28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
ELODIE
T he stone floor was warm under my feet, and the walls had begun to empty of art. With every step I took away from that room, my emotions calmed. I guessed I had been walking for around ten minutes before I heard footsteps behind me. Keeping my pace steady, my heart began to race. Technically I wasn’t doing anything wrong. No one had expressly said I wasn’t allowed to walk around the palace. I would say I got lost and hope they took pity on me.
That wasn’t even a lie; I was definitely lost.
The pull in my chest tugged lightly as the footsteps rounded the corner, and I gave an internal sigh of relief as I realised who had found me, but I kept walking forward.
“I thought I told you to wait.” I felt his arm brush against my shoulder as he fell into step beside me, my body tingling at the contact.
“I’m not really one for doing as I’m told,” I said, peeking up at him from the corner of my lashes and being rewarded by a lazy smirk that made my core tighten.
“So I’ve noticed. Heading anywhere nice?” A rush of laughter escaped my lips, and I felt some of the remaining tension drain away.
“Not really.” I stopped walking to face him. There was no point continuing my aimless walk through the corridors now he was here. “Got any ideas?”
He slowly licked his bottom lip as he looked down at me, and my eyes followed the movement.
“A few.” His voice was husky as he crowded me, walking me backwards until my back bumped against the wall. Placing a hand on the wall beside my head, he leaned in closer. The scent of cedar and something faintly herbal enclosed me, reminding me of the trees surrounding my home.
What had happened between him and Bastian?
I couldn’t help myself as I reached out a hand to trace a finger down the side of his face. His eyes fluttered closed, shoulders relaxing slightly as I continued. I tipped my head up, greedily studying him, gaze trailing across the long lashes feathered against his cheeks. His full lips slightly parted as my fingers whispered across them, and he inhaled sharply. Energy skipped over the places our skin touched, that dark, heady pull I felt around him threatening to consume me.
His hand captured mine, holding it against his face, beard soft under my palm and the golden bangles that wrapped around my wrist clinking together. The proximity of his hard body only inches from mine was intoxicating and heat gathered between my legs. My breath hitched as his eyes opened, grey storms swirling within them as he swallowed hard. When I pulled my hand back, our eyes stayed connected for a moment before he slowly moved away.
“I’ll take you back,” Kaius breathed before we started down the corridor, my body now cold from his absence. “You were going the wrong way anyway, Goldie.”
“What’s this way then?”
“The dungeon.”
Laughter burst from me, and I looked up as his eyes lit up, a wry smile pulling at his mouth.
“Of course it fucking is. Good job you found me then, wouldn’t want to end up tied up down there.”
Maybe if he was there, I wouldn’t mind too much?
Actually, I wouldn’t mind it at all.
His silver eyes were alight with mischief. “No. We wouldn’t want that, would we?”
Heat flared through me to settle low in my stomach, and I forced myself to look away before I did something stupid.
Like ask him to drag me down there and tie me up.
As we walked together, side by side—close but not touching—his shoulders carried the tension he had only a moment ago lost. I wondered what he would do if I reached for his hand. The memory of his hands wrapped around mine came to me as I remembered our first real conversation out in the gardens.
“Did you find those answers you promised me?” I asked lightly.
“Not yet, Goldie.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t really expecting anything different.
“Believe me, I’ve been trying, it’s just hard to know where to start.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are Fae. On that I’m almost one hundred percent certain.” I scoffed and he grinned at me, his perfect white teeth looked sharp enough to bite.
“A tiny thing like you with that much power, there’s no chance you’re not Fae. Not even half Fae.” I elbowed his side, earning me another laugh that I was quickly becoming addicted to.
“You can be half? Half Fae, half human?” I asked, my mind spinning.
“‘Course, it’s not so common, but it’s not unheard of. Humans find their way over here often, and some of them choose to stay. Some of them even find their Amorem and well, there’s no leaving once that happens.”
“Amorem?” The word ignited something in me I didn’t understand.
“Mmm,” he murmured. “Your other half, mate, love of your life—whatever you want to call it. There’s no walking away once you’ve found them. Human or Fae. They’re yours forever.”
Being with someone forever seemed like a big decision, but the idea that there were people who had chosen to stay here, surrounded by the magik that permeated this place was unexpected but not that surprising. Wasn’t that what we were all looking for, a little magik in our lives?
Finding my voice, I said, “I just can’t see how I could be Fae. It doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes more sense than a human holding magik, and you, Goldie, have a fuck load of magik.” I couldn’t deny that – the energy pulsing through me wouldn’t allow it. “You also had access to that magik back home, didn’t you?”
I started to protest but again, it was true. “Not much,” I replied.
“Enough that you were going to use it against us when you found us in your room.”
“You mean when you broke into my house in the middle of the night?” I accused, nudging him with my hip, using any excuse to touch him.
“Ooh low blow.” He laughed. Fingers brushing against mine as red carpet replaced the stones under our feet. “What were you reaching for anyway?”
“Oh.” I smiled, thinking back to the moment my life had gone to shit. “A bat. I used to keep one there before Titan, though the wards were more than enough to keep anyone out. Until you.”
“Until me.” He frowned at that, brows creasing and I had the strongest urge to reach over and smooth it away.
I kept talking, whether to find my answers or to stop that look on his face, I wasn’t sure.
“So, humans don’t have magik? None of them?”
“I’ve never heard of it, doesn’t mean it could never happen. Although I’m pretty sure that’s not the case with you.”
“Maybe it’s some sort of mutation?”
Would it really be so bad to be a Fae?
Considering I knew next to nothing about them except the stories Nanna told, maybe.
“I mean it’s possible, but likely not. Tell me about your parents.”
I stopped and he followed suit, grey eyes fixed on my face.
“Why?”
“Somewhere to start.” He shrugged. “As I said, getting you answers has proved difficult so far. Without even knowing what element you connect to, I can’t even look into any specific kingdom.”
“They died.” He didn’t speak, giving me the space I needed to continue. “They died when I was young, and then I went to live with my Nanna. I don’t remember much about them.”
“How?”
I swallowed. How? Such a simple question and yet the fact I couldn’t give him a definitive answer niggled at me. I was a full-grown adult yet I still didn’t know how they died, not properly.
Why had I never asked for that information?
“An accident.” I answered because truthfully that was all I knew.
Whatever Kaius saw in my face must have told him I was struggling with that realisation because he linked a hand with mine, and that small touch lit me up inside. He twisted a lock of hair around his finger, watching as he manipulated the white strands.
“I’m sorry, Goldie.”
“Like I said, I don’t remember them much.” I brushed it off, wondering why I had never given them much thought, or why I wasn’t sadder about being an orphan.
“Did they have magik?”
“I don’t know,” I breathed. “My memories of them are hazy at best. But Nanna?—”
“Nanna does?”
I nodded, and he traced his finger along my cheek that had my magik racing along the path his skin made on mine. My heart gave a sharp tug in my chest and Kaius’ eyes flicked down as if he had sensed it, swallowing hard before we locked eyes once again.
“What does that mean?” Right then I didn’t know whether I meant Nanna’s magik or that pull I felt.
“I don’t know.”
We walked in silence the rest of the way and Kaius’ body remained tense as he escorted me through the maze of corridors. I didn’t ask what had gone on in the room once he had left me outside. I didn’t need any more reasons to be pissed with Big Man right now.
Sooner than I thought, the guard standing sentry at my door came into view, head dipping at Kaius’ approach.
Kaius opened the door, fingers lingering on the frame before turning to the guard. “Who else has been here?”
“No one has been here since I started duty, my Lord.” Kaius must have believed him, because he pushed the door wider to let me inside as the guard took a step away to give us space.
“What’s happened?” I asked, moving into the room, and hoping he would, too.
His face was creased with a frown, and I knew he was deciding what to tell me. He had promised not to lie but that didn’t mean he would always tell me the whole truth.
“Someone was here. I can sense their energy.”
“And it wasn’t the guard?”
“No.”
“It was probably the tall woman.”
“The tall woman?”
“The woman who brings the food. Short, blonde hair. Tall. I don’t know her name, so to me, she’s ‘the tall woman.’” I shrugged.
He barked out a laugh. “I might use that myself.”
“What? Why?” I asked, suspicious despite the brightness now filling his eyes.
“Nothing,” he said, leaning forward to place a small kiss on my cheek. Energy leapt between us at the connection, and I raised my fingers to the place his lips had been.
I wanted him to do it again. I wanted him to walk through this door and kiss me until I was dizzy. To feel that energy in all the places I wanted his lips on me.
But I knew it wasn’t a good idea, so instead I stepped back, gripping the door to draw it shut even as heat pooled between my legs, and it took everything I had not to ask him to follow me inside.
“Elodie.” Our eyes collided and I tightened my hand on the door. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“Then tell me what it was supposed to be like.” I challenged but he sighed, eyes closing for a second.
“I’ll see you soon.” With that, he turned, leaving me standing in the doorway to watch as he walked away. He had disappeared from view when the guard turned to me, an apologetic look in his eye as he nodded slightly towards the open door.
How silly of me to forget that being a prisoner meant a locked door.
The door closing sealed out the rest of the palace, and I exhaled a breath as magik swept over me in a rush of sensation. My anger against Bastian along with the frustration of my stolen touches from Kaius crashed through me in a confusing mix of feelings. It was a desperate thing, aching for a release.
I’d swallowed it down too many times, pushed it and forced it away from what it wanted, and now it was giving me little choice but to allow it to run riot across my skin.
Igniting my nerve endings in a delicious caress, I couldn’t help it as my hand once again reached for the place Kaius’ lips had touched my skin, wondering what would have happened if I had pulled him into the room.
Heat flushed my body, almost painfully, as the thought of his lips on mine filled my mind and my pussy pulsed with desperate need.
Moving to the bathroom, my hands grasped the cold porcelain of the sink as another wave of magik grazed across my nerves, a moan fell reluctantly from my mouth as my grip tightened, and I hoped the sound barrier went both ways.
Pulling in a breath, I turned to the shower, ready to stand underneath for as long as was necessary to chase the burning heat from my skin. My nipples were hard and aching, brushing against the confines of my top as I peeled it over my head dropping it to the floor, the rest of my clothes following moments later.
The water was perfect on my sensitive skin, and I braced my hands on the cold tiles as its warmth soaked into me. My magik a deep rush of conflicting feelings. Every pound of my heart was mirrored in the throb between my legs, the need to be touched overwhelming.
Unwilling to deny myself any longer, I pressed my back to the wall, the water skimming over my tender breasts and igniting my body as much as the energy dancing through it was. My hands moved down, fingers trailing over my skin until they reached the slick wetness of my pussy. Dipping a finger inside, I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I pulled back and slowly rubbed the hot bundle of nerves that was pulsing with magik with each stroke.
I closed my eyes, letting my mind wander to a reality where I wasn’t alone, touching myself under the heat of a shower in an attempt to give my body what it needs. He was here, lips moving on mine, fingers dragging over my skin. We hadn’t said goodbye, he’d followed me into the room, mouth moving hungrily over mine as we explored each other.
I slid down the wall until I hit the floor, knees bent within the confines of the shower, and my fingers continuing their movements on my aching clit. Pleasure was building within me, and I bit down on my lip hard on the moan that was threatening to escape, though I doubted anyone would be able to hear me.
The Kaius of my mind had moved with me, his beautiful face leaving mine to dip between my legs, strong hands holding my thighs wide for him as he leaned forward to feast on me. My fingers circled furiously, chasing the tension that was coiling inside. The image changed without any nudge from me and instead of a cold tiled wall behind me, it was now a thick hard body I was pressed against. Huge, tanned hands reached from behind, cupping my breasts as another set of lips trailed blazing kisses on my neck.
I gasped at the phantom touch of another set of hands, feeling myself getting even slicker despite the way my body was already ablaze with arousal at the fantasies I was conjuring.
Higher and higher I built the pressure within myself with every move of my hand, all the while my magik flowed across my skin and the water poured over me. My heels pressed against the edge of the shower as my fingers moved rapidly, hips grinding into my hand as my orgasm pulsed through me in a burst of ecstasy that my magik mirrored as it sparked within.
My eyes flew open, taking in the empty space as I sucked in a ragged breath. My laughter echoed as I pressed a hand to my racing heart, the buzz of my magik happily settling inside me, easing the rawness that had assaulted me only moments ago. I let the water continue to fall over me as I repositioned my stiff legs and waited for my heart to even out.
Did I really just come on my own fingers while imagining Kaius between my legs?
Because that’s not going to make things awkward when I see him next.
I decided to put a pin in the extra body that had invaded my dirty thoughts as I wrapped myself in a towel and left the bathroom, eyes settling immediately on the new item. A small crystal vase had replaced the cup I’d used for the flowers Kaius had grown for me. I ran my fingers over the cool glass, a smile playing on my lips.
Clutching the towel tight around me, I turned to see if another set of clothes had been brought while I was out, but instead I found something else that was out of place.
For a moment I just stared at the card that was on the bedside table, able to read its image from where I stood, placed upright and staring right at me.
A card that was undeniably mine.
Five young men painted in rich vibrant colours all holding up sticks, faces contorted in anger. The Five of Wands.
Aggression, clashing egos, lack of cooperation.
Talk about state the fucking obvious.
I picked it up, knowing I would feel that hum of familiarity in my fingertips.. Apparently, I didn’t even need to draw them myself anymore, they had taken it upon themselves to seek me out.
With my post-orgasm high rapidly declining, I opened the top drawer under the TV and dropped it inside. It was no use to me now.
It fell next to The Tower, both of them mocking me with their shitty omens. I slammed the drawer shut; they only served as a painful reminder of home and how I was still so ridiculously lost in this world of magik I had found myself in. My fingers wrapped around the emerald pendant that was sat against my skin, a whisper of Kaius’ energy still resided, and I wondered if he would be back again tonight.
I found myself hoping he would be.