CHAPTER 13
"I can't believe you talked me into this."
Zivia spared a glance at Azriel, who was treading behind her as they sneaked back into the mortal lands at dusk.
"You say that as if I dragged you here against your will."
Silence was his only response, which was not that unusual. She herself hadn't expected that he would join her here.
The Illyrian hadn't let her go without proper explanation of what she meant when she said adventure.
"I was just being dramatic, okay?" she'd said then, back at the Night Court.
A cacophony of voices drew both their attention.
"…come back. I'll leave you to take care of everything here while I'm gone." A woman's voice.
"That's Vassa," whispered Azriel behind her.
She didn't know that she was expecting something from the mortal queen until she felt a twinge of disappointed upon seeing her looking as normal as a regular human being should be. Her blue eyes shone like opals in the dark, sharp and a piercing contrast to her reddish-gold hair which was an almost twin to Lucien's, albeit much longer and wavier. Her father was right, Vassa exudes the confidence of a strong and fiery woman – an attribute Koschei very much likes in his prisoners. Something he found in the majority of her people – her sisters.
"As if that wasn't what I was doing already – "
"Jurian." Lucien's voice sounded like a warning.
"Right. Sorry. As her majesty wishes."
Zivia could almost feel the collective eyerolls of his two companions as Jurian dropped to a dramatic bow.
She and Azriel kept at a distance as they followed the trio farther away from the heart of the mortal territory.
"Do you think she already knows?" she asked the spymaster.
"She's a smart queen. I bet she suspects just as we do."
They both came to the conclusion that if the other mortal queens were unconscionable enough to sell a fellow queen to a sworn enemy because of selfishness, then it is most likely that they might ask him again for help after the disastrous result of their alliance with Hybern. Though they couldn't be sure of what kind of bargain they would be willing to accept and how far are they willing to sacrifice yet again.
When the remaining dregs of daylight vanished, so did the beautiful young woman before them. The transformation was quick but impossible to miss. It was as if a fire ignited from within the queen, turning her eyes into glowing embers before lighting up her hair and down until her whole body is ablaze with a light so intense it blinded her for a few seconds. An ear-splitting screech resounded over the land and she opened her eyes and saw a magnificent firebird hovering above them. Its feathers of fire glowed with the red and gold of molten lava, spewing sparks as it beat its massive wings in the air.
The creature circled above them once before soaring higher and flying away.
Zivia knew exactly where it is going. She was halfway to winnowing when Azriel grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back from the enveloping light.
She was so focused on the firebird that she almost forgot he was there with her. "What?"
"Where are you going?"
"Where else? I'm going to follow Vassa."
She didn't think that the spymaster's brows could furrow any deeper. Apparently, she was wrong. It's really a wonder how he hasn't got any wrinkles on his face yet.
"You're going directly to Koschei."
"We don't exactly know that's where she's going."
"Tell me I'm wrong then."
The intensity of his gaze made her feel self-conscious to even attempt another lie. She pointedly avoided his eyes and scratched the tip of her nose.
"Is that what you've planned from the beginning?" Azriel rounded on her. "You've been acting strangely ever since the mention of this sorcerer. What do you know of him?"
She gently placed a hand over his scarred hand that was still holding onto her arm and felt a tiny flinch from him as she slowly removed and lowered it away.
"Let's just say that I was unfortunate enough to be…acquainted…with him before. And I know that you're at this but now is really not the time for an interrogation. I have to go, see ya."
She vanished away before he could even take his next breath. But it was only a moment of reprieve for her when she landed as a thud from behind told her that he wasn't really on letting her go that easily.
"Honestly Azriel," she huffed. "You are under no obligation to follow me."
"I'm not." The Illyrian gave her a side-glance as he walked past her and looked at the sky. "No sign of her yet. She must still be over the eastern Prythian waters."
They were near the edge of the Continental faerie realms, the farthest they could winnow without sending their brains off on a jolly-good spin.
Zivia stared at the shadowsinger's back as he continued surveying the skies turned away from her. Clad in an all-black ensemble, he blended so perfectly into the darkness, commanding every shadow and wisps of the night around him – a true testament to his infamous title.
He shifted and looked at her over his shoulders. She couldn't quite see his expression but his voice was soft when he spoke. "When you said you were acquainted with Koschei, what did you mean?"
She took a moment to herself before she answered.
"Koschei was a dormant being when we first settled in Cretea. He was basically non-existent to us until a few decades later; Seraphim females started to go missing – they would cross over the lake and never come back."
Azriel inhaled sharply. "The other prisoners."
"At first, my father thought that some of the loyalists during the war were able to track us and had been the one responsible for his missing people, though we couldn't find any sign of them after scouring the island. This went on for two centuries. One by one, another warrior would disappear even after the precautions we've put in place. One day, I decided to investigate for myself, along with a few others. That was when we encountered him." She paused, the sting of the memory still fresh in her mind. "Three of my friends died that day. And I barely made it out alive."
She looked up at the sky. Still no sign of the firebird.
"After knowing the true identity of our enemy, my father decided to lock our border and set up the shield. He did it to prevent any more…encounters…with the sorcerer but had unknowingly cut us from the rest of the world." She shrugged at him. "You know what happened next."
Silence passed between them. Wind softly rustled the leaves as either of them waited for the other to speak.
"Thank the Mother I wasn't cursed," Zivia attempted at humour. "Not that I'm taking a jab at Vassa. It's just really unfortunate for her to have such wicked ruler-companions and speaking of which " – she pointed at the sky just as the firebird flew overhead them and continued northeast of the land – "we have to go. It's probably headed towards the mountains by the lake. It's a few miles south the border of Cretea."
She stepped into the light and looked back in time to see Azriel vanish before the portal closed in on her. A second later, they both reappeared face to face in the middle of a dense forest. Zivia studied the thick canopies above and winnowed to the top branch of the tallest one, strategically hiding among the leaves as she poked her head to scan the skies.
Azriel appeared on an adjacent tree top. "Are you sure about this?"
She turned to him. Maybe she wasn't that good at hiding her anxiousness as she thought she was.
He patiently waited for her answer, ready to turn back as soon as she says so no matter that he wanted to see this through himself. The spymaster has told her before they left the night court that Vassa was only summoned back to the lake once every week and with the building tension within the land, they couldn't be sure if Koschei would continue giving her that much leeway. Another seven days of waiting is something they could ill afford to take.
"Yes, I'm sure," Zivia said with as much conviction as she could muster. She wouldn't let fear paralyze her again.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the firebird approach. Its call echoed through the valley as it opened its massive beak and dove straight into an archway on the peak of the tallest mountain and vanished. They quickly followed, winnowing to a precipice overlooking the entire lake.
From where she stood, Zivia could almost see the range surrounding their island.
She and Azriel walked to the stoned arch carved from the mountain itself.
"That's weird," she muttered. "I saw it go through here."
The archway was just a hollowed part of the summit and leads exactly to the opposite side of the mountain.
"It did," Azriel told her as he walked through the short passage ending in a cliff and looked over the area. There was no sign of Vassa.
Where did it go?
Zivia studied the stone arch again, noticing patterns running through its base – swirl marks of some sort and, she realized with indefinite certainty, symbols of –
"Are those claw marks?" declared Azriel, suddenly appearing beside her.
"It appears so." She stepped aside and gestured at the archway. "This seems to be the entrance but – what the?!"
The air around her rippled and the entrance of the passage glazed, making it look like a misty image reflected from foggy water. A scream escaped her throat when the ground opened beneath her feet and swallowed her. She instinctively reached out a hand only to grab at nothing, and then she saw Azriel diving after her before the ground closed as soon as he jumped in and they were plunged into darkness.
They kept on falling down the chasm, which was too narrow for them to open their wings and stop their drop. Zivia was starting to panic because aside from not knowing how deep this entrance goes, she couldn't see a damn thing.
"Zivia!" Azriel's voice echoed through the hollow space.
"I'm here." She scrabbled around for him. "I can't –" Her knees banged onto a slab of rock and she lost control, sending her spinning in the air. "Shit."
She knocked into a soft leathery material and Azriel grunted as they both careened sideways. One of his arms wrapped around her waist pulling her closer, and the other framed the back of her head. His solid frame and heat were creeping into her senses, tugging at her resolve to resist. Her face smacked into his chest as they slammed hard into the stone wall. Then, they were falling again. Despite being disoriented, she managed to summon a gust of air to steady their descent and, hopefully, cushion their fall into the dark abyss.
It was so dark and cold here. And so lonely.
Azriel wrapped his wings together around his body as he curled up in the bed. No windows. No light.
He opened his eyes but only darkness greeted him and so he shut them again. His heart hammered in his chest and he took big gulps of air trying to calm his nerves. He couldn't remember how long he'd been here but it doesn't matter – he's back. Back in this Cauldron-forsaken place his wicked stepmother had thrown him into.
He reached out into the void, trying to get a grip on something – anything – to steady himself as he pushed himself up. But his knees were too weak and he stumbled into the ground.
He shuddered.
He couldn't breathe.
He clutched his chest, willing his lungs to contract and get some air into his body.
He's drowning. His hands were burning.
He is going to die.
A ball of light bloomed behind his closed lids and he flung them open to see dark round eyes staring back at him.
"Hey."
Zivia lightly tapped Azriel's arm trying to wake him up.
She doesn't know how long they've been lying on the ground unconscious but when she woke up,her legs had gone numb from landing on an awkward position when they fell. Thankfully, her earlier maneuver prevented any further damage for both of them. At least that's what she hoped.
There was a shift of movement behind her and she blindly felt around for her companion. She flicked her wrist and conjured an orb of light to illuminate her surroundings. The shadowsinger was laying on his stomach to her left, his face crunched up. Beads of sweat dotted his temples and he was slightly shaking.
She nudged at him again, patting his cheek twice. "Az, wake up."
His eyes flew open and he inhaled sharply as he pushed himself off the ground and sat up. He was breathing heavily, eyes darting around looking for an enemy that wasn't there – yet.
At that moment, he looked so vulnerable and broken; gone was the warrior who braved a thousand foes with an injured wing. Right now, he looked like a scared boy who just woke up from a hellish nightmare.
"Are you okay?"
His startled gaze snapped to hers and his features softened as he calmed himself down. He rubbed his eyes with his palms, shaking his head.
Zivia scooted closer, gently taking his hand and pulling them away from his face. "Does it hurt? You hit your head."
Up this close, she could see the flecks of gold on the irises of his eyes – those two windows to his soul that had kept a hundred thousand things hidden. His eyes had always been the one to tell her the things he wouldn't say. All the words he'd left unsaid.
Now, as she looked into that maelstrom of emotions reflected in them, she felt a spark of desire well up from within that startled even her. She had to bite her lip to suppress whatever urge she had of indulging on that desire. Acting on her foolish thoughts is something she knew she would later regret. Still, her eyes wouldn't stray from the shadowsinger's gaze even as it slid its attention down to her mouth. For a brief moment, it stayed there, his mind seemingly at loss as he fought the longing she thought she saw in his eyes, before his focus went back to her then to the hands she were still holding. She dropped them immediately then stepped back, clearing her throat to hide her embarrassment.
"No, I'm okay." Azriel breathed as he stood up and looked around. "Where are we?" Well, this is awkward.
Zivia wrung her hands together, suddenly feeling the need to have to do something with them and surveyed the cave they have fallen into. Some of the nooks and walls were still covered by shadows, too far out to be reached by the light coming from the orb.
"Uhm I'm pretty sure we just ended up in Koschei's lair," she said as she also got up and brushed herself off of dirt.
She toed a skeleton of a bird partly buried on the ground. There were also decaying feathers about but they were too rotten for her to determine if it belonged to the unfortunate bird or to someone who shares the same physical attribute as her. She dreaded the possibility of her latter thought to be true.
A grumbling sound quickly set her on edge as pieces of rocks rained down on her. She looked up to see that the hole they fell down had closed up, effectively locking them in. Each of her senses sharpened as she prepared for the sorcerer to make himself known and attack them – which didn't happen.
She sheathed back her dagger and looked at Azriel, noticing the confusion on his face. "What is it?"
"The shadows here," he mumbled. "They're dead."
As if she has any clue what that meant.
"I can't hear them." he amended after seeing the look on her face.
Then it struck her. This place was indeed eerily quiet; even the wind had gone silent. The firebird was nowhere to be found nor any of his other prisoners. She closed her eyes and focused on the movement of the air around her.
"There's a tunnel on the left."
She pointed to where she felt the most pull and led Azriel in. The short passage ended up in a much larger cave with a glowing pond in the middle. The water emits an unnatural green light radiating the whole space that she has no need for her magic anymore. The light gleamed on crystal rocks forming the wall as high up as a mountain. Well, they were in a mountain and they had fallen a very long way down.
Ferns and other vegetation were abundant around the reservoir, slicking their way from the edge to their feet. She walked around, still on high alert, when a glint of metal caught her attention. She dug her hand on the shrubbery and found something solid – and sharp. Her breath caught as she held up a familiar gilded weapon, its steel reflecting the glow of the water. There was a stain of dried blood on the hilt and few scratches that indicated it has been used to its extent and that the owner didn't go down without a fight.
A figure moved from the corner of her eyes. She paid it no mind, thinking it was Azriel and continued looking around the shrubs. The silhouette moved again and this time, she turned to it and saw that it was actually coming from the pond. She carefully leaned over the water, expecting to see some marine life swimming in its depth, but rather saw an image staring back at her – and the reflection was not hers. The dagger she was holding dropped to the ground with a thud as she looked back unmoving at that familiar face on the water; emerald eyes and that same innocent smile plastered on his face. It was all there, blinking back at her as if he didn't perish centuries ago. She had almost forgotten that face that she once so cherished long ago and now, it was almost like a mocking dream – impossible even – that he's here again.
She blinked and his image changed. Haunting words rang through her head as she faced the reflection now looking at her with the disdain of betrayal.
"Why did you leave?"
Tears pooled on her eyes without her knowing and she tentatively reached out a shaking hand towards the reflection. As soon as her fingertips touched the surface, the water rippled and the image vanished, breaking her from her trance. She quickly pulled back her hand as if she was burned and stepped quickly away from the pond.
What the hell was that?
As she composed herself, she caught Azriel's eyes from across the pond. The Illyrian stood stiff as a statue as he too appeared to be recovering from a stupor resulting from the illusion which was already gone. It was hard to tell the exact emotions playing across his features but Zivia could've sworn there was terror in his eyes. She could've dismissed it as an imagination had it not been for his quivering hands and beaded sweats around his collar. His jaw was set as he tried to shake the fear at whatever he saw out of his mind.
"We should probably get out of here," he said.
She faced Azriel with a new-found resolve even though her uneasiness doubled every passing second. "I have to find them first."
He dared a glance at the pond before turning back to her, weighing their options. When it was clear that his answer would be against it, she shook her head.
"You can go. I'll find them."
Zivia knew she was being unreasonable; it was only a matter of time before Koschei finds them loitering around his cave and attack them, but she couldn't bear to think leaving her sisters after coming this close. Not again. But deep down inside, she knew it would be a futile effort if she went as she were. Battles aren't won by sheer resolve and determination alone, especially with an enemy she knew very little about. Conceding to step back for now, albeit grudgingly, Zivia met Azriel's eyes and nodded. There was a moment of stillness as she summoned her magic and prepared to vanish again into the light but stopped short when she felt something was amiss.
"I can't winnow out."
She tried again. And again.
Nothing happened.
The grim expression on the shadowsinger's face confirmed her dreaded suspicion. They were really trapped.
"There's another tunnel there" – she pointed to a boulder on the far side of the cavern – "behind that stone."
Azriel was there even before she was finished with her sentence. The passage was too narrow for them to walk side-by-side so he had to go first. A ball of light guided their way as the spymaster's own minion shadows skittered ahead of them.
There were lots of twists and turns that they were either getting closer to freedom or walking into a much deeper trouble. Zivia could hear the shadows whispering as they curled around Azriel's ears, though she couldn't decipher them. Their sounds drifted through the ominous silence furthering the anxiety coiling at her stomach.
They've been walking around the maze-like tunnels for what she felt like hours when a strong gust of wind knocked them off their feet and sent them skidding across the rough ground. A transparent blue wall erupted before them – a solid shield from the onslaught of rocks that followed. As pebbles and large stones pelted the shield, Zivia quickly pulled herself up and sprinted along with Azriel, his shadows their guide in the unfamiliar territory.
A few minutes of adrenaline-packed running and with the shadows on the lead, they seemed to have outrun whatever was out there to get them. They didn't dare slow down and continued on sprinting through the tunnel. The incessant beat of her heart is ringing so loud in her ears, coupled with the panic swirling inside her like a ravaging storm, it was hard for her to concentrate on anything but to get out to safety and hopefully in one whole piece. Images of the rotten feathers back on the cave flashed in her mind and she almost lost her footing.
"Have they…found…a way…out yet?" Zivia asked in between breaths.
Azriel took a sharp turn to the right and quickly pulled her into a crevice.
"Oww," she muttered as her forehead smacked into the rocks by the sudden movement.
The Illyrian muttered an apology and led her carefully across. It was tight fit, but they managed. When they emerged, they found themselves in another cave yet again.
"This looks like a dead end," Zivia breathed as she scanned their surroundings, already looking for passages that might be hidden among the nooks.
Unlike the earlier one they've been into, this cave was empty, save for the puddles that were scattered everywhere, formed by the intermittent droplets of water from the smooth rocks above.
Drip. Plop. Drip. Plop.
She looked on as another drop splashed onto the puddle nearest her.
Plop. Drip. Plop.
That's weird.
She squinted her eyes to the ceiling and followed as another droplet fell.
There it was again. A weird sound before the water trickled down into the mud.
"What is it?" Azriel asked, noticing her furrowed expression.
"Listen to that."
She held up a finger as if to silence any noise that dared to interrupt. An echoing plopping sound resounded and they both looked up in time to see a fist-sized drop of water fall and splashed on the ground.
Zivia produced a light orb and held it up. "Is that what I think it is?"
High above them, water glimmered against the light in her hands. What she thought as an unusually sleek ceiling wasn't at all rocks and the weird sounds she heard were from when the water separates from the suspended pool above before dropping to the ground.
She thought for a moment then picked up a stone and threw it into the water. There was a splashing sound as the pebble broke through the surface before getting swept away by the current. She tried again with a bigger rock. This time, the stone floated inches from the surface before falling back to them. Zivia caught it then turned to Azriel.
"Do you think it's our way out?"
His shadows curled around his boots and snaked through his body to his ears. "We're under the lake."
He then flew to the ceiling and Zivia followed, hovering just an arm-length's away from the water. She reached out one of her hands, sticking it up past her elbows and felt the waves inside.
The water was ice cold around her skin, flowing freely in between her fingers. When she pulled back, they were wet and dripping. Forsaking any other cautionary measures, she encased herself in a ball of air and went to dive into the water. Azriel did the same, encapsulated in his own blue shield.
Zivia produced an orb to help them navigate through the depths as the water pushed through their shields, slightly rocking them. Seaweeds were abundant on the lakebed; their silhouettes looked like snakes dancing on the water. Or they might be eels. Goosebumps appeared all over her skin as she suppressed a shiver snaking down her spine.
She hates eels.
Shaking all the unhelpful thoughts that start to form in her mind, she pushed upward and away from the grasp of Koschei. The opening they just went through lingered in the distance – a portal to an underworld she never wished to be trapped inside again. As they were getting farther up, light started to trickle down from the surface – a warm brightness that indicates a new day has begun. They've been under the mountain for hours. The others would probably be looking for them now.
A strong current sent her rolling into Azriel, their shields thwacking against each other. Another stronger one thwarted her attempt to regain control and before she knew it, she was spinning inside her air bubble, unable to steady herself despite her best efforts. She dared a glance at her companion, who was also caught in a bumpy ride within his own ball and mouthing words she couldn't hear.
A seaweed slapped into her shield and Zivia felt her heart stop for a second before realizing that it was not an eel and that she's perfectly fine within her bubble. Or so she thought.
The waves became stronger, spiralling them in a seemingly endless circle within the depths. It was hard for her to concentrate but she managed to summon a little bit of her magic to try winnowing away. It was futile. They haven't gone far enough to be out of whatever spell the sorcerer had put on his damn mountain. The whirlpool refused to relent, keeping them in the pit of the lake and possibly trapped yet again.
Contents of her stomach threatened to spill out as vertigo and panic started to set in. she couldn't see straight and try as she may, she couldn't prevent getting battered by the current's force as she got thrown side to side. Black spots started to appear at the corner of her vision and she slowly lost control of her magic as well. As she got thrown sideways again, the force of the impact left a fissure in her shield and water violently seeped in.
But Zivia was too disoriented to notice. Her muscles had started to ache and it was through sheer determination alone that she hadn't puked her guts out yet.
Something grabbed her ankles. She thought it was Azriel before realizing that it was cold – and wet.
Before she could make sense of what was happening, she got dragged out of her fortress and into the violent waters. The initial shock of the cold assaulted her body. Her immediate instinctual response was to gasp – which proved to be a fatal mistake. Water burned her lungs and she scrambled to summon air before she drowned. She tried opening her eyes but the water was too murky and she just risked getting sand into her eyeballs.
The hands holding her down refused to let go.
She flayed around, trying to find something she can hold onto but the force of the currents pulled and pushed at her, sweeping her away like a leaf in a storm, tossing her around as if she were a lifeless corpse. Which she would be if she didn't get out of this quick.
Her wings had started to absorb water and became a weight that dragged her deeper down. She needs air – fast. Her mind screamed at her to take a breath but she couldn't – wouldn't. She clutched her chest, willing her heart to slow down its beat lest she exhaust the remaining oxygen in her body. She was getting weaker and starts to drift into unconsciousness.
Mercifully, the whirlpool had stooped and slowly transitioned to calmer waters again. But Zivia was too debilitated to pull herself up to the surface. She didn't even have the strength to lift a finger. Her body was a dead weight continually descending the waters.
Something wrapped around her waist, her awareness too far gone from her body to determine if it was the enemy again or an eel or whatever else was lurking in the lake bottom.
She didn't care. She was going to die either way.
Just as she was about to succumb to the dark, her body broke through the surface and sweet warm air filled her lungs. She tried to push away from the grasp of who she thought was her captor before darkness swallowed her again. Water vanished from beneath her feet and she shut her eyes as she got sucked in and her mind whirled the same speed as the air around her. It lasted only for a snap of a second before she fell into solid ground. The vomit she had been holding in came out in full force before she could utter a word.
While she puked her insides out, Azriel pulled himself up and shook water off from his body. He was also a little wobbly when he came to her side and stroked her back. After she was done, she wiped her mouth with her wet sleeves and looked at him.
"We should probably stop doing that," she gasped, the toll of the long-distance winnowing still heavy on her body.
"Agreed." Water dripped from his slick-wet hair as Azriel looked at her with worry etched between his brows. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she huffed as she dropped her head on his shoulders, taking in big gulps of air. "I'm still alive."
She relished on the feeling of air coming in and out of her body. The comfort they brought as well as the warmth from being too close with the Illyrian brought a feeling of safety that Zivia almost forgot the ordeal they just went through.
"Oh, there they are."
She almost tripped and fell in her hurry to put distance between her and Azriel as they both jumped away from each other, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
The High Lord stood at the edge of what she realized was the training grounds at the top of the House of Wind – and he is not alone.
"Told you they went on a clandestine trip together." Cassian's expression was so full of mischief that she longed to slap that grin off his face if she could.
But her attention was snatched by the familiar face behind him.
"What in the Mother's name are you doing here?!"
"Is that how you greet your father who hasn't seen you for more than a month?"
She stared at him, mouth slightly agape as Drakon waited in earnest for her response.
"Well I missed you too, sunshine," he said when she didn't say anything.
Zivia blinked at him. She knew they've been gone for a whole night but it was absurd to call upon her father.
She looked at Rhysand as if to demand an explanation from him but he just crossed his arms and shrugged.
"Honestly Ziv," Drakon drawled as he walked towards her. "You send that letter out of nowhere after weeks of not contacting us and I come here out of concern only to find you missing, with your supposed overseer" – he gestured towards the High lord – "having no idea where you've gone to."
"Actually," Rhysand interrupted. "Cas and I have come up with a few theories."
"The most probable one having been proven to be true," added the general as he wiggled his brows at Azriel, who gave them both a scathing look.
"Although, there have been a slight error at one detail since they seem to have gone for a night swimming instead of – "
"Shut it, Rhys!" Drakon almost growled at him but the High Lord only laughed in response.
Zivia rolled her eyes at the absurdity of their situation. A persistent throbbing in her temple warned her of an incoming headache.
"I'm too exhausted for this. I need a nap." She brushed off the remaining dirt on her clothes and shook the water out of her hair and wings. "I'll talk to you after I get my rest." She kissed her father's cheek and went to go.
She was at the top of the stairs down toward the main floor of the house when she looked back at Cassian and held a finger up. "And for the record, that wasn't what I meant when I said I'd 'borrow' him yesterday."
The Illyrian had the nerve to look at her as if in a dare to prove him wrong. She was contemplating whether to have a go at him when a raucous voice cut through the air.
Oh crap.
"Zivia! You're here!"
A pair of slender arms pulled her in an embrace and almost lifted her from the ground. "I missed you so much."
Her friend's enthusiasm was overflowing that the hug had become crushing.
"Uhh Seth…I can't breathe."
The seraphim let go of her and cupped her face in his hands. "Where have you been? What happened to you? And why are you soaking wet?"
Words had no chance to come out of her mouth as she got bombarded with question after question.
"I have been so worried that you…"
He trailed off, his interest caught on something besides her. Zivia was too burned out to care and was just glad to have him shut his mouth for a second.
It was already a handful to have her father here and he had to bring Seth too. Of all the soldiers he has, she wondered.
She looked at him now, a certain glint present in his brown eyes. She followed to where he was looking and saw the subject of his interest. "Seth, don't."
The Seraphim looked at her and smiled. "Whaat?"
She shook her head in an attempt at warning him as the Illyrians passed by them.
"Rest as much as you needed," the high lord said to Zivia. "We'll see you at dinner at the estate."
With that, they walked down the stairs and as Azriel passed by the two of them, Seth murmured, "Hi there, handsome."
Oh my goodness.
The shadowsinger was slightly caught off guard but he quickly regained his composure and nodded at them before following his brothers.
Zivia buried her face in her hands, shaking her head in utter shame. "I think I'm going to pass out."
Seth turned towards her, giggling. "I believe the princess term is fainting. Want me to carry you?"
She let out a deep sigh as she dragged herself down the remaining steps on her own, collapsing on the bed the moment she reached it.
This is going to be a nightmare.
