ILLYRIAN PRIDE

CHAPTER 2

I don't want a mate. I don't want a bond. And I don't want you.

Stay here.

Sorcha was never good at doing what she was being told, anyways.

She climbed out of Devlon's window the moment she'd heard the front door close.

It was not the first time in her life that she'd wished for wings. She was Illyrian in all senses of the word, except for that.

It was another one of her many shortcomings; such as her inability to follow rules, be like her perfect sister or someone her parents could be proud of.

Her wingless back was another sore point between her and Devlon. Who still oversaw everyone's training in this camp. He hated her on sight. And she did him. Still did hate him, despite the insistent tug in her chest to be with him-

She dropped into the snow at the back of his house. Sorcha leaned against the stone wall. Her knees still trembling, not from the drop out of Devlon's, but from the feel of his hands on her body. His lips on her mouth. His tongue-

She shuddered.

"Please tell me the reason that you're sneaking out of Devlon's window is not what I think it is."

Sorcha spun around to face her cousin.

"What the hell are you doing here, Nyx?"

Her cousin crossed his arms over a broad chest as he sniffed at her. He grimaced.

"Do I even want to know?"

"Shut up." Sorcha leaned against the wall, scrubbing her face roughly. "Just-"

A sob wrecked through her.

Nyx was there in an instant. His arms supporting her, even though she must have smelled like Devlon.

"Did that bastard hurt you?" His voice was low and lethal.

Sorcha shook her head. "My father can't see me like this. He can't-

"Shh." Nyx gently patted her wrecked braid. "Come on."

They'd ended up sitting on the back porch of Nyx' family cabin. The lights inside were out, should her father pass by, he'd think it empty. Nyx glamored them invisible and cocooned them in Autumn heat as he handed her a glass of whisky.

Sorcha swallowed a few sips out of sheer desperation.

"Well?" Nyx was rarely impatient. But even he had his limits.

Sorcha avoided his eyes, unsure of what she could even tell him. If he slipped, if his parents glimpsed something in his mind. If somehow her parents...Gods she was already such a disappointment. She'd hoped competing and winning the Blood Rite would repair their relationship, convince them that her party days were truly over and that she now had a real purpose.

She'd worked in the library to please them. Make them proud, as they'd been of her sister. But a scholar's job was not for her. She needed physical purpose. Yet the Valkyrie units were too structured. And her mother despaired of her whenever she saw that her daughter's heart was not in her training. Her father took her aside, always with a gentle joke and a loving hand. She begged him to let her come to Illyria. To train here, where she'd be home in the wildness of the mountains.

What would they think of her now? She knew that they wouldn't stay out of her business. They would call her back to Velaris. They'd postone her participation in the Rite. And worse, if they confronted Devlon-

He already said he wanted nothing to do with her.

"I'm fucking him." She heard herself mumble.

Nyx stilled, one hand clutching his whisky, his mouth slightly ajar. "What-" he sputtered at last.

"You're not allowed to judge me." Sorcha snapped. "We all know you are sleeping withTamlin's daughter."

Nyx narrowed his eyes, but sighed. "I love her. I'm not just fucking around."

Sorcha choked on another sip of whisky. "What!"

Nyx rolled his eyes, his cheeks blushing suddenly.

The Mother must be laughing at them.

Sorcha took her cousin's hand and squeezed.

Nyx squeezed back, but then he smirked.

"Devlon?" He asked, slyly, "Seriously?"

"Ugh." Sorcha threw back the rest of her whisky.

A long while later, after her father had confirmed through Nyx' mind that he'd flown back to Velaris, the cousins made it inside the cabin. The fire blazed as they gathered blankets and furs in front of it and settled on them.

It made Sorcha feel twelve years old all over again. However most of their group was missing - Catrin was under tutelage of her father, Azriel, and Christopher was on vacation with his grandfather Helion. And her sister, Athena, well she-

Sorcha shook her head. Refusing to think of the last time they'd spoken. What they'd said.

Still it felt nice.

Sorcha could almost forget the horrible day she'd had.

Almost.