Battle for the Photon Core WATTPAD VERSION [Inter-Universal Protectors: Book 1]

Chapter Twenty-One (Amneris)

Amneris could hardly stand. Her head spun and pounded with every movement. She groaned, leaning against the wall behind her for support and pressing her hands to her head as she slowly hobbled out of the living room.

She felt hands clamp on her now-healed waist and turned to find Colt holding her up. He winked, sweeping her off her feet. Slowly, he carried her to her room. Colt opened the door with his power, carrying her to the bed. He placed her down gently, wrapping the blankets around her. He sat beside her, running a hand gently through her hair.

She purred quietly, catching his smile. "What?" she asked softly.

"Nothing," he said, twirling strands of her curly hair through his fingers.

"Liar," Amneris sighed, rolling to face him properly. She ran a finger down his arm, drawing circles with her finger in the palm of his hand. "Tell me." She watched as he took a deep breath and –

"You are so beautiful."

She blinked, surprised. That was certainly not what she was expecting to hear.

"I mean it. You are." He caught her hand, pressing it against his chest. "It is not only that. I feel as though I can be myself around you."

"I guess that makes the both of us," she murmured. His head titled to the side. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Indeed, you did."

Amneris sat up, ignoring her spinning head and burning face. He gave her a soft smile which she found herself retuning before chiding herself for those feelings. "It's strange," she started, not able to stop herself. "I feel as though I've known you for longer than I have."

Something in his eyes darkened. It was fast enough that she dismissed it as a trick of the flickering lights in her room before using a small portion of her power to dim them. They were only making her headache worse.

Colt placed his hand in her cheek. She leaned into the touch as his mouth lowered to hers. He kissed her once, cautiously, before pulling back and meeting her eyes. He leaned in again, this time deepening the kiss. Her arms wrapped around him as a hand tangled in her hair, keeping her firmly in place.

He pulled back suddenly, looking at the door. Amneris turned around to do the same. Someone had just closed it. Probably just Leo checking on me. She decided not to tell Colt that. When she faced him again, he pressed another kiss to her lips. This time, when they pulled apart, she pushed her aching brow against his chest and closed her eyes.

She felt him lay down, pulling her with him. A flick of his wrists and the lights went out. Colt pulled the blankets over them as she got comfortable, bringing his arms firmly around herself. He did not seem to mind, holding her close. As she begun to drift off, Amneris felt him speak straight against her ear. She was unsure of what to think of what he said to her.

"I think I might be in love with you."

* * * * * * * *

When she woke up, cringing at the sunlight streaming through a small slit in the curtains, the first thing Amneris saw was Colt. His arms were draped loosely around her. He was sound asleep. She did not mind and could not bring herself to wake him. If anything, she liked the idea of staying in his arms. It sounded like a good way to spend the day.

She brushed a hand down the side of his face, shifting a little closer. His arms tightened around her at the movement. She lifted her head to find him watching her. "Did I wake you up?" Colt shook his head. "You're a horrible liar."

"Am I?" he asked against her neck. "I am sure the others will understand you taking the day off," he murmured, sensing the thoughts she did not realise she was thinking.

She hummed. "And what would you have us do were we to have a day off. Hypothetically, of course," she added at his surprised face.

"Of course," he repeated, becoming thoughtful. "How does a date sound?"

"Hmm? What kind of date?"

"I would have us go somewhere nice and quiet," he said. "Somewhere where we would not be disturbed by anything or anyone." He kissed her before continuing. "I would let you decide what we do for the rest of he day, so long as it does not involve murder –"

"– What's that supposed to mean?!"

"– Then, when it is dark, I would take you out somewhere where we could enjoy a nice meal. Just the two of us."

"That does sound nice," she admitted.

There was a knock on the door quickly followed by Carmin's voice. "Are you guys awake yet?" she asked. "Breakfast finished an hour ago. We left food out for you but it's going cold."

Zoe was the one to speak next. "You don't want to disturb them, Car."

"Yeah," Nikki agreed. "For all we know, they could be –" She lowered her voice enough that even Amneris' Fae hearing could not make out what had been said. From the laughter, though, it was quite obvious what it was.

Amneris sighed before yelling, "If you three would be nice enough to make me a big cup of sahlab and maybe have Kayla work her magic for my inevitable headache, we might consider getting up!"

Giggling followed footsteps down the hall and the stairs before vanishing entirely.

"Count on them to ruin a moment," she muttered, sitting up. A sharp pain blasted across her skull. She groaned, grasping her head and about to fall backwards. Colt grasped her shoulders to stop that. "Too much wine," she moaned. "You're right. I haven't felt this bad since the last Festival of Sekhmet I –" She stopped mid-sentence. "How did you even know about that?"

Colt's entire composition changed from concerned to nervous in a heartbeat. "I remembered you are Kemetic and assumed you have been to one."

"Uh-huh," she said, raising an eyebrow.

When it was clear there was no further explanation coming, she tossed back the blankets and, with some difficulty, managed to find her way into the living room where her requested drink and some herbs from Kayla were waiting. The warm drink and tasteless herbs managed to ease her headache, even if only a little.

Looking around, she realised that none of the men to be home and quickly decided they must have had other matters to attend to. It was not far from normal for one to wake up in this household and find most people not there. They did, after all, have their own duties to attend to. Colt had disappeared, presumably to wherever the other men were. The good news was that it gave the five women time to themselves.

The five of them enjoyed a meal to themselves, keeping the volume low as some of them – by that they meant Amneris and Nikki – had drunk quite a lot the previous night. Too much noise would bring back the headaches which Kayla promised would vanish once the herbs kicked in and started doing their job. Amneris prayed that would not take too long. All she wanted to do was sleep off her hangover and that was impossible to do with a headache.

The meal was finished slowly, Zoe and Kayla saying they would do the washing up. Nikki made her way back upstairs, presumably to her room for more sleep. Amneris was about to do the same thing when Carmin grabbed her hand and pulled her outside.

"I just got a call from Dan," she said. "We need to go to Voliabyi."

A groan. "But Car."

"Just go get dressed."

Amneris looked over herself: Her messy long hair was braided and hung over her shoulder. She was wearing a light pink tank top covered with swirls in a darker shade, and the matching pyjama pants. "What's wrong with this?"

"It doesn't exactly scream 'Queen'. More 'sleep deprived teenager'."

"Everyone's a critic."