Chapter 154 Chapter 154

Chapter 154 Chapter 154
Nayara kept her crimson eyes on Asher for a few seconds longer before walking to the small table in the corner that had the candlamp sitting on it. She played with the open flames, then exhaled softly.

"I wish I had the power to help you.., but what your kind is doing? It's not natural.” Her voice climbed down a few octaves as she stared at the dancing flames. “The corruption of the dragon bloodline... maybe-”

“That’s enough, Nayara.” Asher cut her off sharply. “No matter how short the time, I intend to make good on the promise I made to my mother.” he paused, turning his gaze to the only window in the room. Outside, there was nothing but woodland as far as the eye could see. There was no sign of the festival either, almost as though the world beyond the glass. “As for Crystal... I’ll handle things with her.”

Nayara looked away from the flames, but said nothing. Many years had taught her to be quiet about certain things.

“Oh well,” she sighed, folding her arms beneath her chest. “I’ve said my bit.” She took a slow step closer, her voice dropping so low it was almost lost to the draft that seeped through the cracks in the stone walls.

“And Asher?”

“Hm?”

“Keep a close watch on the girl. Crystal. I don’t know exactly what it is I’m sensing…but something about her is definitely… special.”
She said it in the exact same way she’d said it to Crystal earlier when she’d told her she was special.

Conservatively, yet carefully, as though even speaking the word aloud felt premature.

“To be fair, I’ve met countless humans throughout my life. None, however, have felt the way Crystal does. Especially those eyes.”

“Do you know what it could be?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have said I don’t know, would I?” she answered dryly, looking genuinely irritated by the mystery itself.
“Just keep a close watch on her,” she added.

Asher turned towards the door, then paused.
“I will.”

Nayara didn’t need to tell him much; he already took it as his own personal mission to keep Crystal under his watch. Whether he could keep her or not wouldn’t change the need to protect her. At least now, if someday the corruption finally ran its full course and destroyed his Dragon core, he knew Aquila, Nayara, and of course Seth would be there for Crystal and keep her safe.

Nayara nodded towards the door. “Come on. I have this feeling that that Demon is causing trouble.”

…..

Back in the library, just as Nayara had predicted, all hell had broken loose.

CRYSTAL’S POV

“Shut up.”

“Well that’s rude.” Aquila blinked, his hand placed over his chest as I’d hurt him. If anyone should be hurt here, it would be me because…

“You’re a damn liar.” I crossed my arms tight over my chest, heat crawling up my neck and burning my cheeks--half embarrassment, half sheer and unmasked irritation. “A liar and a hypocrite. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” My voice went higher and higher the more I spoke. I didn’t even care that this was a library and I was breaking the sacred library rule.

“You had absolutely no right! Do you know how humiliating this is?!" I threw my arm to the side with a dramatic flare. "Pretending to be a stray cat just so you could spy on me?"

Aquila stood from the table he’d been leaning on just moments ago, looking as though he didn’t just reveal to me that he was the cat. That same damn cat I let into my room multiple times. I knew that tail looked familiar and those eyes, but how had I been so blind not to notice it before?

I mean. All the signs were there, but they never clicked in place.

“Spy on you? No. I kept you company,” he argued. His arms crossed over his chest as he looked back at me with that infuriatingly easy smirk hanging at the edge of his lips.

“You.” I gritted my teeth and marched furiously to where he stood and jabbed a finger at his sturdy chest. “That stray cat has been you all along. No wonder it always disappeared when you were close by.” I slammed my fist against his chest, but he caught my wrist.

“Come on, Crystal. I didn’t mean any ill intent by it. So just--”

I yanked my arm back and sneered at him. “I told you things. Personal things. And I rubbed your tummy. Allowed you into my bed...”

"Technically, I slept at the foot of—"

"I kissed you."

A chilling shiver coursed through me when I thought about all those times.

“In my defense--”

“No! You don’t get a defense!” My hand closed around the nearest book it could reach in that moment. It was thick and heavy enough to concuss the Demon who tricked me. Without a second's hesitation, I hurled it at his head with a strength I didn’t even realize I had in me. But he ducked out of the way, and unfortunately, it never actually hit him because a pale arm appeared out of nowhere.

TWHAP.

“Woah!” Aquila gasped,

Nayara had caught the book easily without breaking momentum as she retracted her arm back and ran a delicate finger over the spine with a cold look. My eyes widened with shock when her glare met me. So sharp it could have cut stone.

“What on earth are you doing with my books?” Her voice was cold as frost, and I took one trembling step back. I’d been so furious with Aquila that I didn’t even hear when Nayara and Asher returned.

She dusted off the front and back covers with a frown. “These books are older than most of the beasts you know. Show them the respect they are due.”

I bowed my head deeply and apologized. “I’m sorry I threw the book. But at the same time I wish you hadn’t caught it.” I slowly raised my gaze and glared at Aquila, who stood behind his wife like she could protect him from my wrath.

I still couldn’t believe someone like him could be married.

Nayara cast a look over her shoulder and nodded in understanding.

“Still, be careful of my books. These don’t grow on trees, you know.”

“Technically--” Aquila stepped into view of the woman that was supposedly his wife, rubbing his shoulder, that smirk creeping back “--books do kind of come from trees--”

Before he could finish his sentence, however, in one fluid movement shot out one hand and latched it across histhroatr in a vice grip beforecleanlyy lifting him off his feet until his boots dangled an inch above. In thoseheelss, she looked like an imposing figure. But seeing how easily she lifted Aquila, I stumbled back on my heels only to feel Asher behind me like a steady force.

“Don’t fucking test me, Aquila.”