Page 48 of Draekora

Niyx casually dislodged his hand. “Relax. I was just introducing myself.”

Aven looked extremely disgruntled and asked, “Tell me again why I decided not to learn the common tongue with you?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re a narcissistic jackass who cares about nothing and no one unless you stand to benefit in some way?”

Alex inhaled sharply, startled by Niyx’s candid declaration. But while Aven again missed her unchecked reaction, Niyx caught her every move—and this time his eyes narrowed with curiosity that bordered on suspicion. She, however, was too busy wondering if Aven was going to throw a punch at him to worry about what she might have inadvertently given away.

As it was, she needn’t have been concerned. Because instead of lashing out with anger, Aven burst out laughing.

The sound was beyond anything Alex could have imagined. She’d heard him laugh before, but nothing like this. Nothing that sounded so clean and pure andlight. More than anything else, it was the melody of his laughter that convinced her that he was not—yet—her Aven.

All of a sudden Alex wondered if perhaps Lady Mystique had been right—if being in the past was an opportunity to not only learn the skills to defeat him, but to also discover who he was now, who hecouldhave been, rather than who he would one day become. Maybe she might even see a fraction of that transition taking place, enough that it might give her some leverage in the future, something to help fight him andwin.

The idea was so convoluted that it made her head hurt, and when she looked up again, both Aven and Niyx were looking at her in question.

“Vassa rae,” she quickly apologised. She turned her eyes to Niyx and said, “Uh, I tuned out for a moment there. Did you ask me something?”

“So youcanspeak,” Niyx returned with a perfect white grin. “I was worried for a moment that you might be all looks, no brain. Imagine my relief.”

Unsure how to respond, Alex settled on, “You, uh, speak the common tongue very well,LoroNiyx.”

He shrugged aside her compliment. “It’s not a hard dialect to learn.”

“So I’ve been told,” she returned, still reeling over how fast the Meyarins were able to pick up new languages.

Aven cleared his throat pointedly and Niyx shot him an annoyed glance before turning back to Alex. “The royal brat wants to know if you’d like a drink?”

Alex blinked, wondering what else she’d missed during the scant seconds she’d been lost in her thoughts. “Uh, sure.” Deciding to play nice, she addressed Aven directly, “Sesu, nalahi. Atari sae.”

A hint of a smile touched Aven’s lips as he nodded at her, and after throwing what appeared to be a warning look in Niyx’s direction, he walked off towards the balconied bistro.

When he was far enough away, Niyx snorted and Alex turned back to him to ask, “What’s funny?”

“‘Yes, please. Thank you’—overkill, much? Just how thirsty are you?”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Hey, I only started learning last night. Give me a break.”

At that, he laughed outright. “You know, I almost believe you.”

She hesitated a shade too long before schooling her face into puzzlement and asking, “What do you mean?”

“What Idon’tbelieve,” he said, acting like she hadn’t spoken at all, “is the story about you being abandoned and left to live with mortals for most of your life. Even if that were true, you would have been born here.Someonehas to remember you, surely.” His eyes trailed over her from head to toe again and he lowered his voice to finish, “I’dremember you, I can promise you that.”

Alex’s entire body solidified at his words. Not at the teasing innuendo behind them, but at the words themselves, and at the memory they called to mind from a few days earlier.

‘I remember you, you know,’ Niyx had told her from his prison cell. ‘I shouldn’t, but I do… No one remembers, no one except me.’

And then, as if her subconscious was linking memories, she recalled the first time she’d met Niyx months ago when Zain had dragged him to the palace. ‘Come now, kitten… I’ve missed you these past years.’

Back then Alex had thought Niyx was just trying to antagonise her, but now…

“Crap on a cracker,” Alex whispered, staring at him with incredulity. “You knew. I can’tbelieveit. You knew all along, you piece of—”

It was probably for the best that Aven called out and interrupted her then, mostly to stop her from accidentally spilling any secrets to Niyx who looked intrigued by her nonsensical words, but also because whatever name she’d been about to call the future prisoner was likely not appropriate in public, regardless of the fact that no one other than him would have understood her.

“Drinks are up,” Aven announced loudly, walking from the indoor bar towards a set of chairs on the café’s balcony overlooking the water. “Come and get them.”

Niyx looked at Alex with a curious yet challenging expression on his face. “I’d give a lot to hear what you were about to say, but I know our princely friend has a royal lack of patience. Fear not, Aeylia—we can continue our discussion later.”

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