Unfortunately, I wasn’t wise often enough.
“The dakkais attacked the Black Bay because of what I did. Kolis doesn’t strike me as a one-and-done type. He’s not going to stop searching for that source of power. I’m a danger to everyone here, including Nyktos, whether that shit runs deep or not.”
The glow of eather pulsed in the center of Saion’s eyes. “So should I just go ahead and snap your neck then?”
“If you want to try, then all I ask is that you not be a coward about it and wait until my back is turned.” I widened my stance in case he did attack. “Just know that I won’t make it easy.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
I gave him a close-lipped smile. “So, what’s it going to be? You want to do this or not?”
Something akin to respect flickered across Saion’s features. “As I said, Consort, I have no intention of signing my death note.”
“I’m not the Consort.”
“In a matter of days, you will be.”
“But will I really be your Consort?” I asked.
Saion didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. We both knew the answer. He opened the door. “After you.”
Brushing past him, I stepped out into the hall and came to a complete stop. A tall woman with long, dark hair was stationed outside the door to my bedchamber, her head bowed as she read from a book. I’d never seen the pale-skinned female before. “Who is that?”
Saion closed the door behind me. “Orphine.”
I attempted to reconcile this very mortal-looking woman with the rather large, midnight-scaled draken I’d seen battle in the sky over the Black Bay. She’d been injured in the fight but appeared fine now.
Then I realized why she was here. “She’s here to make sure I stay in my bedchamber?”
The corners of Saion’s lips turned down. “She is here to make sure you are safe in your rooms.”
“I don’t think those things are mutually exclusive,” I muttered, wondering exactly how Nyktos had managed to send her to my bedchamber on such short notice.
“You’re right.” Saion shrugged. “Did you expect it to be different?”
“No,” I admitted.
“But I don’t think those two things are weighed equally,” Saion continued after a moment. “Protection more than punishment.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Orphine repeated from down the hall. My gaze snapped back to her. She turned a page in her book. “I could hear your entire conversation.”
“Oh,” I murmured as we started down the hall. Orphine knew what I had done with the embers of life, but I didn’t know if she was aware of what I had planned.
She looked up then. Now that I was closer, I saw her crimson eyes and the vertical slits of her pupils behind thick lashes. The draken appeared as a mortal in her second or so decade of life. “If Nyktos was more concerned about making sure you stayed put and out of relative trouble, he wouldn’t have given me permission to burn to ash anyone who comes to your doors.”
“Anyone?”
“Anyone who poses a threat.” Orphine smiled tightly, and there was nothing warm about that smile. “To you. Not him, which is unfortunate.”
Saion smirked.
Well, I supposed I didn’t have to wonder any longer if Orphine knew what I’d planned. “You’d rather burn me to ash instead?”
“For even thinking about killing Nyktos? Yes.” Orphine snapped the book shut with one hand and pushed off the wall. She took a step toward me, and Saion tensed, his hand going to the sword at his hip. I fought the instinct screaming at me to back up. The draken was about my height, and the sleeveless tunic she wore clung to rounded hips. She looked soft. But so did I. “Nyktos is…special to us.”
Ice crept up the back of my neck as I held her stare.
“But so are you.” A lock of hair fell against her arched cheek. “You are life.” Her voice lowered…and I swore faint wisps of smoke wafted from her nostrils. “And that is the only reason you still breathe.”
I’d gone into my bedchamber without saying much, because how could I respond to what Orphine had said? Thanks for recognizing the value of the embers and not burning me alive?
I hadn’t been left alone for long, though. Baines, a mortal or godling I’d met my first night here, brought in some hot water. Like all who worked in the House of Haides, he did so out of choice—because he wanted to be of service to Nyktos.