Page 56 of Born of Starlight
Emmerick let out a low “ahhh”just audible over the music. Then, a playful grin washed over his face.
“Why are you smiling so widely?”
“Because you are about to tell the funniest joke.”
“I am?”
“Asterie, catch up here—play along.” He pointed at me and laughed as though I’d just said something humorous.
“Are you drunk?”
“Not yet, well, nottoodrunk yet.”
He raised his glass to touch mine, and we drank to that.“There is always something to celebrate”—Fen’s words the night we met.
Maybe I’d had too much wine with too little to eat.That must be why the pit in my stomach lingered.
The music grew louder. Barmaids stood on the bar stomping their feet and pouring ale from steins into the mouths of drunken men below.
Music was a temporary distraction.The way it was played out here was something I would miss. It sounded so warm and authentic when mortals played instruments compared to when the tower piano or harp played for me. Missed strings and keys created perfect imperfections in the sound.
“He’s flaunting that woman to get a rise out of you.Whyeverwould he want to do that?” Emmerick’s tone was light and taunting in a good-natured way.
My fingers touched my lips, and my mind raced back to how Fen had kissed me. I initiated the kiss but hadn’t expected his reception to be soconsuming.It was a foolish thing to do, but I’d been so overtaken by the moment. The way he had kissed me set every nerve in my body aflame. It had feltright.
“I kissed him,” I groaned. “It was such a stupid, stupid thing to do.”
Emmerick smirked knowingly. “Ahh. He looked disheveled and dumbfounded when I found him earlier.”
“It can’t happen again.”
“Why not?” Emmerick balanced his chair back on two legs. It was the first time I’d seen him look truly relaxed. “Aside from the fact he’s a war criminal and has been alone in the woods for far too long? But…no offense, you’re not entirelyordinaryyourself.”
Emmerick was awfully blunt when he drank.
Why not?There were a thousand reasons—weren’t there? Only one mattered—there was no point in leaving loose ends behind.
What I hadn’t shared with Fenris and Emmerick weighed on me—my inability to see any path ahead, anything at all in the moonstone. That this was because my fate was tied somehow to the prophecy.
Whatever choices lay ahead, making them without emotional ties would be easier. When the time came to greet death again, I needed to be ready to do so quickly. I needed to be unattached.
Yet, as Fenris walked out of the pub with his arm around that woman, I wanted nothing more than to stop them.
“You’re a Constable—isn’t the war criminal part reason enough?”
“Deflecting isn’t going to make you feel any differently.”
“And how do you think I feel?”
“Well, if looks could kill—your eyes would have shot daggers into the back of the warlock’s head as he left with that woman.”
Hating that he was right, I sighed. “And what do Idoif you’re right? If I am attracted to the insufferable man?”
“I’m the last person you should be taking advice about men from. I don’t know.”
Emmerick looked sympathetic, which only made me feel more pathetic for allowing any of these emotions to surface.
This was an unwelcome distraction.
