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He was right. I feel comforted by the shadow, a reminder of the gruesome battle I fought alongside Max and Tulip. “I like him,” is all I manage to say.
I feel no judgment from Zeph at all, just admiration. “I told you that you were powerful, Viola. That level of shadow magic… I’ve never read of someone turning themselves into shadows. And now you have a familiar?” His eyes glitter, and he looks almost sheepish as he takes another step toward me. “You’re even more incredible than I thought.”
A flush comes over my cheeks, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch Tulip shrinking away, following the pathway back to the Palace.
Leaving Zeph and me alone.
I make a mental note to give her hell for leaving me alone and turn back to Zeph. He steps toward me, and I move backward, not looking to close the space between us. “What made you try your magic?” he asks, voice low as if he was speaking a secret.
“Well, after I read those books you had Plume give me, oh, thanks for that, by the way.”
“Of course. I wanted you to know more about yourself.”
I brush him off. “Anyways, after I read them, I had dinner with Mace, and we…”
His body is rigid, hands clenched in fists. I can practically feel the heat radiating from him. “You had dinner with Mace?” he spits like it’s a curse.
While I notice his reaction, I continue as if I don’t, feeling no guilt from my time with Mace. “Yeah, I had dinner with him. We talked about magic and the process of it, like how you and I did. He also told me more about being the vessel…” He grabs my snake-free arm, which was in the middle of gesturing, and pulls me roughly towards him, nearly chest to chest.
Reflexively, I yank a blade from my leg holster and press it against Zeph’s neck. My shadow-snake moves from my arm to his shoulders, wrapping around the man’s torso.
“Get your fucking hands off me, Zeph.”
He quickly drops my arm, shock and embarrassment coloring his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Viola…”
“You do not get to touch me,” I snarl. “Your anger is inappropriate and misplaced.”
He nods, not quite meekly but in deference. “I apologize sincerely, Viola. When you mentioned being the vessel… Well, I just wasn’t thinking. But you must know, truly, you are NOT the vessel.”
Taking several steps back from him and sheathing my blade at my thigh, I attempt to breathe my anger out through my nose. My shadow-snake unfurls his tight embrace from Zeph’s shoulders and slips back to me, climbing my body before resting again on my right arm. It’s pulsing and movement calm me, a cool reminder of what I am capable of if I allow it to be.
“I think this level of magic I am capable of points to the fact that I am, Zeph.” My voice is tempered but firm.
He shakes his head sadly. “You believe what Mace tells you?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
His body moves with a deep inhale, and he takes a cautious step towards me. We lock eyes, his green ones imploring me to listen to what he has to say about the man I got to know last night.
“Mace isn’t who you think he is, Vi.” I flinch at the nickname Max used for me on his lips, the familiarity of it drying my throat. If he notices, he does not react. “He’s dangerous. Incredibly so.”
I have difficulty matching how Zeph speaks of Mace with the Mace I spent the prior evening with, with the man who read my body and listened to my boundaries with no complaint or question. While Mace has always seemed ruthless on the outside, his intentions appear to be for good. I can relate to the fact that his way of getting there may be less than desirable at times.
When I do not respond, Zeph pushes himself one step closer to me. “Just do one thing for me, Viola.”
I say nothing, my arms crossed and body rigid.
“Ask Mace about Link.”
And suddenly, I’m in freefall.
Chapter 38
Mace
“Nowthatthevesselis here…”
“Viola. Her name is Viola,” I say sharply, interrupting Stone. The echo of her kiss still lands on my lips, the memory of her body against mine replaying nonstop in my head.
