Page 31 of The Heart of Nym (The Twisted Roots Duology #1)

There was nothing Nymiria could really say.

She would hear him coming up the stairs at early hours in the morning or very late into the night, but they never once crossed paths with one another.

Until their argument in the forest, she hadn't seen him at all and she hadn't really seen him since then, either.

Not even while he was on patrol. It had been three days since then and she was still just as confused about what she felt with him as she was then.

And even though it shouldn't have bothered her at all, she worried about where he was—if he'd gotten caught smuggling refugees or if he was chained up somewhere.

He can't be killed. The voice whispered.

"He's still just as broody and menacing as the day I first met him." Nymiria shrugged, ignoring the echo of the whisper in her ears. "But there isn't much to tell about living across from him. I don't see him."

Desi sat up from her sprawled position, giving Nymiria a smile. "Is he always alone?" She asked.

Nymiria frowned. "Yes. And even if he wasn't , it would still be none of my business. I've learned my lesson about barging into rooms without knocking first."

"I highly doubt that. Lora told me you barged into the servants quarters just this morning. Were you looking for someone?"

She debated on telling her that she had been looking for Phyona again.

Desi wasn't the type to go around talking about Nymiria's personal matters, but she sincerely feared what bringing Phyona into this would mean for the girl.

And it wasn't that she wanted Phyona to help her kill Aziel, nor did she want her helping Aziel's cause.

She just had more questions. Specifically about what Aziel was doing.

She couldn't fight the nagging thought that this was all much bigger than him simply sneaking Mystics out of their camps.

Nymiria looked up at Desi, who was still waiting expectantly for her reply.

Though she didn't usually like talking about her side job with the king, Desi already knew more than most. "He ordered me to kill him.

" She whispered. "Dorid wants me to kill Aziel.

" The silence that stretched between them was unbearable.

Desi almost always had something to say and to see her look so pale and riddled with fear unsettled Nymiria to her core.

"Please say something." She tried to sound light-hearted, but the words came out quiet and more like a plea than anything.

Desi only shook her head. "You aren't going to actually do it, are you?"

Three days ago, she was going to—she had every intention of dispatching him.

But their time in that forest made it seem like killing him was impossible.

"I don't know." She gave a half-shrug, lifting herself off of the vanity bench and approaching the bed where her gown was laid out for her.

She ran her fingers over the intricately embroidered flowers, shivering when they trailed over the high neckline.

"I was having a hard time getting to know him like the king asked.

I decided to go to the servants for some information about him, but I ended up running into Phyona—"

"Nym…" Her nickname was a small warning, a plea for her to not go that route again.

It'd been three years, but the first two were the hardest years of Nymiria's life.

Everyone suffered during that time. Desi suffered, having been one of the main ones who tried desperately to nurse Nymiria back to health.

She already knew what the look on Desi's face meant and she had every right to feel concern where anything related to Owen was involved.

"I'm not getting her involved. I didn't even know who she was until she told me her name." She sighed, the muscles around her heart going tender at the memory of Phyona's sad eyes. "Do you know something about what Aziel is doing in the Beyond?"

Desi sprung to her feet, her jaw so rigged that the muscles were visible in her cheek.

Nymiria took a step back, confusion washing over her face as she looked at her friend.

"You can't talk about that here." Desi whispered.

"And I know you have a good heart inside of you, Nym.

So please, please listen to me when I tell you that you cannot kill him.

If you do…" She dug her fingers into her braided scalp, face turned up to the ceiling and her eyes squeezing shut as she seemingly muttered prayers to herself. "Owen wouldn't want this."

Owen wouldn't have wanted her to do a lot of things that she ended up doing over the course of the last few years.

He wouldn't have wanted her sneaking out of her room late at night and crawling into bed with random men.

He wouldn't have wanted her drowning herself in drinks and partying until the sun came up.

He certainly, certainly would not have wanted her killing more people.

She swore that he would be the last one.

But what was a promise broken to someone who wasn't alive to see it happen?

She hated that his name would always be a reminder of everything she did to ease the pain of his death.

"I'm not going to kill him." Nymiria decided it as soon as the words came out, with not a single chance to argue with herself about it any longer.

Desi was right, after all. Even if Aziel was an annoyance, and probably even evil, she had to admit that he was needed.

She watched as her friend deflated with relief, slumping into the chair beside Nymiria's bed.

"Thank the gods."

But there was one thing that Nymiria was curious about.

Philter had told her that Aziel couldn't be killed by human weapons.

Was this common knowledge or was it something that only someone with Philter's experience would know?

She leaned against the post of her bed, fingers still mindlessly trailing over the flowers on her dress.

"Did you know that he can't be killed by human weapons? " Nymiria blurted.

Desi's eyes snapped to hers, an unreadable look crossing over her face. "Yes. And it's not human weapons, Nym. It's humans. Creatures like him cannot be killed by humans."

"Why not?"

Desi stared at her for a moment before she stood and walked to the door.

After making sure that no one was standing behind it, she moved to the shadow in the corner of the room and whispered something into it.

Within seconds, Nymiria tumbled backwards, landing directly on her bottom when a figure of a man emerged from the shadows.

He was tall, even taller than Oran. His hair was cropped short at the sides, one side of his head covered in what looked like burn scars.

He wasn't a menacing or ominous presence, but there was a sureness about him—a strength that was just as cold and icy as the shadows that were now crawling across the room like thick plumes of smoke.

He strode towards her, eyes soft as he extended his hand in her direction.

She took it into her own, marveling at the scars that covered his dark brown skin.

But she didn't have a chance to stare at him for too long because the man was pulling her to her feet, jerking her back to reality.

"I'm Demetrios, but you can call me Trio. Desi's brother." The man said, offering her a crooked smile that pulled at the scars on the side of his face. His teeth were white, incisors sharp enough to make Nymiria run her tongue over her own.

"You're a Mystic." She stated.

Trio smiled even wider. "Yes. Half, anyway. Just like Desiree and Aziel."

Nymiria's eyes shot to Desi, but her friend only met her with an apologetic shrug.

Ten years. Ten years together and Desiree had never told her that she was a Mystic.

And all this time, she believed it was just her and Owen alone in this world together.

Nymiria shook her head in disbelief, but instead of feeling any sort of anger, it was just understanding. It was relief.

"This still doesn't answer my question. And why are you here?"

Trio gave a small smile to his sister before the room was completely shrouded in the smokey darkness that spilled from his feet.

Once the last semblance of light was gone from the room, the sounds outside vanished with it.

There was not a single chirp from the birds outside her window, nor was there a single footstep or the faint sound of people talking down below.

All she heard was the soft whirring of the shadows encasing them.

"We just needed a little bit more privacy.

And Desi, here, also believes that I can tell this story a little better than she can.

" Trio shrugged. She watched as his darkened form moved across the floor, relaxing into the edge of her bed.

Desi wasn't far behind him. The moment she propped herself against the post of Nymiria's bed, a small orb of light ascended from the center of her palm, large enough and bright enough for Nymiria to see their faces.

"There is something you need to understand, Nymiria.

And that is that Aziel Haze is not like the other Mystics in this world.

I know that you have heard the stories about children who were blessed by the gods at birth. "

It was a faint memory. But the more she strained trying to remember, the more the vein in her temple seemed to pulse. Any time she thought of her childhood or her life before Yaarborough always caused some sort of pain—emotional or physical, depending on the day. "So, he's a godling." She inquired.