as he’s always seemed?
Slowly, Linden takes Sinister’s hand, keeping his gaze focused on the way their hands clasp. He’s firm and he’s polite, but he doesn’t linger.
His attention pulls quickly back to me with his pale brows pulled over the confusion in his eyes.
“Is the fish worth money? Why would he take a fish? I just don’t understand.” Linden lifts his hand to his chin as he tries to make sense of the weird story I just told him. I was careful to leave out the part about my shifters. The shifters, I mean.
“No, the demon is just a petty asshole who wanted to take everything I have.”
Linden’s lips purse and he takes a step closer to me. Strangely, Kain takes a step closer to the Prince as well, blocking his path to me with a single step. My hand presses to Kain’s bicep and the muscle tenses beneath my touch. I have to force the laughter from my throat as I push him and his protective stance aside.
“Sorry,” I say with a smile plastered hard across my face.
Linden passes a baffled look to Kain before settling his attention back on me.
“I’m sorry you lost your friend and … your fish. I can send my guards out immediately. We can take care of this in just a matter of hours. There’s nothing to worry about, Arlow.” His palm brushes along the side of my hand and I can physically feel the attention the men are putting onto the meager amount of contact.
How did my life become so confusing where men are involved? I did well avoiding men for five years straight, and now it seems the Goddess has cursed me with too many attractive men in my life. One for each year that has passed.
What a complete fucking shame.
“I was actually just hoping to borrow Minue. I know the little creature could track Agatha down in no time. I brought something of hers that should have her scent on it for him to sniff out.” I reach into the satchel and when I pull out the small animal skull, the Prince takes a careful step back.
“Is—is that a skull, Arlow?” The way his lips curl suddenly makes me realize this was the wrong thing to bring.
But she coddled it every day. She fed and watered this skull. I know it’s just reeking of her mage scent. It’s the best thing to use, I just know it.
It’s nothing weird. It’s just a sort of ferret carcass … I think.
“Uh …” My voice dips and Kain levels me with that signature look of disappointment that I’m so damn used to. “Yeah, she … she really liked … this … skull.” My words drift off into an awkward sound of dwindling nothingness.
“Okay.” He smooths the front of his deep navy uniform like the skull somehow spilled some of its dirty deadliness onto his expensive jacket. “Well, Minue is out hunting down a replacement pair of slacks like the ones I bought in Korren last spring. But he should fly back and return within three days. I’d love for you to stay for a while. Give me an update on how our dragons are doing.”
Rime growls at the kind offer and that little noise alone should tell us how our dragons are doing.
But something else stands out in the Prince’s offer.
“You sent the extremely rare tracking creature I gave you to buy new slacks?” My mouth remains open as if there are other words I could add on to that ridiculous statement to somehow make it better.
“Yes, you have no idea how appreciated Minue is here. He’s the best thing you’ve ever sold me, Arlow.”
The Prince seems to overlook the way my lips purse together, and he’s completely oblivious to how demeaning he’s being to a creature that is truly prized and praised along the coast.
“I’m so happy to hear it.” The term happy grinds out of my mouth with force.
“Stay. Stay for a while with me. Your friends and--,” His attention flickers to Sinister for the hundredth time in ten minutes. “--your demon friend are, of course, welcome. Minue is such a fast animal, I never know how quickly he’ll return.”
Stay here. In a castle. With the Prince. And three asshole dragon shifters. And a demon.
“No, no we couldn’t.” Literally, we fucking can’t. This sounds like the worst fucking idea anyone’s ever suggested.
“I insist. Margaretta. Marg, will you show Ar
low and her friends upstairs.” He starts walking away, talking over his shoulder to a petite woman who’s just now running down the stairs. The clicking sound of her heels sounds as frantic as the bobbing of her head as she nods to him after every word he says. “The fourth floor, Marg. Thank you.”
I, too, start trailing after the Prince as he quickly makes his way into the next room. A long shining dinner table runs the length of the wall and one of the high back chairs slams hard against my arm as I rush to catch up. The sting of the pain makes me flinch, but I ignore it. The walls of this room tower high just like the entry room but here warm shades of yellow line the space and portraits of severe looking ancestors stare down on me as my bare feet pad after the man who’s apparently done talking to us.
“Linden, I can’t stay here.”
My hand grips his shoulder, meeting the soft material of his jacket before he turns abruptly, taking my hand in his and making me stumble back from him in an instant.
I rushed to get here and I’m rushing away just as fast.
“Let me take care of this for you.” His voice is a humming sound that tumbles through me from our nearness.
He’s always been like this with me. Since the moment we met, he’s always been … drawn to me—eager to help the outcast when no one else would.
But I don’t know why.
My throat bobs and I hear boots echoing through the room from behind me.
Slowly I pull my hand from his.
“I can take care of myself, My Prince.”
I actually have no money to my name. No investment. I no longer have a house to live in. I could stay at Aggie’s, but the thought of staring day in and day out at her things while we wait to save her sounds like torture.
A smile pulls at his lips just as warmth brushes along my back. I don’t turn around; I keep my eyes locked on Linden’s, but I know who’s behind me. A strange but tingling feeling spreads through me and I just know Chaos is behind me.