Chapter 40 Loche
Loche
Iviry had been right to suggest that they use whatever had been planned for Loche and her and give it to their friends—allow a celebration that didn’t place the new leaders of Havlands in the center but rather made them hosts of it.
The air was so layered with emotion and excitement that it quelled whatever mistrust and worry had remained after he and Iviry married, and even the apprehension that had arisen today, when the drums started, faded with every step Merrick led Lessia down that aisle.
Loche stared out over his people—their people—and in that moment, he felt it.
The world that could be.
The alliances that could form.
The acceptance and the unity and the harmony that could develop.
He barely heard the words Raine spoke as he led the ceremony, although they must have been beautiful because every female around him was sniffing and sobbing as they watched Merrick place a crown of flowers on Lessia’s head, watched him drop to his knees once more before her—a male surrendering entirely.
Loche almost shook his head when Lessia pulled him up again, stepping in so close they were nearly one, their fingers laced and foreheads leaning against one another’s.
It was so clear to anyone who had ever been in their vicinity that they belonged together.
Lessia didn’t need the dress that mirrored Merrick’s hair, nor the marks covering her skin. Merrick didn’t need the golden tunic that made Lessia’s hair shimmer—nor did he have to cut out the small hole above his hip bone where Elessia marred his own body.
But still… it made so much sense.
Two souls who had spent their entire lives in hiding were now finally allowed to love in the open. Live in the open. Show the world who they were—together and individually.
Fuck, it burned behind Loche’s eyes as well when Raine gave Merrick a knife and he cautiously carved a small cut above Lessia’s chest and licked off the drop of crimson it produced, before Lessia did the same to him—the formal sharing of blood forever tying them together.
It was so intimate, and still not one person could look away when Merrick’s eyes widened as Lessia smiled at him—a smile full of promises of the future, of time, of everything he’d already given her and she wanted to give back.
A low whimper sounded beside him. Loche watched Iviry’s face strain as her eyes darted from the couple who appeared to believe they had all the time in the world, to the south, where come tomorrow or the day after, the horizon would be filled with enemies.
Loche reacted instinctively. Stepping behind Iviry, he pulled the female to his chest, resting his chin on her shoulder as he breathed into her ear, “We will survive this.”
She didn’t respond, but she didn’t pull away, either, so Loche continued as Merrick finally dipped Lessia in a kiss—to the shouts and cheers and whistles from the crowd. “I’ll make sure you survive this, Iviry. If I can promise you nothing else… that is what I’ll vow.”
As the sounds of the crowds roared in his ears, Iviry turned around, and while her blue eyes were filled with worry and sorrow and love, there was something hard in her voice as she replied, “You can’t promise me that. I… I can’t allow that.”
She looked so small then, her bottom lip trembling as her eyes flew over their people. They had now started gathering around the braziers and tables with food, or taking drinks with them and settling around the ships.
“So many of these people will die,” Iviry whispered. “You heard what the spy told us today. They have more than twice the ships we do, Loche. How are we going to protect our people? How are we going to keep everyone here alive?”
“We’ll find a way.” Loche’s hands went to her face, his thumbs brushing away the tears that had formed there, and he shifted her body so his own covered her from the rest of the world.
“We’ll find a way, Iviry. We have the wyverns, and you saw the snakes Raine and Frelina brought.
We have some of the shifters who will join them in the sea.
They’ll thin out the lines. We have your Fae… We have Elessia and Merrick.”
“We can’t ask that of them,” Iviry said in a hissed whisper. “You saw what happened when they used whatever that horrible power is. They’ll die, Loche.”
“Perhaps we will… but then again, perhaps we won’t.
” Lessia’s soft voice joined them, and while Loche’s hands dropped from Iviry’s face, he pulled the Fae leader to his side, still shielding her as all their friends gathered around them.
Merrick and Lessia with their backs to the people.
Raine and Frelina beside them. Ardow and Amalise and Venko and Zaddock coming to Loche’s side, with Kerym and the sisters taking the final spots in the circle.
“While we might not be able to use those souls the entire time, we can hopefully do it once,” Lessia continued.
“The wyverns’ bonds make us stronger. We…
we will ride with them, save our energy for when we’ll all need it the most. Maybe that will mean the end, but I hope…
I hope it will be a new beginning instead. ”
Merrick nodded, his eyes glued to his new wife. “We came back to help you. We’ll do what we can, when we can.”
His voice was strong, even though everyone knew that this wasn’t his choice.
This wasn’t what Merrick wanted for them—for her. But like he’d fallen to his knees before her just moments ago—like she looked like his queen right now—Merrick would always surrender to her wishes. Even if they died for it, he would follow her wherever she decided to go.
Lessia smiled up at the Death Whisperer, probably sensing what Loche just had. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Such small words, but they seemed to pierce the hearts of everyone around them.
“Thank you all,” Lessia said again, louder this time, finding the eyes of the people around them, and Loche nodded when she reached him. “I didn’t know… I don’t have words for what tonight means, but thank you.”
No one said anything, because while Lessia’s voice didn’t waver, it was too close to a goodbye.
Raine’s grip on Frelina tightened as he shared a look with Merrick over her head.
Kerym pulled both sisters to him, his blue eyes darkening.
The humans by Loche remained stoic, standing together, knowing that for them it might be over sooner than for the others.
“Fuck, I need a drink,” Loche exclaimed when the crackling in the air became too much. “Come on, wife. I think we deserve to take a break from being leaders for a while and behave like absolute idiots.”
Iviry’s cheeks burned as she glared up at him. “I am no i—”
“Oh, I wasn’t talking about you,” Loche said, unsure why his voice lowered and became so raspy. “I am certainly the idiot in this marriage.”
“I didn’t know you got married!” Lessia’s eyes were wide as she stared between them. “Congratulations! But… we didn’t steal—”
“No,” Iviry snapped. “You deserved a real celebration. The love between you two…” One of her hands flew out over the crowds—over the ships where people danced and laughed and ate and drank like there would be no tomorrow. “Look what you inspired. Loche and I… we—”
Fuck this.
Loche wrapped his hand around her arm, and as she was about to stomp away, he used the momentum to drag her to him, her chest slamming into his as he crashed his lips against hers.
He was fully prepared for her to slap him, push him away, maybe even gouge out his eyes, but Iviry did no such thing. Instead a small noise sounded in her throat, and her arms found their way around his neck as she melted into the kiss.
He groaned right into her hot mouth, not giving a shit who was around them, although based on the low laughs and the receding footsteps, the people who had surrounded them were backing away.
Thank fuck for that, because otherwise he might have had to order them to.
Loche couldn’t tear himself away. It was as if his entire body was being burned down, only to be rebuilt again—like the phoenix he’d once seen Geyia shift into, the firebird that didn’t exist in their world but in some other realm he would probably never visit.
Iviry’s lips were warm, welcoming, fucking perfect, and he couldn’t help but steer her against the wall, pressing himself against her soft body as he gently nudged her lips open, finally getting to taste her.
“Fuck,” he cursed when she tugged at his hair, a wanton noise—a fucking whimpering—shaking through her. His hands slid down her back, and he grasped her ass, pulling her hips against his growing cock, feeling as if he were dying when she ground against him.
“W-wait,” Iviry panted, and he pulled back immediately.
Even though he’d steered them into the shadows, the worry in her eyes was as clear as the sounds of happiness behind them, and it was as if someone had emptied a bucket of cold seawater over him.
“Why are you doing this?” Iviry asked.
Why was he—
“Because I’ve really been a fucking idiot.” Loche shot a look around them, lowering his voice. “I should have done this the first time I saw you. I have no idea why I thought I should stay away… Now it—”
He couldn’t let himself finish the sentence—couldn’t even think it.
Like Merrick, he needed time with his female. He wanted time with her. It felt as if it was the only thing he wanted as he continued staring into her mesmerizing eyes.
Iviry’s gaze moved to the sides, over the shadows he’d steered her into, and he knew what she was thinking before some of the light dimmed.
“No.” Loche lined his body up with hers again. “I will take you out there and make love to you in front of everyone if that’ll prove it to you. I would gladly show them how I plan to devour you.”
His hands went to the wall beside her head as her face pinkened when he leaned in again, his voice rough.
“I just fear you would hold back. Try to behave like leaders ‘should.’ And I can’t have that.
I can’t have my wife unsure when I fuck her for the first time.
We have enough scrutiny. We don’t need someone to judge this too. ”
“You don’t have to keep calling me your wife,” Iviry said weakly. “Loche, I don’t blame you for anything. I will not ask this of you. I know tonight was probably hard for you… seeing her—”
For fuck’s sake. He wanted to draw this out, take his fucking time, but alas…
Loche captured her lips again, his hands finding her ass, and he lifted her, placing himself on the step leading up to the quarterdeck as he settled her legs around his back, her in his lap.
“Listen to me,” Loche drawled into her mouth. “The only thing that is hard for me tonight, apart from my cock, which you can feel would kill to be inside you, is that it wasn’t you and me up there.”
He pulled back to ensure she would truly hear him, truly see how much he meant the words he said. “One day, I will give you that. Bigger, better. Everything you deserve. For now, though, you’ll have to deal with the bastard idiot I am, and just know I’ve fallen for you.”
Her lips parted as she stared at him, and he couldn’t help but kiss her again, his tongue tangling with hers and his mouth swallowing the moan drawn out by his cock twitching beneath her.
“I… I love you,” Loche whispered. “I love everything about you. I love that I get to stand by your side. I love that I get to do this life with you. I love that even when it seemed like you hated me, I no longer felt alone. I… I just love you.”
“Loche—” Iviry started, and he playfully rolled his eyes.
“I even love that you’ll argue with me. I wish for many, many, many more days of you telling me what an idiot I am, and me crawling by your feet for forgiveness.”
A snort rushed between them as Iviry’s lips curled, and before Loche could take her lips again, she whispered back, “I love you too.”
If he’d felt like he was burning to cinders before, hearing those words, sensing the truth from her, seeing it in her eyes… something deep, a wound he hadn’t looked at in a long time—perhaps ever—healed with the regent.
“Fuck,” Loche breathed. “I think I love you even more now.”
Iviry giggled as he shifted her so his cock pressed against her, and he tilted his head. “Can we go to our room and finally share that bed now, please?”
When she nodded, Loche didn’t bother waiting—didn’t bother checking on anyone else—as he swept her into his arms and sprinted down to their rooms to show her exactly how much he loved her.