Page 36 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

Should she hide? Run? Fight?

She scoped up the box and flung it into the case before taking a step closer to the door.

What if it’s a demon? She was too late to run. She had to fight.

Anything can be used as a weapon, Torin Blacksteel’s voice entered her mind from her first training session. Anything.

She ran across to the standalone fireplace and grabbed the fire iron that leaned against the brick. She braced herself as heavy footsteps ran through the corridor towards her door. She parted her feet and made sure to bend her knees. Another lesson she had taken onboard. The fire iron was gripped in her hand, ready to swing.

The door burst open.

“Emara!” Taymir Solden ran through the door and wrapped her up in his arms, spinning her around. It was absolutely the last person she’d thought of.

“I thought you might be dead.” He let her slip down through his arms and placed her feet on the ground. His brown eyes were bright with relief. With hope. His fair hair that was normally pristine, lay wildly on his head.

She dropped her weapon and it thudded against the wooden beams.

“Taymir, what are you doing here? How did you know I was here?” She stepped back, trying to make sense of her emotions. It was a mixture of relief, yet it was also foreboding.

Stay calm, you have a task to do.

Although she was glad to see him alive, she had wanted to be alone for just an hour in her home. She didn’t know if she would ever come back.

“I’ve been going crazy, Emara! I thought I had lost you. I’ve had my grandfather’s watchmen surveying the house in case you returned.” He pushed a hand through her hair, trying to hold on to her waist. Emara pulled away, rubbing a hand over the back of her neck. Inching some space between them, she tried to force a smile to replace the rejection of his gesture.

An uncomfortable feeling spread over her.

“It’s good to see you,” she half-lied. “But I am sorry, I can’t do this right now, Taymir. I have to pack.” Her hand gestured to the case on her bed. “It’s not safe for me here.”

“Just hear me out! I have gone days—days—not knowing if you were alive or dead!” His facial expressions were melodramatic.

Another reason they didn’t fit together was his ability to be overwhelmingly false. Like most of the elite. It irritated every part of who she was.

“I put out a search party after the attack, but we couldn’t find you. I’ve been going crazy! I wanted to keep searching, but grandfather said the hunters would have cleared everything up.” His lips thinned. “You were right about one thing: You shouldn’t stay here. It’s not safe. Pack and come with me!”

Emara tensed. “Wait! Hold on.” Her eyes narrowed. “You mentioned Hunters? What do you know of the Hunters?” she demanded. Back before the attack, Emara hadn’t known anything about the kind of world that involved demon hunters.

But evidently, Taymir did.

The look on his face gave away that he wasn’t supposed to reveal that information. “That doesn’t matter, Emara. Darling, I can protect you from it all. Just come back to the Solden manor with me.”

The way he said “darling” made her feel ill. It was cold and demeaning. There was no warmth.

“You didn’t answer my question, Taymir. How do you know about the hunters?” Her voice raised in irritation.

How long has he known? What else did he know?

“Emara, it’s nothing. Now, come on; pack up and come with me.”

“Why are you avoiding the question if it is nothing?” She searched his pale face. “What are you not telling me?”

“Oh, Emara! Why do you insist on acting like a dog with a bone?” He closed his eyes as if running out of patience with her and huffed.

She flinched. The fact that he referred to her as a dog sent sparks of fire through her body. “A dog?”

“Can’t you for once not question everything—like a normal woman?”

Emara balled her hands into fists and pressed her nails into her palms so hard it pierced through skin. Like a dog. Like a normal woman. The thought of even considering an acceptance of engagement to him made her stomach flip. “If you find yourself too superior to answer a woman’s questions, then I think it’s best that you leave.” She crossed her arms over herself, keeping in mind where her wound lay.

---