The servants haven’t stopped staring at me since I'd appeared undisguised at Avarice’s side. Plainly shocked that I dared to wander around, few approached but scurried away as soon as they got within a few feet of me. The Fallen’s ward was working just as promised, it gave me some confidence.

Of the few who do, once in a while they come close enough only to relay a message from Avarice. On one such occasion, Nihasa bade me follow her as she led me to Avarice’s study. He was in the middle of stuffing a heavy stack of papers into a filing cabinet when I arrived.

He looked up from his task and smiled when he saw me. “Would you join me for dinner?”

My eyebrows lifted nearly off my forehead. “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”

“Not at all. I’ve been meaning to try this new restaurant that popped up by the canal.”

Dinner was overwhelming, though Avarice acted utterly oblivious. So many people were staring, I wanted to crawl under the table cloth and phase through the floor. I managed two bites before I hadn’t the stomach to continue.

“You’re being disturbingly generous today. Did one of your clients crack your skull in some sort of scuffle?”

“Nope,” Avarice tapped the glass distractedly. “It may have something to do with my sister giving birth to her fourth child early this morning, but It’s mostly because I don’t want to wake up with a knife in my chest.”

“I won’t stab you,” I smirked. “As long as all my limbs stay attached.” I brought the wine glass to my lips and nearly spat it out. “Ack! It burns.”

Avarice chuckled. “Lightweight.”

“Do you want the rest of it?”

“I think you know the answer to that already.”

I slid the glass toward him. “Congratulations to your sister.”

“Save it for her seventh.”

“Seven- I hope you’re helping her.”

“You think I’m not?”

I shook my head, exasperated.

“I’m not all bad, now, am I?”

“Not all the time.”

We did not stay for very long following the exchange, I was glad to leave that place down a quiet street following the canal. The less attention, the better.

The water was quiet, aside from one or two gondolas cruising down stream, opposite of us, as Avarice led me to a busy market place.

I dug my heels into the cobblestone before the archway threshold. “Too many people.”

Avarice left, warning me to stay put until he returned with a cloak. He did, rather hastily, and flung it over my head. After digging my way out from under the folds and untangling the cloth, I fitted it around my wings and over my head.

The third stall we visited was selling strange robes of various silks and dark velvets. My eyes caught a particularly interesting one fitted with curtain sleeves and a linen undershirt.

“Do you want that one?”

I startled at his voice next to my ear. “Eh?’

“I think you’d look nice in that.”

“I don’t even know what it is.”

“It’s a Durcean-Wrap.” He removed it from the hook and held it up to me. “I have one similar but it’s green and lacks the long sleeves.”

“Can’t say i’m surprised.”

“Do you want it?”

“Do I have a choice?”

Avarice glanced at the robes. “No.”

“Fine.”

On the way back to Avarice’s Manor for some extra rest before the beginning of the festival, I stop to scoop up some snow. Avarice noticed my lack of footsteps and turned to see what had, yet again, caught my attention.

Smack! I hit Avarice square in the face with a snowball. He’d frozen mid-sentence and stared at me with a startled look. In seconds snow was being hurtled at my face and I’d been forced to duck behind a cart. With no other choice but to finish what i’d started, I returned fire, catching the attention of a few children who happily joined in. Soon enough I yielded and snuck away to the nearby canal.

A pair of figures wrestled on the opposite side of the water. It was only when the two began spitting fire at one another did I realize what they were.

Avarice inevitably tracked me down. “If this becomes a habit, we're going to have problems.” He mused, giving me a light smack in the arm.

I dismissed him, distracted by the dragonlings. “How did you come by your pyrokinesis?”

“The Fallen gifted them to me upon my rise to power proceeding the passing of my aunt.”

“I see.” It made sense that she’d be able to do such a thing, though I couldn’t. I wasn’t even supposed to have my gift, hence why I’d kept it secret. “What is The Fallen’s true name?”

“She refuses to tell anyone, can’t imagine why.”

The murmur of blurred conversation swallowed up the silence where we pondered over what to say next. He was the first to think of something.

“Dancing begins at dusk and ends at midnight, it’s my favorite part of the Solstice Festival.”

“I can’t dance, trust me, I'll step all over your toes, according to previous partners.”

“So what? You could just follow my lead if it's so challenging for you.”

“I… Okay but don’t wear your favorite boots, I’m gonna scuff them to ash.”

“Noted.”

It was one of Avarice’s responsibilities as the priest of the city to perform the opening ceremony. He began a series of intricate steps paired with some overly exaggerated arm dynamics and flourishes of green fire. On que with the music, citizens would toss hand fulls of gold flakes, bits catching in Avarice’s hair or burning up in the flames. It was a long ceremony, leaving Avarice shiny with sweat and emitting a visible trail of steam the further away from the bonfire he got.

I emphasized my preference for solitude which he was more than happy to oblige to my request, being in desperate need of a snow mound to cool off in. We found a small park, just close enough to hear the music from the city square. The place was fairly empty, lit by paper lanterns hung from the branches of the trees lining the borders.

The first thing Avarice insisted on doing was teaching some of the many precariously intricate dances, none of which I am able to perform without tripping over my own feet at least once. Avarice, however, executed the moves effortlessly, feigning mistakes every now and then as to not outshine me more than is needed. “It takes years of practice,” He explained. “You fare better than most, I've observed, learning so late.”

The last dance he attempted to walk me through consisted of nothing but glides and extended twirling.

“Must you spin me so much? I think I might be sick.”

“Very well,” Avarice exclaimed quite dejectedly, ceasing our waltz of chaos. “I thought we were having fun.”

“I was, until .”

“Not a party person then, huh?”

“I told you this earlier.”

Avarice’s guffaw was short-lived, interrupted by a series of explosions in the square where the rest of the festival was still taking place. I followed him around the corner to a wall of smoke, green flames biting through the hazy plumes. A gust of wind, conjured by Avarice’s powerful wings, cleared the shroud in a matter of seconds. Unveiling the cause of the disturbance.

Chasing after Ignaisins in groups of six or more and a small battalion buzzing around the rooftops, were panel-winged barbarians. Lerverii.

Avarice had a maliciously gleeful grin painted on his face when our gaze met. “Wanna see something cool?”

Swiping a bow and quiver from a downed Ignaisin archer, he knocked an arrow and caught a Lerverii square between the eyes.

“I’ve seen that before.”

“I’m just warming up. Watch, I don’t even have to look.” As he said that, he kept his eyes locked on mine as he downed another Panel-Wing.

What he failed to notice was the stray bolt heading straight for him. Had I not shoved him down when I did, it would have embedded itself in the back of his skull. It wizzed harmlessly through the ends of my feathers and became wedged in a tree.

“Oh.” His eyes passed between me and the tree a few times before settling on me.

“This has never happened before, has it?”

“The attack on the festival or my distraction?”

“Both?”

“Look, i’m trying not to scare you, plus I need to blow off some steam. I’m still pissed about yesterday.” He muttered angrily to himself. “Here,” He extracted a shiny painted arrow hidden between the folds of his robe. “These suckers are one of my favorites.”

He aimed at a cluster of Lerverii. The bolt went sizzling through the air, it’s fletching trailing glitter, and exploding into an array of colorful sparks among the group. It crackled, the sparks lighting up their delicate wings, leaving them with nothing but a pair of charcoal stumps on their backs.

I turned on him. “Have you any more of those?”

“You’re quite the fighter, aren’t you.”

“I am not, I've spent more than half my life in a library and more than that in a lecture room.”

He rolled his eyes. “Ink Drinker.”

We returned home, Avarice leaving on my shoulder for balance and giggling like a madman.

“You’re going to make it worse.”

“Oh come now, scold me later mama, there’s still six more days in the festival.”

I groaned dramatically. “You’re already handful right now, and you think you could hold your liquor.”

“I hope you’ll be around next year.”

I dumped him in a chair, propping up the leg with the shaft of an arrow protruding from it. “Now I know you’re really wasted.”

“I am not, I only had two glasses of wine.” He nudged me with his foot. “I meant what I said.”

“You had seven glasses.” I corrected, closing my fingers around the arrow. Look Avarice dead in the eye, I have it a hard tug, he swore but there were only splinters left to pluck. Lucky he was numb to most of the pain, I thought.

My hands were soaked by the time I’d yanked out the last of them. Standing, I made for the washroom to fetch a damp rag. Avarice watched me approach warily, anticipating.

Ignoring the look, I knelt and tenderly wiped away the blood. It still oozed by the time I was done and I clapped my hands over the wound, calling upon my gift once again. When it had completely closed over, I leaned my head against his calf.

“Something wrong?”

“I’ve never dealt with something this severe, I’m exhausted.”

“From healing me?”

I made a disgruntled noise in response.

He chuckled. “Well, that explains why I’m much more awake than I was just a moment ago.”

I slapped his calf and pushed to my feet. My wrist was ensnared, rooting me in place.

“Zaki,” Avarice paused. “Don’t push yourself.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“I demand you sleep in a bed tonight, the couch will not suffice, neither will a quilt on the floor; you are not a dog. You’ll ruin your back and wings that way.”

“There’s only one bed.”

“You healed me, twice, It’s the least I can do.”

“I’d rather sleep in a thorn-bush”

He tightened his grip, dragging me into the bedroom. I shrieked, digging my heels into the velvety carpet.

“Calm down, I’m not Lezabel.” He shoved me down and collapsed across my torso, effectively pinning me down with his body weight. Already the trapped arm was beginning to lose feeling and Avarice was out cold and snoring. I squirmed, eventually slipping my arm free but not being able to do much more. Evangelos consumed my thoughts, Avarice wasn’t Evan no matter how similar they appeared. They didn’t smell the same either, Evan usually reeked of lemons but Avarice emanated the scent of honey and winter pine trees. I preferred this, in fact I’d rather spend the rest of my life in Alpine’s eye stinging palace than spend another second with Evangelos.

I could bare this.