Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 109: Birds, Stones, and Secrets

"Can you two keep a secret?"

She asked flatly, still gazing up into the sky. It was rare to hear her speak when Rav wasn’t around. Did she have something to say she couldn’t say to him?

"Rav is amazing. Even with wings like mine, I could never catch him."

There was a melancholy in her voice. A soft, songlike quality.

"It’s why I’ve always rejected his advances," she continued. "I would only slow him down."

"If you like him, you should tell him," Ezra said. "You’re better for him than some Ferin at a club."

Bree’s gaze remained skyward. "He’s not thinking about club girls when he rushes headfirst into danger. A real relationship would make him reckless. Unfocused. I’ve seen it before - too clearly. Rav and I will always be many things to each other, but romantic partners we are not."

Bree clutched the pendant around her neck - the Corestone, Ezra recalled it being named.

Something had happened. Ezra could tell. Had Rav loved someone else before? Lost them?

[You mean someone besides me?]

’Oh, right...’

[The answer is...something you should hear from him, or from Bree. It’s not my place to speak.]

"Rav wouldn’t let you slow him down," Oberyn said quickly, chiming in for the first time in what felt like ages. Ezra turned to him, happy to see his beloved opening up.

"He’d already do those reckless things you fear - he’d do them for you, he’d do them for me, and for Ezra as well. That’s who Rav is."

Bree smiled and cooed softly. "Perhaps you’re right...but as intertwined as my destiny is with his, I feel right now we are better apart."

"It’s certainly make our lives easier if you and Rav got together," Ezra joked. "He’s always trying to flirt with Oby here - and me, too!"

Oberyn blushed. "We shouldn’t be talking about this right now," he said quickly, trying to maintain composure even as his face turned bright red in front of Bree.

The bird-like Ferin - Ave, as they are called - laughed, her voice sweet and melodic. "He is quite the flirt, isn’t he?"

Her eyes were sparkling, brighter than Ezra had seen before. It was the first time he’d ever seen her let her guard down in his presence. It was warming and humbling all at once.

"I’m sure you both know by now, but Rav means no harm from his flirtations," she said quietly, reminiscing about their shared past. "I’ve never known a Cat-Anima Ferin who didn’t have an unquenchable libido. In truth, I’m surprised it’s only flirting. Although, I suppose you two are bonded in a special way with only each other?"

"Something like that," Ezra said, not wanting to get into the gritty details. They were nothing fun to think about - his man was still in love with a girl on the moon, and had a sense of newfound sexual freedom that Ezra still struggled to understand.

In short, their relationship was firmly stuck at ’It’s Complicated’.

"Ezra is my number one."

The human gasped at his words. He wasn’t expecting something so blunt and forthcoming out of Oberyn.

"That’s a good way of putting it," Bree said, fidgeting with her pendant again. "I suppose Rav is my number one, too. But in a different way, of course..."

"You touch your necklace every time you speak about Rav," Ezra noticed, the words escaping his lips before he could give them much thought. "It’s a...Corestone, right? Forgive me, I am still pretty new to all this magic stuff. What is it exactly?"

Bree flitted her eyes, and her wings dropped to her side, opting to stroke her long braid instead of her pendant. "Mine is a special Corestone," she said quietly. "It connects me to Rav. Ancient magic known only to the most powerful of Magicians. I am..."

Her wings twitched. Feathers ruffled. She turned sharply, alerted by the sound of crunching twigs in the forest. Ezra followed her gaze - and saw someone standing there.

But they weren’t alone. Two more figures emerged from the trees - one with a sword, one with a bow, and the last holding a staff.

The one with the staff stood at the front. Clearly their leader.

These people didn’t look like The Hungry, but they looked like they had a bone to pick. Ezra stretched out his back and planted his feet into the ground, standing defensively in front of Oberyn.

"Hey!" Ezra shouted at the intruders. "We don’t want any trouble."

"We thought it might be a Corestone. Give it here, bird-bitch, and we’ll let all three of ya walk."

The man with the staff spoke, his voice ratty and nasally. Not to mention especially rude. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Corestone hunters?" Bree questioned. She reached for her back and withdrew a bow she used for battle. With unrivaled grace and speed, a blue-fletched arrow of her own feathers was nocked on her bowstring and ready to fire.

"Stand down," Bree commanded. "We’ve no quarrel with you - but if you know anything about this famine, I implore you to tell us."

"Hmph. We know your type," the archer spat. Compared to his squad leader, his voice was high-pitched and turbulent. "People with Corestones, think they can just roll up in the Northern Country and solve all our problems! It ain’t that simple. We need that thing to buy decent food, or we’re gonna end up just like one of them damn zombies!"

"This isn’t the answer," Ezra warned them. It was three on three - not without risks for either side. He continued to shield Oberyn. No harm would come to the Nephilim - not while Ezra stood at his side.

He was Oberyn’s shield - protecting the one he loved was his purpose. Even accruing his Desire and building Fulfillment Points - he did it all for the man he chose to love.

The man with the staff held up his hand, revealing a ring with a glimmering stone attached to it. Ezra didn’t need confirmation to realize - he had a Corestone, too.

"One last chance. Surrender your shit, and we won’t kill ya."

It was Oberyn who responded on behalf of the group, his fiery side taking over. That unhinged power that blew Demetrius to pieces reached its fever point, and he was no longer the shy, timid Nephilim he so often became.

He was the Magician of Explosions, and he was ready.

"We refuse."