Page 43 of Dawn to Dusk
“I did, I—” Damn it.
I walked into the mail room and looked in her mailbox. Between the grating, I could see my single letter still in the box. Unread.
“You didn’t tell her. You weaseled out and wrote a letter?” Edur scoffed, shaking his head. The bastard really possessed enough gall to judge me.
“I was unable to approach her. I figured it was the best way to communicate.”
“Come on.” He rolled his eyes.
I followed him upstairs to her room. I grabbed the doorknob and pain seared my hand. I yanked back and hissed at the burned skin peeling off my palm. Edur cautiously tapped the brass knob with the back of his hand. When it didn’t burn him the same way, he swung the door open. Her gold wards shimmered innocently in the doorway.
Edur pressed his hand through the veil. He took a breath when his arm made it all the way through. “She forgot to revoke my access.”
Bitterness welled up inside me, not for the first time. He purposely blocked my ability to get close enough to have the same access. I took advantage of his arrogance in thinking I would not retaliate against him and shoved him all the way into the room. “Good. Get in there.”
“You prick! You could have killed me!” He snarled at me. “Esmerey is notorious for tricking people into thinking they got past her wards!”
“I know.” She put up fake wards all the time, so people barged right into the real ones without thinking.
She would not have done that, though. Esmerey forgot nothing, this was purposeful. It spoke to her state of mind. If she were truly done with us, she would have taken his exception out of her wards. She was more hurt than angry.
“I’m sick of your pissy attitude.” He searched the room for any possible clues.
“I’m sick of not having access to my paramour because you are an impulsive child.” I toed my gifts past her wards and into the room. With any luck, she would open them once we patched things up.
“Did you really think buying gifts would make things better?”
“Not at all. I hoped it would enrage her into approaching me.” Then, when she inevitably stormed off from our disagreement, I hoped she would consider the thought behind them. In my experience, cracking the door for communication went a long way towards a resolution. What I failed to anticipate was her stubbornness overriding her curiosity. Witches were not great with impulse control, and their incessant need to knowthings made it almost impossible for them to resist investigating any unknown. Her rage was strong.
“Decent idea.” Edur grunted as he looked through her things. “She’s so resourceful, I can’t tell how long she intends to be gone.”
“The bookshelf, look for something that looks ancient. The binding will probably be skin.” I offered.
“You may be surprised to find out that description matches more books than you think.” His eyes trailed over the bookshelf.
“She would have this book separated from the rest. There is probably fire damage on it and the text will be in Draconian.”
He pulled a book off a stand that was in burnt tatters. “Does this fit the bill? I would recognize Draconian about as well as I recognize my own foot up my ass.”
I chuckled at his joke. His open admission of his wrongs eased over the anger I harbored for him. He brought it over to me, sticking it out of the wards. I opened it up, recognizing the symbols immediately. “This is it. Her favorite book, a gift from her father. She will not leave long-term without it.”
He took it back, being gentler than before as he realized its value to her.
“My actions were not meant to be against you.” He said.
Enough time passed for me to understand his actions better. It was easy to forget how young he was. He bore a lot of the responsibility for this place, but he was only a couple thousand years old. Saumen Kar Yetis possessed strong and aggressive instincts.
“Explain what happened.”
“Despite our volatile past, we fit together surprisingly well. Far better than any other lover I had in the past. I don’t understand…how she is not my mate.” He looked over at me. “I imagine it sounds like I’m whining, considering the years youhave waited, but that was where my head was at. My actions were not fair to anyone, not even myself.”
“I understand the ideal. Although you would be part of a group, why would you need monogamy?” Sure, his people were all but extinct, but beasts typically followed their bloodline’s practices even with another species. If your species typically had mating groups, you ended up in a group. If your species practiced monogamy, you ended up in a pair. He would most likely end up in a group of four or more.
“It’s not monogamy that is the issue.”
“It was her not being yours.” I deduced.
“You ejaculated on her back, and I lost it. Even as I told myself you didn’t mean to mark her.”
