Her long fingers curve around the deck of cards as she shuffles them. “I know that you are not here for this, royal, so what is it that I can help you with?”
I lean forward, resting my elbows on the table. “I need help.”
“With what?” she asks, her soft pink eyes shifting up and down my body. She leans back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other until the split parts and exposes her lean, tanned thigh. “I mean…” She flicks the ash off her whatever it is she’s smoking, bringing it back to her pastel pink lips. “I have a feeling you need me for something other than what I am most excited about.”
Usually, Zhara and I dance around the fact that we both fuck like animals. But nothing. I’ve got nothing for her right now, and I ain’t even fucking sorry.
“Tell me about being mated and what usually happens.”
Zhara pauses, the cigarette short of her lips. She tilts her head slightly to the right, studying me closely.
“You know what happens. You’re not here for that.” She pauses and I hate the way a Mage can sniff out even your deepest and darkest secrets. I feel the heavy pull of breath being forced out of me, and my fists clench.
“Watch it, Mage,” I warn as she uses her magic. She giggles, butting her joint out in the floating ashtray. “Oh, boy. The first royal to find his mate.”
“I thought you couldn’t mate with a Giftless?” I growl through clenched teeth.
Zhara raises her brow, her pierced tongue sliding over her lip. “You can’t.”
“Elaborate.” I wave my hand out for her to continue, but instead, she studies me like she does her subjects. All of her subjects fall, but she has fun watching them splatter against the pavement before feasting on them.
“What I will tell you are the things you already know. The mating ritual requires several steps to seal the bond, each one making the connection between the pairing grow stronger and stronger until there is nothing between you and your fated. Until you are one.” She watches me, likely trying to figure out what step I’m on. “The first, the exchange of blood. Both must drink of the other. Second, when you come together … literally and figuratively.” She smirks. “The third? Well—” Something flies against the window behind me and a splinter of a crack ripples through the room. “—you already know how to seal the mating process, Deveraux, so why are you here? Did you want me to tell you that she isn’t your mate, that you’re merely just an obsessed fool with a hard dick?” Her perfect brow arches. “You and I both know that isn’t true, Knight.” She pushes up from her chair, rounding the table and bringing her fingers to my chin. “And so the first one falls.”
London
I stare back at the spot that just opened up like a vortex and pulled both of the Knights through. What the fuck? Maybe this is still the effects of whatever that shit was that was given to us at that party? Maybe it’s truly fucking with my brain. Deep down, I know that’s not true. Deep down, I know that what I just saw wasn’t an illusion.
So yeah, what in the actual fuck?!
I throw on a pair of jeans and a small crop top, picking up my phone and bag. I fly out of my bedroom and pass Ben’s door. Since he didn’t burst in here when I don’t even know what to call them were fighting, he must have slept through it, and there’s no point waking him up now. I don’t think he’ll be able to help me anyway. Shit, the only help I might get here is a straitjacket. Especially if I tell the wrong person. Not that Ben is the wrong person, because he isn’t. But even he has his boundaries.
On my way to the crystal shop, because it’s literally the only place I can think to go right now, I replay everything I’ve had happen to me over the past month. The parties, the drugs, the men… all strange. All so strange.
The outside air slaps me in the face and I keep my eyes peeled to the ground as I try to seek answers from places I’ve never ventured to. Nothing makes sense. Magic? That doesn’t exist, right? Magic simply doesn’t exist.
I stop walking.
But how the fuck else do I explain what I just saw? How do I explain not just the fact that there are two Knights, but a damn weird little portal opening up in my bedroom and both of them stepping through? And why…oh why…did the pastel of blue and pink that swirled in the middle feel so damn familiar? Almost the same palette as the cotton candy I get at the town fair.
But not only that…something inside me ignited. I could feel the flames of whatever it was licking the insides of my stomach. That’s really the only way I know how to describe it.
I’m about to round the corner to see if I can pick Jus’s brain, when the door opens and a girl stops, her eyes on me. She has light blonde hair, blue eyes, and a small heart-shaped face. She has to be around the same age as me. Maybe Jus did get laid, and he’s found someone. Finally. Only he’s definitely punching.
“London, right?” she asks, her head tilting to the side.
My eyes fly behind her. “Yes?”
“I’m Halee! Jus is a friend of mine.”
“Oh, is he in?”
She shakes her head. “No. He’s out. I’m about to go see him, though. Do you want to join?” She seems friendly enough, and anyone close to Jus is a decent person.
I follow her back down the path I came, trying not to fill the silence with empty conversations.
“Hmmm, someone has left you with questions,” she hints, and I shift my feet to face her.
“What?” I don’t think she knows me enough to make that assumption, but I allow her to elaborate.
“I can smell it.” Her nose crinkles as she folds her arms in front of herself, her Prada puffer jacket expanding further. “It’s strong.”
Smell. She can smell my confusion?
Can she smell how much more confused her little omission has me?
“What school do you go to?” Maybe she goes to the same one Knight and Jus go to, and I can pluck the answers I want out of her. She seems like a much easier target than Knight.
She side-eyes me, the corner of her cherry gloss lips turning upward in a smile. “The same as Justice…” She pauses. “…and Knight.”
I stop walking, my hand reaching out to her arm. “Wait, you know him?”
She shrugs. “Yeah, we all do. Why?” She studies me closely, and I hate the way I find myself getting lost in her eyes. Almost like a form of déjà vu, where I’d seen her before, only I haven’t. “Look, I’m sure you’re a nice girl, but the Deveraux—well, anyone—are not what you’re looking for. I’d keep all of that to this side of the world.”
“What do you mean?” I blink up at her.
She flashes me a full-tooth smile. “Do you know what? How about I take you to a place where I know Knight will be?”
I follow her down the path, unease sliding into my veins. I don’t know who this girl is and she could be taking me anywhere. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my phone and open a text to Jus.
Me: Where r u? I’m with your friend.
It doesn’t take long before he answers.
Jus: I’m at work. What friend?
My heart trips in my chest as I realize I’ve most likely got myself into some bullshit, and now I need to dig my way out.