Page 135 of Infernal Secrets
I cursed under my breath.
The scent of something so personal was impossible to catch in passing for humans and Shyrlivi alike. Scenting her arousal should be impossible. She’d be humiliated if she knew we could scent her. At least others couldn’t. This seemed unique to us.
“What’s going on, Ash? I’m scared.”
I glanced at Rae’s bedroom and ushered him into the adjacent room.
He started pacing again.
“Something’s different about her. I discussed it with Ezra already, and he believes she’s being manipulated—which may be affecting us.”
He stopped and looked at me. “What does that mean?”
“I thought she was my Nyrith mate,” I said, smoothing a hand over the side of my head over my braids.
“Could she be mine too?” He glanced at the door leading back toward Rae’s room.
“See, that’s where the manipulation comes in. There’s the blood thing with Cyn, Ezra, and me. Then there’s her natural perfume we all smell. Her arousal, too.”
Zeke shifted from one foot to the other, his brows drawn tight with concern.
“And her emotions,” I continued, knowing he needed to hear all of it, even if he seemed overwhelmed. He wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t tell him everything. “I experience feelings that aren’t mine, only to realize they’re hers. But only when the emotion is strong, which aligns with Nyrith pairings.”
“Then how is she not our mate?”
“Because it’s happening to more than two of us.”
“But what if it’s possible? What if the prophecy meant we’d all share the same mate?”
“It’s not,” I said, leaning against the doorframe and crossing my arms. “Shyrlivi aren’t capable of having three or more mates—you know this.”
When I was born, the council’s spiritual advisor gave my parents a prophecy that I’d be the firstborn of multiple heirs. With our mates as our strength, we were meant to live longer and become stronger than any leader before.
But the prophecy also warned that if the heirs’ bond fractured, Elyrdin itself would collapse.
The idea of the four of us sharing one Shyrlivi mate was unthinkable. Magic spread that thin couldn’t sustain us. And a human mate with no magic? Foolish even to consider.
No matter how much I wanted it.
Even Ezra knew it. Snared by Rae’s allure, I’d forgotten until he reminded me.
Zeke sat down on the edge of the bed. “But what if? Before the first double pairing, Shyrlivi couldn’t have known it was possible. What if this is the same? What if it’s possible to have three? Four? Five? More?”
The reasoning made sense. If Rae were Shyrlivi, I’d consider it worth exploring. But she wasn’t. It could never be, no matter how much it felt right. She didn’t fit the prophecy.
I sighed, reiterating the reason it couldn’t happen—one Zeke seemed unwilling to accept. “She’s human.” I didn’t like it either, but one of us needed to be realistic.
“Doesn’t matter. It could still be true,” he said, stubbornness creeping into his tone. I knew he cared for Rae, but not enough to make him challenge us. “She summoned us. We’re here without a tiisra stone.”
I shook my head. “A human isn’t part of the prophecy. That’s why I said we realized someone’s manipulating the situation. We’re here, and Rae just so happened to find a summoning book in a random bookstore with only one English page in the entire thing?”
Zeke hung his head.
I hated to burst his bubble, but we couldn’t talk in circles on the same points, clinging to what-ifs when it might cost us our lives. The sooner we figured out the situation, the sooner we could get back. As much as I loathed the idea, our departure should take the target off Rae’s back.
While Ezra thought otherwise, I wouldn’t consider the alternative. I’d never leave.
She’d seen lesser infernals her entire life, but they hadn’t gone after her since her parents died—until we showed up. Our presence on Earth put her life in danger. We needed to save her.
