20. YOURS WITHOUT RECOURSE
Chapter twenty
YOURS WITHOUT RECOURSE
Amira
T he fey seamstress that Sofia brought me to was worlds better than the stuck-up bitch that had come to my room earlier. The pretty river nymph not only took all my measurements and allowed Sofia to browse through her best materials. She ensured that I was fully outfitted for the next few days while she worked on my new clothes.
We were on our way back to the gate to fly home when a horn blared across the city. I was initially nervous as it sounded quite ominous, but then I saw people raising their eyes to the sky to search the horizon. Soon enough, I saw what they were all so eagerly anticipating.
A large group of griffins appeared over the closest mountain range and began to fly over the city. Cries rose through the streets, and although I could not understand their language, the joy and happiness was radiant.
“The king is returning,” said Helena with great pride, and my heart soared. I could not wait to get back to the Metropolis to see Riordan and learn what he had found out at the northern village. I was about to hoist my skirts and pick up the pace, but then I saw a single griffin fly up to meet them. I was not sure how the griffins were able to communicate in animal form, but several warriors broke away from the group to descend toward the city.
Ares shouted, and the crowd seemed to obey him when they cleared the street, although they still jostled for a good view. I tried to move as well for whatever was about to happen, but Helena put her hand on my back to prevent me from joining the crowd. As everyone else made their way to the edges of the street, I was left standing in the open with her and Sofia. We had managed to blend in before, but I could hear the eager whispers begin to ignite around us as they likely speculated over who we were.
I would always recognize Riordan in his griffin form. Most of the other griffins looked too similar for me to tell them apart yet, but I had spent the better part of a year with my mate in this body. The sight of him as he landed, all that familiar feline grace and power rippling through his animal body, brought a smile to my face. It was all I could do to stop myself from running to him and burying my face into his soft fur and feathers.
Like all the others, Riordan was wearing the pleated golden armour which shifted with him so that he was still wearing it in his humanoid form.
The crowd gasped and surged, held back by the voices of Orion, Theo, and Iris who had accompanied Riordan, as well as by Helena, Ares, and the city guards. My king was covered in smudges of ash, and he looked so tired, but at least the splatters of green blood on him were not his own. I knew his blood was red like mine.
We were not in the Metropolis under the judgemental and watchful eyes of the Imítheos, so I decided to give in to the impulse to rush for him. I ignored the crowd as my hands slipped over him to make sure he was uninjured, although it was difficult not to become distracted by the strong body under my hands.
“You’re not hurt?” I verified, but Riordan merely gave a throaty chuckle and brushed a stray strand of my hair back with his knuckle.
“Careful. If you insist on touching me like that, I might forget that we are not alone,” he cautioned me.
“Oh?” I asked him teasingly, tilting my head up to him, and his eyes dropped to my mouth.
“Riordan—” Orion began to object from behind.
“Step. Back,” my mate growled at him, body abruptly tensing under my hands as he forced the words out.
I had never seen him become so upset with his skiá, and while there was a part of me that was pleased and relieved to see Orion put in his place…
There was another part of me that was immediately concerned that something had happened between them.
“There are spies,” hissed Orion back, those fierce eyes catching mine with his disapproval, but he also seemed to be pleading with me to reason with Riordan. “Ares says they have been watching her since they entered the—”
“I do not care, Orion. My choice is made,” growled the king firmly, and my breath hissed out of me in a helpless reaction to the delicious tone of possession in his voice.
Riordan noticed immediately, and it drew his attention back down to me. He initially seemed worried that the assertion might have upset me, but all it took was a quick glance at me for him to deduce the truth. And he seemed to instantly forget his anger as he refocused on me.
“Do you like hearing that, Amira?” he asked with a tilt of his head that was somehow teasing and provocative. “Does it bring you satisfaction to know that I am yours? Wholly and without recourse?”
I knew even before Orion turned away in disgust that my scent changed in response to the king’s inciting words. Even Riordan shifted closer as if drawn in helplessly by my reaction to him.
“Riordan, you can’t do this to me here,” I whispered, reaching up to put my cool hands over my hot cheeks. Obviously no one could hear our words aside from Orion, but they could certainly see our faces. Not to mention the fact that all the Ktínos would sense my excitement.
“I want to hear you say it,” he insisted, lowering his head so he was looking at me with all the intensity of a man who was hanging on my next word.
“Yes,” I assured him breathlessly, and he gave me a wicked smile that was pure male satisfaction.
“Good,” he mumbled before he leaned down slowly, ignoring the whispers of both shock and intrigue when he kissed me. It was not a heated embrace, but it still got my heart pounding to feel his lips against mine in such a public place. It felt immensely significant for him to do it after what Orion had said about the spies: almost like he was claiming me publicly. Irrevocably. Undeniably.
And rather than frighten me, the unapologetic assertion only made me feel even more certain of him.
“ Riordan !” snarled Orion.
“Come see Ergastiri with me now,” Riordan invited, murmuring against my mouth, and I nodded. I was sure he could ask to take me anywhere at that moment, and I’d gladly go with him.
“The council is waiting for you,” Orion attempted to remind him, but Riordan did not answer as he put his arms around me to pull me close. His golden armour was hard against my cheek, smoother and cooler than the leather that he had worn on our journey to the Vale.
“Riordan, please , don’t do this now,” Orion pleaded, and I caught sight of his desperate expression a second before Riordan knelt to sweep me into his arms.
“Do not follow,” Riordan said, issuing the command more loudly as his eyes swept from Orion to encompass Ares and Helena who were all preparing to join us.
And then we were airborne, his strong wings beating powerfully to carry us away quickly over the crowd of shouting people.
Something was wrong. I knew Riordan well enough to know that although my mate seemed calm and confident, he was acting impulsively. As romantic as his actions felt and as reassuring as it was for him to make it so clear so publicly that I was his choice, it was still very bold. It was reckless for a king to bind himself so irrevocably in the eyes of his people to a foreign woman who had not yet accepted him as her mate.
And I had a suspicion that his emotional behaviour had something to do with Orion, and the hostility my king had shown his skiá earlier. Perhaps Orion had tried to talk Riordan out of his choice of me, and now Riordan was doubling down even harder on his decision.
I tightened my arms around his neck and kissed his jaw and throat to try and soothe the tension in him. I trusted him to fly even when all his attention was drawn to me while we flew over the lake toward Ergastiri.
“I have to know how you get the armour on when you are in your griffin form,” I said with mock seriousness and was relieved when he laughed in surprise. He seemed relieved that I was not going to quiz him on what was going on with him, so I knew all he really needed was a moment of genuine connection with someone. With me.
“We don it while in órthios , our two-legged form, and then this jewel, called an amurih , allows it to transform with us,” Riordan explained. He indicated the necklace he was wearing now which was the same one I’d noticed all the others wearing as well.
“You could just use your magic,” I pointed out.
“I could, but I prefer to emulate my Ktínos warriors as much as I can when I am with them,” he explained.
We had crossed the lake in moments and now I saw a massive fortress built atop the cliffs across from the lower shoreline of the Rookery. We were descending toward a dais on which many soldiers seemed to be awaiting.
“Is that because you want to fit in with them or you want to spite the Imítheos?” I asked.
“Perhaps both? But I always want to know how it is to be different. It is important to know those things when one is a general or… a king,” he explained.
“You want to empathize with your warriors.”
“The vast majority of my kind do not bother to do so, and it certainly has not done them any favours as leaders,” he reassured me. “I want to be different from them.”
I might have asked him to elaborate, but we reached the dais onto which he dropped, cushioning the sudden jolt by bending his knees with me still in his arms.
The soldiers gasped something, speaking in Aeolian, and then offered him deep bows that made Riordan scoff at them. It was the most flippant sound I had ever heard him make, and it made me widen my eyes up at him.
“Enough! You know how much I hate that!” he chided them with a confident familiarity.
One of the two males raised his brows, looking amused as he relaxed his stance along with the others.
“You’re the king now, General. Better get used to it,” he pointed out, switching to Gaelic as well and earning a few chuckles from the others.
“Not here and not now,” Riordan insisted, not sharply but with authority. He was so much more at ease among his soldiers than he was among Imítheos.
“As long as you don’t tell Orion. He might have us all flogged for showing disrespect,” teased the other male as Riordan deposited me on the ground next to him.
I was surprised when the king grunted his agreement and did not sound very impressed about it.
“What brings you and your beautiful chosen mate?” the female soldier wanted to know, and she offered me a smile when I looked at her in surprise.
“Alexander, Maya, Lucas,” Riordan named them to me before he threaded our fingers together, “this is Amira. We are here so I can show her around the school.”
I saw them all look down at our hands, and it was clear they had never seen him touch someone like that because it seemed to surprise them.
“Ah! And are you going to start with the gym where you beat the piss out of us?” asked Alexander with a playful smirk. The others all laughed again.
“Shall we give her a demonstration of your prowess?” suggested Lucas, but Maya glowered at him and shoved at his shoulder in evident disapproval.
“You only want a chance to finally win a match against him when he’s probably all out of shape. Isn’t that right, Riordan?” she guessed, and they all laughed again.
“Or perhaps you finally take someone to The Grove?” Alexander teased, and at that, they all broke out into truly riotous laughter that doubled each of them over.
There was an element of heckling to the taunting that made me a little uncertain whether it was friendly at first. Then I took notice of their tails which were making wide, fluid sweeps that told me they were being playful rather than the short, sharp twitches that indicated agitation. Even Riordan’s tail was weaving loosely, and his wings were relaxed even as he shook his head.
“Get back to your posts,” he ordered them.
The soldiers did as they were told without question, although they were still laughing and grinning back at us as they walked away. Riordan was also smiling when he looked down at me and saw I was looking at him.
“You are happy,” I said when he looked confused.
“This is my favourite place,” he admitted, tugging me with him as we approached a hidden man door in the wall next to the main gate.
We entered a breathtaking courtyard with cobblestone walkways between the trees and grassy sections where griffins lounged with books. I’d seen enough students studying at the university campus in Scarborough that I recognized it here right away. Most of them did not even take note of us walking through the garden, and those who did see us did not recognize Riordan. They merely tilted their heads and eyed his golden armour that likely designated him as a real soldier and no longer a student. Then they frowned at my back as if wondering why my wings were away. I assumed they were too young to have been in the school when Riordan was there, and they had obviously never served in the military with him.
“That is the amphitheatre where announcements are made and awards are given. But we would sometimes put on plays,” Riordan told me as he indicated a truly massive open-air venue on our right. “Just behind it is the main lecture hall and all its smaller outbuildings where much of the theory and histories of battle is taught. And this place is the library,” Riordan added, gesturing to the stunning building ahead of us that was covered in vines at the edge of a tree grove. “Entry to the lower archives is restricted to preserve all of the oldest scrolls my people still possess from our civilization in Aeolia,” he boasted proudly.
“So have you been down there?”
“I have. I am a prince,” he reminded me with a smug grin and a casual shrug that made me laugh. He really was so much more at ease in this place that it made me almost sad thinking about how much pressure he must feel all the time everywhere else. “I will take you one day when we have more time to see it all, but it is like a whole city of books and scrolls and artefacts beneath us!” he claimed.
We passed by the library and strolled into the wooded area where the trees seemed to split the campus in half.
“This… is The Grove,” Riordan informed me with a mock seriousness, and I recognized the name from when his soldiers had been teasing us.
“And what happens in The Grove?” I asked, unable to help from smiling in response to his mischievous grin.
“The kind of things that, until I met you, I did not have much interest in,” he advised me significantly.
My brows rose in shocked realization, and I glanced around us at the serene little forest. “They do it here ?”
“It is a little more discreet at night,” he admitted.
“And how would you know?” I demanded playfully.
“I have walked through here when it’s dark on my way back to the dormitories from a play or a meeting. It takes an Imítheos only one time to know that it is best to avoid The Grove at night,” he assured me, shaking his head.
“Hmm. And did you bring me here on purpose like the soldiers suggested?” I teased him.
Riordan looked down at me as if surprised, although I was not sure why. It had seemed obvious to me after the way he told me where we had come, but perhaps such an assumption was more reflective of my own wishes.
My mate stopped walking and turned to me directly, tugging me closer until I was pressed deliciously against his broad body. Then he released my hands and reached up to cup my face, tilting my head as he lowered his head achingly slowly. His eyes traced my face as he absorbed every ounce of my anticipation and desire for him like he craved the sight of it. His thumb caressed my cheek with such reverence, his lips tracing mine as if savouring the anticipation of kissing me.
If he meant to heighten my suspense for him then it had certainly worked. By the time he finally pressed his lips fully against mine and kissed me, I was practically squirming in impatience for him. And this time was not like the chaste kiss from the city when his lips had barely touched mine. It was still languid and deliberate, as if he were cherishing every second of it, but it was so much more heated. The way his breathing deepened, his exhale hinting at a moan like I was the most incredible thing he’d ever tasted had me ready to claw off his armour.
He had certainly learned a lot since our first kiss in the rain when he hadn’t known what to do at all.
The proximity of men had always unnerved me after all the times I’d been threatened by them while living on the street with my mother, but I felt so safe with Riordan. He was like a magnet drawing me nearer until I wanted to somehow fuse with him. I did not resist the pull, rather I gave myself over to it wholly, and I swore for a moment it felt like I really could breach the space between us…
Riordan gave a sudden groan, his hand shifting to grip my chin so he could create a little space between our mouths without backing away from me.
“Careful, Amira,” he gasped, sounding deliciously out of breath. “Push any harder and you might inadvertently forge the taíri between us.”
“Is that what I felt just now? That is how easily we could create the bond?” I verified in astonishment when he nodded, our foreheads brushing together. “But it felt like it would be so easy! Like I could do it all by myself. Does it always feel like that?”
“I don’t know about the taíri bond, but I do know that the skiá bond was more difficult. This feels… ready.”
I shivered at the insinuation that I was already primed to become his mate.
“I thought it would be so much harder for us because I am a witch,” I admitted. I wasn’t sure why I was abruptly emotional but tears welled in my eyes at the confirmation that we were compatible this way after all.
Riordan cupped my face again, tipping my head up to meet my eyes with so much adoration in his face that it made me even more emotional.
“I told you I am confident in my choice. I can feel it, Amira, that you are mine,” he insisted.
And he was right . The realization that I somehow felt this as well was as shocking as it was incredible.
“I don’t think this feeling is normal,” I admitted.
“Neither is your ability to use my magic,” he pointed out as his thumb caressed my cheek again.
True. I still had no idea what allowed me to do that, but Ornella was right. Some kind of bond clearly existed between us already. Perhaps that was what made the taíri connection feel like it would be so easy to establish.
“So… The Grove…” I reminded him suggestively.
Riordan gave a soft huff of amusement and raised his face from mine to kiss my forehead.
“Perhaps one day we will honour the school’s tradition in The Grove, but for the first time…” he trailed off and then shook his head. “Amira, the first time I make love to you will be under the stars. Just the two of us. It will not be in a place like this that has been the scene of so many frivolous rendezvous.”
“Mhmm, yeah, your idea sounds better,” I assured him. “So then you have thought about it?”
“ Of course, I have. I can finally understand why the Ktínos are so distracted with it all the time. It seems like it is never very far from my mind when you are near me,” he admitted with an impish smile as he took my hand to guide me onward through the trees.