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Chapter 18

The Morning After

~DOLLY~

Current Day

In the middle of the night, I turn to face Velis, feeling a jolt in my stomach when his open palm takes the small of my back and greedily pulls me closer. His breathing remains steady, deep. He’s warm. He smells good. I brush my cheek against his chest and feel the raised ink of his tattoos beneath my skin...

“Sweetheart.”

My eyes dart open, expecting to find myself in Arrik’s bed, our legs tangled in the sheets, him in sporty little boxer briefs, looking like an alternative Calvin Klein model.

“Wow.” His voice reverberates around the vessel like a giant’s.

Last night’s cuddlefest must have been another dream, and hopefully not a shared one. I’m still inside the vessel, the lantern only bright enough to make out the fixtures in the room and my hand in front of my face.

“You’ve been in there for ten human hours. You usually average seven. ”

Creepy.

“Just making sure you’re okay. You aren’t sick, are you?”

The darkness around me lifts to a dim light, blue lantern reflections casting soft glows on the dark glass.

“Velis isn’t back yet?” I ask.

Obvious hesitation from outside the bottle.

“No.”

I scramble out of my nest. “Are you serious? Get me out of here.”

Arrik appears before me in a flash, seizing my shoulder, and pulls me into a cavernous motel room much brighter than in my dream. The water at the back is magical, a bright, pool-light-at-night blue. Neon water streams down the rocky walls into a lagoon, tastefully out of reach of any furniture.

So, the cavern has a moat.

Arrik has one of those vending machine cigarettes tucked into the side of his mouth. I recognize it by the rainbow strips, making it look like a clown’s cigarette, but his ever-cool demeanor makes it seem perfectly normal here.

“Last time Velis checked in with me, he was at the manor looking for something. He asked me to babysit.”

“The manor? What’s there that would have to do with the Celestial prince?”

“He wouldn’t say.”

“How long ago was that?”

“A few hours.”

The thudding of my own heart fills the silence between us. “It’s been too long. I’m wishing him back.” Fists balled, I start down the steps with determination. My vessel was in or around his bed. Expected. But also questionable, right?

Arrik snatches my arm to hold me back. “Whatever he’s looking for, it’s important. And it must be personal. I offered to look for it in his place. He chose for me to stay here—with you.”

“What could be that personal? Why would he leave me here with you after everything that happened—after you popped out of that vessel? Our fate fucking hangs in the balance—”

“Does it?”

I clamp my mouth shut, unwilling to repeat what I’ve just said, as if admitting it would mean accepting that I might think Arrik could also be my soulmate. But that’s not what I mean. I’m not even sure what I mean. “You know what I mean,” I say.

“No, I don’t. You’ve been adamant this whole time that your relationship with Velis is by choice and not by force, so I don’t know why you’d think anything contrary now. I told you, I make my own fucking decisions. Are we going to keep having this same conversation over and over?”

Ouch.

A bit harsher than usual.

But, like last night, he must feel the sting, realizing how freaked I am that his bottle brought him here. That we’re still having sex dreams and that being around him actually makes me hate myself.

He reaches out to lay a hand on my arm. “I’m sorry, Master. I’m always irritable when exiting my vessel after long periods. We feel a sense of spite over being left there for too long. This was the longest. It will fade. So let’s just wait until we have all the evidence before we jump to any wild conclusions. With what we know right now, the most logical solution is that you and Velis aren’t soulmates—congratulations, you finally know your feelings are authentic—and that the vessel is linked to you somehow. It influenced Velis and me differently, hence all the strange shit that’s happened since meeting you.”

“Are you trying to say this is all my fault?”

“Did I say that?”

“I’m not taking responsibility for whatever is going on here. It clearly has something to do with your family! I’m just the unlucky human who broke a vase.”

Arrik looks me over like I’m some kind of puzzle he’s yet to solve. “You’re offended. Because I said he’s not your soulmate? I’m stating the most logical option. There are others. For all we know, this vessel could be part of some elaborate scheme to knock Velis off his throne. The Beckham and Amoira factions have been suspiciously quiet. Maybe it’s cursed. Maybe they swapped out the real one with a fake. Maybe I’ve been a pawn in this since birth.”

If there’s a truth oath between us, it doesn’t detect deception.

I’m mostly annoyed with the situation. And with myself. But not with him. The common denominator with both djinn who have used that vessel is...

“Stop thinking so much.”

“How do you expect me to do that?”

He flicks his eyes across the sleeping area, then ultimately scoops fake Steve off the foot of the bed and shoves him into my chest. “Distract yourself. Play with this cat.”

He trots down the curved stone steps past me, a pair of above-the-knee shorts showing off both his tatted legs and a moist tank top. The entire back of his neck is glistening. Why is he so wet ?

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“Shower. Just got done working out.” He sends me a sly, snake-like glance. “That’s why I’m so wet .” He motions to the hanging countertop. “Your friends sent you something.” He means an enormous gift basket with an equally enormous lilac-colored bow and actual lilacs poking out of it.

That has Bellamy written all over it.

I tuck my messy, sleep-battled hair into a tiny bun, as if that might tame the rest of the chaos atop my head, then follow him down the rounded stairway, parting ways in the dining area.

The basket is a cornucopia of meats, cheeses, olives, fruits, bread, and way too many desserts. I spread it all over a pearly table and spend the next fifteen minutes admiring it.

It isn’t just food. She thinks I’ll need to be entertained in this underground sea bunker. I appreciate the strange knock-off literature she got Velis or another magical being to conjure. The Moby Dick has an actual penis on the cover.

“What the fuck?” Arrik snatches it out of my hand, freshly showered and a towel draped around his neck. “I read this in the human world during a long-term master-situationship. I don’t remember it being erotic. If there’s a pun here, I’m not getting it.” He sounds it out. “Moby Richard .”

“It’s a translation thing,” I tell him, then gesture to the spread. “Did you try anything, Arrik, before I got up?”

“I don’t generally open other people’s gif—”

“It’s addressed to both of us.”

There’s a shiny golden card tucked inside with Bellamy’s fancy handwriting. No, I haven’t learned how to read the language. She drew pictures to go along with it. I assume the stick-figure with a cigarette in his mouth is Arrik, and from what I can tell, it’s eating a slice of cake from the basket. The squiggles all across its body—are those supposed to be tattoos?

He flips the card over, reads it, and then just stands there, awkward, like he’s never received a gift before. Then, without a word, he tosses the note aside and returns to the dick-ified lit classic, determined to figure out how the translation magic went wrong.

I used to be surprised that he read chemistry books. Now, it doesn’t surprise me at all that he used his time on Earth to read classic lit. Another change. Before, he was usually shirtless. But I haven’t seen him without a shirt since he got back. Is that intentional?

These intrusive observations really need to stop.

Arrik keeps his eyes glued to the back of the paperback.

If he can’t go shirtless around me anymore, does that mean things have changed for him? Despite what he says?

Fuck.

Stop thinking .

I’m panicking. I should wish for Velis to come back.

Thwack!

The dick-whale book thuds against the pearl-encrusted coffee table, snapping me out of my tangent as Arrik tosses it aside. “Let’s go,” he says.

“Where? ”

“Out.”

“Is that wise?”

“You’re still invisible. Poof—now I am too.” He flicks his gaze to the lagoon in the back. “Unless you’d rather stay here all day. In that case, I might go swimming...”

“I can be ready in ten.”

He swipes a pear-like fruit from the basket. “Good girl.”

But the moment he says it, he freezes, locking eyes with me as the words ‘good girl’ seem to echo against the cavern walls—though maybe it’s just in our connected minds. A strange feeling hits my stomach.

His eyes flash blue, and suddenly we’re both fully dressed for the day. “How about we go now?”

Okay, sure. But what the hell has he dressed me in?

I look down to find I’m in a tank-top-and-overalls ensemble I could see Joell wearing back in nymph-land. The bottoms of my pants are baggy and tucked into heavy-duty boots. A water bottle dangles from my belt loop, fastened by a hot pink carabiner. There’s a handkerchief hanging from one of my back pockets. I’m not sure what look this is, but it’s certainly a look.

“Did you seriously just waste all that precious magic to dress me like this ?”

Arrik, still in his saggy-pitted tank top and jeans, lets his eyes fall over me from top to bottom, then barks, “Relax. Practicality. Tunnel climbing. Need anything else before we go?”

I grab one of Bellamy’s cookies. Once I’ve got it, Arrik snatches his Ray from the holder like a normal guy grabbing his keys, then ushers me through the door, slamming it firmly behind us. He takes off two steps ahead of me with his hands behind his head.

He’s being weird and testy.

I hope Velis comes back soon.