Chapter 15 #2
“Ryker has long been an ally of Duskthorne, but was hesitant to formally declare alliance because of the fear of Amon’s might.
He cares only for his people’s safety and I can’t fault him for that.
A good king will do whatever it takes to protect his kingdom.
” He gives me a look then, something in his eyes that I can’t quite read, but continues on.
“He came around in the end—because of a certain red-headed fire bitch, I hear.”
I narrow my eyes but he only grins.
Choosing to ignore him, I ask, “Why does Helios stay out of…well, most everything it seems?”
“They always have. Decosta would break Helios off of the continent completely and join Sol if he could, I suspect.” He smiles a little at that.
“He’s a good man, but very…idealistic. He only wants peace and happiness and good ale.
So, he keeps away from Hypathian politics and war and everything else.
And the other royals let him—all of the exports that come through the port are too important to jeopardize, so. ” He shrugs.
“If it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it?” I supply and he smiles, nodding.
“Yes, exactly. The unofficial arrangement—we leave you alone and you keep trade lines open—has been working for decades, before I was even born. Of course, the Vines make it easier for them to stay separate in most things, the rivers forming a natural barrier that’s fairly easy to defend, and I know that the port itself can be closed as well.
So, they can hold out against siege for a time. ”
I swallow hard at what his words mean, what they might mean for Math and Cece, for Randolph and all of the other sailors and traders and even the handful of loveable pirates I’ve come to know.
“You think the war will get so bad as to make its way to Helios, to make him close the kingdom off completely?”
He looks at me, eyes soft, and brushes hair back from my face.
“It’s already there, love,” he says breezily, not knowing what the words will do to me, what Helios means to me.
I bolt upright, my heart in my throat and my Gift roaring within me, my skin turning frigid.
Thankfully Killian had already dropped his hand from my face and didn’t feel the sudden change.
I force the chill away and my Gift to calm.
“What?? What do you mean?”
He frowns, clearly confused by my distress.
“Forces from the Alliance are on their way there now.”
“What?” The word barely has sound, mostly just a whispered exhalation. I can’t breathe. I can’t think past the roaring in my ears.
“Tess, are you alright?” He cradles my face and I force myself to focus on his eyes, to keep in mind who I’m supposed to be. It’s more important than ever now that I make it through these next few weeks. I will find a way to get back to Helios. I will make sure that Math and Cece are safe.
“I…I just…” I take a deep breath. “I just still find it hard to believe there’s truly a war going on, that’s all.”
“It’s yet to truly begin. These small battles are nothing compared to what’s to come.”
“But I don’t understand why. Why did everyone decide suddenly to fight against Duskthorne?”
“Because we want to stop Barony and the only way he could stop us from stopping him, was to get the rest of Hypathia on his side.” He all but snarls the words, true hatred and rage simmering in his eyes.
Stop Barony? Stop him from what? Before I can ask, he exhales roughly and leans in to kiss me.
“Enough talk about war.” He kisses me again, this time on the corner of my mouth, slowly moving across my jaw and my pulse races.
I force the worry for Helios and my friends away, needing to lose myself in this man for a while before the anxiety and fear can eat me alive.
“Killian?” I whisper, nearly breathless when he kisses the spot at the base of my throat where my pulse beats frantically beneath his tongue.
“Mmm?” he rumbles, sliding the strap of my nightgown aside and kissing my bare shoulder.
“You said that I tasted good…”
“Better than anything else on this earth,” he breathes, one hand trailing down my side, his touch burning me through the silk.
“Well, I think it’s my turn to taste you.
” He freezes and pulls back to stare at me in question.
We haven’t done anything more than kiss and sleep since that night in the cave, both of us having been exhausted the last few nights from the journey and Killian being called away to meetings with his highest-ranking officers.
“Tess…” The word is half warning, half pleading.
My lips turn up into a wicked grin and I shift, pressing his back to the bed.
His hands settle on my waist as I straddle his hips, leaning down to kiss him slow and deep, teasing and biting before I make my way lower, down his throat and chest, tracing my tongue along swirling ink and kissing old scars.
I slide down as I kiss, lower and lower, over muscles that are so hard and smooth I would swear they were carved from marble.
He hisses in soft breaths as I go, muscles tensing and flexing beneath my fingers and lips and tongue.
I tug his sleep pants down and my eyes go wide when his cock springs free.
I’d been right that first night: blessed was an understatement.
He’s thick and hard, straining. Fucking mouthwatering.
I don’t waste a second, immediately wrapping my lips around him.
“Fuckkkk,” he rasps, hips arching off the bed and tangling one hand in my hair.
I moan around his length, taking him deep and twirling my tongue.
There’s no way that I can take him all, so I add a hand, curling my fingers around his shaft, pumping in time with the bopping of my head. “Ah Makers, don’t stop.”
I don’t, couldn’t even if the Maker’s themselves demanded that I stop.
The sounds he makes, the way he moves under my touch, it’s a whole different kind of power, one that I might well become addicted to.
I lick and suck and pump my fist and all the while, he moans and shifts his hips beneath me, fingers clenching in my hair, breaths coming in ragged pants.
I settle my other hand on his stomach, nails dragging along his rigid muscles.
He shifts his grip on my hair, sweeping the long strands from my face and curling them around his fist—for a better view, I imagine.
Sure enough when I look up, I find blue-gray eyes staring at me, burning with such fierce desire that my stomach clenches.
“Ahh that’s right, keep those beautiful eyes right here, Tess.
” One day, I think. One day, he’ll say those words with my name attached.
Even so, they send a shudder of pleasure through me.
I do as he commands, holding his gaze as I slide my mouth down his cock, taking him deeper than before.
“Oh, fuck me…Makers, your mouth on my cock is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. Keep going. Just like that.”
I do, licking and sucking and dragging my teeth ever so gently along his shaft. He bucks and moans and curses and prays.
“Going to…ah, fuck, you must stop unless you want…”
I quirk a brow and suck him harder, moving my hand faster, demanding my due.
He curses low, watching, biting his lower lip until he throws his head back and calls out my name, thankfully remembering to keep his voice low enough that the whole of the fucking camp can’t hear, coming hard as he bucks his hips.
I close my eyes and swallow everything he gives me, moaning quietly as I do.
When he’s finally spent, I release him and collapse back onto the bed, grinning.
His chest glistens with sweat and he’s breathing hard as he runs his hands through his hair.
“Great fucking Makers,” he mutters.
“It is a common mistake, but alas, I am a mere mortal woman. Surprising, I know, I—” I break off in a squeal as he shifts so quickly I barely see him move, settling his big body over mine, pinning my hands to the bed on either side of my head.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re the cockiest little wench in all of Hypathia?”
“It isn’t cocky if you can prove your claims—which I believe I just did.”
He laughs lightly and leans down to run his nose along mine.
“I never imagined you’d be like this,” he whispers. “I’d heard terrible things, really fucking awful things. I didn’t feel bad at all for the whole kidnapping business. I sure as hells never thought that we’d…” He pulls back to stare at me. “You don’t want to go back to Lyanna, do you?”
“No.” I can tell him that much with absolute honesty. “But…does what I want even matter? Dorian will want his payment, and Lyanna will demand me back to keep up their alliance with Marrowood.”
“Perhaps not. If you agreed to help us fight, that could change things. After all, we’d rather have your power on our side than any riches that bastard Barony could ever promise.
” He looks away as he speaks, not quite meeting my eyes and a whisper of unease snakes around my heart. There’s something he’s not telling me.
“I...” I don’t know what to say. I can’t say all the things I want to: that I want to stay with him forever, but that I also have a life and family in Helios that I can’t just walk away from.
Tesni wouldn’t have any real reason to not want to stay and fight Duskthorne.
So, what the hells can I say? He saves me from having to come up with anything.
“I don’t want to lose you, Tess,” he finishes softly, holding my gaze again. Before I can say anything else, he kisses me and rolls off to his back, tucking me into his side and pulling the blankets over us. “Sleep.”
I want to demand answers, but decide not to push it. He has a right to his secrets. Makers know I’ve got mine. One day, there can be complete openness between us, but for now, I’ll take the safety and comfort of being here with him, surrounded by his warmth and surety.
I don’t know how this story will end, how we will find a way to our happiness, but I will do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Because I don’t want to lose him, either.