The Ocean's Heart (The Dragons of Flareia Book 2)

Chapter 15 - Nemi

           

The Black Hole, The Barren, Umbrassé

26th Year of the Ocean

Fifth Moon

The night finally seemed to be winding down as Nemi stepped back into the warmth of The Black Hole. She had been escorting an overly drunk regular home – or, near enough home. He now lay in a gutter, three streets away, after she punched him a little too hard, but he deserved it for sliding his hand up her thigh when she was helping him from the good of her own heart! She was more than ready to hide in the back with a drink of her own and let Shai cover the early morning hours – the girl was surprisingly good at dealing with the job – but then she noticed the man passed out against the bar. He was lucky he hadn't fallen off his stool. Nemi had dealt with more than enough broken jaws and missing teeth from when it had happened before.

She sighed and, avoiding the tables where the few remaining patrons sat, she staunched over to the man. She plastered a dreamy smile on her face as she shook his shoulder softly.

"Come, ilia," she crooned, "a bar isn't a good place to sleep."

He let out a sigh and rose his head far enough to rest his chin – rather than his head – on his forearms folded on the bar. "Trust me, any sleep would be great right now."

She shouldn't have been surprised to find Kylan Halif in her bar again, so to hide her wide eyes she smacked him across the back of the head, ignoring the painful thud his chin made as it slipped and collided with the bar. "You should know better than anyone what not to do at bars."

"If this is another lecture about me challenging Fehey, can you wait for another night?" He asked, rubbing his chin as he sat up – but only so he could lean his elbows against the bar and rest his chin on his hand. "I'm really not in the mood."

She reached out and took his face in her hands as they had done when they were kids – as he had when he chipped her tooth, as she had when he told her he was going to volunteer for the Trial of Shadows. The circles around his eyes were deep and dark, and the whites of his eyes were flecked with red. A purple bruise bloomed on his cheekbone beneath the Shadow Dragon's crystal, and there was a cut on his lip, on his eyebrow. He'd been in a fight, but Nemi had seen enough of them to know that these were old wounds. No, something else had happened, something that weighed his shoulders down like a stone, something that tore the starlight from his eyes. Something that wasn't physical pain.

"What happened?" she asked, letting her hands fall away from his face.

He dragged his goblet closer and stared into it. "I... I think Olivier just asked me to marry her."

Nemi's eyes widened and she leaned closer to him. "What did you say?" she asked, "did you say yes?"

He leaned back, shoving the goblet away in a huff. "Of course not, Nemi. Everyone knows the correct response to a marriage proposal from the Lost Avalonian Queen is to tell her that she's a fool to marry someone she loves and that her psychopath brother is better suited to the throne."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Oh, Ky, you didn't."

He just folded in on himself, his forehead hitting the bar with a thud.

"Did she punch you?"

He shook his head without lifting it.

"She should've punched you."

He nodded.

Nemi grabbed his goblet and lifted it to her nose. "What's in this?"

He shrugged.