Chapter 34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Aweek later, Arkon sat in the chambers of the Council of Ten, staring up at the painting of the goddess Juno showering Venice in wealth.

He couldn’t follow what was being discussed and found he really didn’t care. The war was over; peace talks were underway, and the Council was due to travel to Constantinople to meet with the ministers of the Varangian empire. All of Asa’s remains had been recovered and had been given to Astrid for proper burial rites. Arkon let out a long sigh and got to his feet.

"I’m sorry, are we boring you, Grand Sorcerer?" Lorenzo Tera asked huffily.

"Yes, you are." Arkon turned to Gio. "I’m sorry, but I’m done. I fulfilled my promise, and I’m no longer needed here."

"You are quitting? Just like that?" Josefina D’Argento demanded, her shock evident. Zahir, Dom, and Nico—all did their best to look as surprised as everyone else.

"Yes, I’m quitting. Right now. Good luck with it all," Arkon said and tucked in his chair. "Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find someone else to fill my chair. It’s going to be a lot easier to fill mine than Gio’s when he quits too."

"Oh, you bastard," Gio growled, and then everyone was on their feet shouting at once. Arkon gave them a little wave over his shoulder and left the chambers, feeling lighter than he had in a decade.

He had arranged for his apartments to be cleared out over the past day, and everything was ready for his great escape. He just needed one more thing.

Arkon strolled through the streets of San Marco with no glamor, and it gave him great joy to tell everyone who approached him, "Sorry, I’m no longer Grand Sorcerer! I can’t help you with that!"

He trusted the rumor mill to spread the news of his retirement through Venice quicker than the clap in a whorehouse. He made it to Cannaregio in good time and knocked on Ezra’s door.

"You’re early," she said, kissing his cheek in greeting.

"I quit. It caused a ruckus, and I left," Arkon replied with a wicked grin. "Where is my wolf?"

"In the office. You’ve really pissed in my coffee, Arkon. Zahir is going to be grumbling about this for days," Ezra complained, rubbing her temples.

"He’s going to have bigger problems because I may have slipped that Gio was quitting too."

"You prick," Ezra groaned, but Arkon was already out of range when she threw her slipper at him.

Arkon found Zarya sitting on the carpet in Ezra’s study with books and sketches of sigils and artifice devices around her. She had gotten along with Ezra immediately, and they had been going through Ezra’s father’s inventions to try and figure what they all did.

"Are you busy? We need to leave before Ezra kills me," Arkon said with a giddy grin.

Zarya blinked rapidly, trying to bring her thoughts back to the present. Arkon took advantage of her confusion and pulled her to her feet.

"But I’m trying to figure out... What did you do?" she stammered and then took in his smile. "You quit, didn’t you?"

"Yes! I did, and they were so mad!" he said and squeezed her happily. "Now I really have to take you somewhere. Leave this. It can wait, but I can’t."

Zarya laughed and tossed her pencil onto her pile of papers. She wrapped her arms around him. "I really need to learn how to say no to you."

"No, you shouldn’t. Sounds like a horrible habit. Hold on," Arkon said, pulling her up against him. Zarya’s laugh was drowned out by their magic pulling them away.

They stepped out into the cold mountain air. Before them was a log house covered in a dusting of snow that had begun to fall. They were surrounded by forests on all sides, and there was a deep hush of being truly alone in nature.

"What is this place?" Zarya asked, looking about her with a confused smile. Mountains rose up behind the property in gray blue grandeur.

"We are close to the Dolomite Mountains, near a place called Belluno. It’s about an hour or so from my father and Venice. It’s not an island, but it’s far enough away to be one," Arkon said, suddenly nervous. He cleared his throat. "I could build you a hut in the trees somewhere if you want it. There’s a good space, a proper library, and a forest to run in, and no one else is around to complain about any explosions if we want to do some experiments."

Zarya looked up at him with the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. "You got this for us?"

Arkon nodded. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," Zarya replied with a burst of laughter. "Arkon, it’s perfect."

"Oh, thank fuck because I already moved my stuff here," he said with a rush of breath. Zarya stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him long and deep. She gave his bottom lip a playful nip and stared up at him with magic and love in her eyes. "Come on, sorcerer, I want to see this library."

Arkon had never expected to survive the war or his own magic. When he looked into a future for himself, he had always been alone and had accepted his fate. But he should have known by now that Fate never did what she was expected to do.

Arkon kissed his rival, his enemy, the woman he loved more than magic, and knew she was all the future he needed.