Page 39 of The Heart of Nym (The Twisted Roots Duology #1)

Logic told her not to. Everything told her not to.

From the way the trees danced outside the balcony, to how the moonflowers that curled around the railings seemed to tremble as she extended her hand towards him.

Nymiria figured, most illogically and blinded by her desperation for retribution, he’d helped her before. He could help her again.

Was there truly any harm in helping him find the next goddess? It was inconsequential.

"Alright." She gave a curt nod, shoving her hand towards him until it was merely inches away from his body. "I will help you."

Aziel smirked down at her hand before slowly pushing it aside.

"No need for that." He sighed. "You have my word and my word means more than any handshake ever could.

" Before she could argue, Aziel was placing his hand over her chest. Her heart pounded against his palm and while she expected for his skin to be as cold as death, she was shocked to find that it was warm.

"Death is rarely cold." Aziel said lowly.

"It is a warm embrace that swallows you whole. "

"Will it hurt?" She didn't know what to expect.

She could hardly remember what happened when he'd done this before.

Looking up at him with wide, fear-filled eyes, Nymiria finally let a single tear fall down her cheek.

Aziel watched the trail it made over her flushed skin, using the thumb from his other hand to smooth it away.

He shook his head. "You won't feel a thing."

There was no pain. The only thing that signified what was happening was the faint glow of white light that appeared under his flattened palm.

Her chest swelled with a peaceful warmth, one that spread over her body—pulsing through her veins until she felt intoxicated.

And that was what it felt like, the same heavy weight that settled in your limbs after drinking too much.

Her lips parted, releasing shuddered breaths as she stared at him. And though she was coming close to feeling nothing at all, there was a faint tug, deep in her core, that nearly took her breath away. But the moment she felt it's wicked snap, there was nothing that she felt at all.

Aziel stepped away from her, looking over her body from head to toe before he picked up one of her hands. "This is going to be a bit of a problem." He sighed.

Nymiria looked down at where his gaze now lingered.

Sure enough, the same moonflower that was on her chest now twisted up her arm, much like the moonflowers that decorated his balcony.

And while she should have felt fearful of Dorid's wrath once he saw those fresh silver markings branded into her skin, Nymiria found herself feeling absolutely nothing at all.

"Will it always be this way?" She asked in a voice that was not her own, one that lacked emotion—lacked life. For a moment, all Aziel could do was look at her. He would regret this. He did not like the way she sounded. He didn't like that lifeless look in her eyes.

He didn't ask permission before pressing his hand to her chest again.

The vines and flowers flared with his light, his mind crawling with the names of people he believed she could be safe around.

And despite what he knew was best for her, he made sure to include himself.

This time, as he slowly pulled his hand away from her, Nymiria's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What was that?" She hissed. "You said you'd take it all away!"

"I did." Aziel shrugged. "I took your weakness away, Nymiria. But I am not taking your heart."

He stared down at her like he wanted to say more.

Like there was something that bothered him about what he'd seen only moments before, but he said nothing.

He only traced over the small budding moon-flower on her wrist before he turned away from her and left the room, slamming the large onyx door behind him as he went.

Aziel slumped to the floor outside of Trio's room, his head falling into trembling hands that he had hastily stuffed back into his gloves upon leaving her. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest, his stomach turning over and his jaws pooling with saliva.

He'd achieved what he'd set out to do—the very first step was complete.

He had her. Using the tactics that his father had taught him, he'd managed to swindle her into helping him, only to leave out the most vital piece of information .

Even if his plans had a successful end, he'd lied by omission.

And there was nothing to be proud of because of it.

The door behind him opened and light spilled out into the hall. Aziel lifted his head from where it rested against his palms, eyes moving up Trio’s strong form until they trained in on his shadowed face.

“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Trio asked.

Aziel frowned, his forehead creasing as he groaned and pushed himself to his feet. “Were you spying?"

“No, but the shadows like to gossip.”

That was for certain. There wasn’t a single thing that happened in Aziel’s life that Trio’s shadows hadn’t heard whispers of.

It made him uncomfortable sometimes. Knowing that those pesky little things spread rumors faster than the old women in the market.

He huffed a breath and shrugged into Trio’s room.

Once the door clicked shut behind them, Aziel threw himself onto Trio’s bed, covering his eyes with his forearm.

“I didn’t want to scare her off. I figured that by introducing her to the world we are building here, it might soften her up a bit to the idea of returning.

” He confessed. It seemed simple in his head, but Nymiria had experienced a world of pain in the Beyond.

She didn’t need to tell him everything, but there was one moment in his memory that haunted him every time he closed his eyes—a memory of ivory colored skin streaked with blood and dirt and fearful eyes that pleaded for him to do something.

Save her.

The voice echoed through him, twisted its way around his slow-beating heart until it became his life’s mission.

He had saved her and he hoped that he would have more to offer her when the time came, but with each heroic action Camalia forced upon him, he lost more and more of himself.

Until there was barely a kernel left to give.

How could she accept him if she knew what he was doing?

Weeks ago, he didn’t care about her acceptance.

It wasn’t important. The only thing that mattered was returning her home to where she belonged.

Discovering she was the next Anam changed everything.

Even the way he looked at himself in the mirror.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. She hasn’t tried running away and she doesn’t seem scared.” Trio sighed. Aziel looked at his friend just long enough to see that there was a glaze to Trio’s eyes, a telling sign that the shadows were gossiping again.

Aziel groaned. “Please don’t do that. I know that doing so might actually drive you insane, but I need you to respect her privacy.” He sighed, finally shoving himself up into a seated position. Trio was staring at him now, a smug grin on his face. “What?”

“Nothing. You just seem… caring.”

“Oh, goddess help me,” He prepared to launch himself across the room for the door.

Anything to avoid those eyes that seemed to know all of Aziel’s deepest and darkest secrets.

And they did. Unfortunately. “And don’t start with that either.

A Mimic was going to violate her and kill her.

I don’t know who the Mimic was working for, so I brought her here until I could get a lead.

That’s all this is.” In his opinion, he sounded convincing enough.

Trio shot him a pointed look as he leaned against the wall nearest his own private balcony.

“She’s been here for three days, Aziel. And you have yet to leave her side long enough for you to find anything about why she was attacked.

” He was twirling a thread between his fingers, twisting it until it curled into loops and then letting it pop loose.

“You care for her. This is not just a job for you.”

It wasn’t just a job. From the moment he first saw her, all those years ago, Nymiria had dug her way into his soul. Her essence melded into his bones, drove its way into his heart. And no matter how frequently he tried to replace her, there was always something missing.

And how could he leave her alone? After what he’d seen and the look of sheer terror on her face when the Mimic began attacking her bared flesh, he couldn’t just knock her out, lock her in his room, and go gallivanting through the realms demanding answers from any wicked creature he crossed paths with. He wanted to be there when she woke up.

He didn’t want her to be alone.

Aziel shook the thought from his head, wishing that he could just crawl into Trio’s bed and take the longest nap of his life. It was needed.

Besides, he didn’t need to leave the palace to know that whoever sent the Mimic knew what Nymiria was. And if he had to guess who that someone could be, he’d place a thousand bets on Dorid Yaarborough. The thought of sending her back to him made pure acidic rage burn through him.

“Let’s say that I do care for her.” Aziel mumbled. “What then?”

Trio couldn’t believe that Aziel even dared to ask that question.

His friend had done plenty of stupid things in all of the years he’d been at his side, but this was something else.

The poor man was pathetic. No matter how much confidence he exuded, he did not understand women at all.

Trio wasn’t even attracted to women and he had a greater understanding of them than this idiot did.

“First of all,” Trio huffed, letting the string unravel itself again before sticking it in his pocket. “You take her back to Yaar so they don’t send the hunters after her and ruin the kingdom we are building. And then maybe, I don’t know, be nice to her?”

Being nice wasn’t exactly his greatest feat. Especially not in Yaar.

Trio didn’t say much else. He left the room for rounds, leaving Aziel alone with his thoughts. Which, most days, didn’t bother him nearly as much as it did now.

After taking Nymiria's pain away from her all those years ago, he’d come to learn that making someone feel nothing was something that came along with his death.

Death was not cold. It was a warm embrace that took away the pain of your life to help you transition to the other side.

He practiced on himself enough to master it, completely.

He had the deep black marks on his body to prove it.

He'd even worked with the magic enough to ensure that the only time he felt nothing was in Yaar or if he was on a job for his father.

But, Nymiria…

Gods, that woman.

She seemed to break through every single defense he'd raised for himself.

He'd never trailed after someone so intently.

He'd never simply watched a woman, at all.

But watching her had easily become both the highlight of his day and his horror.

From the way she whipped her head back when she laughed, to the small crinkle on her forehead whenever she was angry…

he'd memorized it all. And he'd holed those memories up like a crow collected shiny, valuable trinkets.

Aziel knew that he had to take her back to Yaar, but it was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. He wanted to feel her just for a little while longer.