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“Clem…”
My eyes fluttered open, warm and securely smooshed to Sun’s chest, cradled in my master’s arms as a delicate voice caused me to wake up.
Something slick, cool, and black snaked around my stomach. I shoved at it in fear, until I realized it was just the tip of Kiar’s tail. He’d tucked himself against Sun’s back after his nightly scouting sometime after I’d fallen asleep.
Leaning over, I rubbed the tension from Sun’s forehead, kissing his cheek as his breathing evened out.
I tried to peek into his web of dreams, but there were too many layers and unfamiliar faces. The only thing I could make sense of was what I’d already seen, torture, his friends beaten by the rats, and his despair.
I knew Sun would get mad, but his body was far too cold to be ignored. I warmed him with my moon magic, which felt stronger now that we were closer to the Goddess’ domain.
The air was colder up here, accompanied by the oncoming chill of winter.
Once I felt his skin was flush enough with color, I retreated and allowed myself to rest.
Nocs sleeping during the nighttime? How odd and quaint. I peeked under Bracken’s wing, and sure enough, the king was awake, his face tense, eyes skyward in the direction of the temple.
Hadi’s fate line was still split, diverging from ours which were irreconcilably tangled again, which pleased me greatly. Now I just had to work on bringing in the king–
“Why are you awake?” Hadi suddenly asked.
I didn’t respond, startled as he turned his glare on me. I assumed he was talking to me, but that sounded all wrong. The king never addressed me directly before our imprisonment, always referring to me as “Bracken’s slave” or “Bracken’s bonded” when he was in a good mood. I didn’t expect him to address me again after Sun made the bargain, to trade prolonging his life for an audience with Tsuki.
And yet, he did, saying my name again, though the first time he had sounded different.
“Clem? Are you hungry?” Hadi continued and I released a shuddering breath, almost suffocating myself to not make a sound.
I looked around, and sure enough we were still the only ones awake. I knew he had to be speaking to me in the first place. No one else was here, no one else was awake, yet it was still shocking.
“Come here,” he ordered. I gulped.
Shaking all over, I detangled myself from my mates, and approached Hadi where he sat on the ledge above us before falling to my knees, still a good distance away from him. Hadi’s cold gaze flicked from me to the others and back, probably trying to see through Bracken’s wings to where Sun rested. I had healed him the best I could from a distance after the most recent battle for Yin Valley. None of them had seemed to notice that their wounds were healing remarkably fast, so I hadn’t said anything. Looking at him closely, I could see that Hadi still had scars on his body, scars not befitting of a king. So, I felt like a failure suddenly.
“...Bracken and Kiar are incompetent and obsessed with the vermin, so they missed patches. You must be starving, maintaining us. And we haven’t eaten…” he snorted, as I caught the tail end of his sentence. “We haven’t eaten food in many nights. A proper meal, not cum or blood. So, take some if you’d like to recharge your mana the right way.”
Hadi shifted, moving a set of his hands to reveal an animal skin. He tore it and a decent pile of frozen fruit fell to the ground near his legs. Too close for me to feel comfortable reaching. Yet, my stomach whined. I was hungry for mana not from sex for once.
I blinked, crawling closer, not sure if I should even stand. Maybe it was a trap, and I was to be his meal. But as I got closer, Hadi didn’t move. He just watched, sizing me up, as if I were a match for even a hair on his body in a dual.
Master said what he meant and meant what he said. And usually, when Sun wasn’t wavering and debating if he should reveal anything to a noc, he was the same–honest to a fault. But Kiar and Hadi were different, often speaking in riddles, disguising the truth.
Like right now, because more or less Hadi was saying he cared if I was cold or hungry but that didn’t make any sense. Surely this was only for his gain, though I didn’t know what benefit he found in feeding me now, and me alone. Maybe just until we met the Goddess, but that was good enough for me.
I would accept his gift as the honor that it was.
“Thank you, your majesty,” I said, taking just a few berries and backing away, crawling as fast as my hands and legs would allow me.
That seemed to make him perk up a bit. Hadi stared at me in an unnerving way as I peeked over my shoulder to look at him. Maybe it was just a power play for him, since Bracken and Kiar were disobeying him by standing with Sun. Though his actions felt deeper than that. I felt delusion enough to dream it was some small way of paying me back, for helping him rise from the grave.
“Rest.” Hadi rumbled, one eye open, the other shut, his red iris swimming in a pool of black darker than the night sky. “We awaken soon enough, and you have important work to do during the blood moon, after all, as Tsuki’s vessel.”
“Vessel?” I dared to ask. Hadi turned his face to me fully, opening both eyes to smile slyly.
It sent ice through my veins. I’d only seen him smile like that moments before devouring prey in the court.
“As her avatar. As her emissary. And,” he paused, then whispered, “as my vassal. After we break the tether, I can raise you from your station. You can help Bracken rather than serve him. Help your friend, Kiar, too in my recaptured kingdom. Bracken may take you as a proper mate then, as his equal.”
I nodded in slow motion, not understanding him. Then, after grinding his teeth, Hadi delivered the most wondrous news, “And Sun will never leave you either.”
