Meet Me in the Ether by Iris Lake

Author:Iris Lake [Lake, Iris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

21

Aramis

I was being followed. And not by some simpleton bruiser sent by Lady Helena. No, that debt I settled after all by agreeing to the monumental price of thirty thousand gold marks in exchange for my sister being released from her indenture. One way or another, everyone walked out of Aphrodisia thoroughly fucked, and not even my marvelous gifts weren’t insidious enough to break free from that particular Blackpit tradition.

The leech, currently slugging after each of my steps was clearly on Oberon’s payroll, which shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, really. The king was no fool and knew better than to unquestionably trust a healer with my skill set. Even Knox Alodias was occasionally being followed despite upholding the much-coveted status of Oberon’s closest adviser. And although my despicable father would never betray his equally despicable king, Oberon’s generalized almost manic fear of betrayal always surmounted him in the end.

Surprisingly enough, since it hadn’t exactly been a love match, the only person Oberon truly trusted was his wife. He didn’t consider his son too untrustworthy either but simply too weak and incompetent to consider him an actual threat, an underestimation that I apparently had managed to eschew.

The bastard tailing me was skillful enough that even after two weeks of having the grim sensation of being watched day and night, I was still ignorant of their identity. An ignorance that I was thankfully soon to be relieved from.

Two nights ago, when I got myself wasted at Lethe was a much victorious act in a yet unraveling play. I had rendered myself a vulnerable target of minimal comprehensive abilities which meant that whoever was following me had relaxed their vigilance just as well.

I knew they had trailed me at Lethe, lurking somewhere between the ocean of people, and now, all I had to do was find the one girl I’d noticed countless times at the club while she was always noticing others.

So I took a room, once again, and when a lovely young man came to take my order, I merely requested two things; a bottle of faerie wine and Riona Dilara.

Now, she was an interesting person if I ever saw one. Night faerie, obviously, with an aptitude for reading desire, a common ability amongst night faeries although rarely so beautifully mastered by someone who hadn’t even Ascended yet.

Riona was young, but whatever she lacked in experience she made up in cunning. I was certain that once she would make her Ascension she would become one of the most lethal women this city had ever seen. Fortunately for me, this wasn’t the case currently.

I found her power rather invigorating but at the same time a little pointless too.

Desire was a shallow thing compared to the chaos skulking beneath. What could someone desire? Money? Sex? Power? All three, probably, mortals were greedy like that.

But emotions were effervescent and depthless, a reaction to someone’s experiences driven by trauma. They were either too subtle or too complex to decipher, and yet, I was the master of them.

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