Chapter 39 #4
I eased back a little so that I could study Hendrix while he slept… or perhaps I should have been calling him Bane now? I had to admit the moniker suited him better somehow. It was darker, harsher, truer. I found I rather liked the taste of it on my tongue.
He was achingly handsome to look upon. I’d known it from the moment he’d first removed his mask and revealed his features to me but it was freeing to admit it so openly to myself while studying his strong features.
There was certainly no point denying it while the ache of his cock claiming me still lingered between my thighs along with the seed he’d spilled inside me while gasping my name in frantic pleasure.
The outcast mark by his left eye was beautiful too, though I knew he hated it.
But it spoke of a time which mattered greatly in his life, a change which had taken place and marked him on the inside profoundly, so I found it right that it had made its mark on the outside too.
I supposed it was like my spirit marks in that way.
I carefully pushed myself upright and Bane opened his eyes as if he’d never been sleeping at all.
Had he felt my gaze lingering on his features? Had he been able to trace the pattern my thoughts were turning in?
I didn’t know. And that was terrifying in itself. I’d heard countless rumours of the terrible magic the Necromancer possessed and I was too afraid of the answers to ask him the truth of them.
Perhaps he could read my thoughts the moment they sprung into my mind.
Or knew my fears more intimately than I understood them myself.
Maybe he’d been conversing with the dead about me, finding out my secrets from those I’d loved and lost. Though thankfully I hadn’t been touched by death itself all too often in my lifetime.
At least it hadn’t taken anyone from me who knew me well enough to be able to divulge anything of use to him.
I reached out to brush my fingers along the lines of the tattoo on his face and his brow pinched, though he allowed me to do so.
“Good morning,” I said, colour staining my cheeks and the edge of his mouth hooked into a smirk.
“That is the truest thing I think you’ve ever said to me,” he agreed, lifting his hand to caress the curve of my bare ass, a trail of heat following the path of his fingers.
I swallowed thickly. It was sorely tempting to take another taste of his flesh, to feel the power of his body owning mine once more… But if last night was anything to go by then doing so would be anything but swift and we were already more than short on time as it was.
“We should probably not follow that line of thought,” I said, disappointment colouring my tone.
“What thought was that exactly?” Bane asked, his hand trailing over my shoulder and skimming down my chest towards my peaked nipple.
He was already hard beneath me, his cock digging into my stomach, the temptation so very difficult to resist.
“Last night,” I said in a rush as I followed those thoughts through to their obvious conclusion and realised something which should have occurred to me sooner.
“Yes? I remember it well,” he teased and I knew he was going to make me say it. Every fucking bit of it.
“You… climaxed inside of me,” I said, my cheeks now scarlet though truthfully that was the least of all the things he had done to my body.
“I remember that part particularly well,” he agreed and I gasped as his other hand shifted between us, his fingers brushing over my clit in an offering I was all too close to taking him up on, but I needed to finish what I was asking him.
“Well, usually, I would take a tea after such… exertions… you know… in case of…”
I arched my brows at him and he smirked wider still, clearly planning on making me speak every part of it. I might have punched him but he chose that moment to push two fingers inside of me and I cursed instead, clutching his chest in surprise.
“Bane,” I gasped and he truly smiled then.
“Say that again. That’s fast becoming my new favourite sound on your lips, lightwing, especially when you say it with such wanton pleading.”
I tried to go on but he rolled us over, flipping me onto my back and sinking his fingers deeper inside me, his thumb taking command of my clit.
I forgot my trail of thought as he explored me with his hand, rubbing and flicking and pumping his fingers until I panted his name in an exhale of pleasure and he stole the taste of it from my lips with a hard kiss.
“Don’t worry, pretty lightwing,” he breathed into my ear as I lay there panting beneath him.
“My kind don’t reproduce easily and never with humans.
It can’t happen. So you can enjoy the pleasures of my cock as often as you want it without having to fear ending up with a babe inside your womb for the trouble. ”
His words filled me with relief because truly I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the fact that I wouldn’t find the necessary ingredients for the tea I required in these trees. And I knew I wasn’t going to be much good at resisting the temptation of his body regardless of that concern.
Bane gave me a lingering look as I lay there beneath him, clearly seeing that I was no longer capable of denying him anything and instead forcing himself to move back with an irritable sigh.
“I would love nothing more than to spend the day buried to the hilt inside of you, lightwing, but I fear we need to focus our efforts on other exertions as you call them – at least until night falls again and we find ourselves trapped in the dark once more.”
I nodded, seeing the sense to his words even though my body was very much in favour of ignoring it. But he was right. I needed to focus on finishing my task here.
Bane called the Bear from its amulet, commanding the sprit to provide us with water so that we could bathe and refresh ourselves.
I was glad of how cold it was as I faced the wall to clean my body though the marks on my skin didn’t fade regardless.
I dressed quickly and was glad to find Bane had done so too, making it easier for me to concentrate on what we needed to do next.
Bane’s eyes tracked my movements as I took hold of my pack and drew it closer, the corner of his lips quirking as I tugged my Fae book free of its place.
“Always seeking answers from crusty old pages,” he commented.
“Not answers,” I retorted. “But I will forever research the chaos before me in hopes of it making more sense when I’m faced with it.”
“And what particular brand of chaos are you researching on this fine morning, lightwing?” he purred, his tone of voice making me swallow impulsively.
“The Great Elm,” I said, trying not to show the moment of disquiet though he already knew how keenly he affected me.
I opened the page at the very back of the book, the final chapter in this tome on the cursed forest.
“The Great Elm is said to be in mourning,” I read, my gaze devouring the words, my fingers caressing the beautifully inked pages. “For the curse stole the minds of her children and along with it, their love.”
“I heard she was the one who spun the curse in the first place,” Hendrix interrupted.
“Why would she do that?” I asked, frowning at him over the top of my book.
“Why do any of the spirits do any damn thing? Why did Death choose to mark me as her servant instead of taking me into her grasp? Why has Providence allowed the Fae crown to go without placement for hundreds of years? Why do they sing in the sky or dance in the rain? Why choose some for blessings and others for curses? They are and always have been without any true purpose that I can define. They seem not to care for what is good or right or just or fair, neither do they revel in what is cruel or vicious, hurtful or callous. They just are – and trying to understand their purpose is a fool’s errand which I refuse to be drawn into. ”
“Fine.” I snapped my book closed and stood.
“You want to deal in facts? Then here are some which I have spent the night thinking on. We have taken ownership of six of the thirteen spirits between the two of us and I think it highly doubtful that any other Champion will have managed to claim so many which means we are the most likely candidates to qualify for the boon. I have hunted the haunts of both the Phoenix and the Stag – which you were present for – to no avail and so believe they have been won by others. We know that the Tiger and the Rat were taken by your Fae friend-”
“Do not even jest about me and that male having any form of kinship,” Bane growled, the sound making the hairs along the back of my neck raise in warning.
I squared my shoulders as if priming for a fight but forced a long exhale instead.
“Fine. I didn’t mean to suggest you held any care for him and I know that your confrontation with him will be unpleasant but it also cannot be avoided any longer.
We have four days left before the curse consumes us and we are lost to this place.
It’s time we head for the Great Elm and hope that all of the other spirits are on their way there too.
If we find any to be missing then perhaps I will be able to hunt them out with the aid of the Dragon before our time lapses entirely. ”
A low grumble in the back of my head made it clear the Dragon was not on board with that plan and I fought a cringe.
I didn’t want Bane to know that I was currently unable to call on any of my spirits for help thanks to my mistake in enraging the Dragon and I only hoped that I would be able to convince it to work with me again before we made it to the labyrinth and whatever challenges awaited us there.
I frowned as I thought on the boon. Clearly Bane needed it as desperately as I did but my understanding of the forest’s favour was that only one Champion could earn it.
And as much as my heart hurt to think of all he and his family had suffered, he had gotten them back.
Rissa hadn’t even had her chance at a real life.
She’d been a child when she’d been taken and no matter what I felt towards Bane, I wasn’t going to change my mind on what I’d come here to do. Nothing was as important to me as that.
“Can we agree to work together at least until it becomes clear that only one of us is able to proceed?” Bane asked, seeming to read the way my thoughts had wandered and clearly not wanting to broach the issue of which one of us would win the boon in the end.
Neither of us could kill the other for our amulets but we could offer them up willingly.
I would sooner die than do so and forgo my sister’s freedom however, so there was no point in me getting into that discussion with him.
No doubt he felt the same way about offering me the amulets he had won – even if they should have been mine in all fairness.
I felt that same bitterness rising in me again but I stamped it down. It would do me no good now anyway.
No, both of us would have to hope that we could convince whichever other Champions made it to the labyrinth to offer up their amulets to us.
If I got lucky then there might be some humans still alive who had managed to find one or two of them.
They would certainly favour giving them up to a human over a Fae.
And the one Fae who I knew to be headed to the Great Elm held as much hatred in his heart for Bane as the Necromancer did for him.
So I doubted he would give up his prizes despite them sharing heritage.
And then there was Rissa.
Rissa who had the Serpent working with her. Rissa who had promised to meet me at the heart of the forest when the time came.
So I was fairly confident I had four amulets to my name already. Surely the boon would be mine.
My heart pattered wildly in my chest as I allowed myself to believe in that for the first time.
I was a creature who thrived on facts and figures, on research and reasoning. And whatever way I looked at this, through some madness or miracle, it seemed like I really could be the one to claim the prize of the forest and if so, then I would finally be able to bring my sister home.
Bane met my eyes as I shouldered my pack, his gaze dark with plots and schemes of his own which made my hopeful confidence twist and sour in my gut. He didn’t look fearful or even defeated.
No, Bane Crownthief appeared to be nothing short of eager to head to the heart of the forest and face the final challenges that awaited us there.
And that alone was enough to stoke a torrent of doubt in my soul.