Seven Courts of Love and Magic

Chapter 18

Zaria

"There's nothing, nothing in the damn book about the orb besides a black roofed building." I walk down the stairs, Nyx trailing behind me.

"So that's what you were doing this morning, looking for the orb? Why didn't you wake me?" His voice is hushed but I sense a slight tone of hurt.

I raise my shoulders. In truth, he looked too peaceful and I couldn't bring myself to disturb him. Instead, I pulled his hair away from his face and pressed a kiss to his cheek, soft enough to not wake him.

"Did the Peregryn have anything to do with it?" He tenses.

I rush to reassure him. "No, no, of course not. They just came up to me while I was in the garden." We stop at the bottom of the stairs, unsure of where to look first.

"Okay, well, this place is small. It can't be that hard to find the orb."

The cottage was definitely small. The staircase beside the table in the entranceway where we first came in leads to the bedrooms upstairs and beyond that is a dim, modest sitting area lined with dusty books. Through the sitting area is the dining room which leads to the garden outside and kitchen tucked neatly in the back. There was nowhere to go that I hadn't already explored, besides the bedrooms otherwise occupied by other people. Nyx realizes this at the same time I do.

"We have to get into the other rooms." His eyes widen at the idea.

"Yes, we do."

He doesn't need to get into my head to know what I'm thinking. "Don't even think about it."

"She can help us! What other excuse are we going to give when we go knocking on everyone's door?"

He rubs his face. He knows i'm right. "Alright."

Bita was our one way ticket into all the rooms. I turn to find her but Nyx grabs my arm to stop me. "What about the Peregryn? If they were in the garden..."

I didn't think of that. If they were in the garden it meant they were staying here as well and they were not going to respond well to us knocking down their doors. "Okay, new plan. We don't involve Bita. She doesn't need to be dragged into this. How about you just do your mind magic again," I wave my fingers in his face, "and just poof them to sleep."

"Or," he pulls me out of the way of an elderly couple trying to go up the stairs, "I just fly up to the windows and look inside each of the rooms, discreetly. We won't be able to search the rooms in-depth, but we wouldn't be able to do that anyway. This is our best chance."

I nod my head, liking the idea. "Okay, good, and while you're up there you can check out the roof too. Maybe it's more obvious than we think and the orb is, I don't know, stuck to the top of the inn or something."

"For both our sakes, let's hope that's true," he says, dragging me behind him.

——————

"Do you see anything?" I whisper up to Nyx as he hovers in the corner of the second window we've checked. We decided to wait until dark—to stay as hidden as possible. The mosquito's are eating away at my ankles. "Hurry up, I'm getting bit to death down here."

He looks down at me. "You live in the Spring Court. Shouldn't you be used to mosquitos?"

"Mosquitos come out in warmer climates, genius. Now focus, so we can leave before we get caught."

"There's nothing here," he says with a sigh and drifts to the next window. "Oh!" He yelps and pins himself against the wall, out of view.

"What? What happened? Did someone see you?" I crane my neck, startled.

"No, no, I saw them..."

"Isn't that the point?"

"No, I mean, I saw them, you know..."

"Oh, oh." I burst out in laughter, leaning against the wall.

"Quiet down."

"Just move on," I say between strangled breaths.

"This is useless. I checked the roof, I've tried to check these windows, we're not going to find the orb this way.

I anxiously twist the ring on my finger. "This was your idea. Just...keep looking. We have to find it Nyx, we have to." There is no humor left in me.

He flies back down, landing in front of me. "It's not worth it."

"Fly me up there, I'll look."

I move to reach for him and he wraps his arms around me, but I don't feel my feet lift from the soft grass. I feel panic settling in as I bury my head in the crook of his neck. "Please, Nyx. Please help me. We have to find it, we've barely started, we can't fail so soon." Please, Nyx. Why won't you help me?

He gives my back a reassuring squeeze. "We will, I promise."

I pull back and look him in the eyes, still blue through the shadows of the darkness. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

He raises a hand to my cheek, wiping away a fallen tear with his thumb. "I will tear this world down to find that orb."

I let out a short breath with a smile. "That's sweet."

He smiles back at me and the growing warmth returns, curling through my stomach. "What do you say we get some rest, try again tomorrow? We're not going to find that orb tonight."

I take a deep breath. "Yeah, okay."

I let him lead me back inside, saying goodnight to Bita on our way up the stairs. She eyes his hand covering mine with a knowing smile and I wonder for the first time how old she might be. Definitely too young to be smiling like that.

He enters the rooms first and I pivot to lock the door behind us. When I turn, he pins my body against the wall, resting his hands on either side of my head. My mouth opens in a surprised gasp and he leans down slowly, his lips a hairs width away from mine. I draw in a shaky breath and raise my chin, angling myself closer, letting my eyes close as I wait to feel his lips against my own.

He doesn't waste a moment, crushing against me. My fingers rise to his back as I let myself explore the delicate muscles of his wings. His reaction is immediate and intense, groaning into my mouth and pushing his hips harder against my own.

His hands move to my thighs, lifting me up. I wrap my legs around his lower back, gripping onto his shoulders, and he moves us from the wall to the bed. He kneels over me, kissing my neck, hands fumbling with my shirt. My own hands are fisted in the dark material of his tunic.

In a movement faster than my brain can comprehend, his weight is lifted from my body at the sound of shattering glass and a pained grunt of strong bodies crashing against the wall to the side of the bed. My hands instinctively rise to protect my face before I open my eyes and see Nyx pinned to the floor beneath a large body. Feathered white wings rise above him. My blood boils at the sight of the male Peregryn from earlier.

I move back against the pillows, unsure of how to help, knowing that I'm powerless against the struggle happening on the floor. The male is double the size of Nyx and I watch helplessly as he clutches him beneath the arms, launching through the broken window and back into the night sky. I scream after them, scrambling across the bed. I clutch the side of the window, squinting through the darkness outside, careful not to cut myself on the shards of glass. My heart beats against my chest in fear when I can't spot Nyx or the male in the sky. I scream his name, once, again, over and over until my throat feels like it's bleeding. A body crashes into me from behind, arms pinning painfully against the flesh at my chest. I fall, soaring through the open air, the ground catching up to my face fast.

I don't have time to scream before I'm being lifted high, the wind ripping through my clothes and against my skin. My body twists and I can't distinguish upwards from downwards. I feel sick. I see nothing through the gloom of the night. I try to move my arms to reach out for something, anything, but they're pinned to my side with the strength of cruel, muscular arms. Harsh force slams against the back of my head and I'm unsure if the stars I see are real or a result of the trauma. I wonder if it's Nyx I hear calling out my name before my eyes close, absolute darkness washing over me.