by Heloise Hull
My knife clattered to the floor. Aurick swooped to pick it up and hand me a clean one. “I take it that I’ve shocked you.”
“Don’t you think she’s a little young for you?” Nonna scowled.
“Ava can make up her own mind. Preferably at dinner. Shall I pick you up?” he bowed with a flourish, and I had to admit it made me laugh. He was being theatrical on purpose, and it was such a difference between Jim’s indifference and even Luca’s gruffness. Maybe it would be good to get out and have fun with different types of men. Even if I never got serious with either of them, it would be beneficial to know what I liked. Or simply to enjoy myself. At any rate, Luca had felt distant. Perhaps that was his way of letting me down easy.
“Why not? It’s a date,” I told him.
“Why not, indeed,” Nonna muttered.
That afternoon after my shift, I made Coronis show me the protection spells around my boys. If anything magical got within a meter of them, she explained, it would trigger an alarm system and crash down protective wards until help could arrive.
It pained me to stay away, but I couldn’t risk exposing them before I had mastered my powers, which is why I spent most of my free time trying to access and understand them. My training ground was my room.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on finding the nub of light and nourishing it. A warm, buttery glow blossomed around me. I could feel individual hairs rising along my neck and scalp.
Suddenly, it all sprouted out, like putting a wet finger into an electrical outlet. My eyes popped open, and I practically scared myself in the mirror. Every hair was standing on end, puffed out like an enraged wolf.
I growled in frustration. This was it? I could make vines grow and become a fuzzy ball of hair to scare my enemies. The only ones who would be frightened were my hairdresser and potential boyfriends.
A knock sounded at my door. Aurick!
“Uh, be right there,” I called, frantically smoothing down my hair.
“Take your time,” he replied easily, as I rummaged on the floor for a comb.
“So sorry, but could you give me ten minutes? I swear, I never do this, but I lost track of time.”
“It’s fine. Just come out when you’re ready.”
I sprayed some of Nonna’s hairspray circa 1944 over my head and combed it down before finding the outfit Coronis had let me borrow.
A few minutes later, I emerged, breathing heavily as if I had just finished a workout routine. Aurick smiled graciously and offered me his arm. “You look beautiful, Ava.”
The night sky was clear and stars sparkled as Aurick steered us into town, parking in front of Marco’s taverna. But instead of heading inside, he led me down one of the back alleyways. I raised my eyebrow. “Do you know something about this island that I don’t know?”
Aurick shot me a half-smile that made my legs wobbly. “Wouldn’t that be weird?”
“Either that,” I mused. “Or you’re going to murder me. Just so you know, Rosemary, Coronis, and Nonna all know where I am and are probably tracking me. Marco is part lion. He’ll tear you to shreds if you even stare at me wrong.”
“Have you always talked this fast? Or is it a learned trait?” he asked, sounding amused.
“Wow. Your romantic game needs some practice.”
He snorted. “You were the one that accused me of plotting your murder.”
“Right. Well, I readily admit that I’m totally out of practice.” It was true. Without Coronis lending me her clothing, I would’ve been a wreck.
Now, her velvet, ox-blood red dress hugged my curves without revealing too much, and her tan booties gave me a few more inches to bring me up to 5’7. It was still almost a foot shorter than Aurick, but I didn’t mind. Being next to him made me feel petite and cute. She finished it off with a black leather jacket I adored.
Aurick opened a little wooden gate that creaked on its hinges. “After you,” he bowed.
I folded my arms across my chest. When I noticed little sparks of gold lighting up my fingertips, I quickly uncrossed them and hid them behind my back.
“This is the part where everyone screams for the woman not to go in first.”
Aurick let out a guffaw at that. His eyes were twinkling. “Thank you for showing me such a blind spot in my murder education.”
I poked him in the chest, impressed at the thickness. “You’re welcome.”
We stood expectantly, waiting for each other. Finally, “You’re quite serious, aren’t you?”
“Like a dead hooker.”
Aurick let loose a true laugh for once. “You’re different.”
“Special. That’s what you’re supposed to say. So, are you going inside?”
Aurick went first and I followed, feeling my unpredictably wild mother magic sparking up my wrists. Then I gasped. Twinkly lights lit up a grove of lemon trees, and there was a small table with two iron chairs tucked underneath. A bottle of wine sat in a straw base between two candles. This was seriously the most romantic thing I’d ever seen outside of the movies.
I reached up to touch a lemon. It hung heavy, dense with juice, and smelled divine. For a moment, the scent of lemons ricocheted me to that airy bedroom from the memory I had stolen from the Runaway Goddess. I closed my eyes, trying to return to the here and now. In and out. When I opened my eyes, Aurick was watching me with those chess-eyes of his.
“I impressed you,” he said.
“It’s beautiful,” I admitted. “And I had no idea it was back here. How did you?”
“I asked Marco for advice.”
“Look at you! A real go-getter.”
Aurick pulled out my chair and scooted me under, just as Marco appeared with a two-handled ceramic pot of something that smelled deliciously fresh, like the ocean. He placed it on the table and lifted the lid with a flourish.
“Seafood stew with saffron zabaglione. Buon appetito!”
“I thought zabaglione was only for sweet desserts?”
“Just replace the sugar with sea salt and saffron and use a dry white wine instead of a sweetened one,” Marco winked.
Aurick poured me a glass and held up his own. “To an interesting night.”
I clinked with his. “To an interesting toast.”
He was trying to figure out what I was, while I was trying to figure out what he was. This should be fun.
We both took a sip, still watching each other over the rims of our glasses. It was a delicious white wine, sharp and full of minerals, that swirled on the tip of my tongue. “Nice choice,” I complimented him.
“Thank you.” He looked over the steaming bowl of food in an expert appraisal and bade me to lift my plate so he could serve me. I took the opportunity to study him while he was occupied. His light hair had more shades of blonde than a paint store, with a few reddish-gold glints for good measure. His teeth were white and straight—blindingly so. Where he was wrinkled and tired before, now his smoothed skin shone with an inner radiance.
I cleared my throat to keep myself from staring at his soft lips. “So, what brought you to Aradia?”
“Time away. I ended up having to recover from my journey for longer than I anticipated.”
“A year?”
He served himself next. “More or less.”
“That’s quite the nap. It must have been some trip.”
Aurick laughed. “I may have secrets, but you, Ava Falcetti, are infinitely more fascinating.”
“Little old me?” I laughed it off.
“Yes.”
“You’re referring to the burns and the blackout, I presume.”
Aurick gave me a devastating smile. “Smart, too. You’re quite the package.”
I put down my fork without taking a bite. “Let’s not play these little games. First, I’m not a package, and second, we’re both too old for games. You, however, are certainly the oldest one here.”
That was a partial lie, seeing as I was the She-Wolf and I didn’t know what he was. It was quite possible I was ol
der, but I was enjoying this game immensely. Aurick was fun to spar with. The way his eyes twinkled after every witty retort was addicting, and I enjoyed making that happen.
The package part, however, I was firm on. I’d had my days of waitressing with men grabbing my arms and usually my ass as I walked past their tables. They’d always beg me to stick my finger in their tea to “sweeten” it while I tried not to gag. Oh, wow, I bet that was part of my curse. The lupa curse. A wolf and a whore. My fingers clenched around my knife and fork. I hated the gods.
“As you wish. I will try to keep little from you.” He took a bite of the lobster and his eyes rolled in the back of his head. “Ava, you must try this before commencing what I expect to be a thorough interrogation of my life.”
Aurick picked up a morsel of lobster from his plate and leaned across the table. His hands glowed gold in the flickering candlelit. He smelled smoky and seductive. Dangerously so.
“You want to feed me?” I asked.
“I want you to indulge, Ava Falcetti.”
“And you’re the one to indulge me?”
Aurick tilted his head. “Would you stop fighting me? What I want is to offer you peeled grapes from my fingertips and pour wine into your mouth dribble by dribble. I want to show you the world and hear about yours. I want to introduce you to the true meaning of pleasure. I promise it would be different with me. Alas, we are not there yet, so I must wait until you are ready.”
I swallowed hard. Lord, I was out of practice. “How about we start with the lobster?”
“As you wish.”
Without breaking eye contact, I put my mouth around the fork and took the bite. Curses. He was right.
“And?”
“It’s incredible. Now, let’s start with your first life, shall we?” I said, dabbing my mouth daintily.
He held up his wine glass. “Of course. What would you like to know?” Before I had a chance to consider, he added, “Just remember, this is an equal partnership. So be prepared to answer the same questions.”
“Okay. Sort of limiting, don’t you think?”
He laughed. “Only if you don’t want to share stories about your childhood.”
With a grimace, I took a deep swallow of wine. Anything to give me a minute to collect my thoughts. Aurick gave me an interested look. He’d probably already read everything into the gesture, something that would’ve taken Jim ten sessions with a marriage counselor to figure out.
“You don’t like talking about your childhood,” Aurick said quietly. “That’s fine. Why don’t I tell you about mine? I won’t ask for yours in return, either. Only that you tell me something about your previous life.”
“Okay. I accept that deal.”
Aurick smiled. “My family were merchants. Middlemen of the Silk Road. I don’t remember much about our life, but I can still smell the myrrh, recall the shape of the colorful triangle flags on our outpost, and feel the softness of the delicate silk of our robes. I saw goods pass that would make exotic dealers green with envy today. Lacquered woods, ivory sculptures, even drugs and dancing girls were traded and sold. Swallow your distaste, if you can.”
“I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
“Precisely. My family dealt only in silks, however. When I was a boy, it was my job to stand guard over our silks while my parents completed various jobs. I took it very seriously. You can imagine a stern-faced seven-year-old standing with his arms crossed in front of a tent. The hot sun drying out everything for miles, parched with thirst, but ready to die for his job.”
I smiled at the picture. “Yes, I can.”
“My older brother frequently fell asleep, but I was determined not to get drowsy in the mid-day heat. Men could come up like a mirage, and I was never quite sure if it was a Djinn or a human. The boundaries between natural and supernatural were even weaker than they are today. One particular day, a small man with a pointed beard came up to me. He wanted to know about our wares. I told him to come back when my parents had returned, but he offered me a peach.”
“A peach?”
“The golden peaches of Samarkand were so desirable, marriage deals and royal proclamations were cemented with them.”
“Those must have been some peaches.”
He nodded, watching my eyes as he remembered. “I can still taste the juice as it ran down my fingers and the delicate, fuzzy skin of the fruit.”
“That’s a wonderful memory,” I said, already imagining the last really good peach I ate.
Aurick’s eyes darkened and he sat back. I hadn’t even realized we’d both moved forward, almost meeting over the center of the table.
“His cronies got away with two baskets of silk while I indulged. I’ve never had another peach since.”
I clapped a hand to my mouth. “Aurick! That’s horrible.”
He laughed. “It was, but the memory is precious. I can feel the heat of my land and remember what my brother looks like. All of that is worth the memory of shame. I’ve learned to take the good with the bad.”
As I lifted my glass to cheers, I considered the options before me. Being around Luca produced a visceral reaction. Basically, I wanted to jump him, conversation not necessary. Aurick presented a more nuanced experience. The chemistry was there, but it bubbled gently beneath the surface and often got distracted by a stimulating conversation. I could see us arguing about the concept of souls before ending the argument in raunchy sex on the table.
You know, that kind of chemistry.
Chapter Twenty-Six
We moved into the dessert portion of the evening, sitting in a comfortable silence as we finished the bottle of wine and a chocolate tart with crunchy, caramelized hazelnuts on top. Everything had been divine, a feast fit for the gods, who didn’t deserve feasts and praise in my mind anyway.
“How long are you staying on Aradia?” I asked. “For your vacation, I mean.”
Aurick’s eyes sparkled. “I’m not sure. Being supernatural has its perks.”
“Unlimited vacation time?”
“Life is but a vacation to supernaturals. Surely you’re beginning to find that out for yourself now.”
I swirled the last of my wine without drinking. “Why are you so certain I’m something other than a MILF?”
Aurick finished his own glass and sat back to study me. He had folded his napkin over his plate and carefully arranged his knife and fork on top. In the flickering light of our candles, I noticed he was beginning to get fine lines around his eyes, but also that he had this alluring way of raking his hair back with a practiced hand and smiling at the same time. “Because god magic flowed through you.”
I thought fast. “Maybe I was a conduit from Thessaly.”
“Doubtful. You’ve handled this rapid flow of information too well.”
“Okay,” I drew out slowly, knowing we were rapidly approaching the most dangerous part of our little game of chess. “What if I was something supernatural? Is there an international registry for supernatural beings?”
Aurick crossed his knees and laced his fingers over them. He reminded me of the Indiana Jones type. Cultured, yet extremely capable. “Not precisely a registry,” he said, “but the Council of Beings does like to keep tabs. We wouldn’t want dangerous blood mages or necromancers running unchecked through civilian populations. Whether they be MILF or supernatural.”
“We?” I raised my eyebrow.
“The supernatural world in general,” he said.
“So you’re not on the Council.”
“I am not on the Council,” Aurick said, enunciating each word carefully.
I tried. I tried really hard to find things wrong with this hunk. But damn if his face wasn’t the most sincere, candid face I’d ever met. Frankly, it made me want to spill my guts. No! He probably can do mind control. Remember how he made Nonna forget about him for a year?
“Can you control thoughts?” I blurted out.
Aurick coughed. “Mind control, Ava?”
> I didn’t back down. “Yes. There are stranger things on this island than mind control.”
“Is that so?” he murmured, watching me closely. His intense, arctic gray eyes glowed for a straight thirty seconds.
“Aurick? What’s going on?”
“How much do you know about the gods and their creations?” he asked.
I shrugged, picking my words carefully. “Elementary-level mythology.”
“And yet you took in all of the information about the people in this village and barely batted an eye. Why do you think that is?”
“I’m a gullible sucker looking for a win at all costs?”
Aurick gave me a frown. “This isn’t a trick. I don’t want to entrap you in anything. I’m merely curious why you think you’re so open to the supernatural world.”
“Because I had a panic-attack, and I’m actually in the looney bin somewhere and this is a very vivid hallucination.”
Aurick sat back, pressing his thumb in the space between his eyes. I found he did that quite often around me. “Are you always this difficult or is it just for me?”
“Honestly? Probably a little of both. You’re not exactly an open book yourself, minus that one childhood story.”
“Fair enough.”
“Does that mean you’re going to tell me what you are?” I put my hand over his. It was warm beneath mine, unlike Thessaly’s. Did that mean he wasn’t a vampire? “I mean what you really are.”
Aurick gave me a wry smile. “You’re not going to run away screaming, I trust?”
“My new boss is a harpy. They used to kidnap people, you know.”
“Very well. I am a mummy.”
I made an odd squeaking noise.
“Do you need a moment?”
I held up my hand. “No, no. I’m fine. Continue.”
“I told you my family traded on the Silk Road. My people were Sogdian merchants near the Tarim Basin region. When I died sometime in the fourth century—that’s common era—I was laid to rest with gold foil across my forehead and blue beads around my wrists. I had a variety of grave goods buried with me that I still keep, including a few grains of wheat.” He pulled three seeds from his pocket and rolled them in the palm of his hand. “Everything was preserved by the salt beds in the desert. I wish I could remember more of my mortal life, but my memories disappeared like a fistful of sand in the wind. All I have are a few of my brother. They are more precious to me than any amount of gold or power.”