Chapter 28: Chapter 28

IRIS

The bonfire kept flickering. My gaze was glued to the dancing flames while I was deep in thought.

“Are you alright, my love?” Avery asked, worried.

“I’m fine, I’m just a little worried,” I replied as he kissed my forehead.

“There’s nothing to worry about. We have Bael. He’s going to take us in there unnoticed. Right?” he asked Bael.

But Bael hadn’t heard the question at all. His eyes were fixed on the darkness, as if he were watching something that none of us could see.

Some of the soldiers finally thought they should look. They grabbed their weapons and stood up.

“Put your weapons down! Now!” Bael shouted suddenly.

His voice was deep, and the demonic side of him seemed to break through—dangerous, as if something could explode at any moment.

But then Ava approached us through the darkness.

“I’m not interested in an elf!” Devas mimicked Bael’s voice, just to annoy him.

Bael gave him a withering look, as if he was just one step away from slitting his throat.

Then, without a word, he left the group and walked toward the house, back to his room.

“Yes, run away, that’ll certainly help!” Jade called after him mockingly.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” Ava said with a small smile.

She glanced after Bael briefly, only to turn back to us with a smile.

“Nonsense, we’re glad you’re here to support us,” Avery said as he hugged his sister.

“I’m not here to support you. I’m coming with you,” Ava replied.

And before any of them could say no, Ava sat in the circle next to Devas and just started talking to him about the mission.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Avery asked me.

I didn’t know… I didn’t even know if it was a good idea for anyone to enter Hell’s Island. But when I saw Ava laughing with Devas, I knew she needed it.

So I assured Avery that it was the best thing for her to do. To be with us.

We spent the next few days focused on training. I controlled my power and I was very good with the weapon.

I was proud and so was Avery. He showed it to me every day, cheering me on and showering me with affection after each fight.

Bael was in training at the other end of the training ground, far from Ava. But his eyes searched hers countless times throughout the day.

Every hug she shared with a warrior after battle, he watched with furrowed eyebrows.

“Well? How’s training going?” Devas wondered while following Bael’s gaze.

“GOOD!” replied Bael, proceeding with his sword blows at one of the combatants.

“I don’t think Ava has hugged that boy yet. So be gentle,” Devas said with a mocking laugh.

I had to stop myself from laughing after Bael looked our way. Devas raised his hands as if in surrender and continued the training with me.

But Ava ignored Bael, and he seemed to accept this even harder than her absence. He watched her as she practiced in her tracksuit.

His eyes were fixed on her, and he couldn’t hide it.

“Ava looks hot!” Devas said with a smirk.

“You shouldn’t challenge him,” Avery uttered in a singsong tone.

Devas laughed out loud and looked at Bael, who was glaring at him.

I glanced at Ava, as she was observing all of this, and her smirk made me realize this was all her plan. I couldn’t help laughing.

Good job, girl.

Over the last few days, Bael’s jealousy became more and more obvious. He slowly crept across the training ground, always on the lookout for anyone standing too close to Ava, until he was finally training right next to her.

Devas, more amused than necessary, dragged me and Avery along. He demonstratively dropped to the sidelines and watched the whole thing with folded arms. Soon Aidan and Inna joined us, closely followed by Noah and Jade.

And so we all sat there, our eyes on them.

“You can’t hold back. Fight with me, not like I’m a woman,” Ava said, laughing to the soldier who was training her.

“Um… a bit difficult,” the young man mumbled, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

Bael’s training stopped abruptly as his eyes flicked over to them.

“Oh… this is going to be good.” Devas chuckled beside me.

“You are impossible,” Avery laughed back.

While we all grinned, Bael still hadn’t taken his eyes off the soldier.

“What the hell are you staring at him like that for?” Ava snapped at him.

Bael seemed caught off guard, but played it off with coolness.

“He can’t possibly prepare you for a real fight,” he explained with faked nonchalance, only to stare at her blankly afterward.

“None of your fucking business,” Ava hissed.

Bael’s jaw tensed. Her reply only made him angrier. But as he turned to face her, she knocked the weapon out of his hand in a flash.

He stared at the gleaming metal on the ground, then back at her.

“As if you could teach me anything,” she scoffed. She turned her back on him and walked away.

Devas’ laughter was so loud that we all joined in.

And Bael? He turned wordlessly in the opposite direction and stomped angrily off the pitch.

We were ready for our rescue mission.

The king visited us the night before we left to wish us luck and gave us all new weapons forged by elves.

He hugged his children. It showed us all that he was very proud of us and ready if anything went wrong.

He, as king, was not allowed to leave the lands, not to look for an amicus. Not even near the evil creatures.

That was the law, and he had to obey it.

I could see it in his eyes, the worry and desire to accompany us. I could understand everything, but as king he was not allowed to be the reason for another war.

The last one took too many lives.

When he went home again, it became quiet on the island. Everyone was in their rooms getting ready for tomorrow.

And so was Avery with me too.

Aidan gave us a room that was very close to the beach. But so far it was just for sleeping in, because we were spending the whole day outside.

I stood in the bathroom, my hands resting on the cool porcelain of the sink, my breath coming shallow and uneven across my lips.

In the mirror, I could see a blush spreading across my face from my neck to my cheeks.

“Courage,” I breathed to myself in a quivering voice as my fingers involuntarily slid over the neckline of my shirt, as if they could soothe the heat under my skin.

The tension between Avery and me was long past any rational thought. Every training session had become torture, a sensual ordeal in which every fighting grip, every physical contact, made my blood pump faster.

I remembered today, when I had ‘accidentally’ pressed myself against him during the drill.

His solid body beneath me, the heat between us as my curves pressed unmistakably into his hips.

In that moment, it had happened—his thoughts had flooded into me, unfiltered. Images of his hands, greedily digging into my hips. Of his mouth moving hungrily down my neck.

Of his hard body burying me beneath him with savage desperation. A shiver ran down my spine, and I could feel my nipples poking out clearly under the thin fabric.

And he felt it, too. Today, I would allow what we had both wanted for so long.

I was ready for it. My tongue slid over dry lips while I watched in the mirror as my fingers slowly, almost by themselves, slipped under the hem of my shirt.

The touch of my own skin made me shiver, a foreshadowing of what Avery’s hands would soon be doing to me…