The Bond and Other Curses || Book Two

CHAPTER 6 - ORION

How was it possible there were so many people out at two in the morning? Did no one sleep?

The city glowed in every shade of color, the walkways full of the most bizarrely dressed individuals, and the streets rumbled and growled with strange vehicles that either drove or hovered across its surface.

Four blocks north of the Palace grounds, I had never felt more claustrophobic and jumpy. Tritteon, on the other hand, was expressionless and robotic, and his emotions were no different. It was impossible to draw any comfort from it. However, it was welcoming to see people give us a wide berth, as if they recognized him for who or what he was, their eyes fearfully trailing up and down the leather sleeved black suit he had changed into before we left, as if they expected he might breathe fire at any moment.

Could FengDohrn breathe fire? Nothing I'd read so far had done anything more than speculate over the possibility. It made me wonder if any FengDohrn had actually been consulted or even interviewed before the books had been written.

"You look nice," Tritteon Veehmed to me.

I wasn't capable of a smile. "Thanks," I Veehmed back, the word hissing out between my teeth.

I was grateful he had allowed me to change beforehand. Colette had left a few last-minute-emergency outfits in my wardrobe, probably for times like this when no one would dare bother her so late at night. My hair was still a bit unruly, but the beautiful, black, velvet suit with its wonderfully high collar that would easily hide my brand even if I put my hair up, fit perfectly, the leather accents in all the same places as Tritteon's. It didn't ease my nerves at all. But it felt nicer than wearing what had essentially counted as pajamas. At least, that's what Colette called them.

Was I going to be this way on my own? Tritteon's little stroll was making me decidedly more anxious about the decision I'd made. Had he taken me off the Palace grounds to prove that?

"You may need therapy after this," Tritteon smirked, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

"The key word there is may," I growled. I couldn't hold back a flinch as someone failed to move completely out of the way in time and brushed up against me. "It'll be a done deal for you if we aren't almost there."

"So hostile," he grinned.

I resisted the urge to punch him, because that would only make him right.

"Are we almost there?" the words snarled out of me instead.

"Just there," Tritteon nodded toward the building we were coming up on. It stood alone on the corner, unlike many of the others pressed together in tight rows, the surrounding lights glittering off its shiny, onyx walls and tall, dark windows. White rose bushes grew all along the outside, black metal tables situated beneath flowering arches. Above the wide, darkened double doors, in large, gold letters, read Gevala.

"You sure it's open?"

"Come on. We should be having a good time right now."

I tried to ignore the command. "Who said I wasn't having a good time?"

He laughed. "You look like you might slice someone's head off if they so much as blink in your direction."

"I wouldn't slice their head off," I mumbled, more to reassure myself.

He pulled the left door wide, holding it for me, a glittering chandelier in the ceiling high above glinting dimly off the glossy foyer floor. "Go in," he smirked, that knowing, mischievous glint in his stupid pretty eyes enraging me far more than the compulsion itself.

The command urged me inside. I swung my elbow into his gut as I passed and grinned despite myself as he grunted.

The large, rounded foyer was empty, save for a black partition opposite the doors, blocking off the way forward.