Before following the aura manipulation specialist, Val’s eyes flitted to the demigod made to sit in the waiting room. “Did we just interrupt somebody else’s appointment?”

“Do you want to be here all day?” With a shrug, he answered his own question, “I don’t,” and carried on after the aura manipulation specialist.

Val left the reddened secretary at the front desk. Another explanation for her rosy complexion dawned upon her.

“Wait,” she asked while trotting after Arius, “did you make that woman blush by any chance?”

He had two fingers pressed to the bridge of his nose. “Believe me when I say that was not my intent. Just let me burn that image from my mind,” he muttered sourly.

Her eyes darted around while she bobbed in discomfort with each stride. If Arius used Read Intentions on everyone who he encountered, he could have easily gleaned some nasty thoughts from that woman’s head. Val was unsure what exactly qualified as an intention which Arius could detect, but in this case, she did not want to know.

Though she imagined a man could enjoy having his ego stroked by women’s passing thoughts like that, it might make Arius uncomfortable in reality. “Um, are you okay?” Val whispered, touching her fingers to his elbow.

“Oh yeah, of course.” Arius snapped back to the moment and smiled at her, tighter than his usual broad, forced grin. That expression, she liked to interpret as gratitude for checking on him. Either that or he might appreciate her not leveling accusations even when he nearly deserved it, though of a different sort.

With the thrum of scrying walls around them in this building, Val knew better than to speak openly. Suvier did not need to overhear of Val’s status as Arius’s soulmate, in case the God Supreme so chose to focus on the audio feedback that surrounded his favorite son.

If Arius could detect discomforting thoughts from the minds of other women, then he ought to read comforting ones from Val’s head too.

Other women are not allowed to think inappropriately about my soulmate, she thought. If some other woman has the audacity to think about you, I can make them stop.

In an attempt to communicate with him, Val developed a greater sense of offense than she felt. It fit perfectly with that running fanfiction scenario she had kept ever-present in her head. Despite dramatizing her own thoughts, she did not like the way that the secretary had blushed in all truth. Val did not want to partake in any sense of competition for Arius, but more so, she did not want anyone to make him uncomfortable with their senseless, risqué thoughts.

His smile broadened a smidgen, not that she could tell if he had merely shaken off the moment or he had liked what he could feel of Val’s possessive and protective disposition towards him.

Gods, she thought. If any of those security guards were reading her mind right now, then they really would characterize Val as another thirsty fangirl for Arius.

Their brief interaction in the hallway ended when the aura manipulation specialist led them into a small office. “Please have a seat here, dear. What was your name again?”

“I’m Val,” she replied, sitting where indicated.

Arius quickly butt in to say, “She is Valentine, daughter of Herrick.”

Already, Val could feel herself blushing. She did not know so much as how to introduce herself on the Summit, complete with her new identity.

Arius joined at her side, seated in the chair available next to her. His eyes flitted to her with an encouraging smile.

The aura manipulation specialist sat across from Val and requested her hands. Like Arius had done that one time to read her passport, the lady clasped her hands and closed her eyes.

When Val focused hard just like the aura manipulation specialist, she thought that she could sense something changing about her, except it was nothing that she knew in the realm of the physical nor emotional. The closest thing that Val could relate in sensation would be when she activated her powers, that slight rush and tingle of thrill. In all honesty, she had experienced a more visceral reaction when Arius had held her hands than the aura reading or editing.

Some long minutes endured like this.

To pass the time, Arius took to scrolling on his phone.

Val tried to crane her neck and gaze at his screen, wondering what a god browsed in his downtime.

His eyes lifted up with a weird look, and Arius shook his head.

While the aura manipulation specialist had her eye closed the entire time, she knew of Val’s restlessness. “Please be still, dear. If you are a distraction to her, Ravager, I will have to ask you to please leave.”

“I’m innocent,” Arius said.

He was much more innocent than Val’s thoughts which carried on with that hilarious, fanfiction scenario. Though she had started thinking about Arius in a lewd way as a joke, he was breathtakingly handsome. In a serious, literal sense, Val wanted him.

A sideways smirk lifted onto one corner of his lips.

Oh no. Her actual intentions had just given herself away, did they not?

While she sat there with her burning cheeks, the aura manipulation specialist jumped up out of frustration. “Arius the Ravager, may I ask you to step outside? I will be able to work faster if it is just me and the girl in the room right now.”

“I understand.” Of all things, he had to prove his understanding through a wink to Val. Arius got up and left.

Where her cheeks had felt flushed before, Val knew that she turned crimson now.

“Ignore him,” the aura manipulation specialist muttered. “The Ravager is said to have a flippant, flirty personality. He will fluster women for the fun of it, but no one can compete with Evalaite the Courtesan.”

Was Val’s newest crush on Arius that obvious? Plus, he was supposed to be her soulmate. Most definitely, she needed to compete with Evalaite—not in flesh but mind. When Val imagined all of the memories that Evalaite must have stuffed into Arius’s mind, she wanted to shrink away to nothing.

“Now then, let’s get back to work.” The aura manipulation specialist sat back down and reached out for Val’s hands. The long wait resumed, but eventually, she finished up. “It is hard to manipulate a shimmering aura like that. You are all set to go, dear.” With a wink and gentle touch of her hand, she added on, “Good luck.”

“Thank you.” Val did not know what she meant by a shimmering aura or wishing her luck, though she did not look like she would elaborate. Without further ado, she left the room to find Arius in the hallway.

“Are you all set?” he asked.

“Yes, she has a proper passport now,” the aura manipulation specialist said.

Val stood in front of him with an awkward smile.

“Let me see.” Though Arius’s words belonged to an order, the kindness in his voice beheld a request. His hands asked for hers, and Val slid her palms into his grip.

Nodding along he said, “Yeah. Your passport is perfect. I can see everything on it.” To the other lady, he directed his attention to say, “Thank you.”

Their hands lingered together, their warm palms not wanting to come apart. In the end, they had to let their hands fall to their sides and walk down the hallway like normal. An image of walking and holding hands with Arius flitted through her mind, a natural thing that couples do. Even when they were on those terms with each other, they probably could not behave like a couple in public.

When Val was caught up in her concerns for the future, Arius pulled her back to the present.

“See?” Arius said. “That was easy. Nothing to worry about.”

“Yes, you were right. Thank you, Arius... the Ravager.” Val quickly corrected herself, as she had noticed more people calling him by his title here than his name.

With Val’s new identity as a daughter of Herrick officialized, they could head back to New Gate.