Page 35 of Dawn to Dusk
His eyes jerked to me to see if I would be okay with him joining. I smirked at him, and that feral expression crossed his face again as he focused back on her. “Absolutely.”
Chapter 11:
Edur
I mingled at the bonfire, but I wanted to see Esmerey. My duty kept me away all week thanks to that group of hunters. It was a stark reminder that Esmerey was never one of them. She always ran, trapping me one way or another. Those hunters got their shots in. It made me miss her, but this welcome back party was for us. Balthazar insisted on drinks and cheer. That village was safe, at least for now.
“I can’t believe Pylo tried to assault the wards last week.” A water witch named Hira snorted.
“Why is that?” Ziam asked, taking a drink. He smelled like Esmerey. Her scent clung all over him. He kept her company in my absence. I took another big chug from the whiskey jug. Balthazar whooped and clapped, not realizing I was using it to wash down the bitterness in my mouth.
“No witch in their right mind would waste the amount of magic it would take to even attempt unraveling her wards. He went plain stupid when he sensed her magic and attacked wildly. Makes me wonder if he’s finally lost it.” Hira crossed her arms, contemplating her concern with scrunched eyebrows.
Ziam tossed another drink back. “It is personal. They are married.”
I frowned at his sure words, and when my eyes met Balthazar’s, he wore a similar expression. Everything made so much more sense now. No wonder she was terrified of the night. She said he hurt her, but I knew she held back.
Another drink to wash down the disgust I felt.
“Oh, that poor soul,” Hira agreed with horror.
The smell of sunshine hit my nose, and my eyes immediately searched for the source. She leaned over herbalcony, looking down with a small smile on her face. Her eyes met mine and flutters tickled my gut.
As if she hypnotized me, my body moved without me giving it orders. I climbed up to her balcony before I realized what I did. “You look lonely by yourself.”
“You don’t need to baby me.” Annoyance colored her tone.
“No.” I agreed. “I’m pretty sure if you ever tried, you would beat me black and blue.”
She blessed me with another one of those decreasingly rare smiles that turned me into boneless goo. “Oh, I’ve tried.”
I laughed, but she didn’t understand the difference. We were never on the same playing field. I hated her. I aimed for the kill anytime I could. Now I realized there were so many openings to kill me, yet she never took one. She made it look good, but she was never serious. If she were, I would be another name on her kill list. I was simply too arrogant and angry to see it before.
The world started to spin, and I stumbled as I dropped over the railing onto the balcony. She reached out to catch me, but I grabbed the rail. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she would only take herself down with me again. She could kick my ass, but she couldn’t carry my weight.
“Balthazar’s moonshine can surprise you.” The bastard must have strengthened the liquor again. I would never understand how he did it without affecting the flavor.
“You should sit down.” She guided me into her room. Which was for the best, because I plopped down onto her bed with less grace than a newborn calf.
“Good idea.”
“I can make something to sober you up.” She turned around to go to her table with all her witchy supplies. She pulled a book from the shelf and started scrambling something together. My eyes glued themselves onto her as I watched the dress sway and move around those delicious hips and ass whileshe tried to make me feel better. Mirneax made her with sweet gooey insides with battle-worn outsides. It was like the gods blessed her with everything.
One inhale told me that Ziam hadn’t been invited into her room the way I was. I could smell him on her, but she met with him elsewhere. A territorial instinct clawed up my chest, threatening to burst at any second.
“This might not work since this is my first try. First tries are for discovery, not perfection.”
“I thought the Petriv creed was perfection of the gods.”
“I hate the creed,” she admitted quietly, almost too soft for even my enhanced hearing. “Smerthna is not as strong a witch as me. When I started practicing magic, I kept surpassing her. I tried not to, because my mother would yell the creed at her over and over.”
She kept her back to me, but I could see her mask crumbling a little bit more, revealing the person on the inside.
“Every time Mother said that, a little more light left Smerthna’s eyes. Smerthna never said so, but she resents me for it. I was the golden child; perfection of the gods.” She spat the words out like they disgusted her. Then she sighed with an old sadness that clearly weighed her heart down. “But I simply practiced a lot, fumbling and failing until I got it right. So, I would quote that to her, ‘discovery not perfection’, and it only upset her more. Instead of practicing and getting better, she made up for her lack of magic with rage.”
Esmerey shook her head with disappointment. “It is a shame, because Smerthna was a sensitive and caring person. My mother destroyed her.”
“She didn’t destroy you.”
