Trinket (Reverse Harem)

Bad News, Bird

"I would have come to you," Soir told me, trying to slide a hand around my waist. I moved away, and he gave me a sly look.

I had half-expected him to reject my expectation he host me for dinner again, but Marcus had gone and returned within an hour that the Lord-Raven would be delighted to have my company. Something about the way Marcus had said delighted had sound like Soir--like one raven had been mimicking the song of another.

I didn't hear a song, but part of me wanted Soir to embrace me. I wanted to feel what I expected would be a frosty, silky touch. My trinket sat under my silks. Time to get this over with and get out of here--Korr had been very clear to not linger. Even if I could hear Soir's song, I apparently wasn't immune to it, or at the very least, not equal to sparring with the Raven. "Soir."

He cocked his head to the side, suddenly serious. "You are here to reject me."

"Soir--"

"No," he said with a single shake of his head, sending his inky hair drifting and fluttering. "No. I have not pled my case, I--"

"Soir, it's impossible." Get this over with.

"It is not impossible. Your voice is a song, and I know you can hear mine, as much as it does not seem to reach you save as music over a loud room."

"It is impossible." But I hadn't expected honesty and an abject confession of affection.

"No, it is not," he said with a firmness that sent nervous tremors along my skin. "Tell me what would make it possible. You've offered rejection so quickly. Tell me what is required to earn more time to solve the puzzle."

Oh, he was making it simple then. "No, Soir, it has nothing to do with anything you've done. It's simply not possible. I went to the Churn months ago."

He straightened and went very still. "What? You went to the Churn?"

"Yes. That's why I left my home enclave. The man who you guessed broke my heart tricked me into going to the Churn to get rid of me. I left and came to Haven." Korr had also told me to give Soir the truth but keep it simple and not get baited into a conversation or giving details.

He cocked his head one way, then the other, gaze intense, bewildered, and cunning. "Have you found him?"

I held out my hands. "Yes. I never intended to lead you on. I've been estranged. I never meant to give you or anyone else the impression I was single. It was something we were struggling through discreetly. Or trying to."

Soir weighed me with violet-black eyes, exceedingly still yet moving at the same time. "You say this like your honesty or this truth is an obstacle. I also suspect that you are not actually over your struggles, but feel compelled to set them aside and return to your Churn-chosen because I have intruded. Then let me tell you that I do not consider you having gone to the Churn a problem, and if you wish to reject him, I'm hardly afraid of the controversy, or knowing he watches me make love to you from the shadows. I know he's watching now. I knew he was watching last night."

This had gone off-script. Korr had not forseen Soir brushing off the truth. Neither had I. I stepped out towards the terrace since Asund had told me to stay in Itek's line of sight... but not to look at the skyline. Too late, though: Soir had already figured it out?

"I wasn't sure what I was hearing," Soir added with a feral smile better suited to a wolf or dragon, reminding me he was a creature that would feast upon anything. "Because I hear multiple songs, all focused on you, and I hear more songs tonight than last night, a chorus singing to you. My ravens cannot see him, he is well-hidden, but he is nearby, watching. Intriguing, just another part of the puzzle, but if it is freedom from a bond-mate that does not please you, nor appreciate you that you want... sit. On my lap if you wish to enrage him."