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The night drags on. I deal with His unwanted touches. I imagine that its Beckham or the incubus touching me instead of Him and it makes me able to get through the night without losing my mind. I sneak glances at the incubus as the hours pass. Without fail, the incubus is always watching me, his eyes laden with promises. It's almost dawn when the incubus finally stops his performance, his exhaustion apparent.
He looks around in surprise, face heavy with lust. "My Queen, please allow me to accompany you to your room?" He begs me.
"Not tonight," I whisper to Him, stroking the side of His face and standing up. He's too blissed out from a night of the incubus's magic to voice any real protest as I walk away from our table. The incubus is standing in the center of the room, staring at me as I approach him. We lock eyes as I idle past, promises exchanged between two strangers. I can feel his eyes on me as I exit the room and I feel a sense of foreboding. I gave up Beckham to keep him alive, what will it cost this creature if he gets too close?
I groggily sit up in bed the next morning, nodding blearily at Gwenny as she bustles around the room, picking up various items and setting the table for breakfast. It's only after breakfast, when I'm walking to the fairy circle with Aiden that I realize that the night before was the first time I had dreamed since that very first night. How strange.
My thoughts feel heavy as I step into the fairy circle and the mushrooms seem to respond to my mood, pulsing slowly without the usual burst of energy I feel from them.
"Let's begin with trying to control those vines again," says Aiden, and I prepare for another long day.
Chapter 9
Beckham
It's too silent here. Uncannily silent in fact. In a jungle like this there should be birds, insects, anything making a noise. As we get deeper into the journey though, the world has only gotten quieter. The quiet gives me too much time to think. Memories haunt me, each one of them featuring Eva as its star. I now know I have a mother and a father, but their memories fail to spark the heartache that my memories of Eva do. I was supposed to have forever with Eva, andHetook them all away, aHethat evades my memory. Even if I manage to get Eva to honor our bond, I'll never get that time back.
The Eva in this life is different from the Eva of my memories. The Eva I knew then was slightly spoiled, not in a bad way, but in a way that made her woefully unprepared to deal withHisentrance into our lives. The Eva in this life has already been through so much before meeting me. The fact that she possesses the same sweetness and unfettered spirit as the old Eva is a miracle in itself. One that I will never take for granted when we get her back. The word "if" struggles through my unconsciousness but I punch it down. We will be successful no matter what it costs us.
Since using my persuasion on him, Liu has kept a steady pace. We've been walking for three days now, the fog only getting thicker the farther into the park we go. We've been forced to stop every night since visibility has been zero even for my supernaturally enhanced eyes. I've tried to take advantage and get some sleep, but the eerie silence of the night, and my full head, has made it impossible to. At this rate, I feel like I'm halfway to becoming a jianzhi myself from lack of sleep. I've noticed that Mason seems to be struggling as well, not just from lack of sleep, but from lack of feeding. There's obviously been nothing sexual happening on the trip. I haven't even had so much as a morning wood since I found out Eva was gone. I can only imagine how Mason's feeling. He looks gaunt, like every step is a struggle. I'm not sure that he should have even come on the trip in his state.
At night our conversations have inevitably gravitated towards Eva. We're all obsessed, even Lexi suffers from the same ailment, although I've steadfastly avoided asking her if her devotion for Eva extends to more than best friends. I don't need any more competition for her heart. I'm sure Liu is halfway in love with her as well just from listening to the glowing way we all speak of her.
There's a note of heartbreak in my memories of Eva now though. The knowledge that she left me in our past life leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, as if I wasn't good enough. The memory of the exact reason she left me hasn't been returned to me, I'm sure Lexi had to be selective in the memories she returned to me thanks to being bound by Eva's spell. And I'm sure that the reason she married him is a very good one, a necessary one. But I can't help but think there would never be a reason that I would have left her. Maybe that makes me a selfish fool, but nothing could have convinced me to leave my fated mate, not now, not then. I face the same situation now though as I did then. She could decide to pick Mason or Damon and leave me once again. I don't think I could survive. I don't think I survived it then.
When I'm not feeling sorry for myself or talking about Eva with the group, I'm worrying about Eva. Lexi has become more and more withdrawn as we've walked, offering few details of any information she's gotten about Eva thanks to her tethering spell. I don't like it. It feels like she's on her own team, and it's not necessarily one with the same aims as the rest of us. Unfortunately, I have little choice but to keep the peace with her, so I've kept my mouth closed up to this point.
We're gathered around a campfire. I'm heating up some of the shit army rations Damon procured for us. I shouldn't complain though, who knows if Eva is even being fed. With that thought I set aside my meal, feeling sick to my stomach. Just then, Lexi starts rocking back and forth, muttering to herself. This continues for a full minute until she starts to have what looks like a seizure. Damon stands up and pushes her off her log, I assume trying to knock her out of whatever is going on. She opens her eyes and looks around the campfire, as if she's forgotten where she was.
Damon, possessing his usual charm, crouches down in front of her and grabs her by her collar.
"Alright witch, I've had enough of this shit. What are you hiding?" he growls, giving her a little shake.
I can tell that she is using her witchy power to zap him but he's holding on even as I watch the tremors go through his arms.
"Get off me," she says through gritted teeth. Mason and I let the scene play out. Damon's tactics may be harsh, but it's how we are all feeling.
Liu gives a squeak and stands up when Damon lifts Lexi in the air, continuing to demand she tell us what's going on. I quickly order him to sit down, sparing our guide from probably getting killed for interfering with an out-of-control Damon.
"Damon, put her down," I finally say, when I'm afraid Lexi's head is going to fall off from being shaken so hard. "I'll just order her to tell us," I say lazily. I only like to use my persuasion power when it's absolutely necessary. The whole thing about taking away someone's free will has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Lexi has earned this one though.
"Lexi, tell us what you've been hiding," I order her, letting the power leak through my voice.
Her face slackens, and she gets the same day-dream looking face that Liu has had for the past few days.
"He has Eva in some sort of deep sleep. He's manipulated her dreams so that she thinks she's in Tir Na Nog with Him. I decided to try and interfere with the dream to try and wake her up."
"Tell us what you did to interfere with her dream," I demand hesitantly.
"I tried to kill her," answers Lexi. At that statement, Damon grabs Lexi again, I'm assuming tokillher. Mason, using probably the last of his strength, yanks Damon off of Lexi and throws him to the ground.
"Why the fuck did you do that?" demands Damon, his wings outstretched menacingly. "Did you not hear her say she tried to kill Eva?"
"I heard her say that she is trying to wake her up, you idiot," I respond coolly.
"That's exactly what I was saying," snaps Lexi as she pulls herself from Damon's grasp and gives him a good shock for measure that sends Damon falling to his ass. Apparently, my persuasion has worn off.
She gives me a glare.
