CHAPTER 38

Faye absently picked blades of grass. "Is your life pleasant?" She asked, turning toward him.

The corner of his mouth lifted. "I am male. Women are seen within their courts. Has a man never worshiped at your altar?"

Warmth spread over Faye as she flushed at his words. Images of him kneeling before her rose in her mind. She pushed them away and said, "Sounds like the courts are just an excuse to have gratuitous sex, like your vampire orgies."

He laughed and relaxed into a smile. "A single benefit to an intricate society. You would enjoy it."

"Doubtful," Faye answered too quickly.

He arched a brow at her. "I could show you." Faye blushed feverishly and he raised his hand out of the water. "You misunderstand my words. I would be willing to take you to witness how dark-blooded men are trained to please women."

Faye's brow came together, and he smirked at her expression before saying, "It is part of formal court training. A single aspect among many duties." She bit the inside of her lip and he grinned. "You look curious."

Faye turned away from him. "Not enough to want to see another vampire orgy, in your bed."

"I received my training long ago. I would take you to the same brothel I was trained at so you can witness it. It would behoove you to broaden your horizons. Move to the circles you were meant for. Know what to expect of men at court and not swing metal objects at them."

Faye straightened her back, refusing to back down. "I guess I can go see how you've learned to fumble through things. Can I bring Sparrow so we can share a laugh?"

Rune's smile didn't quite meet his eyes. "No. My offer extends to you."

"I can't leave here but you can take me to a whore house?"

"It is a high-end brothel that caters to the darker courts, not a whore house as you so eloquently put it. They are used to operating with discretion."

"Do you have to take a refresher course every fifty years or so?" He thinned his lips at her and Faye smiled. Fangs cared if she thought he was bad in bed. "Well," Faye said, as she stood, collecting her basket and knife. "I'll harvest my herbs and come back later to soak when the pool isn't occupied."

Faye glanced at him over her shoulder and smiled as the misted shadows peaked out from under his eyes. "When did you want to visit your fancy brothel?"

"When would you like to go?"

"You look a little long in the tooth today. Tomorrow? Noon to two?" She asked, walking to her gardens.

"Do you wish to witness a novice, a male midway through instruction, or one who nears completion of his formal training?" He asked.

Faye heard water movement and ignored him as she continued picking her herbs. "A novice and an intermediate," she said to her garden.

She heard him step out of the pool. Imagined his hair sticking to his wet body and wondered if he would be hard again? Her nails bit into her palms when she imagined licking the droplets of water off him.

"I will have it arranged and have a meal catered for you. Any requests?"

Faye couldn't have a nice ordinary man who would take her to dinner and the theater. No, instead, she got lunch and a live sex show. "Only that is your glass in big red letters."

He gave a small laugh. "Of course."

Sparrow came out of the bathroom in a robe, drying her hair, and stopped when she saw Faye. "You're back early."

Faye fluttered her hand at her sister. "He's taking the day off from poking around in my head. Did you know he's trying to stop The Crumbling?"

Sparrow shrugged. "He's the strongest, makes sense. So, you get the day off when he needs to poke around The Crumbling instead?"

Faye sifted through the leaves she collected, before quietly asking, "Do you ever worry about it?"

"The Crumbling?" Her sister asked. At Faye's nod she snorted, "I don't waste my energy on things out of my control."

It slipped her mind when she wasn't in front of the brazier at the center of her village. She'd seen the destructive force threatening the realms once. Sparrow insisted on the trip as their first adventure. The Crumbling began more than eight hundred years ago after The Creator, Saith, returned to the Darkness. The Crumbling was a menacing wall made of storm clouds complete with lightning, stretching endlessly into the sky.

The sight filled her with dread, the wrongness of its existence sliding over her. Coating her in an unnatural, dirty film as though she'd been splashed with cloudy stagnant water that reeked of death.

Sparrow had been unbothered, throwing rocks into it and calling them back to see if they really disintegrated. Nothing her sister threw into the clouds returned.

Faye rubbed her hand over her arm, needing to think of anything else. "I'm going on a field trip tomorrow," she said, turning to her sister as she leaned back on the table. "I asked him if you could come, but he said no."

Sparrow rolled her eyes and asked, "Where are you going?"

"He's going to take me to the place he received his training."

Sparrow's arms slumped to her side and the towel fell from her hair. "Are we talking about training, training?" Faye giggled and nodded. "And he said I couldn't go?" Sparrow flopped on the bed to stare at Faye upside down. "That man is just evil."

Faye smiled and laid next to Sparrow. "He does rule Hell."

"But does he actually rule anything? He's more like Hell's babysitter."

She supposed her sister was right. Faye flicked a length of Sparrow's damp hair in her face. "Vash never told you about his training?"

Sparrow snorted, brushing the strand away before saying, "He's very hush-hush about it."

Faye wrinkled her nose. "Are you sure he had any?"

"He's really good at it. Why do you think I kept him for so long?"

Faye shoved Sparrow's shoulder. "Because you love him."

"I do love him, but it makes him much easier to love," Sparrow said, bumping her leg against Faye's.

Faye stared at the ceiling thinking of the life she could have. She wouldn't be passing on a life of rejection to her children. She could have the family she dreamed of. A little girl and boy. She turned to her sister. "Do you ever want kids?" Faye asked, glancing at Sparrow.

Sparrow waved her hand in a flourish above them. "Fuck. No. You're the one who wants babies between us."

Would Rune want children? If they were mortal like her, he would be forced to watch them age and die as she would age and die. Faye sat up and cupped her hand over the side of her neck. "I feel selfish… wanting him."

"Are you serious?" Her sister asked, sitting up beside her.

Faye lowered her head. "He's fated to me but I'm still mortal. What happens when I pass my mortality to my children?"

"You're overthinking this, he's fated to you—"

"But fated to what?" Faye whispered.To watch her age and suffer after she's gone.

Sparrow linked arms with her. "Let's say you both decide to ignore fate. Tell me you won't think about him for the rest of your life. I know he'll think about you for the rest of his life. Is that any better?"

Faye leaned on her sister, wondering which path would inflict the least amount of pain.

"There's a reason he's tied to you. Trust the path fate set before you," Sparrow said quietly.

Faye glanced at her sister. "How are you so sure this is the right path?"

Sparrow beamed and said, "Because I know, I feel it, the same way I knew we would be dark-bloods living a fancy life."