Chapter 18
Rory
I drifted on a pool of knowledge, none of which much interested me.
The magic had hurt me all over again, same as back at the Stone, but worse.
What the presence had said about some things being able to hurt me beyond my capacity to heal was a scary thought—yet another reason to stay away from magic—but this wasn’t that.
Most of all, I was annoyed. I wasn’t really able to be in the moment and follow what was going on around me like before. Not that I regretted any of what I’d done. I’d do the same thing again in a heartbeat.
The only thing—the only person—I was constantly aware of was Inkiri. I kept thinking that I had a much clearer awareness of him when everything else around me was dull and unclear. I knew how he worried for me, how he was close to me, how he barely slept and ate. I knew how this hurt him.
I wanted to tell him everything was fine. I knew I was just healing from the magic, and it sucked, but it had been worth it, so there was no need for him to worry.
At some point, I sensed that something was happening around me, something like a window being opened in a stuffy attic to let in fresh air. I started to heal faster, and I was in Inkiri’s arms. Two bonus points in the awesome column, which hadn’t been looking too great since the Koa Esher attack.
With the boost from my accelerated healing, I tried to convey to Inkiri that he didn’t need to worry.
I succeeded in curling my hand against his chest; not much as messages went, but he noticed.
I could tell it made him happy and strengthened his conviction that he’d made the right choice.
I wondered what that choice had been and looked around on the surface of that pool of knowledge still surrounding me.
It was hard to find what I was looking for, but eventually, I found it.
Inkiri’s choice had been to go back to Earth instead of staying on Aer.
We were, once more, back where all that mess had started, back where the stupid magic Stone that had caused all this still stood.
I wasn’t super happy about it, but I wasn’t going to complain either, not when Inkiri’s mood was finally changing for the better.
Some commotion followed. I slipped out of that situation, but I heard the voices. An argument? A heated discussion?
Whatever the case, we moved again, and this time I realized we were passing through the veils, except instead of going back to Aer, we were moving on Earth, and when we got to our destination, I knew it was Ireland.
For some reason, that was even better. I drifted into a deep, healing sleep. The knowledge, which was nice but also unnecessary, went away bit by bit, like draining a pond, only remnants of it clinging like a cold morning’s rime on blades of grass.
Finally, the world at large was back where I could truly see and feel it around me. And I could move again, although I knew I was weak and would need more rest.
I opened my eyes. It was pitch dark, and rain was falling. The air was cold, but I was wrapped in a warm, blue bagu. The sound of the rain was weird. Close. Too close. And we weren’t in a bed.
I groaned when I realized what this was.
“Did you take me camping? Are we seriously outside in a tent?” My voice was gravelly, and speaking was hard work.
Inkiri jerked up, clicking. “Sadir! Did you really just speak?”
“Tried to. Got water?” I’d have preferred hot tea with lemon and honey, but he’d taken me camping. I didn’t think there was any luxury to be had here.
It was perfectly dark in this tent, but Inkiri moved and helped me up, then placed a bottle or canteen against my lips.
The water was sweet and perfect, and I drank greedily.
“You took me camping,” I said when the rain picked up, the staccato beat against the tent increasing in volume. I saw some light through the fabric, felt the cold of nature in the tent.
Inkiri clicked, and I only just saw him nod in the faint light. “Vergis’s father had the idea. The farm is just a stone’s throw away, however. You want to go inside?”
“The farm? We’re back in Ireland, right?”
Fingers caressed my face as if I were a piece of art. Glass art. The kind that needed to be handled carefully. “How do you know this is Ireland, Sadir?”
I shrugged. “I just do. It feels like Ireland. So what farm are we talking about?”
“Donna’s farm.” Inkiri moved around in the dark. “Should we go inside?”
Inside sounded leagues better than spending another minute out here, and I opened my mouth to say so.
But then Inkiri brushed a thumb along the side of my neck, and I realized that I was in a tent outside with my boyfriend—no, my husband.
It occurred to me that we could go inside after just a little more quality time.
I wasn’t sure if feeling horny was advisable after having been out of it, but just thinking about my mate touching me set my insides on fire.
My body craved Inkiri. I craved him, craved having him all over me without him being worried.
“I need you first,” I blurted out.
“You need me?”
I nodded. “Also, it’s nighttime.” The fog lingering in my head lifted somewhat. “Wait, is Nokim okay? Vergis! Fudge. Is Vergis safe?”
Inkiri clicked. “Nokim is healed without a scar, and Vergis is safe. Why did you think he wouldn’t be, Sadir?”
The memory of that knowledge flooded right back, the images of what could have happened to Vergis, what the Koa Esher would have done to him. “They were going to take him.” I swallowed. “Hurt him. Is there any more water, by any chance?”
“Hold on.” Inkiri fumbled around, and soon I found another bottle pressed to my mouth. This time, I remembered that I could raise my hand and even hold the bottle myself. What a revelation.
“Better?”
“Yes, much. Thanks.”
“Hmm. Tell me how you feel, Sadir?” He ran his hands over my body, not in the way I wanted, just checking I was all there and real, not some sort of cruel dream.
“Horny.”
“Do you know you were unconscious for close to three days?” Inkiri didn’t sound mad as such.
It was more like he was saying, do you know you worried me sick, and while it’s nice that you’re horny, I was, as I mentioned, worried sick, and how dare you be horny?
He sounded a tiny bit judgmental, to be frank.
Well, maybe I deserved that. I was on my back, but I turned until my face rested against his chest. “Didn’t know that.
Didn’t keep time.” I nuzzled his chest, frustrated by all the clothes.
“I had to heal from the magic, just like last time. Sorry. I wanted to let you know you shouldn’t be that worried, but I couldn’t do anything. ”
“Sadir.” Inkiri’s arms closed around me.
The rain picked up, and there was yet another of those movie moments. I pushed myself up on my elbows, but that was too much for my exhausted body to handle, and my muscles trembled right away. I collapsed on Inkiri’s chest.
“What do you want, Sadir?” he asked, so tenderly.
“I want you. Just, uhm…I won’t be an active participant, but I need you.
Feel you. Inside.” It didn’t make sense for someone who’d just woken up from being out for that long, but the desire for Inkiri was so intense that my skin heated up and my blood rushed south right away.
It was as if I’d been made to wait for this, like the season’s first snow or the first buds of spring, and now I couldn’t wait to have it.
His clicks went down an octave. “You’re a dream. I fell asleep holding you, and now I’m dreaming you are healed and awake and demanding my cock.”
I punched his pec, and he growled, but didn’t even flinch. “That feel like a dream to you?”
His careful fingers came to rest against the inside of my wrist. “I’m not sure.”
My boner needed immediate attention. At the very back of my brain, I knew this lust was…
not usual, and that it probably had to do with whatever magic I had done, but I didn’t give a fuck.
I wanted to get fucked by my monster husband.
I wanted to tell my mate to ravish me and make me cry out loud, but that would be a bit too smutty.
Gran’s ghost might haunt me if I ever said anything like that.
I moved my hand down to his crotch and let my forehead rest against the pillow or sleeping bag we were on. Holding it up was too much work.
“Put this in me.” I squeezed. It was a relief to know he was also pretty ready for this.
I might’ve felt bad if that hadn’t been the case.
I might have felt worse if he’d started seeing me as some sort of invalid, which, come to think of it, was just another reason never to do magic or anything to do with magic again.
Magic was bad for my health. I was going to abstain from here on out.
“Sadir.” Inkiri’s voice sounded strained.
He rolled us both, and I felt much better about lying on my back. He was above me, hardly putting any of his weight on me. I felt his warmth though, the heat of his body, his breath against my lashes.
Inkiri’s mouth descended on my throat and neck, licking, tasting, cherishing. He ended with a human kiss, his rough tongue exploring where I could only meet it with lacking finesse.
I fumbled first with his pants and then with my own. I was still wearing bagu clothing, so I got one knot open on my own pants, but that was all I could do. I was still sluggish and clumsy.
“Rory.” Inkiri spoke close to my ear over the sound of the rain. “Are you very sure you want this? Now?”
“Mmm, yes.” I turned my head so I could rub my cheek against his.
I’d never had much in terms of beard growth, but someone had shaved me.
“Listen, I’m not the kind of guy who goes camping.
Outside. In a tent. And you, sir, took me camping.
Outside. In a tent. You need to work for me to forgive you for that, and I think you can start by giving me your barb.
” I turned and kissed his cheek. “Seriously, a tent?”
“There is a reason. I’ll tell you later.”