Chapter 6

The male who strode inside moved with grace and deadliness that radiated around him even with the smile that lit up his face as he looked at his family in the room. Gone was the lanky yet muscular twenty-year-old and in his place this...this fully-grown Fae male who looked as if he could take on a dozen guardsmen at once and win within a minute.

Somehow, he'd seemed to have grown taller, now just an inch or two shorter than Dessa's father and just as broad with thick muscles, highlighted by the leather he wore. A sword was slung across his back, a dagger sheathed on his thigh. She knew those blades, had seen them every day. Dessa herself had trained a little with those weapons before just to get a feel of them, so similar to her own her father gifted to her.

And finally...finally, she was able to look at his face. Sharp, handsome features any female would fawn over, especially with the shadow of a beard along his jawline to make him look more rugged and, dare she say it, handsome. She remembered every single scar that marred the right side of his face and neck, the one that crossed over his eye, even the ones she'd seen before across his chest and back. Now, though, there was also the swirling of ink on his left side, peeking out from below the collar of his leather jacket and again at the cuff at his wrist. And just as he had when they were little, his dark, almost black hair was styled the same way – an undercut, shorter on the sides and longer on top, brushed expertly back though one strand fell across his forehead.

Dessa swallowed hard, gaze trailing him from head to toe once more, before she met those mismatched blue eyes that hadn't changed at all, only to find them roaming over her.

He did the same to her, taking in every one of her features that had changed over the years. Gone was the scrawny thirteen-year-old girl who followed him around like an annoying little sister, who slammed her door in his face when he told her he was leaving in the morning to leave for the army training camp, who screamed and cried and tried to run after him when she realized he was going without telling her goodbye.

Dessa slowly stood, allowing him to see just how much she herself had grown. She held her breath as those mismatched eyes trailed down every inch of her he could see from across the council table, matching his grace and deadliness with her own, going over her exposed skin, the feminine curves of her body, the deep V of her dress and lingering.

Sure, she'd had quite a few males look at her as he was then, but this was Elys. One of her best friends, the boy she grew up with and trained with and knew he would protect her at all costs. And now...Mother above, was he handsome. Five years of military training had done him well. Very, very well.

Dessa hoped she hadn't said that aloud as her lips parted slightly, breath rushing out of her in a whisper.

"Elys!" her mother yelled, jumping up just as her father did, too.

Lyv collided with him, a solid wall of muscle that stood frozen and staring at Dessa before the force of her hug knocked him out of it. His arms wrapped around her tight as he buried his face in the crook of her shoulder, lifting her off her feet to make her laugh. After righting herself, Lyv took his face in her hands, looking over every inch of him and making sure there were no new scars.

"How are you, baby?" she asked him, turning his head one way and then the other. "You look good. You look bigger if that's even possible. But maybe it's just because it's been six months since I saw you last."

The cross between smile and smirk on his lips had Dessa's knees shaking. "Both, probably. That's what I get for training with Urell and the Elite Guard in Arloerin."

And finally, she caught sight of the tattoos peeking out from below his collar. "Are you serious?" she shouted. "I'm guessing that's Cleo's doing, huh? They look like hers."

"And done by the same artist," Elys nodded, pulling back his collar more for her to see. "You can't be mad at me, right?"

"Of course, I'm mad!"

"Well, then, be mad at those two, too, since they got them also," he said, nodding over to Eamon and Archer.

She was definitely going to be mad at them, but they also had their own mothers to deal with.

Jai got to him then, laughing as he hugged him fiercely, commenting just as Lyv did at how he'd seemingly grown. Seeing her parents with him...well, it had obviously been a while. Though they weren't his biological parents, they still treated him as if he were their son. They always had, ever since her mother rescued him from his slave master in Filwey when he was just five years old. Other than having the powers of the Seer of Ikreus, a gifted being coveted by all who wanted them in order to boast and control, Elys didn't have any other magic, including the ability to heal quickly on his own. Dessa's mother was the one to heal most of his injuries, though the scars still remained.

Their whole family descended on him then, greeting him just as Dessa's parents did, laughing and joking at how big he'd gotten, pestering him about his new tattoos. Her mother had stepped away to get Len, who had been sprawled out on the floor and coloring. This would be Elys's first time meeting the youngest member of their family since they hadn't taken her with them when they went to Chamin months before or whenever they'd travelled elsewhere.

"Len, I want you to meet someone special," her mother introduced, smiling as she looked up at Elys. "This is Elys. And Elys, this is Lenora."

Lenora never met a person she didn't like. And with their parents talking constantly about Elys, Dessa knew the little girl would take to him immediately. Which she did, laughing and reaching for him to have him take her in his arms. He did, holding her gently as she hugged him around the neck, rubbing circles on her back.

"I finally get to meet you, Elys!" Len chirped happily in his ear before pulling back to look at his face. "Hi! Momma and Daddy talk about you all the time!"

"And they talk about you all the time, too," he smiled at her. "It's nice to finally meet you, Len."

She wiggled in his arms, twisting to point over to where she'd been coloring. "Come see my drawing! My pixie Silas likes to help, but Daddy helps me before bed and he's asleep. Then Momma makes us put up everything so she can read me a story. She says she used to read to you and Dessa just like she does me, making the pictures move in the air and changing her voice and..."

At the mention of Dessa from Len, everyone finally seemed to realize Dessa was the only one to have not descended on Elys in his arrival. All eyes turned to hers.

And yet she was still staring at Elys.

"Dessa, sweetheart," her mother said to her, holding out her hand as her father took Len from Elys.

Except when she finally got her legs to move from under her and walk her to where they all stood, she tore her gaze from his and looked at her parents.

"I'm going out for the night," she said in a tightly controlled voice, not even daring another look at Elys the closer she got to him. "Don't wait up for me."

Her tone made her father's gaze turn into warning look. "Dessa."

"I'm going out," she repeated, brushing by them all.

Even though they let her go, she knew she'd have hell to pay in the morning for it.

***

Fin stared at her as she downed her third crystal glass of Arloerin Starlight. She'd been staring at the silver flecks in the midnight blue liquid for a good five minutes, lost in the music and in the scented smoke that curled in the air around them, then leaned back against the leather chaise in their private alcove.

Ever since both she and Milena had turned eighteen, Mirage had become one of their favorite nightly spots. A business venture for her aunt Kalla, the nightclub wasn't as...lively...as those in Blackloch. Namely, Madame Amoria's, which she'd been to once before without her parents knowing. But Mirage was still a place for the younger population of Ayveri to get together in, to drink and have fun, to dance until they couldn't anymore.

And for Dessa, it was a place she could sit back and try to forget about who she saw for just a little while, listen to the pulsing beat around her, and not have to worry about who she was as a Princess of Dalcaine.

Maybe even forget about those feelings that were stirred up just looking at him.

"That's number three," Fin commented, looking at her in concern. He pulled her empty glass from her fingers just as she lifted her hand to motion for another bottle from the bartender. Fin quickly waved him off. "No. No more for you."

"Why not?" she slurred, leaning her head back, and closed her eyes to get the room to stop spinning.

"Because you're drunk."

"So?"

"Do you know what your father would do to me if I had to carry you back home like this?"

"Please," Dessa snorted. "He's done it for Momma plenty. Still does it, too. Why would he care about me if I do it, huh?"

"Because you're his daughter and she's his mate and wife. Though I've seen how overprotective he is of her, he's just as so when it comes to you."

She laughed again, leaning her head to the side to look at him. His handsome face blurred slightly, his bronze skin glowing under the glittering lights, and dark brown eyes almost black as he stared at her. She really did like him, thought he was attractive for a human, but after seeing the male who'd come waltzing into the council room a few hours before...

Dessa sat up with Fin's help as he reached forward to grab a glass of lemon water from the table in front of them.

"Here," he told her, handing her the glass. "Drink this. Drink the whole damn pitcher before we even think about leaving for you to try and sober up."

She did. Drank the whole thing in one go before he filled it for her again. Half the pitcher was gone by the time she even stopped to take a breath. Hydrating was good. She could already feel her head becoming clearer, more focused.

Fin noticed, too. "There you go," he sighed, leaning back beside her. "You know, for having both Fae and sorceress blood in you, you get drunk quick. Oh, wait a minute. Maybe it's because you barely drink in the first place and hardly touched dinner..."

"Shut up," Dessa grumbled, then took another long sip of water. "And if I don't sneak into my mother's infirmary for one of her tonics for headaches, I don't think I'll be able to get out of bed tomorrow. You might still have to walk me home, though, if you're up to it."

His smile was bright as he looked at her...and it made her regret saying it, regret bringing him out tonight with her with a promise of it being just the two of them. The look on his face when she knocked on the door of his dormitory on the university campus made her stomach twist and not in the good way. She knew he'd wanted to ask her out on another date, and this was just an indirect way of doing just that since she hadn't officially called it one.

She almost motioned the bartender for another Starlight.

"You want to talk about it?"

Dessa cut her eyes over to Fin. "Talk about what?"

"The fact that you're trying to drink away something that happened between this morning in the library and when you knocked on my door," he said, taking a sip of Torrent from his own tankard without taking his eyes from her. "Wasn't your uncle supposed to come back with your cousin. I thought I heard the fanfare as they paraded through the streets this afternoon..."

"Yep, and they did. Hence why Milena's not here. She and Eamon are undoubtedly playing catch up right now."

Fin snorted out a laugh. "How he knows how to handle her, I will never know myself. She's a spitfire. And quite literally with that sorceress magic of hers."

"She's the best."

"Anything else happen?"

Please, she wanted to snort. He'd known exactly who else they were expecting back home. Even knew the history between Dessa and Elys because she'd told him about him one night when they were talking about their families.

Fin answered his own question. "The Seer, huh?"

"He's got a name, you know."

"And yet you always glare at me whenever it's said in conversation."

Elys. His name was Elys.

There. She could say it in her head.

And now didn't have to imagine what he looked like after five years because he was there, his image front and center of her thoughts, the way he held himself, the way he took in every bit of her with those mismatched eyes.

Dessa had apparently inherited another thing from her mother – a love of alcohol to try and deal with the past and what was going on in the present. She lifted a finger, motioning for the bartender again across the dancefloor to bring her another bottle of Starlight. This time, though, when it was uncorked and handed to her, she didn't bother with the crystal glass.

Fin did have to help her hobble home just an hour later, though he'd once more have her chug down a pitcher of water before they even stumbled through the front doors of Mirage. They'd had to stop at the bathrooms before, though, for obvious reasons after downing so much liquid. That, and for Dessa to try and get her head to stop spinning.

Fin let her lean against him as they walked down the quiet streets of Ayveri, passing by the homes with little to no lights on inside where people slumbered, past the cafés and shops closed for the night, and the guardsmen who patrolled the streets, grinning and shaking their heads at the half-drunk princess and her friend as they stumbled toward the palace.

The palace, however, was lit up just as it always was with lampposts scattered throughout the surrounding gardens, strings of lanterns overhead, lights on inside...and pouring out from the front doors that were wide open, illuminating her father's figure as he stood at the top of the steps.

Jai was glaring at Fin as if he had something to do with her drunkenness. "Inside, Dessa Jai Deverell Ayveri. Now."

When he used her full name...gods, she knew she was in trouble.

And tried not to stumble up the steps now that Fin had let go of her.

"Sir," Fin nodded to her father.

He crossed his arms over his chest and continued to glare. "Go home, Fin."

With just a nodded goodbye to Dessa, he turned on his heels, hands buried in his pockets, and strode through the gates of the palace.

"You don't have to be mean, Daddy," Dessa slurred, spinning toward him to narrow her eyes.

"I'm not being mean," her father countered. "I'm thankful he brought you home when you're so obviously drunk and didn't lay a hand on you."

She snorted as the toe of her shoe caught on the bottom of her dress. She had to reach up and catch herself on his arm before she fell face-first through the doorway. "And you know I'd never let a male touch me when I didn't want to be touched. Both you and Momma taught me that."

Her father continued to glare at her as he helped her right herself. But then his face and eyes softened as he wrapped an arm around her, seeing the unspoken nervousness written on her face as she stared up at the palace. "Come on. To the infirmary we go or else you won't make it out of bed tomorrow, though I think that might be fitting punishment for what you've done tonight."

"Oh, did poor, not-so-little-anymore Elys get his feelings hurt because I wouldn't say hello?"

He laughed. "Not exactly. He knew what to expect from you, apparently, so he wasn't surprised."

Dessa growled. "Damn him and his Seer abilities."

Her father laughed again as they slowly made their way to the infirmary. Lights flickered on with just a spark of his magic, lighting their path so they weren't in complete darkness. She almost made him stop at the apartment that had been her mother's and Gideon's long before so she could get some sleep, but he wasn't allowing that. He did however, let her bury her face in one of pillows on a cot as he looked around for the small tonic vial she would be needing. She could already feel the headache coming on, pounding behind her closed eyes.

The cot dipped beside her as her father sat. "Here," he said, turning her over as her dress tangled around her legs. "Drink this before your dinner and everything you drank comes back up again."

"I'm not that much of a light weight, you know," she said, but it came out more like a groan as her stomach twisted.

"Sure, you aren't, kid. You do realize Jules loves to tell us what happens at the tavern in Asturia whenever you go to visit her and Drue, right?"

Dessa downed the tonic in one go, the sickly sweetness coating her tongue and smoothing down her throat. Settling back down on the cot, she closed her eyes as the tonic slowly made its way through her, calming her stomach, easing the pounding in her head. Finally, she was able to open her eyes after a few minutes and not wince at the light.

Only to see her father's face still grinning up above hers.

"What?" she sighed.

"Oh, nothing," he chuckled, brushing his fingers through her tangled hair, over her silver streak. "At least I don't have to clean up vomit."

"Ha ha."

Even though she wanted to be mad at her father for seemingly making fun of her and her drunkenness, she couldn't be. Reaching up, she grabbed his hand and held it tight between both of hers, letting out a dramatic sigh Milena would have been proud of. He didn't ask her what was wrong, knowing she'd say something whenever she was ready. He had the uncanny ability to do that, to not push her into telling him what she was thinking or what was wrong.

Finally, she sighed, meeting his gaze. "Honestly, I didn't think it would be like that. Seeing him again, I mean."

"You mean you running away?" he questioned.

"Maybe?"

"Des."

"All right, fine. Yes. But out of all of us, I'm the only one who hasn't seen him in the last five years he's been away. Even Milena went with you when you last saw him in Chamin."

"Only because you refused to go."

"I had school to worry about."

"So did she and yet she still did her work while away."

"Daddy..."

Squeezing her hand, his smile softened. "You missed him, Des. You don't even have to say it aloud for me and your mother to know. For anyone to know, really. And he missed you, too."

"Well, he could have come home once in a while, too."

"Trust me, I know. And I still tell him that all the time. Honestly, he's annoyed with me because of it, too. And I love annoying him, just as I love to annoy you, too."

"Don't I know it."

Sighing, her father slowly stood, helping her sit up on the cot and stand in front of him. Dessa had to adjust her dress, running her hands over the fabric of the skirt before she caught sight of his disapproving look.

"You're never wearing that dress again, by the way," her father told her, looping her arm through his as they made their way out of the infirmary.

Finally, she was able to laugh without her head pounding. "Whatever. Momma got it for me, you know. And I love it."