Page 13 of Claimed By Midnight

"Yours is more fun." She doesn't look up from the page. "Your notes on metal tempering are shit, by the way."

The door creaks again and Koros's massive frame fills the entrance. His dark wings barely fit through without scraping the sides. One golden eye catches mine, the other remaining that endless void of black.

"So." Raven sits up, violet eyes sparking with interest. "Who's the pretty little thing you brought back from Ikoth?"

I drop into my chair, boots propped on the desk. "A souvenir." My voice is hard as I glare at the two of them. I've been back for less than a day and of course they heard. They were probably lounging around my house while I was gone.

"Did you kidnap her?"

"Yeah."

The journal whizzes past my head, missing by inches. I expected that reaction.

Koros's laugh rumbles through the room like distant thunder. "Why'd you take her?" His scarred face twists into something between amusement and curiosity. He, at least, won't berate me.

"She was...interesting." I run a hand through my curls. "I was there for rare materials anyway."

"You can't just keep her!" Raven's wings flare out, knocking over a stack of papers.Thatwas on purpose, too. She has full control over the damn things. "What the fuck are you going to do with a human?"

That's the question, isn't it? I trace the grain of wood on my desk, considering. The truth is, I don't know. She fascinated me - this delicate creature with fire in her eyes, so different from the usual rabble in New Solas. I saw her and just...took her. Like picking up a shiny rock that caught my eye.

"You didn't think this through at all, did you?" Raven's tone drips with exasperation.

I shrug. No point denying it.

Koros settles into the chair across from my desk, the wood groaning under his weight. "Where is she now?"

"I've got her in a guest room." I twist a quill between my fingers. After I found Athena wandering around and looking lost, I brought her to the room I had stocked for her, mildly shocked she hadn't found it on her own. "She's not exactly thrilled to be here."

"No shit." Raven swings her legs off the couch, wincing slightly as she puts weight on her left one. "Most people don't enjoy being kidnapped."

"She tried to stab me with a dinner knife." That was before I brought her to the room and maybe I had taunted her a bit toomuch for her state. She wasn't herself, but I know how to bring that fire out.

That gets another thunderous laugh from Koros. "I like her already."

"You would." I snap the quill in half, tossing the pieces aside. "She's different from the humans here. Educated. Refined."

"And that gives you the right to-"

"I know what I'm doing, Raven."

She stands, wings bristling. "Do you? Because it looks like you grabbed some poor girl on a whim and now you're keeping her prisoner in your house."

"It's not like that."

It's definitely like that.

"Then what's it like?"

I don't have an answer that will satisfy her. Fuck, I don't have an answer that satisfies me. The girl had just burst through wards that most magical beings would struggle with and she was stunning. Something about her... The way she held herself, the flash in her eyes. Before I knew what I was doing, I'd already decided she was coming back with me.

"You're going to have to let her go." Raven's voice softens. "You know that, right?"

Raven has always had too much of a moral compass. Koros, on the other hand, is fearsome even among xaphan - and we are known to be the cruelest creatures on the planet.

"No." The word comes out harder than I intend. "She stays."

Koros leans forward, his chair creaking ominously. "What are you planning to do with her?"

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