The Immortal Queen Tsubame: Awakening (8 page)

On the flip side Ahmed was secretly threatened by Fathi’s courage and worried that people would see him for the coward who was afraid to lose his power that he was. His subtle ways of reminding Fathi of his debt—sending him to battle at his own whims when a lesser soldier could handle it, silencing or stopping any valid arguments of the man during meals because Fathi would do whatever Ahmed wanted anyway, taking Tsubame to bed with no respect for the fact that his second favored her—they were simply power plays so that Fathi always remembered who had the power. And it would be Ahmed’s fatal mistake. Reminding a slave that they were a slave was a sure way to cause rebellion from that slave. It was the reason Ahmed hadn’t even figured out he was a pawn in the magic council’s ploy to keep themselves and the ruling magic families ruling. She doubted he’d be so keen about keeping Fathi under foot if he really knew why he was in power.

When Ahmed was done with her, he dismissed her for the night and allowed her to return back to the room she shared with three other servants. Even if Tsubame wanted to be discreet, she couldn’t. When she got to her room, she could feel the eyes of the other servants as they pretended to be asleep, watching as she took off her dress and put on the slip she wore to sleep in. They would talk tomorrow, one of them would be bold enough to ask questions, and Tsubame’s silence and apparent discretion would only spur the rumors. The rumors would undoubtedly be passed along to the soldiers they associated with. Undoubtedly, Ahmed would call her back multiple times before Fathi returned which would only intensify the talk. By the time Fathi got back, someone would tell him if Tsubame didn’t find a way to tell him herself without being suspicious, and then all Tsubame had to do was wait for Fathi and Ahmed to unwittingly carry out the rest of her plan for her. For such complex beings, average humans could be painfully predictable once you understood their nature and studied the things that made them tick. Ahmed and Fathi would most certainly tick. All Tsubame had to do was wait.

9

Fuck Devdan.

Fuck him and his secrets. Fuck him and his aloofness. Fuck him and his trust issues. Fuck him and his protectiveness. Fuck him and his inability to deal with his emotions. Fuck him because she couldn’t get the feel of his lips on hers out her head, the feel of his hands pressing her against him and pulling on her clothes. Actually, fucking Devdan didn’t seem like a bad idea…

MaLeila sighed and stopped typing up her English essay. She would have turned it in this morning if she hadn’t been forced to chase down a sorcerer with a strong proficiency in illusions, disguises, and general magic that required sleight of hand, who stole her staff from her on her way home from another photo shoot. If he hadn’t starting casting spells that could potentially suck the city into a vacuum in space, MaLeila might have gone home and waited to find him later, because him stealing her staff was more detrimental to him than it was to her because very few had enough magic potential to wield her staff as a way to channel their magic without killing themselves. As it was, the sorcerer did end up killing himself when he ended up using all his magic and life force accidently opening the vacuum. The better part of the rest of the evening and night was spent with MaLeila and Marcel figuring out a way to close the vacuum permanently while Devdan and Bastet held it closed temporarily for the duration of their research.

She had been so exhausted afterward that Devdan had to carry her home or so Bastet told her. And though the man had finished the majority of the homework that MaLeila had to turn in before spring break, he refrained from writing the essay because MaLeila would only get into more trouble for plagiarism if her teacher noticed that the essay wasn’t in MaLeila’s writing style. She and Devdan had gotten in trouble for it once the previous year as it was.

When she woke, she saw the stack of finished homework and found Devdan waiting for her as always to walk to school in the morning. They had argued before—MaLeila touching a on a subject that was too personal for Devdan’s comfort or Devdan frustrating her with his distance or saying something she didn’t like. And for a while now they’d always been something more than friends or siblings, but much less than lovers, but never in any of those encounters had they ever dared to venture out of the relationship limbo they seemed to have found a way to be comfortable in. And no matter how much they ignored what happened or tried to hide their awareness, something had shifted between them after their kiss, even if it was out of anger.

And now just thinking about it was distracting MaLeila from concluding the essay she needed to turn in by midnight. She though getting some distance from him and finishing the essay at Marcel’s apartment would help, but inevitably her thoughts continued to wander.

“It can’t be that challenging,” Marcel said as he came from the back of the apartment in slacks and a button shirt that was only halfway buttoned.

“No,” MaLeila replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Because when you scrunch up your face like that, it means you’re concentrating really hard on something,” Marcel said as he sat next to her on the floor in front of the couch. “So if it’s not school work, what’s on your mind?”

MaLeila shook her head.

“Nothing,” MaLeila said reaching for her laptop.

Marcel closed the laptop before MaLeila could reach it and moved it onto the couch.

“Marcel. Give it back. I need to turn in this essay.”

“Not for four more hours. A short break won’t hurt.”

“A short break to do what?” MaLeila asked.

Marcel didn’t leave her waiting long for the answer. He put his mouth against hers and pulled her bottom lip into his mouth, gently sucking on it and letting it go before taking her top lip and doing the same. Every time he let go of her lip, MaLeila lost some of her breath in anticipation of him taking her lips again and by the time he had alternated between her lips twice more, her heart was racing and she was panting some with the effort of trying to gain the breath she lost every time he pulled his lips away from hers. Then he put his entire mouth on hers and guided MaLeila to lie on the floor with his body hoovering over her. As they continued to kiss, he reached a hand up to grab one of her breasts through her shirt and began to massage it. MaLeila moaned against Marcel’s lips and then reached behind him and grabbed his ass, pushing him towards her so that their hips were aligned against each other’s and most of his body was flush against hers. She needed to experience him with all her physical senses. So she pulled her lips away from his and leaned up on her elbows to run kisses along his jaw and down his neck which allowed her to simultaneously taste his skin, hear the way he moaned her name, feel the vibration of the basal tone of his voice, and smell the scent of him which reminded her of the smell of oak in the spring.

Her elbows began to ache after a while, so MaLeila let herself fall back to the carpet. She expected Marcel to lean down to kiss her again, but instead he continued to hover over her and stare. MaLeila felt like he might be trying to devour her with his blue eyes and in that moment, she thought he might certainly be able to. Heat rose to her cheeks and she looked away from him deciding to occupy herself with counting the buttons on his shirt. As she did so, she noticed the gold chain he always wore around his neck had fallen out his shirt and she saw the pendant for the first time.

“What’s this?” MaLeila asked, touching the pendant that looked like a golden sun with images carved inside.

“Family crest. All magic families, no matter how small have one.”

MaLeila knew that. She’d seen Irvin’s and not only had he explained what they were, but what his family’s crest meant. She started to ask Marcel more specific questions about his when he suddenly asked, “You’re on spring break next week right?”

MaLeila nodded.

“Then let’s take a vacation. Where do you want to go?”

MaLeila lifted herself back up on her elbows and asked, “Are you serious?”

“Why not?” Marcel asked. “You can turn in your essay tonight and we can get ready to leave tomorrow.”

“I can’t just up and leave like that,” MaLeila protested.

“Why not? It’s not like we’re leaving the country. The U.S. is a big place. Florida’s right beneath us. We can fly into Miami or we can take a road trip and fly back. Ever been there?” Marcel asked.

“No,” MaLeila admitted.

“Then let’s go,” Marcel said as he moved off her and helped her sit up again.

“What about the council?”

“What about them?”

“The reason you’re even over here is to investigate a sorceress who’s managed to escape their registry,” MaLeila pointed out.

“A sorceress who hasn’t shown her face since you saw her,” Marcel added. “And since when do you care about what the council thinks?”

“I don’t, but you work for them.”

Marcel shrugged. “I work for them, that doesn’t mean they can run my personal life.”

MaLeila huffed. “I tried telling them that a couple of years ago. They didn’t agree.”

“Then fuck ‘em.”

MaLeila sighed, all her protests defeated. Then she asked slowly, “Just the two of us.”

Marcel laughed and leaned down to peck her on the lips. He leaned back up and asked, “Is that what you’re worried about? Relax. If I were that eager to have my way with you, I would have done it right here in my apartment already.”

MaLeila grabbed her laptop from the couch and punched him in the arm at the same time while trying not to let him see her blush. Eventually he convinced her to go on a weekend trip to a beach not more than a few hours’ drive away in Florida. They left just as the sun was rising and probably would have left sooner if she hadn’t had to argue against Bastet’s and Merrick’s protests. In the end, she told them there was little they could do since she was eighteen with her own money, not to mention she was one of the most powerful living sorceresses though she rarely admitted it. Both Bastet and Merrick grudgingly agreed to let her be after that. Devdan wasn’t home when MaLeila left. It was hard to know whether he wouldn’t have cared or would have protested more than Bastet and Merrick. Whichever way he would have acted, MaLeila was glad that he hadn’t been there so Marcel wouldn’t be witness to one of their arguments, which would have only been exacerbated by the awkward push and pull between them after their kiss.

While MaLeila had been apprehensive about going on a vacation at all, not sure how much good being away from home would help her, the distance did make it easier to breathe.

“See,” Marcel said while at a nearby mall for the purpose of MaLeila buying a few bikinis and killing time until they could check in to their hotel. “I knew a change of scenery would do you some good.”

It wasn’t just the change of scenery. It was being away from Devdan, the source of all her problems lately. Not worrying about having to go home and face him, wondering if he would ignore her existence because he was angry with her or, lately, whether he’d kiss her again and whether she would let him do more than just kiss her the next time. Comparatively, MaLeila rather they be fighting off magic users every day like they were back when she first started high school. At least back then she and Devdan, along with Bastet, were so focused on the next threat there was no time to worry about or contemplate the complexities of their relationship. For the first time in a while, MaLeila felt normal.

“You know,” MaLeila said Sunday as they were preparing to go to the beach again, “I was thinking we could extend our vacation.”

“Were you?” Marcel asked leaning against the wall as he watched her in front of the mirror as she adjusted the top to her bikini.

“Yeah,” MaLeila muttered as she tried to adjust the top so her breasts didn’t look like they were about to pop out the garment. “It’s been nice. I was thinking we could stay until Wednesday or so. Maybe even Friday.”

“Would your brother, Bastet, and Devdan be comfortable with you staying away that long?”

MaLeila shrugged. “Bastet won’t care too much unless I call her. Once she gives her okay, she sticks to it. Merrick will get over it. Devdan… I’ll deal with him when I get back.”

Marcel laughed. “He’s that bad?”

“Yes. He used to come and go as he pleased, most of the time without telling anyone he was going either, for up to months at a time. But when I want to go somewhere outside the city limits, he throws a fit. Well, a fit for Devdan. His fits usually involve him being sarcastic and ignoring me. He probably gave Bastet a time for letting me leave without him knowing too. I swear, he makes absolutely no sense.”

“Actually,” Marcel said. “It does.”

MaLeila turned to look at Marcel. “It does?”

Marcel nodded and walked past her to go sit on the bed.

“Okay. You’re going to have to explain that one to me.”

“Well, Devdan was a slave before, right?”

“Yes,” MaLeila said.

“Then it’s because he’s afraid you’ll leave and he won’t be able to find you again. Happened all the time back then. Slaves ran away, got sold, and there was no way to track them down. Most of them never saw their families again. It’s safe to assume when Claude got him, he was sold away from whatever family he had and he never could track them down. Sure he leaves all the time, but you know he’s coming back and he knows where to find you. When you leave, he can’t be so sure because he probably saw plenty of people leave and promise they would come back or they’d meet again, but they never did. You should be glad he cares about you that much,” Marcel explained.

MaLeila blinked and then opened and closed her mouth a few times before saying, “That actually makes a lot of sense.”

Marcel didn’t reply, allowing her to mull over his words in her head some more. Then she groaned and said, “I can’t read his mind. I have a lot of powers but that’s not one of them, not yet anyway. I can’t even ever imagine what he’s been through because he won’t talk about it. He hardly ever mentions his mother. How was I supposed to figure that out? Why didn’t he just tell me?”

“Because he didn’t want you to think any less of him. Contrary to what you may think, I get the feeling he cares a lot about what you think of him. Him acting like he doesn’t care is his way of hiding it.”

“Ugh,” MaLeila said both in reference to Devdan and to her bikini top. Then she said, “I’ve known that man for years. How did you figure that out and you’ve barely spoken to him twice.”

“Brush up on your history of American Slavery. That will help.”

“I like to think that I know a lot more about it than other people. Bastet is always telling me about it, especially when the movies and shows come out. She’s always saying how it was so much worse than what they show on television and that she was lucky Claude got her out when he did.”

“Then maybe I should put it this way. Instead of looking at it as something that happened way in the past, keep in mind that Devdan lived through it. He may not have been a slave for a long time, but it did help shape him.”

MaLeila nodded, deciding to keep it in mind the next time she got a chance to talk to Devdan. She’d never be able to outright address it, but she would at least know how to better deal with him when he was acting in a way that she thought was unreasonable.

MaLeila groaned at the top of her bikini and threw her hands down.