Born To Rule

Chapter Eighteen

Just when I thought the daytime views in Vylandria were the peak of possibility, the night swept in and took me by surprise. Star Hewn Lake, in bright sunlight, cast rainbows on its shores as smooth and fluid as satin sheets, but in the moonlight it emanated a melancholic beauty that was truly remarkable.

Auroras glided in haunting iridescent mists, orchid hues of green, and rose across the water, beckoning me like a siren’s song. Standing on the raised bank where the brown grass gave way to silky white sand, I stared out over the water, mesmerized, but trying to decide if its beauty was a deception as so many things were in this place.

Balis appeared beside me, placing a warm hand on my lower back. “Let’s get closer.”

I dug my heels in, halting myself against his nudge. “I don’t want to get my boots wet.”

A stall tactic, yes, but keeping these things clean had been a conscious effort throughout this whole endeavor. And so far, they were still pristine.

But I also couldn’t ignore the echoing howl of apprehension in the back of my mind. It felt wrong to be here, as if I gazed upon something not meant for my eyes.

“I don’t think I can do this,” I said. “I shouldn’t be here.”

The waver in my voice drew his attention, and he tugged at the silver buckle near his chest, releasing the leather spaulder from his shoulders. He let them fall to the ground.

“You can’t swim?”

It was evident I was the only one affected by this negative nervous energy. He was so casual, so confident.

I pulled a face. “Yes, I can swim.”

“Dress down to whatever you’re comfortable with.” He knelt to unlace his boots, then lifted his head to look out over the water. “I’ve only ever been here once.” He yanked a boot off and dropped it beside his spaulder. “It’s frowned upon to come unless you have real need of it.”

“What sort of need?” I asked in a hurry, not yet brave enough to follow him down the bank.

“When a druid bathes in the waters of Star Hewn, all inhibitions are washed away. His authentic wants and desires are laid bare.”

My arms folded over myself as I tapped my foot, the sound lost to the soft sand. “How do you know what you’re feeling is authentic?” I asked. “Sounds no different from taking a euphoria elixir.” Something I knew little about, having only seen it on the shelves in Agatha’s shop, but one could make the assumption.

Balis, unable to contain his amusement, walked back up the bank with a playful grin on his face. His touch settled on either side of my waist. He’d done so once before. Though, this time, I savored it—the warmth of his large, strong hands heating my skin, gripping me.

“Can’t you make anything easy?”

I cocked my head. “Don’t know. Never tried,” I said, then pushed my way past him.

I skipped down the bank, yanked off my boots, and dropped them in the sand. If this was to be my last night with the druid, I planned to have those hands touch more than my waist.

I stopped just out of reach of the water’s gentle licks, politely asking me to dip my toes in. The rational side of me still clawed at my thoughts like a hungry cat, howling for my attention. This was reckless, stupid, a needless setback. I drew a long breath through my nose, then released it slowly.

Rationale aside, here I was, completely unforced, a willing participant. I knew full-well I would get into that water with the druid. I only needed to decide how much of my clothing to shed.

“How deep do you have to go for it to work?” I asked.

“You have to surrender entirely.” Nothing but absolute certainty in his voice as he strode past me—completely and gloriously naked.

I scolded myself for how little thought it took for me to strip bare at the sight of him and follow. I let myself unfold beneath the crisp, clean water. Its silken touch kissed my skin, and I was lost to it. As I fanned out, an unusual sense of weightlessness washed over me, and I surrendered to the soothing embrace of the cool liquid.

It was like being cast out amongst the stars, surrounded by auroras. Their colors danced against a backdrop of the luminous sky, and I closed my eyes, drifting aimlessly, freely, all sense of time and place lost to the waters.

Then, waking me from a deep sleep that probably hadn’t been more than moments, gentle fingers folded between my own. Butterflies whirled, a chaotic dance, as he pulled me toward him. My pulse quickened as his jade eyes drank in the curves of my body, floating amongst the reflection of a star-drenched sky.

He reached out, slow but unhesitant, and pressed a warm hand on my stomach to steady me. A rumble of power rolled through him like a sleeping mountain’s warning. Yet all I could focus on was how the roughness of his calloused palm felt against my bare skin. Goosebumps bloomed across my body.

“What is it?” I stood, letting the heavy, dark sheet of my hair settle over the curve of my breasts.

His eyes dipped, then flicked up to meet mine. “Suddenly, what the captain said makes sense now.”

“It’s a shame you’re so honorable, then,” I mused, lowering myself again.

He smirked at my sarcasm and sank beside me.

We sat on the sandy lake bed, side by side, looking out at the moonlight cascading over the water’s surface.

“Does anything feel clearer to you?” he asked.

I ran my hands over my shoulders, considering. The waters invoked a noticeable vacancy in my thoughts, as if every heavy burden lifted from my mind. I took a moment to focus, allowing myself the freedom to be absent of my skepticism, my worry, and my past pressing down on my desires. Without inhibitions.

“I want to belong here.” I whispered over the water that caressed my chest, so quiet I could hardly hear my own words.

“What makes you think you don’t?”

“I don’t believe I am who Sidelle claims.” I hadn’t needed the lake to tell me that much. “And I’m afraid of what it means if she’s right.”

I stole a glance in his direction. He sat still as a monolith, his features void of expression. Waves kissed at his perfectly sculpted chest as colorful mists swirled in the air between us.

“But you want to be here?”

“Yes,” I said, smiling.

He spun, turning his body to mine, and I was left breathless, pinned by those striking eyes. He was so close I was forced to lean back. Water dripped from his disheveled hair, landing on my bare chest. I swallowed, knowing without a doubt that, as close as he was, I wanted him even closer.

“So then stay,” he said.

My lips parted, but I closed them again, still fighting what I just openly admitted. I want to be here.

It was the first thing that settled on my mind when I entered these waters. I had people who risked their lives to save me, defied their careers to keep my existence a secret, and compromised their dreams to find me.

I wanted to be someone worthy of that—so I nodded.

Genuine happiness lit his gaze.

“On one condition,” I said.

A flicker of confusion shifted across his handsome face as I raised up, forcing him to retreat. I crawled, urging him to his back until I straddled one of the most powerful warriors in Vylandria with unbridled confidence.

When realization set in, he flashed a devilish grin, then grabbed my hips with a firmness that heightened my desperation. “Are you sure?”

Gods, yes.

“You said these waters remove all inhibitions,” I teased. “What do you think?”

He smirked. “Alright. But I have a condition of my own.”

The deep, breathy rasp in his tone was already enough to make my hips arch.

“And what would that be?”

“You have to trust me.”

“I trust you.”

My surprise at the ease of the words must’ve been written on my face. He sat up, this time forcing me to retreat. I crawled backward. Soft sand grazed my back until he was above me. His already hard cock pressed against my stomach where his hand had been moments ago.

Earlier, I questioned the druid’s intentions, whether his attraction was genuine. There was no denying it now.

I reached down, wanting to wrap my hands around the thickness of him. But he pulled away, just out of my reach.

“Ah, that’s why I need you to trust me,” he whispered, mischief lacing the velvet in his voice. “I can’t let you touch me.”

His eyes locked with mine, and that vague explanation was all it took to convince my need-addled brain to agree, but he explained anyway.

“If you do, I can’t be sure I won’t lose control, princess.” The admission was a breathy caress across my skin. “You make it so hard.”

The tantalizing warning wasn’t lost on me. His mana seeped from him in dark waves, intermingling with the misty auroras surrounding us.

His lips grazed that tender spot along my jaw, and I inhaled a sharp, shaky breath as restraints, bendable like saplings, encircled my wrists at my sides.

“If this is what you want, we’re doing it my way.” He pulled away just far enough to meet my gaze. Wicked need burned like emerald fire in his eyes. “I’ve wanted to touch you, taste you on my tongue since seeing you drenched, free, and smiling up at the sky in that fucking rainstorm.”

He rested his weight on his knees, then stroked himself from base to head. A muted glow emanated from his cock like veins of mana. My eyes drew to the motion, and he seemed to take pleasure in whatever it was he saw in my expression. With one last appraising look down my body, he closed the space between us, bringing his face a breath’s width from mine.

I arched my hips into him, searching for some leverage to pull him into me without the use of my hands, but as soon as I did, another vine secured itself around the small of my waist.

“Impatient?” he teased.

“Very.” I laughed, loving this game we played. I could think of a million words to call him right now. Masculine. Wicked.

Devastating.

Thanks to the waters, I clearly meant it when I said I trusted him. I knew if I asked him to release me, he would. But the most primal, hungry part of me had no interest in that whatsoever.

When his head dipped low, and his hot mouth pressed against my clit, my face tipped toward the sky, lips parted in a gasp. The deft swirls of his tongue had my breaths hitching as heat bloomed and radiated from my core. Gods, I could have come undone from that alone.

Then he slid two fingers inside me. My world tilted and his insatiable rhythm pulsated through my body, the sensation dragging me through the high I’d been craving. A building pressure clouded my mind, and I rocked my hips into his touch, craving more.

Vines ripped from the sand and seized my thighs. I gave a soft yelp of surprise as my ass was hoisted off the ground. My breath hitched at the sight of the powerful, shape-shifting warrior between my legs. That fierce enjoyment in his jade eyes—a predator that laid claim to its prey.

A crescendo of heat and bliss raked through my body, tightening every muscle around his unforgiving fingers. The wave of pleasure consumed me, intensified by my inability to move.

He nipped and kissed along the smooth, sensitive skin of my inner thighs, before his mouth found my center again. This time, faster. He hooked his arms around my legs, pulling me against him. He drove his tongue into my middle over and over while working my clit with his thumb.

The restraints forced me to relinquish all control. All focus was finite on the coil, winding tighter and tighter with every deft stroke. With little to nothing to grip on to, I clutched handfuls of heavy, wet sand. My whimpers melted into cries of blissful release as my pussy trembled against him.

He waited just long enough for the dreamy haze to clear from my body before bringing me to his hungry mouth one last time. When I was little more than a puddle in his capable hands, coming down from that final ride over the edge, the tethers released and sank into the ground at my sides.

Balis kissed a trail from my thighs to the line of my jaw. My scent intermingled with his, and I opened listless eyes to find him hovering over me, his lips soft and full from their masterful work. His gaze darted over my head to the shore, a wide smile spreading across his face.

I propped myself up on an elbow. “What is it?”

“Well, now you have to stay.” He gave an almost imperceptible jerk of his chin, motioning behind me. “I knew you belonged here.”

I turned, following his gaze, and all understanding left me. From the exact place I lay, a barrage of brilliant white flowers amidst green, winding vines splayed over the beach. They were luminous, flickering like silver, flameless light along the sand. I snapped my glare to Balis, but he shook his head, stone-faced, as if to say, ‘It wasn’t me.’

A delicate tingle at my fingertips drew my attention. I turned them over. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but through the space between my fingers, I glimpsed two white flowers rocking in the gentle lapping waves, right where my wrists had been tethered to the ground.

“You veiled,” he said, “in the village. Mira, you’re a wielder.”

“No.” My mouth formed a hard line. “I didn’t–”

Words escaped me. I couldn’t argue. Not anymore. I peered at my hands again, then back to the deluge of luminescent flowers mocking me with their brilliance.

Holy shit.