12. Chapter Twelve

Jeremiah and Hans were absolutely howling with hysterics, slamming their palms against the table so hard that their flagons of ale threatened to spill over.

“She’s the fucking Light Conduit?!” Hans cackled, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. “Oh, I am so sorry about your dick, Captain, but that’s too damn good.”

“Keep your voices down, you drunk bastards,” I growled.

The discovery had already put me in a foul mood. My favored game of seduction had just been cut terribly short by the realization that my commander might actually fucking murder me if I tried to take the most rare Conduit in Sophrosyne to bed.

Arken, she’d said her name was. Arken Asher. It was a lovely name for a lovely woman, and I found myself wanting to speak it out loud again just to savor the taste.

It was an effort not to groan in frustration and bang my head against the table as my lieutenants changed the subject, prattling on about some recent rumor that the House of Clay had, yet again, drawn the ire of the Zephirins.

This was supposedly the second clash between their Houses this month. What else was new, though? Drawing the ire of the House of Gales was neither difficult nor abnormal with Cecelia as their Lady. Kole was decent enough as a Lord, but his wife? That woman was a piece of work. I didn’t make a habit of keeping up with the Atlassian Houses for several reasons these days, but I remembered that much from my father. This was hardly an interesting conversation.

My conversation with that Little Conduit, however…

Fates be damned.

A part of me almost wished that I hadn’t met her now.

It had taken nearly all of my good sense to walk away from that table before inviting her to bed, and I’d nearly slipped up in the end. She was just so fucking alluring, and I didn’t know what it was about her, but damn.

She really was beautiful, all big golden eyes and dark brown hair, pale skin, kissed with light freckles. That godsdamned mouth. I was immediately attracted to her when we’d first crossed paths near the Biblyos, unbeknownst to her. The attraction had only intensified from across the clearing back in the woods. But up close? Fates above, she was something else. A stunning little seraph—if a seraph could evoke such unholy thoughts.

I’d had to consciously, intentionally block myself from thinking about exactly what came to mind when she was looking up at me like that with those doe eyes from that particular… angle. And I certainly hadn’t wanted to show my hand that early.

But beyond the immediate physical chemistry I felt around her, she was so godsdamned clever. Her mind was quick as a whip, immediately ready for the sort of banter that left me weak in the knees. Under any other circumstance, I would gladly allow this beautiful creature to be the death of me for a night.

Staying my hand and putting distance between us was for the best for a multitude of reasons. Yes, my commander would kick my ass from here to Samhaven if I made myself an enemy of someone we would likely have to keep tabs on in the future. But also, the last thing I needed, personally, was to piss off a woman who would likely acquire a great deal of power and influence among the Houses later in life.

Both Light and Shadow Conduits tended to end up in the spotlight in Atlas, in one way or another. I already had one enemy among those Lords and Ladies, and was not looking for another one. Arken hadn’t necessarily seemed like an easy woman to piss off, per se, but she sure was easy to irritate. Playfully, of course. That had been fun.

A little too fun, because I wanted more.

Thankfully, I could take solace in the fact that avoiding her would be easy enough. I didn’t have to worry about the dark desire I had to encircle her Light like a moth to a flame, even if it was growing stronger by the minute.

Silver linings, I supposed.

Is it though?

I wasn’t in the mood to go there. It was time to find my next distraction.