~ Content Warning
•References to violence and harm
•Political conflict and power struggles
•Mentions of trauma (non-graphic)
Noxton
Raine's expression shifted—subtle, but real. A genuine smile. River was looking at us, then back at Raine very dramatically, letting us know he was shocked that his dìdi would smile like that for anyone but us. My mouth dropped open, equally shocked. Skye just kept watching with excited eyes, like this was a thrilling tv episode. I surround myself with very weird people. When River began to dramatically make shocked, choking sounds, Raine cleared his throat, remembering he was still on the phone with us.
"To answer your questions—I have no romantic or sexual interest in men. Though I guess in a way, Santiago, Lux, and I are courting each other to figure out if we will make good Kaelin mates. So far, so good." That made me blink. Twice. I know I was gone for a while, but it was only for two weeks. Why has so much changed in just two weeks? Raine. The man I consider to be my brother has found his Kaelin? I had to close my eyes as I processed this new information. I'm too tired for this kind of reality shift.
"As for the scent…" Raine's gaze shifted off-screen. "Someone else is asking about Little Wolf Queen's scent? Who are you talking to, Raine? Where would they have even scented her?" I heard Lux's questions. I even understood the words. I vaguely even heard Ivy give a theory about how the female wasn't using scent-neutralizing charms anymore. That she was working with Lux to create a permanent perception ward so her scent was most likely leaking out randomly. How would Ivy even know this personal information?
I heard it all, but what my mind was focused on was the fact that this scent belonged to a her. I had no clue who 'Little Wolf Queen' was or how she was connected to Lux, but what I did know was that everything has a price. I have done plenty of questionable things for River, and this could be just one more thing. "Greetings, Scion Ajei." I cut in calmly. "It's just River, Skye, and me here calling Raine. River caught the scent from Raine's clothes when he got home from your birthday party last week."
Lux appeared on camera briefly, looked at us, then appeared to visibly regret it. "I don't want to know what you three are doing. As long as I don't have to clean up anybody's mess like I had to that one year, I don't want to know. Säntiägo, the things I saw that year have corrupted my soul permanently." He said flatly.
I snorted. Fair. That was one thing I always appreciated about the Ajei Scion. He didn't ask questions and minded his own business as long as it didn't involve his interests. It is just unfortunate that it appears this matter crosses into his interests.
"Anyway," he continued, "the complete scent is black tea and dusk-bloomed sandalwood. It's my sister's scent." The three of us froze as the implications of that statement fully settled upon us. "If you're interested in pursuing her," Lux added coolly, "submit an application to Mrs. June. There will be an opportunity for any interested parties to officially meet her at her birthday gathering in Celestara in three months." He is referring to a Velari or Kaelin Application.
Will we have to go that far just to meet her? Nyxara Ajei is not someone for many reasons we can threaten or kidnap. One of them being, she is set to be the matriarch of the Dillard Enclave. How did one phone call turn everything so complicated?
Skye pushed his glasses up slightly. "Why is your enclave accepting mate applications for Lady Nyxara? Isn't she engaged to the Dillard Scion?" he pointed out. "In such cases, it is typically customary to have the first bond made before inviting others to join. Are you not going to follow tradition?"
Lux's voice when he responded was quiet, controlled, and filled with restrained violence. "That engagement is being dissolved." At this point, I don't think Skye is even breathing with the way he is inhaling his chips like a vacuum. "No disrespect to you, Noxton, or the First and Third Crown Consorts, but the rest of the Dillard Enclave should be executed by a million paper cuts for the trauma they have put my sister through. Heads up, but keep it quiet: my enclave will be sending dissolution papers to the Dillard Enclave once the Matriarch returns. So to answer your question, Skye—accepting candidate applications is not out of line."
That had me sitting up forward in alarm. "What do you mean? What has our enclave done to Lady Nyxara?" I asked sharply. My voice was bordering on an Alpha command, but I controlled myself. We had made some alliances because of our connection with the Ajei Enclave. If the dissolution is peaceful, there will be little to worry about, but if the reason is that something traumatic happened to Lady Nyxara because of the Dillard Enclave, I will lose some negotiating power. I looked at Raine and Säntiägo to see if they knew, and both appeared just as surprised as River, Skye, and I.
Fuck, that means they haven't spread the news, but they also aren't keeping it hidden either. They are most likely planning to wait until Maeve and Xerxes return before making things public. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Skye typing on his phone, most likely deploying a team to find out what the fuck is going on. Lux's response to my question was a raised middle finger, then he disappeared from sight.
"Ask your cousin, Nox. Now we will be disconnecting. Have a good night. I'll call you all tomorrow to get the full update." With that, Raine waved goodbye and disconnected the call. Heavy silence settled over the room.
There are too many moving pieces for me to see how things got to this point. I hadn't been home in a while, and I've given Koba permission to move into my apartment. I didn't ask why when Dad said Koba needed somewhere safe to stay that Maeve, Xerxes, and Minette couldn't easily reach him. I understood the security need. But at no point did anyone even hint that Koba's engagement was in the process of being nullified.
That is the kind of political information I need to know. My parents may not know everything about what I do for the Xi clan, but they know enough to know I leverage my connection with the Ajei clan! I controlled my urge to call my parents and ask them why I was finding this out from Lux. I controlled my breathing and opened another energy drink. With more energy to think, my foggy mind remembered Mom, Dad, and Papa did mention wanting to talk to me when I got back from this mission. This was probably what they wanted to talk to me about. They might ask for help brainstorming how to fix the situation.
They couldn't have known I would hear it from Lux first because he and I don't interact with each other regularly. That is likely to change now with him becoming Kaelin with Raine.
Skye broke the silence when he spoke as he began cleaning up our garbage. "I had heard rumors, but not confirmation until now. I guess you will have quite a bit of catching up to do when you return to the Dillard Towers." I leaned back slowly, my attention drawn to the quiet man, staring at an image Raine had sent to his phone.
His phone was still connected, so the image was displayed on the holo-screens. Two women dressed up as Moon Princess Serenity. On the right was Zenaida Salgrave, and on the left was Nyxara Ajei. The image was a little bit more focused on Zenaida, but Nyxara was still very clearly depicted.
I couldn't tell if River was still breathing. While not a problem for a vampire, it was still concerning given the assumed cause. Then he exhaled, turning his head slightly to meet Skye's gaze, then mine. "She's beautiful," he said softly. His voice was almost reverent. "There's something…different about her. I can see it even third-hand in this image. She is not the same beta witch." He frowned slightly. Then his expression went through a range of emotions. First, hopeful and open, then disappointed but determined. This man is dangerous without even trying.
"I can't apply to be her mate," he finally said, coming to some kind of internal conclusion after a beat of silence. "But I'd like to meet her regardless. Maybe if we come up with the right deal, she would be willing to work with us in recreating her scent so I can carry it around with me when I need some stabilizing." He was so delusional in his hope that neither I nor Skye had the heart to say no. We will worry about how to actually attempt asking this unusual request later. We have three months. With Raine's help, we can surely come up with some kind of plan. Surely.
"Of course, she will want to help you. You know those Ajei enclave members are all bleeding hearts," I said easily. "We'll ask at her birthday, right, Skye?" Skye hesitated, then nodded. "We'll plan accordingly." River brightened immediately. Bouncing around the room helping Skye finish tidying up. Then, because he was River—"You should apply to be one of Nyxara Ajei's mates," he added to Skye.
"You aren't currently engaged like Noxton and I. You should check her out for compatibility at the celebration." River loved getting to act like a big brother. He really did love his half-brothers a lot. His half-sister, on the other hand…if he could have her assassinated, he would. The fact that he is engaged to her is a whole can of worms we try to ignore completely. Just like I try not to think about my engagement to Minette.
"We will have to wait and see how things play out." Was all Skye would say about it. Which meant he was thinking about it. I hadn't missed him subtly downloading Nyxara Ajei's picture from the group chat we had with Raine. For a reason, I did not examine I downloaded the image too. The alarm telling us we had ten minutes to exit the space before it collapsed cut through the tense moment. Promises were exchanged to meet at Kavasha in two days, then they were gone.
I finished the last of the clean-up, then I removed the dimensional button, thus collapsing the space. After putting the button into its case, I put the case into my dimension ring.
Outside and over a couple of blocks, my bike waited. I put on my helmet and, after a moment of consideration, headed to the Dillard Towers. I needed sleep, but I also needed to have that conversation with my parents. I will rest first, then set up a time to have that talk. Hopefully, we can have it within the next thirteen hours. I'm exhausted to the point I'm thankful that this bike has auto-pilot. When I woke up from sleeping for twelve hours, it would be time to find out what exactly I had missed while I was away.