Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
Titus
Asilent woman is a plotting one. When Selene plots, I worry.
We returned to her rooms. She ordered lunch but didn’t eat. She now stands on her balcony, observing the land. She’s a caged bird. Instead of the owner clipping her wings, he left them. It’s savagery.
She knows she can fly, but her situation prevents her.
My offer to free her still stands. It’s reckless. It could kill us both. It would set me back on my journey to find the Vitalis.
Seeing her suffer, trapped in a kingdom of vampires who whisper vehemently about how they detest her kind, married to a king who regards her as a trinket in his vaults. What kind of man would I be to allow this to stand?
Dishonorable. Unworthy.
Air slips between my fingers as I flex them. She’d look so magnificent if she could fly away.
Imagine if you could fly with her?
I swallow hard. Stop dreaming before reality kills you. I look away, knowing I’m left with the task of clipping Selene's wings, forcing her to stay and help me.
I roll back on my heels, too timid to approach her. The firmness of the stone floor pushes against my long-worn soles.
How in the world am I going to survive? I claw at the back of my neck. My flesh feels slathered with mud. There’s no relief from the hardening layers, no way to sweat it off and cool down. It’s a shell that’s suffocating me. If I don’t figure out how to flake off the layers, I’m fucked.
My palms itch; a dizzying chill slithers up my spine. Ugh! My body jerks as the time-weaving takes hold of me. I look at Selene. She’s unmoving on the balcony, trapped on the other side.
Great, now I’m a voyeur.
Now’s a good time to test the time magic. My approach is stagnant, achingly slow. I sense the size of the bubble wrapped around me, but when I stand next to Selene, it’s as if the walls ignore her.
Selene said Everett looked at people to pull them in. That’s what Everett did on the battlefield, and I did the same with the arrow. What if I touched them? My fingertips tremble, not from the magic. I’m restless to touch her, to feel her skin under my fingertips.
My attraction to her is immoral. I have to stop these thoughts.
How do you stop heat from warming your skin? If you add more layers, you only grow hotter. If you remove layers, the fever spreads faster.
These thoughts are something else. A new beast awakens deep inside my mind.
Magic, so rare and cherished, I dare not name it until I know for sure.
Quickly, I tap her shoulder. Her body recoils; she gasps as she stumbles back into me. I catch her in my arms. She’s a mixture of soft and hard flesh. My hands cling to her, to this unfamiliar sensation that’s foreign.
I’m used to grasping fallen bodies, rough steel swords, warm, wet blood.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
Rather than letting go, I hold her closer. My muscles contract into iron, never wanting to release her. My magic pulses beneath my skin. It’s like dipping a toe into warm, inviting water. The urge to dive in and relax is overwhelming. Dizzying. Precariously blurring the facts of my reality.
Selene isn’t just any woman; she’s a fae and my queen. Wife of Galen, my king.
Regardless, my magic wants to come out to mark her as mine. To steal her away, never to let Galen touch her again.
Step away!
I do as my mind orders me.
“You’re time-weaving,” she breathes.
I nod.
“What were you thinking before it started?”
“I was scared.”
“The great General Titus scared of what?” Her tone’s mocking. It’s her defense.
“You know of what?” I bark. “Don’t make me your enemy again.”
Her eyes roam over my hold of her. “You’re right.” Her chest falls as she steps free, keeping her eyes downcast. “I didn’t mean to attack you. It’s going to take me time to adjust. I went from seeking your death to keeping you alive. Two sides of the coin. I keep forgetting to stop flipping it.”
Her final words are a hushed whisper, water poured onto ice, cracking the frozen surface and letting the truth seep into her hardened heart.
I tug at the collar of my armor. “Adjustments don’t have to be fast. Some take time, like reforging iron to recast it. Eventually, we’ll fit.”
Our eyes lock for dangerously long. It’s like the sun shining directly in your eyes; you think you’re strong enough to endure it, so you keep staring. We don’t see the red flags. All we see is blinding white.
Light is a trick. It gives the illusion of gravity, causing you to walk towards it. But remember the trick: we have no idea what’s hiding within its rays. It could be a beast or a savior.
Oh, how I want to let my heels dig in and my toes spring forward. I’m not afraid of monsters. I’m terrified of the other option—because saviors don’t just save. They create bonds. Unbreakable ones, wrapped in love and devotion.
Saviors are weavers. Every emotion is a thread they use to craft a garment they cloak you in, one that makes you feel safe, seen, and loved.
There is something else happening here. I part my lips, ready to ask Selene, but she looks over my shoulder at the door. It’s cracked open in case my guard needs to come to my rescue, but from where we are standing, he can’t see us.
“Can you maintain the time-weaving for a few more minutes?”
“I can try.”
She bites her lip and nods. “There are two pressing things we need to do, Titus.”
Her tone holds the severity of a commander ordering a soldier to go to the front lines. Unforgiving. She avoids my eyes because she knows sending me to the front—ignoring whatever the heck is happening between us—might kill us both.
Step back. Take another step, you idiot.
I need to get laid. It’s been too long.
That explains the source of this built-up sexual energy. Selene’s beauty overwhelms me.
“Only two?” I counter. “I think you need to retake math. I can count a dozen issues we discussed this morning.”
Yes! Score! There’s that timid smirk she’s scared to show in fear someone will carve it off.
“For now, yes.” She crosses her arms. “One, we need to train your time-weaving magic. It can’t wait; the mystery surrounding the runes and the Vitalis can. No one can find out you possess fae magic, Titus; that is a death I can not save you from.”
“I agree.”
“We need to figure out how the magic works. Does it respond like vampire magic or fae? Does it feed on blood, similar to your fire magic, or require rest to charge?”
“It’s blood-based. When I deprive myself of blood, the time-weaving doesn’t work.”
“Can you go without blood?”
“Yes,” I answer. Not every vampire can. “But not being attached to my fire magic within the castle makes me vulnerable. So, I’ve been having a small sip of my morning rations. It’s enough to give me a minute of fire magic if I need it. Unfortunately, the time-weaving feeds off it, too.”
“It was wise to allow yourself a little. Reflexes and a sword won’t save you in this castle. Sometimes, nothing will.”
Her chin tips up as she looks around her room. Old memories dance sadly in her eyes.
“I am sorry about Everett.”
“Please,” Her exhale sounds like it’s being forced through the crack of a door. Painful and desperate to escape the room. “Stop saying that. What’s done is done. This is what Everett wanted. We must play our parts.”
I don’t like that. Playing a part means I have no choice; the role has already been written. “Don’t you mean figure it out?” I retort warily.
“No, Everett did figure it out. You and I just need to resume our roles.” She reaches back and twists her hair into a low bun. She looks more like a warrior preparing for battle than a queen in royal silk.
“I’m not a toy to be picked up and played with, Selene. I had a life. I want it back.”
“You also mention you have a new duty to these runes and Everett’s magic.
” Her brow arches into the curve of a mountain that’s withstood lightning strikes and torrential hail.
“Like you said, adjustments take time. Adjust, Titus. You are a toy, one I will pick up and play with, one I will tuck away in a toy box to keep safe if I have to. Everett saw the future. He needed you and me to come together. The actions we take are not our choices; they’re reactions Everett calculated, and took the burden of bearing. ”
Our breaths mingle in the silent air, two opposing forces that eventually succumb to one another. I slightly dip my chin. “You’re right. But I have things to lose, Selene. Things I need to keep safe.”
“Maybe the runes provide this safety net. But until we cast the line, we must read the waters. You need to train, and I need to dig into the past. Keep drinking a small ration of blood; we will work slowly; you’ll learn the signs of the time-weaving.
You are the master, not it. Once you get adjusted, we will increase your blood intake.
This is good; we can control it.” She speaks the latter more to herself.
I like the idea. It’s smart and cautious, which means Selene does want to keep me safe.
“What’s the second issue?” I ask, but the bubble around us ripples.
Her eyes peer up, giving me a perfect view of her long, smooth neck. My eyes hone in on her pulse point. My mouth waters, and my head starts to dip closer with an uncontrollable need to bite her.
“Your guard,” she replies, but her voice grows distant.
Thump! Beat! Thump!
What does she taste like?
“Titus! Are you listening? We need to plan this before your time-waving stops and your guard can hear.”
Stop looking at her neck! Stop! But it’s so lovely and long…
Hold your breath, stop smelling her.
I blink. It takes Selene stepping back in order for me to peel my eyes off her neck.
I rub my eyes. What the fuck was that? I never have the urge to get drunk on blood. The side effects of bloodlust are a perilous path. As a teen, Sergeant Vivienne swiftly corrected us, ensuring we’d be soldiers who drank blood only to power magic, not to get drunk.
“My guard?” I repeat as I roll my tongue. I fail to swallow. I’m so thirsty now.
“Yes, we need to get rid of him.”
“You want to kill him?” I’m not okay with that.
“No. I mean, that would be lovely, but I was suggesting we replace him. Of course, this will have to come from you, so Galen is not suspicious. When your shift is over, seek an audience with Galen; tell him you wish to have a man with whom you can communicate through a mere glance. This way, I am left in the dark. Galen will like that.”
“Who is this man?”
Pop!
The time weaving vanishes. Internally, I pull for my fire magic, but nothing comes. Losing a sense is disorienting. I’m tapped out until I get more blood.
Selene can see my thoughts, so she steps closer and pushes up on her toes. I almost groan when her chest pushes into mine, but all my desires stop when she speaks. “Your brother.”