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Chapter 6

The Token Human

~DOLLY~

Current Day

Now released from the vessel, I stick close to Velis as we move down the glass hallway lit by shadowy moonlight. I feel better having discussed the Arrik ‘situation.’ I know Arrik’s not my secret second soulmate or something, but it will be nice to rule it out for certain after Amoira or Beckham exposes themselves. I truly don’t understand how that woman got to be this way. She’s freaking nuts.

Returning to the lounge confirms everything I ever suspected about this party. It’s an orgy. Straight up. People are naked in every pit, with flaming torches casting everything in ritualistic light. The winged prince is no longer on the platform with his mistress, but there are several more winged royals among the guests now that the lighting has darkened and the tone has changed.

“Well fuck,” Velis mutters when he realizes the prince is gone.

“Honestly, I’ll settle for just seeing any of those wings up close. Maybe we can casually walk by on our way to the bar and then teleport home. ”

Because it smells weird in here now, and it makes me want to yak.

“Understood.”

Vel’s mask is gone, his hair a little disheveled and sweaty around the edges, like he’s been up to mischief. My mask has also disappeared into the void, along with the outer dress part of my garment, leaving me in just the under-bodice and sleek black pants. It doesn’t stand out at all amid the rest of the stripping guests.

“Your ass looks awesome,” Velis says before giving it a playful smack. He takes my fingers hostage and leads me around the various pits I refuse to look into too closely, instead focusing on the bunches of floating lantern bugs that swirl above us, making the ceiling look like a mini cosmos.

“So is this what all your senate meetings will be like?” I quip, but I’m also half serious. “Just fancy masquerades that turn into orgies?”

“Not all of them. Sometimes we vote.”

“Is your role really more of a professional partygoer?”

“I didn’t see you turning down the buffet,” he says with a rub of his chin before leaning in close. “I’ve found our target. That lone royal over there.”

But as he begins to divert our path, I gasp, covering my mouth with a gloved hand. On the far side of the chamber, beside the towering form of the many-dicked cthulhu—

“Arrik!”

He stands there, parting the crowd like Moses, dressed in jade circus attire, a top hat perched on his head, and an absurdly long, bougie cigarette and holder propped between two fingers. Oh my god, it’s really him!

And it’s like I can hear every beat of his heart through the divided crowd. The floor looks like it did the night of Vel’s coronation, a path of gold leading me to him.

“ Dolly, where?! ” Vel’s voice is in my ear and at the same time, so, so far away.

Arrik cocks his grin at me with those perfect, sarcastic lips and sets his ’20s glamour cigarette holder to his mouth.

“Right there,” I breathe.

“ Dolly, there’s no one there. Dolly—! ”

I snap back to reality because Vel’s right. There’s no one there. The crowd isn’t even parted, and a stranger has just stepped in front of me, breaking my line of sight.

I nearly shit myself.

White hair—soft, well-defined curls with a natural texture—and crisp white angel wings to contrast smooth, dark skin. Yes, they’re like angel wings, tucked behind his shoulder blades and nearly as tall as he is.

It’s the Celestial prince standing before me.

And now I understand what Velis meant by their eyes being interesting. There’s almost a bubble-like sheen over the iris.

“Hello,” he greets me, and there’s a noticeable lag between what he’s saying and the way his lips are moving, like a bad dub. “You wouldn’t happen to be a human, would you? There have been whispers.”

I knew I was a rumor. “Hi.”

Velis is between us in a flash. “Greetings, Prince Lyrian. I’m Laird Velis Reilhander of Makaya. And this is my lady, Dolly Jones of Earth.”

“No way,” says Prince Lyrian, who, upon closer inspection, looks to be newly adult. “Mates! Davii was right! There is a human in attendance. Well done, Davii—you’ve managed to claw back a sliver of my favor.”

Suddenly there are more of them, like an angelic frat party, swarming around me. Five iridescent gazes and a circle of wings. They all have silver hair. They all look to be wearing the most expensive and intricate attire, velvet suits rich in color and detailed with embroidery, short at the cuff and ankle to show off bedazzled gloves and shoes.

One of them, with an earring, palms the top of my wavy hair. “How much for it? ”

There’s a zap, and the Celestial rips his hand away, the ends of his fingertips sparking with blue lightning that came from my defensive boyfriend, who now has his arm firmly around my shoulder, tucking me away from the group of college-age angel boys.

“Did you not hear the djinn ambassador, Davii?” the prince barks at his royal confidant. “This is his wife, pissface.”

“He said she was human,” says the Celestial royal, Davii, cradling his hand. “I thought the lady part was a joke!”

Vel’s eyes involuntarily flare icy-hot blue, and this time, it’s the prince tucking his escort away—like he’s willing to get punched to make things right. “I apologize for my cousin. He’s an idiot. And he does not have much experience with humans. I’m happy to see you here, Lord Reilhander, and you, Lady Jones. The last time we had a human at the court, I was young. Humans do visit the realm occasionally, but only those with titles are allowed on castle grounds.”

“Not many of those around, I guess.”

He leans forward with a bright smile of pure interest. “Not many at all. How would you like to stay here for the duration of your holiday? We have an open ambassador’s suite at the palace. I would love you to tell me all about the Earthen world.”

The entire group of them leans in with enough interest to let me know I do not want to spend my honeymoon being the only human any of them have ever met. It feels like I’m being cornered by a magic-eyed basketball team. They are all exceptionally tall. And exceptionally sweaty.

Hopefully, it isn’t a huge cultural faux pas to turn down a prince’s invitation.

“No, thank you. We can’t. Because . . .”

Vel cuts in, and thank ‘Maka’ because I have no follow-up prepared. “Our manor is busy, and my family is... involved. We are enjoying our solitude at the Western Isles.” Velis flicks his wrist and reveals a circular business card made out of light. “That has my information.” He hands it off to the prince’s ‘idiot cousin.’

The prince is visibly disappointed. “Understandable. But may we entertain you at least for the night?” He gestures over his shoulder to his group of minions, who set off to commandeer one of the pits for us. They are legitimately kicking out other guests for us.

Velis locks eyes with me. A private party with the prince of Célesteen can’t be a bad look for his career.

We’ll just have to temporarily ignore the fact that I’m seeing phantom—maybe imaginary—visions of Arrik, and that an evil step-someone might be lurking in the shadows. Life is getting more magical every goddamned day.

We follow the group of angel boys to a pit that is definitely germy and possibly sper—

I can’t think it.

“Spermy?” mutters Vel.

Dis- gust -ing.

“Huh?” His head pops up. “No, I was—They don’t rhyme in Makayen.”

“Ah.”

No one seems to care whether the pits are germy or spermy, and the first moments therein are awkward, like a bunch of sober strangers hanging out in a hot tub. The prince spreads his wings around the edge of the pit like arms around the neck of a couch, then tosses a drink order at one of his attendants. The rest of them eagerly throw drink suggestions out for me to try.

I’ll have to confirm with Velis, but this really feels like he just met a bunch of kids at school who are impressed that he has a pet iguana and they’re more interested in playing with the lizard than anything else. “I’ve seen this symbol around,” I, the lizard, say to one of them, speaking of an emblem on his chest that resembles a feather melting into flame. “What does it mean?”

“It’s the sigil of Célesteen. Fate and its defiance.”

I’m not sure what that means, but the rest of the group starts proudly showing me similar embroidery hidden on their clothing or pointing it out around the room. There are far more than I initially realized.

Once the drinks are secured and a floating orb of kindled firelight crackles at the center of the pit, the prince claps his hands and eagerly rubs them together. “Now then, if you were given one chance to go to the Earthen world, and you only had one sun cycle to do it, where would you visit? Preferably somewhere without demons.”

“Do you mean like in a day? And I really have no idea where demons hang out—maybe avoid Vegas?”

“ He means a year ,” corrects one of the others in their group. The voice is strangely familiar but at the same time not. A quick glance around shows no one familiar besides Vel.

“Oh. A year? I’d go everywhere, then.”

“Everywhere,” the prince repeats, nodding his platinum-blond head like it’s a helpful answer. He nudges one of his posse. “Write that down... Or actually, here—” The prince hands off a notebook and quill to me, summoned from one of his attendants. “Might you make a list?”

“A list?” I ask. “Of... all the places on Earth?”

“Yeah, like all the ones you’d suggest for an extended vacation,” he says.

“That’s a bit of a tall order. What kind of things do you like to do?” I ask.

“Drink alcohol. Meet females. I do want to see Las Vegas, though. And Japan.”

Teenage boys are similar in all realms.

“Are you a foodie? Do you like nature? Hiking?”

“Dale does. Dale’s my nephew. He’s coming too. So are all these guys.”

This is going to take forever.

One of his entourage leans over his wings to slur a suggestion.

“Oh! Yeah, yeah.” The prince grabs a drink off a returning waiter’s tray and holds the rim with his fingertips. “And if you could include a list of everything that’s illegal on Earth. I don’t believe the list they give out at the travel security agency. No cheating at casinos? Surely there are exceptions for royals.”

The angel realm TSA doing its thankless job of protecting humanity from chance-cheating angels.

There’s no way I can get him a list of all the places and laws on Earth. Are they planning some grand scheme that might break multiple major landmarks?

“ I mentioned there was once a lot of migration to Earth, right? ” Vel’s voice whispers in my head. “ That’s no longer allowed. Their court ruled that natives must remain on Celestial soil because they’re an endangered race. But they do get to leave once—to visit Earth and any distant relatives residing there. It’s where they scatter their rogue oats. ”

It’s kind of cool that someone is so excited about the human world. I also think it’s a fascinating place.

“How about you get me a list of some of the things you’re interested in, and I can give you some suggestions. I do have an extensive bucket list of places I’d like to visit. I would believe your travel advisory on the rest of it. It’s best to avoid the law on vacation, regardless of whether you’re a prince.”

Prince Lyrian settles back in his seat, disappointed that I didn’t give him the okay to rig casinos in the human realm. “Yeah, alright, okay. I can get you a list.”

“Velis knows more about rule-breaking for mythics than I do.” I slip the laird into the spotlight because that’s the whole reason we’re here, and being his lady means being his wing-lady. “He’s spent a lot of time in the human world too.”

“You have?” Judging by their raised eyebrows, it’s like the Earth fanboys have just realized the actual ambassador is in their presence.

“Yes, and I have three brothers. Also wish-granters, two of whom have been at it for six years. And Dolly’s obviously an expert. I’m sure we can connect before you leave,” Velis offers with confidence .

“You said it was ‘Reilhander,’ yeah?” The prince wants to be sure his cousin has it down right before slapping hands with Velis.

All in all, not a bad interaction. Now Vel’s the ‘Earth’ guy. We leave the orgy pod with the prince of Célesteen’s personal contact information. Velis tucks it into his suit pocket while grinning like he just won a bet.

“What?”

“Nothing, just... that went well.” It was kind of our first shared ambassador outing together, wasn’t it? And we did a good job. That’s why he’s twinkling.

“I guess sometimes it doesn’t suck to be human,” I agree.

It’s a triumph, but the night isn’t won yet. After that last Arrik sighting, and the fact that Velis couldn’t seem to see him, I’m getting more and more concerned that whatever’s been taunting us may be all in my head.

But we leave ourselves out in the open just in case.

Velis and I do one more round around the birdhouse palace, pointing at enormous frogs stuck to the opposite side of the glass, sleeping under jungle debris and drawn to the warmth of the palace’s walls. He leans against the glass in one particular nook and flirts with me.

No sign of Amoira.

No sign of Beckham.

No sign of Arrik.

Maybe I can connect with him again in my dreams.

“ Or you could just stop running, Lolly. ”

From over our shoulder comes that voice. It’s not Arrik’s. It’s familiar. And at the same time different in a way I cannot FUCKING EXPLAIN!

This time, I’m not the only one who heard it. Velis and I spin at the same time, and he’s already in protection mode.

“You heard that?” I say, my voice quiet and rushed.

“I heard it.” His sharp genie eyes sift over the dark corners of the observation cove. I can practically feel the adrenaline thudding in his neck .

“Did his voice sound familiar?” I press.

“That didn’t sound like Beckham or anyone in their family I know of.”

He stops suddenly because there, just through the glass, sitting inside one of those enormous flowers beyond the palace walls—

Velis grabs my hand and rips me back to our vacation fairy hut, leaving Arrik’s vessel in the jungle behind.