Exile Empire, Exile The Second

Chapter 6 - Kairos

Eva finally talked me into following her back to the tea shop. I dragged my feet, but we made it as the streetlights blazed on and the night had turned to black velvet above us. Stars appeared like fires spread across the emptiness of space, and I felt it echoed inside my heart.

Empty, black, cold.

"There you are," Silas said with a broad smile when we returned. He was standing with Sorin outside the shop, just as Eva had said. "We were just discussing the best way to get you two out to the ferry terminal in the morning, to get back to Vancouver. I can come back and give you a lift."

"I'll be fine, I can hitchhike," I replied without looking Sorin in the eyes.

"We're not hitchhiking," he said with a growly voice like he was tired of handling his bratty child in front of strangers. I bristled at that.

"No, we're not doing anything, but I am going to do what I want," I said, still not looking him in the eyes.

"I won't leave your side, Kairos Empire," he insisted. "You've already put me through hell, you owe it to me to let me help you."

"I don't need help," I snapped, looking at him at last. And the moment I did, I lost my breath. It simply disappeared. And for a moment, I existed in a vacuum. A bubble. A silent pocket of time and space holding just the two of us. His brilliant blue eyes deepened to violet when they made contact with mine, and his mouth softened as soon as we connected. It took every ounce of strength I had to break free of the power of it all, to look down and mumble, "I'll be fine on my own."

"You won't be, and I won't be," he said. "I need to stay by your side, Kairos. You soothe the beast inside of me, and without you I will be sent into exile again. You owe me that much, at the very least."

He gestured to the scar above his eye that was still pink and shiny with secondary flesh. A healing burn looking like it'd been painful at one time, and I wondered how he had managed to recover that fast.

As if reading my mind, he said, "When I turned that close to the high moon, my flesh reversed the rending and drew itself together."

"I see," I replied, keeping the fact that I was impressed as fuck out of my tone. "But you still shouldn't come with me."

"For fuck's sake, Kai," Eva said, breaking into our standoff. "He's going with you. Where else can he go? He can't stand here outside my shop while you take off for the city, and he's not going back to Sweden, I'm sure."

Sorin looked at me and I caught his eye, took a deep breath and realized I was caught. I wasn't getting away from Wildwood without having the biggest problem in my life tagging along with me.

I wasn't sure if I was upset that he might get in my way, or if I didn't trust myself around the tall Viking wolf.

Either way, I'd find out.

"Fine, but you can sleep on the couch downstairs tonight," I mumbled and turned to Eva. "I'm taking the guest room."

"He won't fit on the couch," Eva said, but caught my glower and said, "Fine. But you can show him where it is. And Silas is staying over with me."

This was a double gut punch for me, not only did I have to ignore the call of the sexy wild man downstairs, but I'd probably have to suffer through Eva and Silas banging like a broken door in the windstorm all night.

Thank goddess for earbuds.

We all followed Eva into her place through the tea shop, and I noticed how Sorin paused to take in the various scents of teas and spells. He intrigued me, I wasn't sure if he saw auras or the neon glow of glyphs and spell work, but his intuition was excellent. He managed to pause near the most powerful of all Eva's concoctions, and many of her aunt's.