“Tell me if this helps you feel,” she whispered.
Then her mouth was on him, soft but insistent, for the first time since he’d kissed her in the Citadel infirmary. She smelled of plums—how did she do that, after being on the road for days?—and her lips told him that the incident in the dining hall on Isle of the Moon when she’d jumped away from him hadn’t been rejection, that she still wanted him.
Another surge of heat flooded his body, and while it wasn’t the same as the sky pouring into him, he couldn’t care less right now.
Her lips parted his, and their tongues found each other. Daemon circled Fairy’s waist and lifted her. She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around him. He moved closer to the center of the tree and pushed her back against the trunk.
She kissed his neck and toyed with his collar. His hand slid under the hem of her tunic, to bare skin like satin.
“The things I want to do to you,” she purred.
Oh gods. It was as if he were on fire, inside and out. His temperature spiked. Sparks flew.
“Wolf,” Fairy said, and hearing her call out his taiga name with her voice husky from desire made him burn even more.
But then she shoved away from him. “Wolf!”
“Did I do something wrong?” Daemon said, flustered.
Fairy’s mouth, which only a second ago had been expertly working against his, now hung open, useless. She blinked rapidly and pointed at him. “Y-you. Wolf.”
Daemon shook his head. But then he followed her finger and looked down at himself.
He was a wolf again, covered in blue fur, and the sparks he’d felt between them were literal sparks, like blue lightning buzzing and zapping all around him. His cloak and other clothes had fallen onto the branches.
“Gods dammit,” he said. “Really? Right now?”
Meanwhile, Fairy was pinching at her tongue, pulling out strands of fur.
If Daemon could possibly feel any hotter, the embarrassment did it. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
She held up a hand. He stopped talking.
She spat out one last piece of fur and started laughing.
“What?” Daemon asked. He failed to see what was funny about this situation.
“Look on the bright side,” Fairy said.
“I can give you a ride to Celestae now?” Daemon grimaced.
“Yep,” she said.
“Other than that, are you completely repulsed that I’m a wolf?” Part of him didn’t want to know the answer.
Fairy shrugged. “I’m only going to kiss the boy version of you. And besides, it’s not like you’re actually an animal. You’re a demigod. And that, like I said before, is very sexy.”
He smiled a little. But it vanished quickly, because he remembered that they only thought he was the missing wolf constellation from the sky. They didn’t know for sure. “What if it turns out I’m not a demigod?”
With that self-doubt, there was a blinding burst of blue light. When Daemon looked down, he was a boy once more. And naked. Again.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He grabbed at the cloak and wrapped it around his waist. “Nines, I hate my life.”
“I don’t hate mine,” Fairy said, openly ogling his shirtless torso. “And hey, think of it like this. Now you definitely know that what happened to you during the battle at the Citadel wasn’t a fluke. Turning into an electric wolf twice is no accident.”
Daemon sighed. He made Fairy turn around as he put his clothes back on.
She had a point, though. Transforming into an enormous flying wolf once was like a dream he could be woken from. But twice was the beginning of something real.
“All right, fine, you win,” he said when he was fully dressed. “Maybe I’m a little special. Let’s go summon Vespre. He can settle this once and for all.”
Chapter Twelve
Sora had only ever prayed to the gods inside proper temples, like the black pagoda in the Citadel. Here in Jade Forest, though, they didn’t even have incense sticks to make smoke for carrying their words up to Celestae. She had no idea if this would work.
There was also the question of whether these summons would cost them anything. Emperors and empresses had to give up a year of their life every time they called upon Sola. Would Vespre demand something like that, too? It was impossible to know, since gods didn’t usually appear to humans outside of the imperial family.
But if the god of night does require something, it will be worth it, Sora thought. Because if they couldn’t reach Vespre, there was no hope for the four of them and Kichona anway.
Sora and Broomstick did what they could to prepare a templelike space, clearing the ground in the chestnut grove and setting up a makeshift temple, with rolled-up sleeping mats as kneeling cushions and twigs to light in place of incense.
When Daemon and Fairy returned, Sora didn’t need to look at them to know something had happened up there in the trees. Daemon had shut his mental ramparts, and Broomstick said Fairy had, too.
It’s a good thing, Sora thought, although as before, it took work to convince herself. Fairy had been able to help Daemon when Sora couldn’t. I shouldn’t be upset about that.
And really, Sora wasn’t mad at Fairy at all. She just wished she was in Fairy’s place.
But since she wasn’t, Sora forced a smile as they approached.
“Welcome back,” she said, holding out a handful of twigs. “Here.”
“What are these?” Daemon asked.
“Incense sticks. Sort of. When one twig burns down, light another, and keep the entreaties constant,” Sora said.
He and Fairy each took a bundle.
“This is already kind of a gamble,” Sora said, “so I think we should all focus on our strengths to maximize the chance that Vespre will not only hear us but actually respond.”
“What do you mean?” Fairy asked.
Sora pointed at Broomstick, who was finishing up stacking a huge pile of sticks. “Broomstick is Mr. Charisma, so he’s going to pray with the equivalent of his blinding smile. Instead of boring entreaties, he should appeal to Vespre’s fascination with humans, like inviting him to hang out on earth.”
Daemon twisted his mouth. “We’re trying to be drinking buddies with my father?”
“If he brings me the alcohol of the gods,” Broomstick hollered from the other side of the chestnut grove, “I’ll not only be his drinking buddy, I’ll be his best friend.”
“I thought the myths only mention Vespre’s interest in earth’s female population,” Daemon said.
“That’s it!” Fairy’s eyes lit up. “I’m good with guys. I’ll try to tempt Vespre to visit us.”
“Absolutely not!” Daemon said.
“Ew, not like that!” Fairy waved him off. “I just meant that I’m good at getting boys to do things for me, like grabbing the best knives when a new weapons shipment comes in or saving me a good seat in class.”
Daemon crossed his arms.
“Present company excepted,” Fairy said. “I promise I don’t manipulate you at all.”
Broomstick jogged over, snickering. “You manipulate everyone at least a little. You can’t help it. You’re just so little and cute, and they can’t resist you.” He pinched her cheek.