18. Auslin

Chapter 18

Auslin

A uslin walked blindly as he tried to sort his thoughts on what had just happened. Nasume's appearance left Auslin feeling deeply unsettled, as did the accidental peril Kitsuki's comment put Maseo in because of his jealous father.

It was difficult to silence his fears about what if the wolf shifter really had been more to Kitsuki than an irritant. Auslin knew he was being irrational when Kitsuki had never once expressed an interest in the wolf shifter. But it was so hard to shake the memory of a partially undressed Nasume clinging onto the dragon shifter like he had a right to do that.

As Auslin wandered, he eventually realized that the servants who were in the hallways were observing him with wide eyes and concern. He was probably projecting all kinds of chaos with his scent, which fluctuated based on the gamut of emotions he experienced over the unexpected encounter. Deciding that the reasonable thing to do was isolate himself, Auslin entered one of the meeting rooms and shut the door behind him.

Walking around the large wooden table in the center of the room with ten ornate chairs, Auslin went over to the wall-sized windows that overlooked one of the many gardens on the castle grounds. Somehow, looking out over them always brought Auslin some measure of comfort. He tried to embrace that calm sense of composure he needed after being riled up by Nasume's appearance and the aftermath.

Auslin couldn't shake the guilt over asking Kitsuki to react to Nasume as Kitaro would have. It wasn't fair to hold Kitsuki to the standards of who he once was.

At the same time, how could Auslin accept how the shifter monarch was fine with being so quick to a violent end to a problem? Before Auslin had passed through Fate's Gate and met Kitaro, he had known Kitsuki to be a warrior, which so often hinged on meting out death as a final solution. Both Kitaro's and Kitsuki's abilities to bring a quick end to enemies saved Auslin's life many times. How was that any different from Kitsuki trying to do the same with Kio? It shouldn't have been different, but Auslin couldn't accept Kio dying by Kitsuki's hands for his sake.

Arms encircling his waist distracted Auslin from his thoughts. He instinctively relaxed into the affectionate nuzzle on his neck until he realized the aura behind him wasn't Kitsuki's. It was Nasume's.

Exclaiming Nasume's name in shock, Auslin immediately tried to pry himself free without success. "Let go of me!"

Nasume tightened his grip to a painful point. "Not until you tell me how the fuck you have survived into this era."

"What difference does that make?" Auslin desperately struggled to free himself from Nasume's grasp. He froze when Nasume wrapped his hand around his neck in a deadly caress, his claws threateningly pressed against his artery.

"I don't know how you harnessed the forbidden power of necromancy to get brought back to life, but enjoy knowing it was all for nothing since you are about to meet an inglorious end at my hands."

Swallowing hard at the genuine threat of imminent death, Auslin acted with more bravado than he felt. "If you kill me, do you really think Kitsuki is going to forgive you and be yours?"

"Oh, you will beg me for death by the time I'm done with you," Nasume promised with a chuckle of dark amusement that sent a chill through Auslin. "But why should I give you an easy death when I can make you suffer instead?"

The threat brought back ugly reminders of when Mitsuki had attacked him in the past. As repugnant as he found Nasume, he wasn't ready to purify him until it became absolutely necessary. Instead, he used the element of surprise to kick off the wall of windows, shoving both him and Nasume back into the conference table. It was enough to break free, although his neck received a shallow cut from the shifter's sharp claws.

Auslin stood his ground as he stared Nasume down with anger. "I would never let you have such an easy victory!"

Before Auslin could blink, Nasume had grabbed him by the throat and thrown him down onto the floor, pinning him in place beneath him. "That's awful big talk from a pissant," Nasume snidely replied. He secured his hold on Auslin to avoid being overthrown by the thrashing mage. "I will enjoy ruining you so Kitsuki will not want you anymore."

The parallels to Mitsuki's attack were too much to bear. Consequences be damned, Auslin used his powers to send Nasume flying off him and crashing into the windows, which shattered on impact. Unfortunately for Auslin, Nasume remained in the room.

Nasume stood up and drew himself up to his full height as he brushed off the glass still covering his clothes. Any cuts he received had already healed. Nasume looked deadly serious as he threatened, "Oh, that was unwise ." He called a ball of shadows into his hand, which crackled with white flashes of light as he prepared for a counterattack.

Auslin was too angry not to fight back. "I am sick and tired of you interfering in my life! I've done nothing to you!"

"You have done nothing to me?" Nasume venomously repeated. "You have stolen what is rightfully mine, and you have the fucking audacity to say that you have done nothing to me?" It was surreal hearing a royal curse, but Auslin didn't let it distract him.

"Kitsuki has never been yours! Not once!"

Nasume chuckled ominously. "Do you really believe that? If you do, then you are an even bigger fool than I thought."

Auslin did his best to ignore the taunt. Nasume was clearly saying anything to get under his skin. "If you really loved Kitsuki, you would back off and let him have his happiness with me!" Auslin argued, wishing he could somehow make the persistent wolf shifter understand.

"He has not even bedded you yet," Nasume sneered. "Clearly, you mean nothing to him."

Before Auslin could say anything, Nasume threw the sizzling ball of shadows at him while launching himself at the human.

Auslin threw up a barrier that dissolved Nasume's magic and drove him back. Shadows in the room rushed to the wolf shifter's call, who cast them around the mage's protective shield to crush him. They crackled and hissed before dissolving into nothing.

Nasume's wolf came out, his eyes changing from amber to a glowing orange. "If that is all you have, this will be a pathetically easy victory for us."

Before he could launch his next attack, Kitsuki burst into the room. "Nasume, what is the meaning of this?"

"We are trying to educate your obstinate little pet about his place in your life," Nasume's wolf answered with a smirk aimed at Auslin.

In the blink of an eye, Kitsuki held Nasume high off the ground by his throat. His dragon was in full control. "The one who needs to learn his place is you ."

"Our place is at your side," Nasume's wolf argued in a strangled voice.

" Never ," Kitsuki hissed. "Mark our words, Nasume. From this day forth, you are banished from ever stepping foot in Valzerna again. The penalty of trespassing is immediate execution."

"You cannot do that without causing a diplomatic incident," Nasume warned through a gasp as Kitsuki tightened his grip on his throat. "My allies will rise against you in war."

Kitsuki's dragon glared hatefully at the wolf shifter. "You could bring your armies down on us, and we would slaughter them all before killing you, your bastard son, and taking your lands as our own. Every citizen of Talwyn would thank us for freeing them from your tyranny."

"You are bluffing," Nasume wheezed out.

"If we ever lay eyes on you again or if you so much as think of trying to harm our intended, it will mean your instant death, no matter how much he pleads for leniency toward you," Kitsuki's dragon warned. "Do not try us, Nasume, unless you are that eager to die."

With that said, Kitsuki's dragon tossed Nasume to the floor, where the wolf shifter coughed violently as he tried to recover his breath. He gave Nasume one last hateful look before gesturing for Auslin to follow him out of the room, leaving the wolf shifter quivering on the floor in seething rage.