24. Chapter Twenty-Four
24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ELODIE
“ W ake up!”
I gasped, gulping down lungfuls of fresh oxygen that only irritated the burn radiating through my throat and chest. I could feel the heat of the fire, my body burning. Was I still dreaming?
If I’m awake, why does it still hurt?
“Look at me, Goldie. You’re safe.” My eyes flew open; I knew that voice.
A cool hand pressed against my cheek, another on my back holding me up. The woody scent of cedar wrapped around me as my eyes focused enough to see Kaius’ face inches above my own, holding me close as his eyes darted over my face. I tried to swallow, to relieve the burn in my throat and control the effects of the nightmare. I couldn’t be sure if he really was here, holding me again. Was my mind so cruel it would make this up, too?
“Elodie, you’re safe.” His deep voice rumbled again, and I squeezed my eyes shut in a bid to slow the painful racing of my heart.
“Open your eyes,” Kaius commanded, and they obeyed, fluttering open instantly to lock onto his stormy grey ones. The soft glow from the flames illuminated his face in a way that for a moment I was sure I’d been woken by an angel. He leant forward, pressing his forehead to mine, beard soft against my cheek.
“Good girl,” he murmured into my hair. A different kind, more welcome, heat slid through my body, my thundering heart slowing a fraction.
“Is this real? Are you real?” I breathed deeply as I drank in his scent. His strong hand gripped mine, strangely cool against my too-warm skin, to hold it flat against his heart. I could feel the thrumming beneath my fingers and with it came a sense of peace that I allowed to sweep over me—willing it to push away the remnants of the dream I had been trapped in.
“You’re real.” I sighed in relief, sagging in his arms and feeling his answering smile against my cheek.
“I’m real, Goldie.” I pulled back to look at him and he released my hand from his, slowly tracing his fingers back up my arm. I winced as his light touch scraped over my skin. I was hot to the touch, my normally tan complexion slightly reddened.
He frowned down at me, fingers barely skimming my skin before his eyes flicked between me and the fireplace that had now reduced to mere embers.
The pull of his magik trailed along under his touch and cool pulses of energy radiated from every connection his fingers made up my arm, spreading until I could feel the form of his power flowing over my whole body. The heat that had been a painful reminder of my nightmare disappeared as my magik rose to meet his.
They clashed, dancing together in a synchronicity that could have been rehearsed. As he held me against him, every point our naked skin pressed together had sparks of magik zipping between us. I could feel him everywhere, and I wanted more. Kaius’ power pushed into parts of me I didn’t even know were empty until all I could feel was him. From the shock etched on his face, I knew he hadn’t intended for this to happen, but he was feeling it, too—this colliding of our energies.
Pleasure raced through me and I almost—almost—arched my body into his to gain the friction I was desperate for. My grip over my own magik weakened as the connection began to build in its intensity. I couldn’t let that happen, couldn’t let my power overwhelm me, not here with Kaius so close. I had no idea what I was capable of.
He ran his palm up to cup my face, his thumb brushing over my lip, and my body lit up under his touch as another wave crashed together. Kaius tipped his head back with a groan, eyes closed as his long hair fell away from his face exposing the long column his neck, Adam’s apple bobbing under his dark beard. Tattoos covered his skin, and I longed to lean forward and lick every inch I could find.
“Kaius,” I said in a breathy moan, whether in warning or encouragement I wasn’t sure. His eyes flew open, locking onto mine, and I knew he wanted the same things I did.
I wanted his lips on mine, his hands running over my body.
My chest was heaving from the combination of revelling in the ecstasy of our powers colliding and the effort I was using trying to hold mine back from overwhelming both of us.
He nodded in understanding, slowly releasing his hold on me, face scrunched in concentration as he pulled back on his magik. Almost reluctantly, it receded, and I found I could gain better control of my own as his lessened.
Finally, we released our hold on each other. As our energies slid free, my chest felt hollow, and I fought the need to reach out to him. We sat staring at each other as our hearts slowed and breathing became easy again.
What the fuck just happened and why do I want more?
Did he know that that was going to happen? The look on his face said he was as surprised as I was.
I tried to swallow past my dry throat, fighting against the desire to wrap myself in his arms, and slowly stood from the bed. To put a physical distance between us, I crossed to the table and poured out a cup of water, drinking it all before I faced him. Greedily taking in the perfection that was currently sitting on my bed. My rings clinked against the metal cup as I clutched it in my hand and followed his lust-filled gaze as it swept over my body.
Kaius rose from the bed, loose grey trousers hanging low on his hips; they did nothing to hide the bulge pressed against the front of them that I was trying so fucking hard to be polite and not look at. Two silver barbells were pierced through his nipples, and a pear-cut emerald hung from a figaro silver chain, resting against the hard defined muscles of a bare chest covered in intricate artwork.
Did he have tattoos on the parts that I couldn’t see?
I couldn’t help as my eyes traced the ridges of his abs to follow the line of the V-shaped muscles that dipped past his hips before I forced myself to look back at his face. A wicked smile played on his mouth as he watched me, and I wasn’t the slightest bit embarrassed about checking him out so obviously.
This wasn’t a man, this was an angel. A god. A deity sent to test my restraint.
I’m not totally sure I care much about restraint right now.
I ran my eyes over him one more time, taking a sip from my cup to make it slightly less obvious, when I noticed he was barefoot. I frowned as something niggled at my mind—no shoes, no shirt.
He was like one of those notices that people put in shop windows.
“Why are you practically naked?” I frowned.
“I can be completely naked though, if you’d like.” He smirked, and a laugh escaped me, his eyes brightening at the sound.
“No, why are you in my room practically naked?” The smirk disappeared as he took a step towards me.
“I heard you, Goldie.” His throat bobbed. “I heard you screaming.”
My hand went to my own throat as the memories flooded me, the cup of water clattering to the floor as I reached for the pendant that was no longer safely around my neck.
I had been screaming, in real life. As if the memory conjured it, I could feel heat flare across my skin.
“The fire. The fire, it got me again.” Panic laced my voice as the touch of the flames resurfaced. In two steps Kaius was in front of me, large hands cupping my face like I was something precious, soothing on my fevered skin.
“There was no fire, you were here in bed. I heard you screaming and I came. I woke you.” The words were simple, uncomplicated.
“There was fire! In my dream. It burned… it was burning me. I couldn’t move, Kaius. I couldn’t even use my magik. I couldn’t wake up. There was a voice, it said my name and then I was here with you.” Before I could stop them, the frantic words tumbled from my mouth as I relived it, pain flooding my body.
“Look at me,” he commanded, and I did. “Elodie baby, you’re safe. There is no fire here, I’ve got you.” He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to my head before wrapping me in his arms. My face was against his hard body, and I breathed into the contact, allowing the smell of sweet cedar to wash over me and chase away the lingering smoke.
We stayed pressed together for a long time, Kaius’ hand stroking lazily over skin that no longer carried the trace of my dream, and by the time we broke apart, I had relaxed a little. I pulled him with me to the bed, eyeing his attire once more.
“There’s no way you were casually strolling through this palace wearing next to nothing and just happened to walk past at the exact moment I cried out in my sleep.” I kept my tone light, but I left no room for him to forgo an answer.
“You’re right. I wasn’t strolling through the palace in next to nothing past your room at the exact moment you cried out in your sleep.”
Screamed.
That’s what he had said earlier, I had been screaming. I stayed quiet, my silence a question in itself.
He scrubbed a hand over his dark beard before answering. “I was in the room next door.”
“Your room is next door?” I raised my brow.
He was a Lord. A fucking Prince. There’s no way his room was next to this tiny little one.
“It is a room, and I was in it. So that makes it mine, no?”
“Kaius,” I growled at his evasion.
“I stayed next door just in case… in case you might need me.” Vulnerability flooded his features.
Oh. “And you were staying there last night, too?”
“No,” he said, a slight frown creasing his brows. “Last night, I was walking around the palace and I ended up in this wing. I heard you screaming, I don’t know how and I… followed it and it led me here.”
“To me?” He nodded, threading a finger through the sweat damp threads of my hair. “And you stayed.”
“I waited until it seemed you were really asleep, and I was going to leave but I couldn’t. I didn’t want you to wake up like that again. With no one there.” Something about the way he was looking at me told me he knew exactly how that felt.
“And tonight? You were next door?”
“Yeah. I guessed you weren't going to let me sleep in here with you, so I thought that next door would be the best place to be. Just in case. These are all residential rooms and they’re mostly empty anyway.”
He had given up what I imagined would be a pretty comfy lordly room to sleep in a cramped one next to mine in case I had another nightmare and needed someone. I found it hard to comprehend the emotions that were bubbling inside me. Had he really done that for me?
He hasn’t lied to me so far.
“Thank you,” I whispered, reaching out and squeezing his hand.
“You can tell me about them… if you want. It might help?”
I couldn’t meet his eyes. “Not now.”
Maybe not ever.
He squeezed back in reply, and again I reached up to stroke the pendant that was actually sitting in a bowl in my bathroom back home. My heart fell as I thought about home.
“What are you missing?” he asked, watching as my fingers rubbed small circles over the place the pink gem had sat for ten years.
“Missing?”
“Aside from the obvious; home, family, and that huge beast you let sleep in your bed. What is it you keep reaching for?”
I laughed. “His name is Titan.”
“Titan. A fitting name,” he answered, lip quirking at one side.
“I found him as a puppy in the woods, and he followed me home. He was so small I could hold him in one hand, but he was such a character I knew he needed a big name. Then the dog didn’t stop growing.” I smiled at the memory of puppy Titan and how he seemed to double in size every night.
“Dog, huh?” Kaius smiled at me like I was somehow missing the joke.
“What about this?” His finger reached forward and pressed the spot my fingers were held against.
“Oh.” My forehead creased, and I let my hand fall away. “It’s just a habit. My Nanna gave me a necklace for my eighteenth birthday. She told me never to take it off, but it broke the night you and Big Man took me.
“And the nightmares,” he asked cautiously. “Do they come every night?”
I was unsure how much to tell him. Would it give him something he could use against me? When you’re trapped in a strange place with no way home, a girl’s got to be careful.
“Not ones like this. They started the night you stole me. That was the first real one. I was trapped then, too.” It had been him and Bastian who had freed me from that first nightmare when The Darkness found me.
“Before that, they were never as clear. As real .” I could almost hear the roar of the flames that had consumed me. “Just flashes of things that would continue for hours.”
His face furrowed by some inner conflict I didn’t understand before he reached for the pendant that laid on his muscular chest. Pulling it over his head, his eyes never left my face as he held it tight before looping the chain over my neck, the emerald settling low on my chest. I ran my fingers over the perfectly cut gem, feeling the slight pulse of energy that was held within.
“It will help. With the dreams.”
“Thank you,” I breathed. I could see it hadn’t been easy for him to hand it over, and it didn’t feel right to press him over it.
Kaius pulled me against him, wrapping me in his arms as I settled into him, legs resting across his and sighing as my magik hummed at the contact of our skin, soaking in the feeling of being held by him.
I shouldn’t feel like this. I should be running in the opposite direction to the man who had stolen me in the night and taken me as prisoner.
But I didn’t, and I was confused as hell about that.
Kaius’ arms loosened as he pulled back and moved from under my legs, and on instinct I grabbed his shoulders to stop him.
“Where are you going?” Surprise lit his eyes as his feet hit the floor.
“I’m just getting the blanket.” I hid my breath of relief as he crouched down to pick up the cover, a playful smirk on his lips as he looked up at me.
“I take it blue’s not your favourite colour?” he asked as his large, tattooed hand rested lightly above my knee, my skin burning under his touch as he slid it a few inches, and my core tightened in anticipation.
Blue? I tried to think over the need that was silently begging his hand to travel higher, energy zapping through me, desperate to find his.
“What? No, it’s not.” I didn’t understand where he was going with this conversation, but I very much enjoyed looking down and seeing him between my legs.
He held up the hand that wasn’t currently making its torturous way up my thigh, scraps of blue lace hooked over his long finger, a cocky smile on his face.
And just like that, my desire was doused in ice as I cringed away from the offending fabric, averting my eyes as the memory of the guard’s hands pawing all over them came back to me.
“Blue’s my favourite colour.”
I scooted back slightly on the bed trying to cover my reaction, but Kaius’ hand tightened on my leg keeping me in place.
“What just happened?”
“Nothing.” I kept my voice light, pulling away and moving to the middle of the bed. He stood, muscled form towering over me like a god with the underwear still held in his hand.
“That wasn’t nothing. Tell me, Elodie.”
“Honestly it is. It’s nothing.”
“I promised I wouldn’t lie to you, so don’t lie to me. Tell me what happened.” His fist tightened around the lace, and I hated to admit he was right.
I twisted the rings on my fingers, wondering how I would even explain it to him. Maybe I had been overreacting?
“The guard that gave them to me creeped me out, and I didn’t want to wear them after he’d had his hands on them.” It felt stupid saying it out loud, but it was the truth.
The guard hadn’t done anything except hold them and be a creep.
A flash of dark energy spread through the room, slithering along my skin with tiny pinpricks of pain that had my pussy throbbing in a way that was so inappropriate right now.
He knew there was more than I was letting on, even if I didn’t know how else to explain what had happened. He was almost at the door before I leapt off the bed and grabbed his arm.
What a fucking idiot, why had I believed he would stay?
“You said you’d stay if I needed you!” My small hand clung to his toned forearm, and his eyes softened despite the anger pouring from every part of him. The assault on my body lessened.
“I’m not leaving you, but I am about to break that guard’s face.”
“No, it wasn’t him! It wasn’t any of the ones who have been outside. He was new, I don’t know who he was.” I needed him to move from the door despite his assurance he wasn’t leaving, and slowly he allowed me to guide him back to the bed.
“Do you swear? That it wasn’t one of the guards who have been on duty?”
My mouth opened to speak before I realised I couldn’t swear to that. I had no idea how many guards had been on duty since I’d been in this room.
“All I know is that I have never seen him before and there was still a guard outside.” I could do nothing to stop him as he charged to the door, wrenching it open and leaving me frozen to the spot as it slammed shut behind him.
He’d left.
He didn’t owe me anything. As far as I knew, I had been brought here to help them, not the other way around. But as I tried to push down the ache in my chest at his absence, I couldn’t quite make myself move from this spot.
As the door flew back open, Kaius stalked back into the room, the crumpled form of the guard who had been stationed outside visible on the floor in a heap.
Fuck, that shouldn’t be such a turn-on.
His eyes were pools of darkness as they locked onto mine, faint shadows curling through his hair. “I’ll find him, Goldie. No one should have been in this corridor without the Commander's permission and the guards know that.”
The bundle of blue lace tore itself apart in his hand, the fabric reduced to nothing. Body tight with anger and hands now fisted at his side, he stalked towards me. Placing a shaking hand on his tattooed chest, I marvelled at how his body relaxed under my touch. My fingers trailed lightly down his taut stomach before reaching for his hand, fighting back a smile as a shiver ran through his body and his eyes fluttered shut.
Tugging him to the bed, he slid in behind me, pulling the covers up as we settled next to each other. My head rested on his bicep as his hand flexed on my hip, and the need that had waned came back with a vengeance at the feel of his hands on me. His hard body pressed against my back. I twined my fingers with his, trying desperately not to squeeze my thighs together at the smears of red spread across his knuckles from the skin that was split in a few places.
I didn’t hate the thought that it was because of me; I liked his display of protectiveness which was mental because I barely knew this man.
No, not man. He was a Fae — a Prince.
One who had kidnapped me. Taken me from everything I knew and brought me to a strange place.
Who I was now cuddled up against in bed.
As I brought his busted hand to my lips, kissing it softly, I didn’t care about any of that right now. I smiled as a hiss escaped his mouth, his fingers tightening on my hip and I let our hands fall to the mattress.
“What is your favourite colour then?” His breath blew across my cheek and goosebumps rose over my skin.
“Gold. And pink. Yours?”
“It changes.”
I huffed out a laugh. “What is it today?”
“Today…” he replied, thinking for a moment, “today it’s brown.”
“No one's favourite colour is brown.”
“Mmm,” he murmured sleepily. “Like rich, dark honey, or coffee with just the right amount of milk.”
Sleep pulled at me as a small spark of something that felt like happiness shot through me as I thought that maybe, just maybe , I knew why today his favourite colour was brown.