Chapter 17

17

“ P ut this on,” Ruslan said, proffering me a strip of silk fabric when I re-entered our bedroom in clean clothes.

A small smile spread across my lips. “I just changed clothes, surely you don’t want to get them dirty again already.”

Ruslan huffed a dark laugh that went straight to my core, then stepped forward. Cupping the back of my head, he tipped it up so I could stare deep into his eyes. “Sprite, there’s nothing I want more than to spend every moment of every day in bed with you. Hearing you scream my name while you fall apart, those moans you make when I hit just the right spot. Watching you come to life under my fingers.” The hardness digging into my stomach made me want to do all of that and more again.

“But we’re late for your presents.” He brought the blind up and tied it over my eyes. The smooth, cool fabric brushed against my heated cheeks. Hot breath ghosted over my ear a moment later. “And while I am the emperor, and everyone must wait on me, I don’t want the food to get cold.”

Then, Ruslan whispered the words to move us, and I clutched his broad chest, trusting that wherever he was taking us was going to be incredible. Especially with the promise of more to eat. The flying sensation ceased, and as if to make its point, my stomach rumbled loudly.

Ruslan moved my hands from his torso into his own, and led me forward. I tuned in to my most familiar senses - smell and sound - trying to discern where we were. An interesting mix of musk and leather and sugar hit my nostrils, followed by a hushed whisper.

Stables? Why would Ruslan want to obscure my vision for this?

“Watch your step,” he murmured, and I eased a foot forward, finding a small bump in the ground. A few more moments passed before we abruptly turned to the right and a familiar whinny hit my ears.

The silk slipped away, and I blinked a few times as my eyes adjusted to the light.

“Surprise!” everyone yelled, and then I took in the view.

Liliana, Drazen, Zuriel, and a dozen others were gathered around a table arranged in a U formation, and at the center stood Mistik, her dapple gray coat gleaming in the morning sun. A new diamond-studded halter adorned her face, catching the light as she tossed her head as if to say “come here and give me a hug.”

I whipped my head to Ruslan, eyes brimming with happy tears. “You put this together for me?”

His answering grin nearly melted me on the spot. “This is your first real birthday, sprite. I wanted you to spend it with everyone and everything you love, because you deserve it. Your twenty-second year of life should start off with a bang.”

“It already did,” I teased in his mind.

“And that was just the first round,” he shot back. Then he dropped my hand and placed his on the small of my back. I didn’t hesitate to race forward and greet all my friends in turn.

“Happy birthday, Izidora!” Liliana squealed, shoving a box into my hands.

“What is it?” I asked her, admiring the aqua box tied with a white ribbon.

“Open it and see, silly,” she admonished.

“I thought we agreed no presents until everyone was seated,” Ruslan groused as he came up behind us.

Liliana scoffed. “As if I would wait. I had to get something over you.”

“I don’t think anything you give Izidora will top what I gave her this morning,” he shot back.

“Ugh, your dick does not count as a gift,” Liliana scoffed.

I snorted a laugh. “You saw it at Steel, Lil. It definitely is.”

Ruslan preened with masculine pride as he shot Liliana a triumphant grin.

With a shake of my head, I pulled at the ends of the ribbon and then wiggled off the lid of the box. Inside were two bracelets, both silver in color with an aquamarine and light green tourmaline framing two letters: I and L.

“They’re friendship bracelets!” Liliana exclaimed, impatiently pulling them out and snapping them onto our wrists.

I pulled her in for an embrace immediately. “I love them. Thank you, Lil.”

Mistik whinnied again, and I released my friend, turning to my horse. “And don’t you look beautiful in your new halter,” I cooed, brushing my fingers against her soft fur. She nodded, then jerked me forward, sending me half stumbling into her neck. I wrapped my arms around it and breathed in her scent.

“Just the first in a long list of presents I got you,” Ruslan said, amusement lining his voice. “They’ll be paraded out as we eat.”

Giving my horse one last squeeze, I turned to face him. “Are there more cinnamon rolls?”

He snorted like I’d told a joke. “Would it be your birthday if there wasn’t one at least the size of your head?”

“Good point,” I quipped, following him around the table to two empty chairs in the very center. A groom led Mistik away, clearing the area for the servants I noticed waiting in the wings, hoisting silver platters on their shoulders.

“She’ll be back,” Ruslan told me as the first servant stepped forward, revealing a rainbow of fruit. She scooped a handful onto our plates before moving on to Liliana sitting to my right. Zuriel was on her opposite side, along with Xorrek and Gozzak, while Drazen sat beside Ruslan, a buffer between Anton and Slavian. Even Artur, Kriath, and Savaich were in attendance, all toward the end of the table and chatting with a few other Félvér – Natasha, Aliana, and a few other females I knew from the army.

As food continued to pile on plates, Anton leaned down, his eyes dancing as he regarded Ruslan and me. “So how was your hike this morning?”

A warning growl slipped from Ruslan’s throat as he stared down the High Lord.

“We had so much fun. The view was… breathtaking,” I replied. A laugh burst from Liliana, and I shot her a mischievous grin over my shoulder. Zuriel snorted and shook his head.

“I can imagine the high was… incredible,” Anton chuckled, slapping Slavian on the shoulder. The other High Lord rolled his eyes.

“That was the worst joke you’ve ever come up with, Anton,” he sighed.

Before Anton could retort, a rumbling caught all our attention. Cedomir, Ruslan’s longtime chef, pushed a cart around the far corner of the stable with great care. He slowed to avoid an uneven bit of stone, then continued on. The smell of vanilla and cinnamon was divine as he neared, and my mouth watered automatically.

He came to a halt right in front of us, shooting me a conspiratorial wink before stepping forward and lifting the lid on the cart with a dramatic flourish.

Ruslan hadn’t been kidding. The cinnamon roll – or cake – was nearly the size of me . Before I’d even had a chance to take in the enormous desert, Ruslan flicked his wrist, igniting twenty-two candles with his black fire.

“Stand up and make a wish before you blow them out,” Ruslan said, his smirk stretching from ear to ear.

Rising, I braced my hands on the edge of the table and stood on my tiptoes to get closer to the decadent delight. The smell was even more intoxicating this close. I closed my eyes, preparing to make this wish.

It wasn’t hard to come up with what I wanted.

Revenge.

And with that, I blew on the candles, sending them flickering before they winked out completely. Everyone cheered, and then drinks were served, wine flowing easily into my belly as Cedomir sliced the cake and placed a heaping serving in front of me, including extra melted frosting to coat the sides.

“Thank you,” I beamed up at him.

“Anything for you, Future Empress,” he replied, then moved along, offering pieces to everyone else.

We tucked into our food, and I fell into conversation with Liliana and Zuriel. She had the latest gossip from the citadel, something about three of the servants getting caught in a broom closet in a compromising position.

“Apparently, the first female that walked in just asked if she could join, which only led to more noise, until the head of cleaning found them all and yanked them out of there,” Liliana said around a mouthful of eggs.

I stuck my fork into the cinnamon roll cake and moaned as it slid across my tongue. Nothing should be allowed to taste this good. The frosting was the perfect sweetness, the cinnamon and vanilla in perfect harmony, and the core perfectly soft and warm.

My eyes popped open when I heard Zuriel and Liliana laughing. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were about to orgasm from Liliana’s story,” Zuriel teased, a wry grin twisting his lips. “But knowing your fondness for cinnamon rolls, it's entirely plausible that you’d react that way to this cake.”

As if to prove his point, he took a large bite of his slice, mimicking me while I tried not to choke on my laughter. Liliana had no such luck and spluttered some half-chewed food onto her plate before shoving the rest down with a long sip of her bubbly wine.

“That’s not even the first time that’s happened, either,” Zuriel continued while Liliana and I tried to calm ourselves. “It seems to be a recurring problem with that portion of the staff. There must be something in their cleaning supplies.”

“Zuriel, I didn’t know you were such a gossip,” I teased, going for a particularly frosting-coated bit of the cake.

Gozzak barked a laugh from down the table. “When Zuriel speaks, I always listen. He somehow knew everyone’s business when more Telivér lived beneath Ryza. Maybe that’s why he’s so quiet. He’s gathering information that we don’t even realize we’re giving.”

“But I only shared the juiciest tidbits with you two and Ithuriel,” Zuriel replied, not looking at all ashamed.

“Oh, then you have to tell us the most shocking thing you learned. No matter how far back. You do have thousands of years of memory,” I teased.

Zuriel’s icy blue eyes glittered with amusement. “You two are going to love this one.”

“Oh?” Liliana and I said simultaneously.

“Before either of you were born, one of the High Lords had married a Centaur Shifter Félvér, who happened to have a twin brother,” Zuriel began, before Xorrek and Gozzak howled with laughter. Zuriel shot them a bemused grin, and my curiosity was piqued. Clearly the two Demons knew of this story.

“As you both know, free use of herbs has been common in the Iron Realm for some time. One night while his wife was out with the other High Ladies, the High Lord partook a little too much. His wife’s brother happened to be staying with them at the time, and, according to the rumor, he was the one who encouraged the male to have too much.”

Liliana made an oohing sound, rubbing her hands together. “This is going to be good.”

I leaned forward, not wanting to miss a word.

“One thing led to another, and the brother shifted into his Centaur form. From which the two had relations ,” Zuriel emphasized.

“Zuriel, you can’t leave it that vague, I need details!” Liliana exclaimed, reaching for her drink and knocking the rest of it back.

The Angel chuckled while the Demons barked out laughs. “According to the servant they invited to join them, at first, the High Lord was riding the Centaur, if you catch my meaning.”

Liliana and I both released a shocked gasp. “No way,” I said, hand flattening over my chest.

“Mhmm. And afterward, the Centaur had his way with the High Lord, still in his shifted form,” Zuriel added.

“But with which penis?” Liliana pressed.

“What do you mean, which one?” I questioned, brows dipping together.

The four of them burst into laughter again. “Why do you think Konsteon always has that bandana on?” Zuriel asked.

“Because–oh,” I said, realization dawning on me. My cheeks flamed, and I giggled away my embarrassment. “So wait, they had a servant join them too?”

“The male took the front while the High Lord took the rear, so to speak,” Zuriel said, quirking a brow as he sipped from his liquor.

My mouth popped open into an O. “That is some serious gossip.”

“Probably the best I’ve heard,” Liliana added. “So did the wife ever find out?”

Zuriel snorted. “Of course she did. The whole realm knew despite his attempts to pay the servant off.”

“So what happened then?” I asked, desperate for more.

My cousin shrugged. “They stayed together. And her brother lived with them for a long time after that, though their staff was… smaller afterward.”

Liliana made another suspicious noise. “Do you think the three of them fucked each other?”

“That was the general consensus, yes,” Zuriel replied, and both the Demons offered their agreement.

“How scandalous,” Liliana commented, though her grin said she was eating this up more than the food on her plate. Honestly, I wanted to know more too. I had so many questions about how all of that played out.

But before I could voice another, Ruslan tapped his knife against his glass, drawing all our attention. He rose, towering over me and everyone else seated around the table. “Now that everyone has had time to eat, let’s bring on the presents for my mate.”

A few cheers sounded, and Liliana squeezed my arm. “You are going to love them all.”

Ruslan winked at me, then released a sharp whistle. A moment later, Mistik reappeared, this time decorated in a set of armor. A piece of metal hugged most of her face, leaving room for her ears and muzzle, with roses etched into its surface, perfectly matching the armor Ruslan had gifted me during Béke. Those overlapping scales that moved so smoothly covered her neck and her sides, while a new saddle strapped over it. The dark leather was smaller than other saddles, but on either side, two sheaths bumped against her as she walked forward, the perfect places for my swords.

“So she is just as protected as you are should you need to ride her into battle, sprite,” Ruslan said in my mind. Tears pricked my eyes. He knew exactly how much Mistik meant to me, and to lose her during the war would be yet another reason Kazimir needed to die by my blade.

“Thank you.”

Mistik tossed her head, and the groom led her around another corner, only for another horse to appear. She was black like Twilight, though on her nose, a perfect white spot broke up her otherwise flawless color. And then from behind her, three more horses appeared – a black and white stallion with a long, flowing mane and tail, perfectly brushed; a mare whose coat nearly matched the color of my hair with long, lithe legs; and another stallion whose fiery spirit captivated me immediately as he pranced at the end of his lead.

“Once the war is finished and the barracks have been cleared, I am repurposing the stables there to house all your horses,” he told me. “You can do with them what you like. Breed them, race them, ride them. All of it is yours.”

Leaping from my seat, I hugged him, then raced around and greeted all my new mounts individually. The horses were all gorgeous, and I realized I’d spent too much time with them and not enough with my friends when Ruslan brushed against my mind. “We have more for you.”

“We?”

“A few others have presents for you too. Liliana was supposed to wait, but we know how that went.”

With a sigh, I returned to my seat. Ruslan squeezed my thigh under the table, and I flashed him a sweet smile that I hoped conveyed how happy all of this made me.

Drazen’s chair scraped back as he dug behind him and produced his gift. “For some extra protection,” he told me as he passed it over Ruslan’s head.

I accepted the dark blue box and flicked it open, revealing a dagger small enough to strap to my thigh. “Thank you, Drazen, it’s lovely,” I said, lifting it from the box and letting it catch the sunlight. The edge looked wickedly pointed and I sliced it through the air, satisfied with the sharp sound it made.

Anton and Slavian gifted me a sack of herbs they swore would make me enjoy my time with Ruslan even more, while the Demons gave me a twin dagger to the one from Drazen. By the time everyone was finished, I had a pile of presents nearly as tall as me – not even counting the horses or Mistik’s armor.

The day turned out brilliantly, the sun shining so brightly that it held off the early autumn chill, and between the wine, the love of my friends, and the weather, I was warm, content, happy down to my very bones.

By the time the servants returned to clear away our food and drink, the sun was nearly at its apex in the sky, and I was blissfully tipsy. My friends started to disperse, hugging me goodbye and wishing me a happy birthday again, until only Drazen, Liliana, Zuriel, Ruslan, and I remained.

Ruslan stepped away to coordinate the delivery of my gifts to our suite in the citadel, and then Zuriel cleared his throat, jerking his head like he wanted me to follow him. We stepped a little further away, allowing Drazen and Liliana to continue their own conversation undisturbed.

“I have something for you,” Zuriel told me, producing a small cylinder from behind his back. “I didn’t want to give it to you in front of everyone else.”

My brows dipped together as I studied my cousin. A sadness clung to his eyes despite his attempts to maintain a stoic facade. “What is it?” I asked.

“This belonged to Ithuriel. It is nothing fancy, like the amethyst necklace from Liessa. But he treasured this, and after he died, I treasured it for my memories of him. I think it is time it was yours,” he explained slowly, unscrewing the lid. He tipped it to the side, the contents dumping into his hand.

“In Keleti, around the capital, most Angels live in homes built into tall trees. You would love the network of bridges that connect them, so you are forever suspended among the leaves. Unfortunately, many were lost during the great war, including the one where Ithuriel lived with our grandmother. This sliver of wood was all he managed to collect from it.” Zuriel uncurled his fingers, revealing a smooth piece of red wood, one end slightly charred.

“He said it was his good luck charm, and that whenever he needed a dose of it, he would roll it between his fingers,” Zuriel said, taking my frozen hand and opening it. He placed it there, then covered his palm with mine. “I held it whenever I needed to feel close to him, to remind myself of what he would have said during hard times.”

A sob lodged in my throat. “I can’t take this from you. He was like a father to you, too.”

But Zuriel shook his head. “I have my memories of him. You do not. I will not need it in the future.”

“Are you certain?” I pressed. As incredible as it was to be holding something that my true father had once touched, I couldn’t take this comfort from my cousin. The pain he hid so well was etched on his face as he nodded. Zuriel hurt, just like I did, just like everyone did, and yet, he bore it all with such grace. I hoped one day I could be like him. With all the sessions we had been doing, I knew it was possible.

“Thank you, Zuriel,” I said, throwing my arms around him and squeezing as hard as I could. “You are my only family, and I don’t know what I would do without you.”

A wave of sorrow swept over me, so profound that it stole my breath. But as quickly as it came, it disappeared. “You are so strong, Izidora. Ithuriel would be so proud of the female you are becoming. I know I am.”

And then, I did cry. Ruslan came to my side, and Zuriel relayed what he’d given me since I was unable to speak. Ruslan pulled me in, rocking me gently from side to side. My ear pressed against his chest, his heart beating steadily in my ear, while his arms muffled everything else around us. In Ruslan’s arms, I was always safe, always protected.

“Thank you for everything you do for Izidora, Zuriel,” I heard Ruslan say softly. “She loves you very deeply.”

“I know,” Zuriel replied. “Thank you for taking care of her too, Ruslan. She will need you.”

“Never as much as I need her,” Ruslan replied, and I felt the depth of his love down our bond. Finally, I was able to drag in a deep breath and rein in my tears. It had been a long day, filled with every possible emotion, and I was exhausted.

Ruslan seemed to sense I was ready to face everyone again, and he relaxed his embrace. I looked up at him, resting the tip of my chin on his chest. “I think I need a nap now. You woke me up too early.”

He huffed a laugh, then planted a kiss on my forehead. “Then a nap you shall receive.”

Stepping away, I embraced Zuriel one more time. “Thank you. If you ever need to use this again, you know where to find me.”

He offered me a soft smile, then secured the wood in its container. “That I do. Sleep well, cousin.”

I tucked the precious present against my chest as Ruslan whispered the words to return us to Roc Palace, where I placed my two most treasured items together in the back of our closet. My mother and father were still united, even after death, in their possessions that lived on. I took one long look at the amethyst resting atop the wood, and then I returned to bed, where Ruslan held me until I drifted off into a peaceful slumber.