Rivers of blood and sand
Chapter 17

Harmony

A sharp breeze blew through the village, snapping my skirt around my legs as a chill invaded my body. I crossed my arms, thankful I’d thought to put on a jacket. I could’ve easily used my magic to warm the air around me, but I knew better than to adjust nature when it wasn’t necessary.

I’d sent Ander multiple messages that went unanswered, which wasn't a total cause for concern since he was busy helping out Starling. So, for the past hour, I’d been portaling throughout the realm trying to replace Ander until I finally wised up and messaged Seth. Since Koa didn’t know where Starling was, he was the next best bet. I ended up being right and should’ve messaged him from the start. I would’ve saved myself a lot of time and frustration if I had. He directed me to visit Aidan, who sent me to a Roman, who sent me here.

They better be here because my patience was running thin, and I might actually lose my shit if they weren’t.

Worry formed a pit in my stomach that grew the longer it took to replace Ander. On the plus side, if it was this difficult for me to replace him, then I had high hopes she wouldn’t succeed at replaceing him before me. Hopefully.

The others didn’t know I was here or what was going on. I only knew because I’d been lucky enough to overhear her in town. Right place, right time. As soon as I heard about her plans, I briefly considered alerting the others but immediately discarded the idea. Stealth was my best bet. Well, that and Jade would’ve never had the patience to bounce around the realm while worried about the safety of our friend, and Koa would’ve never let her come alone.

This type of situation needed to be handled carefully, which wouldn’t happen if I asked Ari for help. It would be like adding gasoline to an already raging fire. My best bet would’ve been to ask Reed, but today was Alora’s weekly visit to the Island for her lessons, and it was his turn to take her.

Even so, none of our friends would’ve been able to think logically when it came to this, other than Koa and Alora since they didn’t know the full scope of Ander’s past. I’d like to think of myself as the reasonable one, and usually I was, but even I wasn’t sure I wouldn't lose my shit if I saw her. And if I couldn’t keep it together, Jade and Ari sure as hell couldn’t.

A sigh of relief escaped me and all the tension eased from my body when I saw Ander exiting a building. His eyes widened as his gaze met mine before scanning around me, looking for the others. Where he’d been relaxed before—as relaxed as he could be while being back in the Aurora court—he was now tense and ready for just about anything.

Well, not anything. I doubted he was ready for what I had to say.

“Harmony?” What’s going on? Is everything okay?” Worry lined his voice and his face. His first instinct was to assume something was wrong and he was right, but it wasn’t us he needed to worry about. It was himself.

“We’re fine,” I reassured, watching as the tension eased from his shoulders a fraction as he approached.

When he was within a few feet of me, I did a double, hell triple, take as I took in his scent. Holy fucking shit. No fucking way. My eyes widened as I closed the distance between us and leaned forward to smell his shirt. Nope, I hadn’t been wrong the first time. My nose wasn’t playing tricks on me.

Mixed in with his usual scent were hints of jasmine and cedar, smells I usually associated with Starling. It shouldn’t be surprising since they’ve been working together since yesterday. When it came to Starling, things were different with Ander. For some reason that he refused to explain, she got under his skin, and most of the time she wasn’t doing anything to earn his reactions. So for me to be able to smell her on him was a big fucking deal. Especially when you factored in his past that was now making a reappearance.

That wasn’t even factoring in the way her scent was intertwined with his.

When a scent was left behind from a casual touch, it sat on the other’s skin and scent. They didn’t mix in the way hers had already mixed with his. That only meant one thing, and it was why I’d been so stunned. I mean, I get hate fucking, but I just assumed that wouldn’t be the case here.

Fuck. This whole thing was a recipe for disaster on multiple fronts.

Ander knew the thoughts racing through my mind, and could see the pure shock painted across my face. He shook his head, telling me either he had no idea how this happened, or that he was nowhere near ready for this type of discussion. Whatever the case was, I’d drop this for now. He was lucky it was only me here and not the others. No way would they let him get away with not giving any details.

I could only imagine how much his scent had rubbed off on her as well. Speaking of Starling…

“Where is she?” I asked, looking around but not replaceing her anywhere.

“She’s eating,” Ander said, pushing his hair back from his face in an agitated manner. “Harm, why are you here? And don’t say it’s nothing, you wouldn’t be here if something wasn’t going on.”

Right, I’d almost forgotten why I came here in the first place. Sparing a glance at all the blood mages wandering between the buildings, I took a deep breath that did little to ease the tension holding my body. He had every right to know what storm was headed his way, but telling him would bring up memories he’d like to keep in the past. Releasing a long sigh, I decided to do the rip-off-the-bandiad approach. “Ruby is looking for you, and not to talk.”

His body stilled as did his expression, looking like it had been chiseled from stone. “How do you know this?”

I looked around again, half expecting her to be sneaking up on us, feeling an unnatural chill in the air different from normal. The winds whispered of death and pain, sending shivers through my entire body. “Can we not do this out in the open?”

Ander inclined his head toward the building he just exited and I followed. Inside was a small library, with only two floors. He guided me to a table nestled in a corner, his movements carefully measured, the way he acted when he was on high alert. As soon as I sat down, I lit the privacy candle in the middle of the table and waited until the translucent shield fell over us before shimmering out of sight.

“I was in town and overheard her asking around about you, trying to replace where you live. Apparently, she’d somehow heard about you living in the Convergence point and decided now was the time to get some revenge. Yes, she explicitly told everyone how she’d kill you as if that would help in her cause.” Ander gripped the edge of the metallic black table as his eyes burned with an icy rage, and not because she was on a warpath to kill him. The metal was groaning under his fingers when I placed my hand over his. “Don’t worry, nobody told her anything. Even if somebody had, they can take care of themselves. She wouldn’t win a fight of three against one. Hell, four if Parker’s around.”

While I might not have been the sorcerer’s biggest fan personally, for reasons that were all my own, I had immense respect for his power and his ability to be helpful. He’d helped keep Koa alive when we were in the Fire court, and for that, we’d all be forever grateful.

My reassurances did nothing to ease the anger rising in his body, but at least he wasn’t storming out of here to try and replace her. “Why now? It’s been nearly twenty years.” Ander’s words were soft but held an edge that said he was far from calm. Not with the way the table was still protesting against his strangling grip. If he didn’t let up soon, he’d probably leave behind finger-shaped indents.

Ruby was Scarlet’s mother—a name none of us ever dared speak of; we even hated the color simply because it shared a name with her. For some reason, Ruby had decided now was the time to avenge her cunt of a daughter. I didn’t use that word lightly, but in this case, it described her perfectly.

Mythics like her made me wish our kind had a hell-like afterlife.

I shot furtive glances around the room at the ten or so blood mages. Each of them were focused on their books. “Whatever the reason you’re here, you need to get it over with as soon as possible. She still lives in this court and may show up. Chances are someone has already alerted her.”

There was little doubt in my mind that Ander could take her, even though she was over a hundred years older than him, but still. If he didn’t have to face her, I’d prefer to put off this face-off, especially when there was other shit going on.

Ander stilled, and the unbearable protesting sound the metal table made had me flinching and grabbing Ander’s hand again. “What’s going on?” I asked softly, trying to pry his fingers off the table and failing.

Not bothering to answer my question, he shoved his chair back and stormed out of the library. I’d been right, he did leave indents behind. I stared after him, dumbfounded for a few moments before scrambling to my feet and chasing after him. He was already over thirty feet away from me, and I had to sprint to catch up. I didn’t ask any more questions as I struggled to keep up with the fast pace.

I ran into his back when he abruptly stopped in the middle of the pathway. He didn’t notice or ask if I was okay, his hands opening and closing. “Dammit,” he growled under his breath, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small magic-infused metal jar.

My eyebrows pulled together as I tried to figure out why he was carrying that around and whose blood was in it. I had a suspicion, but it didn’t make any sense. Even though my suspicions were proven correct, I still gasped when he opened the jar, and I caught a whiff of Starling’s blood. “How the hell did you get her blood?” Knowing what I did about Starling, I doubted she willingly bled into the jar.