Alex couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore. “You’re something else, you know that?”
“It’s an impossible task, given my vastly impressive attributes, but do try not to fall in love with me, kitten,” he said with a teasing grin. “I don’t do inter-species relationships.”
A surprised snort burst from Alex at his sheer audacity. “You’re breaking my heart here, Niyx. I’ll have to come up with a new five-year plan.”
“Five years, huh? Good to know you were giving me a fair time limit.”
Laughing again, Alex said, “For the record, before this becomes any weirder, no.”
“No?”
“No.” Alex’s repeated word was firm even if it was still bubbling with amusement. “Just to be clear—”
Niyx raised his hands in front of him and interrupted, “Don’t worry—it’s clear on my end.”
“Because you know I think the world of you,” Alex continued over him. “But just not… in that way.”
Eyebrows raised, Niyx asked, “What part of ‘it’s clear’ did you misunderstand?”
“I’m just making sure,” Alex said. “The last thing I’d want between us is—”
“Unrequited love?” He couldn’t even say the words without his lips curling upwards. “Trust me, kitten. You and me, not gonna happen. For a myriad of reasons, not just because you’re mortal.”
Alex narrowed her eyes. “I’m choosing not to take offence to that.”
Niyx shrugged. “Hey, you can’t help being human.”
“I’m talking about the ‘myriad of reasons’, Niyx,” she ground out.
“Oh.” He laughed. “Smart decision, then.”
Alex grabbed a handful of snow and pelted it in his direction. He, of course, responded in turn. And that led them to a snowball fight, Meyarin-style—which meant it was fast, it was ruthless and it was unrelenting.
Only when they were both covered in ice—and, in Alex’s case, shivering from head to toe—did they call a truce. Seconds later, Niyx summoned the Valispath and returned her to her dorm, where D.C. was still sleeping soundly from whatever he’d drugged her with the previous night. Alex felt a twinge of guilt as she wondered if Jordan had been waiting for D.C. to join him out by the lake as she had for the rest of the week. But it was too late now for Alex to do anything other than hope he had managed to sleep through the night.
“I need to get back to Meya,” Niyx said after drying his wet hair with a towel Alex offered him.
She swallowed the last of the heated laendra—at Niyx’s demand, since he was experiencing an echo of her discomfort through their bond—and said, “Wait. I need to ask you something first.”
“Better make it quick,” he said. “I don’t want to risk being gone much longer.”
Her stomach knotting, Alex asked, “What happened to the draekons? To Zaronia? To—To Xira?” When Niyx’s expression froze, the knots in her stomach tightened. But she somehow managed to continue, “Sir Camden told me yesterday that there was a massacre. That the Draekoran leader was killed along with—along with some of the others.”
Sympathy washed over Niyx’s face, alarming Alex further. “Kitten…”
Her heart pounding, she whispered, “Niyx, tell me he’s okay.”
Niyx moved forward and took Alex’s hands in his own, looking straight into her eyes. “I’m sorry, Aeylia. Being imprisoned in Taevarg, I had trouble hearing all the details.”
Through stiff lips, Alex asked, “What details did you hear?”
Niyx was hesitant to respond, that much Alex could see. But he held her gaze and said, “I know Aven was involved.” He paused. “And… I’m sorry, kitten, but Zaronia didn’t survive.”
Alex closed her eyes, feeling the weight of that wash over her as she thought about the majestic purple matriarch. “What did Aven do?”
“Again, I don’t know. But it wasn’t—” His throat bobbed, then he continued, “It wasn’t long after you left. I always wondered just how much Aven remembered; if perhaps while he forgot the particulars of you like everyone else, he was still able to recall visiting Draekora with the faceless mortal who broke his heart. Perhaps he wanted to wipe that memory from his mind, and he chose to do so in the most horrific way possible.”
Shaking now, Alex forced herself to ask, “Xira?”
Niyx shook his head and she felt her lungs seize until he answered, “I don’t know. I only heard about Zaronia.”
Alex sagged with relief, since no news meant there was a chance Xiraxus had survived Aven’s massacre. Where he had fled to or how long he had lived—perhaps even if he was still alive—she didn’t know; all she could do was hope he truly had escaped Aven’s wrath and led the draekons to safety.
“That’s awful about Zaronia,” Alex whispered, feeling even more upset at the idea of Xira losing his mother. “But I’m glad you didn’t hear—I’m glad he might still be—”
She couldn’t finish her sentence, but Niyx squeezed her hands, understanding, before releasing her and stepping back. “I know, kitten. I feel the same. Then and now.”
Swallowing thickly, Alex nodded once and said, “Thanks for telling me. And now you’d better get back to Meya before someone starts looking for you.”
Knowing Alex almost better than she knew herself, Niyx clearly read that she didn’t want to dwell on the fate of the draekons—or of Xira—anymore. So he did what he always did and made her feel better, this time by offering her a distraction.
“Before I go, we should quickly discuss Kyia and Zain.”
Alex’s forehead crinkled. “I already agreed not to tell them about you.”
“I’m more concerned with them figuring it out on their own.”
Alex just looked at him, waiting for an explanation.
“I told you last night that I’m Zeltora-trained, but what you won’t know is that each Meyarin warrior has their own individual fighting style. It comes out in the way we execute certain moves, almost like a personal signature. And since most of your more advanced training can be credited to me—”
“—then I’m probably copying your signature when I fight,” Alex finished, understanding. “That’s a bit of a stretch to think they’ll make that comparison though, isn’t it?”
Niyx scratched his ear. “We’d be unlucky. And I did complete my training alongside Roka, so they could just as easily read the similarities between his and my styles as your own take on what he supposedly taught you, rather than thinking about me at all.”
Alex chose to focus on that as a positive—just as she focused on the fact that Niyx had successfully managed to pull her from her melancholy over what she’d learned about the Draekorans. She was still upset by the news, but whatever had happened had been over and done with thousands of years ago. Lingering on the past would do her no good—both Xira and Zaronia would have wanted her to continue onwards.
“Then what’s there to worry about?” Alex asked him, determined to remain optimistic—about everything. “Nothing’s a problem until it’s actually a problem. And right now, the possibility of Kyia and Zain learning about you is not a problem.”