Maybe Fate: A Novel (New Adult Paranormal Romance) (15 page)

I
said none of my thoughts, it wasn't the moment for it. “I can
only guess. Twaelin hardly mingle in among humans, so a name change
seems redundant. No one would know who we were, what line of
information would they follow?”

“
Walk
me through that,” she murmured, and I felt the first nervous,
careful treading of her hands touching my back.

That
brought a grin helplessly across my mouth. “We live forever,
as far as I've ever known. None of us have wasted away in old age.
It seems impossible, when I think about it.”

“
Why,
why would that be impossible?”

For
a second, I hesitated. Was it a mistake to tell someone as much as
this? Someone like Gale, who my Mistress had already chastised me
for getting more involved with than she saw was needed?

My
curiosity, my need to garner reactions from the burning core of
energy in my arms... it was hungrier than my good sense.

Sliding
my hands up her sides, listening to her astonished intake of air, I
rested my fingers on her shoulders. Pulling back, my eyes narrowed
poignantly at her own surprised expression.

“
Gale,
twaelin can't die.”

Digging
her fingers into my muscles, she bubbled with an uneasy laugh.
“That's impossible, everything can die.”

Gently,
I grazed my digits up her bare arms, feeling the tiny hairs become
needles as I want. “Perhaps we have different ideas about what
it means to die, then.”

She
dropped her limbs to her sides, and for a moment, we were no longer
touching. “You're talking around me. Stop it, tell me what you
mean. How is it possible for you to not die, what the hell
is
a twaelin?”

I
didn't need to touch Gale to feel her. Her emotion was raw, her
anger delectable. Strangely, though, having her cut me off sent a
welling of dismay inside of me.

Now,
that's interesting.

Squinting
at her, I fought to keep my smile strong. “Ah. And there it
is. What am I?”

“
You
keep saying twaelin aren't demons,” she said warily, “but
you talk about eating emotions and not dying, you fly around and
seem to vanish place to place. I saw Ethlyn shoot lightning or
something. If you aren't a demon, tell me the difference.”

Canting
my head, I flexed my fingers, then lifted them in front of me.
“Demons are imaginary beasts born from stories. However,
twaelin are very much real. We're born from other, more powerful
twaelin. They're the source of our power.”

Making
a fist, I moved my other hand below it, fingers waggling. “Think
of it like rain. It's created, falls to the ground, then when it
'dies' it simply evaporates, eventually returning once more from the
air.”

Blinking,
she stared at my display. “But if that analogy is right, that
means you
can
die, you just don't stay dead.”

I
suppose that's one way to put it.
The
reality of our destruction, it only meant, in the off chance a
twaelin
was
destroyed, we could be recreated by our source.

My
Mistress would bring me back if it ever happened, low as the chances
are.

Shrugging
at her point, I spread my fingers between us like a wall. “I
concede. Yes, in that sense, if I were to be 'killed' I would just
come back eventually.”

Her
frown was thoughtful. “You can be hurt, but you don't stay
dead. Is anything about you even slightly human?” The waves of
anxiety and excitement had long faded from the change of topic.

I
couldn't have that.

Lowering
my hands, I snatched hers back up, placing them on my chest.
There,
now I have her attention.
Gale
gawked, pink lips falling open from my brisk action. “If you
wanted to know how much of me was human, I'd be happy to show you,”
I murmured.

Scalding
humiliation mixed with her pumping heart. It soothed me, taunted me,
all at once. I'd never met a human who pulled me in like Gale did.

“
I—I
didn't mean it like that!” she squeaked, fighting to pull
away; I held her wrists fast, keeping her touching me.

Lowering
my brows, I stayed silent until she quit yanking to escape. “Shh,”
I said gently, “you're acting like a chaste maiden. I was only
trying to let you feel the beat of my energy.”

Gale's
face smoothed, muscles relaxing a hair. Flicking her eyes from my
own, to her hands, then back again, she cleared her throat. “Your
what?”

“
Just
feel,” I coaxed her, releasing her wrists. I felt a delicious
rush of satisfaction when she didn't rip herself away from me.

Gingerly,
the red-head bent in closer to my body. Eventually, she almost had
her ear to my chest. I knew what she would be feeling. It was a
pulse, something similar to a human heart, and yet so far removed.

My
center, my very being. My connection to my Mistress and the twaelin
reality; what let me pass between the fibers of the planes and into
Gale's world.

“
What
is that?” she asked softly.

Closing
my eyes, I listened to the beat of the music, amused by how similar
it seemed to what she was sensing. “That's me, the actual me.”

While
I stood there, sinking inwards, I felt Gale's emotions swimming
around me. They weren't the luscious tendrils of negativity, or the
exciting sparks of her anxiousness.

How
strange, what a unique feeling.

“
It's
like a heartbeat,” she whispered. That made me smile, but her
next words tickled at something else. “It's... familiar,
somehow. I think I've felt this before.”

Looking
down at the top of her head, my fingers scooped up her chin. Tilting
her back, so she was staring up at me through eyes soaked in haze, I
was almost sorry that my heated tone had ruined the mood. “What
do you mean you've felt this before?”

Baffled
by my sudden seriousness, Gale slid her palms off my chest. “I'm
not sure, I think... I think it was a few days ago, when I saw you
watching me in the commons.”

Pulling
my fingers away from her face, I slid them into my pockets. “You
actually felt my presence. Of course. That's how you also could feel
Ethlyn.”

It
makes sense, and at the same time, that's perfectly impossible.
Humans aren't able to sense us, they never have before.

“
Hey,
are you alright?” Gale asked.

Frowning
harshly, I turned away, lost in a flurry of thought.
I'll
need to tell my Mistress, this has to be part of why she dreamed
about the girl in the first place.

“
Hello?
Nethiun?”

It's
connected, certainly.

“
Nethiun!”
Reaching out, she grabbed at my hand, astounding both of us with her
abrupt gesture.

Freezing
in my rush of thoughts, I stared at her, matching her surprised
expression.

Blushing
red all over, she whipped her arm away and tucked it behind her
back, as if hiding it would make what had happened less real. “Uh,
sorry. You just kind of went quiet and looked really upset for a
minute there.”

Lifting
the hand she'd taken, I smoothed the cuff of my shirt deftly. “Did
I? Sorry, something occurred to me. I should be taking off.”

“
Taking
off? What? To where?”

“
It's
just some business,” I shrugged, casting a quick glance across
the club. Ethlyn was watching me, but that was fine. I felt positive
he wasn't going to be doing anything rash.

“
Business,”
she said beside me. “Is this business with your 'source'
twaelin, then?”

Startled
enough that I spun back around, my opal eyes found Gale looking
smugly satisfied.

Lovely,
I think I just gave myself away.

Scowling,
she flipped her braid over her shoulder again. The motion made her
dress sparkle in the sparse lighting. “Don't look so shocked.
I'm not stupid or something. You already told me you were following
me because someone told you to, I just connected the dots a little
more.”

Clever,
or maybe I was just too cocky.

Smiling
wide, I spread my hands and sighed. “I won't patronize you
with a compliment, then.”

“
But
it is true, you're going to go tell whoever your source twaelin is
about something.” Eyeing me with paranoia, I felt the flickers
of her rising distress. “You're going to tell them... about
what I just said to you. About how I felt your presence, and—and
Ethan—Ethlyn—whatever his name is. That's it, isn't?”

Now
she's divining too much.

My
voice was flat, brooding with a promise of danger. “I can't
answer any of that.”

“
You
said you'd answer my questions!” she snapped, leaning in my
direction with blatant disregard for how obvious she was being.

Darting
a look at Ethlyn, I hunched low, moving until my nose almost brushed
Gale's. “I said I'd talk while we danced. We aren't dancing
any longer.”

“
No,”
she said through tight lips, “I guess we're not.”

That
anger was like fresh coffee on my tongue, bitter but intoxicating.
Yet, I was bothered by her reaction.

Since
when do I care about such things?

Without
a word, I strolled off into the thick of the crowd. In the moving,
shifting world of flexing bodies and pulsing life, no one would even
notice me passing through realities.

I
didn't have time to justify my actions or calm Gale down. My mind
was set on my duty, I knew I needed to report to my Mistress.

It
was just how it was.

It
had always been like that.

Gale
Everette

Furious,
I glowered after Nethiun for long minutes, far beyond the moment
he'd vanished into the blackness of the club.

My
feet ached, my stomach was a mess of roiling liquid, and my head
felt dull from the small amount of alcohol I'd had.

Worse,
everything I learned from Nethiun had just given me more questions.