Page 111 of The Deer and the Dragon
We’d been so tense that the single act of ridiculousness broke us. Azrames snapped like a rubber band, nearly crying as he laughed at their bewildered faces as the doors shut behind them. Caliban nipped at my cheek as he gave my ass a squeeze.
“This might be my favorite incarnation.” He smiled at me, moving my body so my back was against the elevator wall.
“Is it the fae blood?”
His chuckle rumbled against me. “I think the blood is working in my favor. But this is the first time you’ve chosen me like this.” The elevator dinged, and Azrames slipped out like a shadow, shooting an apologetic grimace. We occupied the elevator for a few more seconds as he said, “I’ve never let you hurt. I’ve never been able to stand by and let you suffer. Every time you pass, it kills me. Then I hold my breath and wait. But if something happens to you this time?”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
The elevator doors closed, but the box stayed put.
He rested a hand on the wall beside my head, leaning his body toward me. My heart skipped at how close he was in the clear, bright light of the small space. I licked my lips and did my best to focus as he spoke. “I can’t take the risk, Love. What if this life is our shot?Thisis the life where you know who and what we are to one another, and we want the same thing? It will break me if the next cycle…”
His free hand followed my curves. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be turned on—this was serious, and no time for thinking of him picking me up and fucking me againstthe elevator wall. It was no time to envision those sensuous lips on my neck, my breasts, between my thighs. It wasn’t the time to wish he’d slide the free hand to my throat, or to the bundle of nerves that he knew better than anyone. My toes curled in my shoes as I focused. Recognizing a saddened emotion on his face brought me back to reality. His frosted brows gathered in the center, bundling against a deep wound. I felt like this might have been a pain he’d endured before. Perhaps not to this extent, but I recalled his father mentioning a cycle where he’d remained a fox for the entirety of my life. To love and be loved in return, to spend each lifetime making someone fall in love with you all over again, and to finally have her choose you back, only to have her life cut short…
“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” I repeated seriously as I returned his stare. I felt guilty for how selfish my body had been while he used those diamond eyes to look into every version of me who’d ever existed. Now was not the time for this moment. I brushed my hands across his face, appreciating how he looked in the luxurious lighting of a hotel elevator. No shadows. No dreams. Just him, real, mine. “Now, let’s go chat with the assassin. He’s pretty qualified to kill people.”
Caliban slipped his hand over mine as he punched the button to open the doors and we joined Azrames in the hall.
“Damn, Marmar,” Azrames said, following me into the suite. It was the sort of place I’d grown familiar with frequenting when clients would take me upstairs after dinner and drinks. With the gold-and-crimson wallpaper, the leather furniture, the thick curtains, and the enormous art, it looked like every Four Seasons: overdecorated and overpriced. Az murmured appreciatively. “How muchdoyou make?”
My laugh wasn’t entirely humorous. “It isn’t Bugatti money, but I do all right. I think I may have had some help.”
Azrames lifted his brows and Caliban gave a loose, two-fingered salute. “I may have called in a few favors, butLove is immensely talented. She wrote the books and did the work. I just made sure it wasn’t ignored when it got on the desks it needed to get on. And I may have…influenced the advance and royalty rates. Because she deserves it.”
I blushed.
He’d always been so generous. Even when I was convinced he was evidence of psychosis, he’d been a wishful manifestation of all the good things I hoped might happen for me. He was the reason I believed in my ability to make it, despite my conviction that it had been a result of the law of attraction or whatever the new age documentary had told me about self-actualization.
Azrames flopped onto the bed and cut to the chase. “So, Marmar here made a binding contract with Astarte, and the goddess is currently in possession of her blood offering to cement the deal.”
I felt the way Caliban flexed beside me against the flash of anger. We’d gone over this in the car, but apparently it would be the sort of regret I’d need to relive a few more times.
“I was backed into a corner,” I apologized breathlessly. “Once I’d recognized Anath, they came for me, physically. I did the only thing I could think to do to deescalate the situation. The agreements seemed so harmless. I’m so sorry—”
“You did what you had to, Helen,” Caliban said with a controlled laugh.
I blinked at him. “Helen?”
He nodded, “Of Troy—the most beautiful woman in the world, before you, of course. You’re the lynchpin about to set off two kingdoms into war.”
“War?” I repeated breathlessly. I seemed to be responsible for the echo in the room.
“Astarte is the goddess of sex, love, and—”
“War,” I said once more. “You’re already at war. I don’t need to have a PhD in history to tell you that split battlefronts rarely come out victorious.”
“Sure,” Azrames agreed for them both, “but that’s human history.”
I kept my eyes on Caliban. “If you don’t let her have me…”
“Anath is her sister,” Caliban said. “I don’t know who Jessabelle is in their realm, but her name suggests she belongs to Baal. When we stand against them, it won’t be a minor spat between civilians. This wouldn’t be like Fauna killing Az.”
“Fauna’s tried, but that’s a story for another time. Our Prince and their goddess? That’s royalty versus royalty.” Azrames finished for us. “Honestly…”
We both looked at him speculatively.
“Well, I was thinking, if it were anyone else in the realms, we might worry about them looking for a partnership with Heaven in a bind like this. Heaven has no friends, but they’re getting creative in looking for paths to victory. Thank fuck it’s the Phoenicians. Even if you kill their goddess, they won’t ally themselves with Heaven. Next to us, the Phoenicians are Heaven’s longest-standing rivalry.”
