Chapter 19
Jah’ruud
“A monkey! An elephant. The finest carriage that’s ever been built.” Kaelun is pacing the room, running his hands through his hair until it’s a wild mess. “That’s what a prince would give her.”
“She has a palace full of beautiful things. She wants honesty. She wants someone she can trust.” I grow tired of repeating myself. It is fortunate I am made of air or I might expend all of mine in the effort to make him understand.
“How do you know that?”
My mouth snaps shut. I can’t tell him I did more than spy on her. That we talked and I told her things I haven’t told another creature.
Kaelun sighs. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. She hated the falcon. This was so much easier when I could just be myself.”
I lift my brow, giving him a look that speaks more than words could.
He rolls his eyes. “OK I know, but she’s going to be so angry. You have to help me. Tell me what to say.”
“Just tell her—”
He cuts me off, waving his hand. “No, not now. Come with me. Stay hidden but tell me what to say so I don’t fuck it up.”
My heart plummets inside my chest. The way he’s worded it forces my hand, but that is the last thing I want. With a smothered sigh I nod. “Very well.”
“There’s a balcony to her room you said?”
“There is.”
“Good, because I can’t do this in front of her servants.”
“I do not think—”
He’s already halfway out of the room, so I silence my arguments, dissipating into mist and drifting morosely after him down the corridor.
Kaelun jogs out into the courtyard and looks up, shielding his eyes from the harsh afternoon sun.
Balconies jut out from several rooms overlooking the large courtyard garden.
The wide-open space is quiet. We are the only ones here.
The servants and most of the palace have retired for an afternoon sleep during the heat of the day.
They will rise again and stay up late into the night.
I drift close to Kaelun and whisper in his ear. “To your left. That one.”
It takes him almost no time to find a foothold and a way up to the ledge which is at least four times his height above him.
He scales the wall with ease, wedging his toes into cracks I didn’t even see and using a plant as a rope.
I can’t decide whether I want this to be a success or a failure.
If he manages to win over Yalina, I’m one wish closer to being freed after all this time.
Yet I do not think freedom will taste as sweet if I am not free to pursue the one thing I’ve allowed myself to want in many, many rotations.
Kaelun pulls himself over the stone balustrade and drops lightly to his feet. I drift up to watch, teasing the curtains of the open doorway with a lick of breeze to stir Yalina’s attention.
A silhouette appears against the pale, thin fabric, and he drops into a crouch. He is going about this all wrong. It is a mistake to sneak up on her, especially when she is alone in her room like this. Vulnerable. Defenseless.
Is that not what I did only yesterday?
Her hands move to her waist as if she is untying something.
Both Kaelun and I freeze, and I know he is watching just as intently as I am.
A moment later she shrugs off a scarf and an outer layer and tosses them over the back of a chair.
I’m watching so intently the breeze strengthens to a gust and the curtains snap inward, revealing Yalina dressed only in a tiny silken slip the color of her deep brown eyes.
Kaelun catches his breath.
Yalina sighs, heading straight for the open doors. Kaelun darts out of the way and presses his back to the wall beside the door so he is behind her when she exits to lean over the balustrade and look out over the courtyard and the city beyond.
The gust becomes a rush of wind, and I ache to touch her. She’s standing so close.
She tips her head back, and her hair billows out behind her. “Are you here?”
Before I can answer, Kaelun steps forward quickly to stand beside her. “How did you know?”
Yalina jumps and whips around. Her expression must be horrified, for Kaelun presses his hands over her mouth. “Don’t scream.”
She does not scream. Instead she plants her hands on his chest and pushes him toward the balustrade, catching him off guard. He topples back, and for a moment I wonder if I should intervene, but he grabs the balustrade and rights himself just in time. “Are you trying to kill me?”
Yalina’s eyes widen. “Kaelun? I mean Noreth!”
“No.” He places his hand on her arm and she stops. “Wait. That’s what I came to talk to you about, if you’ll listen. I’m sorry for startling you. I just wanted to see you alone.”
Her expression softens. “You did?”
“I have… a confession. When you set the challenge for us to demonstrate something we know about you, I realized I had to make it.”
She folds her arms across her chest. “Go on.”
Kaelun tugs at the collar of his tunic. “Well, when you asked me before if I remembered you, if I am the man you remember… I do and I am. Only I didn’t tell you before,” he rushes on, while her look grows visibly colder. “I didn’t think I could.”
“You didn’t think you could when I asked you directly?”
Kaelun shoots a desperate look over Yalina’s shoulder in completely the wrong direction to where I am floating, but I catch his meaning. Hovering close, I whisper, “Apologize. Do not make excuses.”
“I—I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier. I should never have lied to you.”
Sure enough, her body relaxes a little and her shoulders creep down from her ears. “Yes, you should have.”
“I know. I feel terrible that I did it. I know it hurt you.”
“It did.”
There’s a long pause. Kaelun shoves his hands in his pockets, looking away.
Then suddenly, Yalina reaches out to touch his face. “Then it really is you.”
He nods.
“How? Were you lying to me when we met the first time?”
“No! I swear I wasn’t. It’s just it’s kind of a long story.”
Yalina takes him by the hand, and I cannot look away from the place they touch. “Come inside. Tell me everything.”
I’m about to slip away as she leads him inside, a bitter lump in my throat—imaginary of course, since I’m immaterial at the moment. Over his shoulder Kaelun casts me a pleading glance and mouths, “Help.”
What could he possibly need help with now? He has her in the palm of his hand. Yet from what I have witnessed, he is capable of ruining it even now. With a silent sigh, I follow them inside.
She draws him to a sofa and sits down beside him. “Tell me everything. How did you find out who I was? When I tried to tell you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
He sinks his face into his palm. “I was a fool. But not so much of a fool not to follow you after you left.”
I send a little gust of wind to rustle his hair, but though he lifts his hand to brush it back again, he seems not to notice.
“You are not doing yourself any favors here,” I whisper.
He coughs. “I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to see you again.”
A smile creeps over her lips. “I wanted to see you again too, but I thought it was impossible.”
He grins. “Well I got lucky. And here I am.”
“But how?”
He shrugs. “I uncovered buried treasure, and you were the first thing I thought of.”
“Person,” I hiss.
He coughs again. “Person. The first person I thought of.”
Yalina gives him a weird look. “Did you hear something?”
“No!” Kaelun shifts uncomfortably in his seat, and I consider blasting him with a tornado and tossing him off the balcony. It’s all laid out for him and he’s still bungling it.
“You were the first person I thought of when I found myself rich. Because I thought maybe that gave me a chance. I thought at least it might buy me a chance to see you again even if you wouldn’t consider me as a match. I know I don’t deserve it, but do you think you can ever forgive me?”
Against my will, I am impressed. This is what she needs to hear.
She shifts forward. I see the way her gaze drops to his lips. Despite everything, she still wants him! I cannot take my eyes from her lips, the way her long lashes graze her cheeks every time she blinks. Something in me snaps.
Summoning a strong gust, I push him forward. “Kiss her.”
Dropping his chin he meets her lips, and I can almost feel her soft mouth against my own as she leans into it. She closes her eyes, and I can’t help it. Reaching out with a phantom hand, I brush back a strand of hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear.
She moans and climbs into Kaelun’s lap.
I wish with the entire fabric of my being that it was me she was kissing. That it was my cock between her legs, nudging at the juncture to paradise. My hand on the back of her neck, pulling her close, commanding her.
Yalina slides back until she can reach between them and begins stroking him over his trousers.
Internally I groan. Does he have any idea how lucky he is?
Kaelun’s eyes roll back in his head, and she pushes back the waistband of his clothing and delves beneath to take hold of him. With a few slow pumps of her hand, she has him right where she wants him. The tip is already leaking, and he looks impossibly swollen in her grip.
Yalina slides from his lap to kneel on the floor between his legs and, like a dolt, he lets her. Has he missed the dangerous glint in her eye? She’ll work him beyond his limit. Of that I have no doubt.
He lets out a muffled cry as she lowers her head, and when she opens her mouth and laps at the slick precum, he spews a whispered curse.
Soon she is working him with both her mouth and hand at once, and his chances of pleasing her are decreasing by the second.
“Yalina, fuck! I can’t—”
She ignores him, and in that moment I get a hint of her intention. She is testing him. And if he fails…
“Do not cum,” I breathe into his ear.
He groans. “Don’t you think I’m trying?” he chokes out.
Yalina lifts her head, but her hand keeps moving up and down his shaft. “Did you say something?” The look in her eye is positively wicked.
“N-no. Nothing. That just feels so good.”
When she lowers her head again, I have no choice. With phantom fingers, I wrap my grip around the base of his cock and his balls, squeezing tight. Kaelun lets out a yelp of surprise and his eyes fly open.
Taking his throat in my other hand I force his head back, holding tight.
His mouth hangs open.
“Do not fucking cum. Do you hear me?”
His pupils blow wide, and he almost manages to nod.
I hold him like that as she continues, whispering commands in his ear. “She cums first. She always comes first.”
I do not know what has come over me. All I know is the furious need coursing through me must find a vent or I’ll explode.
His back bows as Yalina swirls her tongue around his tip, but he doesn’t spill. Finally she sinks her mouth back over him and sucks him firmly. Her cheeks hollow out, and Kaelun trembles in my hands. “She cums first,” he whispers.
Finally she releases him, sitting back on her knees.
“Her turn,” I tell Kaelun.
“Your turn,” he repeats.
Yalina stands, and he has the wherewithal to drop to his knees so he can slide her trousers over her hips. Gods, her scent is lush and rich as he bares her to the air. It fills the room, and it takes all I have not to slide between her thighs myself and steal a taste.
Somehow I hold back.
Yalina lies back on the sofa, and Kaelun positions himself between her legs.
The image of him lowering his head to lick her will be etched into my memory with envy for the rest of my days.
Her moan is matched by the hungry sound of appreciation he makes as he takes his first taste.
Then I can’t help it. I grab the back of his head and direct him to the little nub of pleasure I know is hiding at the apex of her cunt.
In this position his head is down and his ass is up, facing toward me, and I wonder for an idle moment what it would be like to bury myself deep inside him even as I directed him to please her for me.
Quickly I shake it off. I’ll surely pay for this transgression as it is. Does he know how much power he has to punish me now? He cannot. I cannot let him see how much I burn for both of them.