Chapter Twenty-Three

I was happier than I'd been in a long time when Rath and I returned to the Wraith Lord Citadel. I walked into the dining hall hand-in-hand with my Varraen warrior. We had spent the morning at the Dellamar house, venturing down into the town for breakfast, but decided to come back for lunch. Mainly because Air started annoying me about training. But Rath and I had made love again before we left. So, we were starving. Food had to come before magic.

Then I saw Vex.

“Go on,” Rath said when he noticed the direction of my gaze. “Training can wait a little longer.”

“No, it can't,” Air said.

“He's already put off talking to Vexen once because of it,” Rath said. “Do not interfere again.”

“Oh, snap!” Fire cackled. “He just put you in your place, Air-head.”

Shaking my head at her strangeness, I headed for Vexen.

Vex got up. I smiled and veered around the table. He went in the opposite direction.

I stopped short and stared after him. I would have called after him too, but my throat was constricted in shock. I was too confused to think of what to do.

“What the actual fuck?” Fire said what I was thinking.

The other Tiger Ladrin at the table shook their heads at me.

“What's that mean?” I demanded as I waved at them. “Why are you shaking your heads at me?”

“He's not happy,” Lord Racmar said. “What did you do?”

“Oh, he didn't tell you?” I put my hands on my hips.

“No.”

“Then why do you assume it's something I did?”

Lord Falrun waved his hand in the direction Vex had headed.

I grimaced. “Yeah. Fair. But it's not all my fault.” I stormed away, heading down the hall to the buffet table.

Halfway there, Graysen caught up with me. “What the fuck was that about?”

“I don't know,” I grumbled. “Vex wanted to talk to me yesterday, but we had to come down to the meeting. So I thought he'd want to talk to me now, but evidently I was wrong.”

“Well, that's not unusual for you. I'd venture to say that you're more wrong than right.”

I stuck my tongue out at Gray.

“Maybe if you used that thing for more than just talking and taunting, that gorgeous guy wouldn't be running away from you.”

“He didn't run. And believe me, I've used it. I've tried to use it more, but he wouldn't let me.”

Gray blinked and stopped walking. “What now?”

“You heard me. Vex won't fuck me. He wants me to be in love with him first.”

Gray stared at me for two seconds before he doubled over with laughter. He laughed and laughed until tears streamed down his face and his cheeks turned red. Wraith lords walked past us, giving us baffled looks.

“I told him a stupid joke,” I said to them.

Gray laughed harder.

“All right, enough,” I said. “It's not that funny.”

“It is that funny!” He gasped, caught his breath, and straightened. “Oh, shit!” he huffed. “A guy who wants to hold out for love. You found something that I thought didn't exist. You, of all people.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means that you needed the opposite. And you're supposed to be blessed by the Goddess and shit. But you choose the one guy in the whole fucking citadel who wants love before sex.”

“Yeah,” I whispered, something shimmering inside me. “He is something special, isn't he?”

“That's one way of putting it,” Gray said. “Not my way, but one way.” Then he frowned at me. “ Are you in love with him?”

I shrugged. “I think I'm getting there.”

“And that's not enough for him?”

“He's a romantic.”

Graysen snorted. “No shit.”

“I'm serious. He's very romantic.”

“Well, Mr. Romance just walked out on you, so maybe he isn't all that into you after all.”

I grimaced. “He's into me. But that might be the problem.”

“When did you start spouting nonsense all the time?” Graysen shook his head and started walking again.

I hurried to catch up and got in line with him at the lunch buffet. “It's not nonsense. If Vex wasn't in love with me, he would have fucked me already.”

A couple of the lords in line ahead of us glanced back.

“Mind your manners!” I snapped at them.

“Fuck off, Ember,” Lord Jusso said. “You can't say shit like that around us and expect us to ignore it.”

“I mean, he isn't wrong,” Gray said.

“Oh, fuck all of you,” I muttered. “I have no fucking privacy anymore.”

“Try saying things in private ,” Graysen advised.

Jusso burst out laughing. “You're funny. I like you.”

“Thanks.” Gray looked him over. “I like you too. Because you're super sexy.”

“Thanks.” Jusso licked his lips. “You're pretty fuckable too.”

I leaned forward and gleefully ruined the moment. “You're both tops.”

“Fuck,” both men growled in unison.

It was my turn to laugh. But my amusement didn't last long. As the line moved and Jusso and Gray got over their incompatibility, my thoughts turned back to Vex. He was certainly living up to his name.