Page 44 of Knox
Lyrian tilted his head and thought about this for a second. "I’m a good singer without the magic, I suppose, and I draw magic from any listener who enjoys what they’re hearing. I can’t get as much here as I can get back home, but I’ll always be okay."
"Convenient." Zev seemed only a little bit jealous. He was a night fae, and as such, he had few ways to power up his magic that didn’t include feasting on souls or terrifying people with nightmares.
"Convenient is good," Lyrian said. "We’ll need to be prepared tomorrow." He turned to Knox. "How did you gather your magic this morning?"
"Adrian," Knox said simply.
Lyrian accepted this response without a hint of surprise. "Will he be available for you tonight or do we need to find you someone else? Maybe a few partners? We can’t be beaten again like we were on the bridge earlier today."
The memory of their earlier defeat stung like a fresh wound. Knox clenched his fists, feeling the familiar frustration bubblingup. "We won’t be," he promised. "I just need to draw more magic."
Zev raised an eyebrow. "And how do you plan on doing that?"
That was an excellent question and not one Knox had a ready answer for. He knew what he wanted to do, which was to go back into Adrian’s room and nail the mortal to the bed. He could take everything he needed from Adrian; he was sure of that. He was sure Adrian would enjoy it too—at least while he was in the throes of it.
It was what might come after that worried Knox.
He’d been with too many mortals who had a great time only until regret set in the next morning.
In the morning, Adrian would remember Knox’s true nature. The words Knox had read on his 'phone.'
"Knox?" Lyrian prodded gently. "Do you have an idea what to do?"
Knox took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I’m not sure about taking things any further with Adrian," he admitted.
Zev hummed, violet eyes narrowing in thought. "If you don’t want to use Adrian, we could go back to that club where Lyrian and I first emerged when we were stranded here. Plenty of people willing to have sex there." He pulled a slip of paper with a number written on it out of his pocket. "I acquired a few of these."
Knox suppressed a sigh. He couldn’t help but remember the brothel and how lifeless everyone there had felt to him. He’d gotten the same impression from the crowd he’d moved through on the bridge as well.
"It’s not that simple," he said. "People here… they feel different. Incompatible in a way that I can’t explain."
Lyrian leaned forward. "Why is that?"
Knox shrugged, frustration edging into his voice. "I don’t know." His gaze fell on Zev, who was studying him with an intensity that bordered on unsettling.
"What?" Knox demanded.
Zev’s expression remained thoughtful. "Don’t incubi pair-bond this way?"
Knox froze. That was… No. That was not what was happening here. Whatever was going on was due to the weird magic of this place, not because something inside of Knox had decided that he needed to have Adrian to the exclusion of all others.
"What are you talking about?" Lyrian asked.
"It’s about how incubi find their mates," Zev said. "Once they get a whiff of them they lose interest in everyone else until they’ve had sex with their chosen partner."
"My mate is not someone from a different world," Knox argued. This was ridiculous.
"Maybe it’s not coincidence that you arrived in this house," Zev challenged.
"But he already had sex with Adrian," Lyrian pointed out. "This morning."
"Exactly," Knox agreed, even though he knew that what he’d done with Adrian would not satisfy a forming mate bond if that was what this was.
Which it wasn’t.
Zev was giving him this look again as if he knew exactly what was on Knox’s mind, as if he knew that Knox was lying too. "Well," he said after a moment, "if you can’t draw magic from other people, he’s still your only option."
"I’ll figure something out," Knox said, hoping to put an end to this conversation. "Let me worry about my magic. I’ll be prepared tomorrow, I promise."
