Chapter 23
By the time Delphi woke the next morning, Tenebrys was up, freshly washed, and had run another bath for her. She didn't want to know how horrible she looked from the night before. Her hair was a bird's nest, and she was sticky with sweat and seed.
Despite all of that, Tenebrys was looking down at her with the softest expression she had ever seen.
"Morning, little flower," he purred. "How are you feeling?"
Delphi stretched and winced."Like I had a big sexy beast fuck my brains out last night."
Tenebrys grinned, and she began to notice that this particular smile was one he wore when he was feeling bashful. "I have a healing bath ready for you to soak in."
"You don't want to come with me again?" she asked, twirling a lock of hair. "Wash my back?"
"Stop teasing me, you wicked creature. I have to check in with my shifters to see how bad the fae raids have been," he said, his eyes tracking every twist of her finger. "You make me forget about my responsibilities."
"Can't have that." Delphi sat up and crooked her finger at him until he leaned down for her. Before he could stop her, she kissed him. "I'll be in the lab, so come and see me when you are done doing king things?"
"I will. There's something I want to show you this afternoon," he replied, slowly pulling out of her grip with a frustrated noise. "You'd better not do anything to hurt yourself today. I'm feeling very overprotective."
"I will be careful, and I promise I won't leave the chateau. The actual building this time, not the grounds." Delphi still felt guilty for the night of the full moon. They both could have been hurt, or worse, because of her.
"Hmmm, you can try and run, but you know what will happen if I catch you." Tenebrys's eyes glowed with promise, and her tender bits throbbed. "You also know what the fae will do if they get to you before me. Don't make me chase you into Faerie and slaughter them all."
"You would do that?" Delphi put her hand on her heart. "For me?"
"Yes, and we would both die in the process."
"Well, let's not hurry to test that." Delphi stood and stretched again.
Tenebrys pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dark hells, woman, get in the bath so I can't look at you."
Delphi laughed in evil delight and kissed his bone breast plate. "I'll see you later, lover," she purred.
She didn't have to fake the sway in her hips as she walked to the bathroom.
She was still wobbly on her feet, and muscles that she didn't know she had in her most intimate places were complaining.
She heard another frustrated growl behind her before the chamber door closed.
It made her grin like an idiot that he would want her so badly.
Delphi caught a glimpse of her disheveled state and wondered why Tenebrys would want her at all. She was still spotted with scratches and bruises from the fae. Her hair was sticking up all over, and she had little fang scrapes from her neck to her pussy.
"Dear goddess, I really need to find out more about shifter appetites," she murmured.
The water was just hot enough to sting as she climbed into the tub. Small vials of lotions and soaps had been arranged for her, so she got to work on her hair.
The last of the brown dye ran out between her fingers. It had been a long, long time since she had seen her true auburn. Instead of heart-choking fear at seeing the red, Delphi felt as though something deep inside of her finally aligned.
She had more magic than either she or Narcisse had guessed. The light under her skin last night and the flames Tenebrys had seen in her eyes had proved it.
"Witch fire. I need to find out more about witch fire," she whispered.
Tenebrys's mother had been fae, so she would have known about their abilities.
Delphi would make a trip to the library before going to the lab that day. More than ever, she was determined to figure out what the hell her parents had done to the shifters. She couldn't have her potential mate suffer because of her family.
"My mate. That's a thought I didn't think I would ever have," Delphi murmured, attacking her hair with a comb.
It was frightening to say it out loud. Would Tenebrys still want her in a year's time? Ten? She was struggling to quantify what it would mean to be wanted at all for longer than a night. She had always panicked at the thought of marriage, but a mate? That felt…different.
Unlike a human partner, Delphi would never have to hide anything from Tenebrys. Not her magic, her darkness, or her history.
Her previous dream of going to Kyllene would be dying, but what if it was going to be replaced with something better?
She had a library full of knowledge that mages would kill for.
Anything to do with fae was scarce, and even then, it was speculation.
The mages would only be able to teach her human magic, but her magic wasn't human.
Delphi knew how voracious her mind was. At best, she would learn everything they could teach and still be unsatisfied because it wasn't aligned with her power.
A short time later, she was washed and dressed in soft leather pants, a purple tunic, and a black and gold waistcoat that she had never seen before.
She would have to thank Tenebrys for the clothes, although she had no idea how he had known her size or where he had obtained them.
They fit better and were of finer make than she had ever owned.
Dear gods, even the breast band and underwear were made of silk.
Obscene waste of money, but they felt like a cloud against her skin.
Down in the kitchen, Delphi boiled water and gathered herbs to make a contraceptive brew. She might like Tenebrys a lot, but she wasn't about to risk getting pregnant or stop having sex with him. Gross tasting tea was the answer if it meant not having babies.
He said the attraction between them was their mating bond, but she had wanted him for years, even when he was a shadow in her dreams.
Dark goddess, she needed to think of something other than his hands on her and his big, strange cock. An insistent meow broke her train of thought. Delphi turning to find Luna on the table, rubbing against a full-looking paper sack.
"What have you got there?" Delphi asked. She opened it and studied the powder inside. Tentatively, she dipped a finger into it and touched it to her tongue.
"Flour. How did flour get here?" Delphi hadn't recognized it because she had never seen flour milled so fine. Luna meowed at her again.
"Okay, okay, I will find you something to eat. Felix had to have some meat last night, so there might be some down in the cooling cellar."
There was more than meat in the cold marble room. There were also a bowl of eggs and a pail of milk.
"What in the world is happening?" Delphi could only shake her head. She would never shun free food just because she didn't know where it came from.
"Looks like we will be eating in style this morning, puss," Delphi told Luna and gathered up her bounty.