Artifice - Man x Man - Book Six

Chapter 17

She gives me a slight glance and slowly stands, her legs trembling. "Here." She departs, only to return with a shirt and some shorts. "They might be big on you, but it's better than you exposed like this, prudish as you are."

I take the garments, snagging the knife off the floor to finish cutting the lycra away from my skin and pull the shirt over my head with a dull groan. My arms protest, hardly wanting to move from the rough treatment of the evening's events. Each movement causes a ringing in my ears, my body threatens to quit and the room swims from the effort. 

"About that. I lived among a lycan horde; nudity doesn't bother me. I was tired, and I so desperately wanted to get back. I haven't been my best self."

"To Verando." She concludes, but she doesn't frown this time as she snags the bottle of vodka and plops on the floor across from me, her voluptuous thighs keeping the shirt firmly between her legs as she wiggles to fold herself and get comfortable. "You look like shit. Too bad you can't drink with that head injury."

I smile back, tilting my head to rest it on the bar. "Thanks. You look fantastic, yourself." 

She exhales, watching the bottle and I know that she wants to talk, for the first time since I've met her, I feel like I possess the only thing she'd ever want to talk about. I know the look on her face too well because it mirrors my own, heart and soul. She loves him, she still loves him with her whole being. 

"You can talk about him if you want." I try. "If it will help. I'm supposed to stay awake, aren't I?"

Soli looks taken aback as she nervously runs her fingers through her hair, primping in a way, as if she's suddenly embarrassed by her appearance. "It's been a hard year." She admits, "I never in a million years thought that I would see him again, not here, not in these circumstances." 

She sighs, taking another swig. I watch her patiently, feeling my body tense and stiffen as if I might need to protect what was mine. She gets on her hands and knees, crawling over to a table to snag the gun she so carelessly tossed aside before returning to me. 

"Did you know I've known him since he was five years old?" 

I can't help but blink at her, even though I know that to be true, her age is not evident. Though, I suppose neither is his. So she's an old blood as well. She laughs sadly, rubbing her cheek with her palm. 

"He was so tiny, just a little whisp. Crying and holding his sister, Temptrest. Sherian was the focus of their father then, that helped." She eyes me, testing my knowledge and it almost seems to hurt her that I'm easily keeping pace with the names. 

Though, Sherian brings a revolting weight to the pit of my stomach. She pulls her lips into a thin line, "I see you're familiar."

"Shell-" I stop myself. It won't come out and she holds up her hand. My mind refuses to go any further, I feel my skin threaten to break into a sweat.

Her eyes are all too knowing. "He's disgusting."

"I killed him," I tell her point-blank.

Soli drinks again, scooting over to sit beside me now. "And you say you're just a man." 

I shrug.

"When properly motivated..." I trail off. I never want to be back in that place again. Four hundred years isn't far enough away from his corpse. 

She crosses her ankles, tilting her head back against the bar. Stealing a glance, I feel a pang of remorse. It doesn't seem fair; her loyalty shouldn't be punished. 

"For what it's worth- I know he still loves you."

It brings a laugh from her lips, a sick, sad sound. She coughs, gagging up the pollution from the city streets. "I know he does." But where I expect her to gloat and boast, she doesn't look proud of that fact. "He loves me just as one loves the rain or spring flowers. It's beautiful while it's convenient, it doesn't make it any less than love but it's conditional."