Chapter 47
FORTY-SEVEN
ALLERIA
I wake up to the most incredible feeling. For a moment, I can’t figure out what is happening. My mind is still foggy with sleep, and it takes my brain a moment to catch up with what my body is telling me.
There’s warmth between my thighs, a hand spread across my stomach, and a sensation that’s pulling me from the depths of dreams into—
His tongue moves, finding the spot that makes my back arch up, and I gasp awake. Cairn is between my thighs. The blankets have been pushed aside, leaving me naked in the pale morning light.
“Good morning.” His lips move against my skin.
I try to answer. What comes out is closer to a moan.
He laughs, low and dark, and runs his tongue over me again. Slower this time. Tracing patterns over me, circling the place I need him most without ever quite touching it. My fingers find his hair and grip, trying to guide him, but he resists.
“Patience.”
“I don’t—” My breath hitches as he gets close, so close, then pulls back. “I don’t have any patience. Please, Cairn.”
“Please what?”
I’d tell him exactly what if I could form words, but his tongue finally, finally, finds its target, and my thoughts scatter.
He builds me up with maddening precision, knowing what makes me gasp, what makes me writhe, and what makes my thighs tighten around his head.
Every time I get close, he eases back, leaving me to hover at the edge without falling over.
“You’re doing this on purpose!”
He presses a kiss to my inner thigh, his breath warm against my skin. “I like watching you fall apart.”
“Then let me!”
“Not yet.”
His mouth returns to me, and I stop trying to argue. There’s no point. He’s going to take his time, and I’m going to let him, because the frustration feels good when he’s the one causing it.
The pleasure builds again, slower now, deeper. His hands hold my hips in place when I try to move, controlling the rhythm, controlling everything, and I’m shaking by the time he decides I’ve had enough.
He doesn’t warn me. He just changes the rhythm, pressing harder and faster, and I shatter with a cry that echoes off the walls. The pleasure crashes through me in waves. He doesn’t stop until I’m pushing weakly at his shoulders, oversensitive and trembling.
He presses one last kiss to my thigh and crawls up my body, settling his weight over me. I can feel him hard against my hip. I can see the want in his eyes. But he doesn’t push into me. Instead, he looks at me, his hand coming up to brush the hair back from my face.
“You’re very loud.”
My face heats. “I am not.”
“Oh, but you are.” He’s smiling, a rare half-smile that transforms his face. “I considered gagging you, but I like hearing the sounds you make too much.”
I pinch his side before I really think about it, and he catches my hand, pressing a kiss to each of my fingers before letting it go.
Then he leans down and kisses me properly.
I taste myself on my lips, and the intimacy of it makes heat curl low in my stomach all over again.
I hook my leg around his hips, trying to pull him into me, wanting more.
“Insatiable,” he murmurs against my mouth.
“You started it.”
“I did.” He rolls his hips, pressing against me and making me gasp. “Should I finish it?”
My answer is to pull him closer, and he laughs … actually laughs … and the sound does strange things to me. I’ve heard him laugh before, but not like this. Not this soft and easy sound that curls around me.
He pulls back, and before I can protest, his hands are on my hips, flipping me onto my stomach. The move is so fast I barely register it before I’m face down on the mattress.
“Up.” His hand slides under my stomach and lifts me. “On your knees.”
I comply, my heart hammering. This position makes me feel exposed in a way I’ve never been before. Vulnerable and open. His hand strokes down my spine.
“You have no idea how good you look right now.”
The dark possessiveness in those words sends a shiver through me, and then he’s moving, pushing inside me with one long stroke. The angle is different like this—deeper and more intense—and I grip the sheets and moan into the pillow as he seats himself all the way inside.
He holds there for a moment, hands tight on my hips, breathing already unsteady, then he starts to move.
Slow at first. Long, deliberate strokes that drag against every sensitive place inside me.
Places I didn’t know existed. I push back against him, trying to urge him to move faster, but he sets the pace, fingers digging into my hips, holding me exactly where he wants me.
“Cairn!”
“Shh.” One hand leaves my hip to press against my shoulder blades, pushing me down into the mattress, and changing the angle of my back. “I’m busy.”
I laugh, and the sound turns into a gasp as he snaps his hips forward, harder than before. The new angle makes me see stars. My fingers twist in the sheets, and sounds spill from my mouth that a part of my brain acknowledges that he’d be right to gag me for.
“So eager.” His voice is rough, strained.
“Shut up!”
“Make me.”
I can’t make him do anything, and we both know it. He’s in complete control—of the pace, the angle, the depth. All I can do is take what he gives me and beg for more.
Gods, do I beg.
His hand slides around my hip, and down between my legs, finding the place where I need him most, and I cry out. He works me with his fingers as he thrusts, building the pressure from two directions at once. The pleasure coils tighter and tighter—
Bells ring out.
For a second, I think it’s in my head, then more bells join the others. Cairn stills.
“No.” The word comes out broken. “No, no, no.”
But Cairn is already pulling out of me, on his feet and reaching for his pants. The transformation is instant. One moment he was inside me, all warm and rough, and the next he’s all hard edges and coiled tension, every line of his body alert.
He’s half-way to the door when someone pounds on it. “Humans approaching. Stay inside. Stay hidden.” Kaelith’s voice. “I’ll explain once they leave. Do not come out. The top floor is warded. As long as no mages are with them, you’ll be undetected.”
I want to scream. My body is still throbbing with denied release, my hands shaking as I roll to my feet and grab for my clothes. I pull them on, trying to force my mind to focus on what is going on rather than what we were just doing.
Cairn moves to the window, pulling the curtain aside an inch.
His face gives nothing away, but I can see the tension in his shoulders, the stillness that means danger, and it’s strange to me how, not that long ago, that stance would ignite terror.
Now it makes me feel safe. Secure that whatever is happening, he will deal with it.
I cross to stand beside him, still breathing hard, and peek through the gap. Below, the village is silent. Shutters on cottages have been pulled closed. There are no fae in sight, just humans going about their daily business.
“There are riders coming from the west.” Cairn’s voice is flat. “A dozen at least.”
He herds me back from the window before I see them, but I can hear them. The clatter of hooves, men’s voices.
Who are they? What if it’s my father’s men, searching for me?
My heart stutters.
A month ago, I’d have been banging on the window, fighting to escape Cairn.
Now I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, tense and worried, hoping they don’t find us, when moments ago the same fae warrior who kept me captive was making me moan.
When did everything change so completely?
“They’re coming inside,” Cairn says, voice low.
My stomach drops. “What do we do?”
“We do what Kaelith said. Stay here. Stay silent. And wait.”
I nod, even though he’s not looking at me, while my heart tries to beat its way out of my chest.
Cairn doesn’t move from the window. I can feel the tension radiating off him. Less than ten minutes ago, he was inside me. Now he looks like a different person entirely. He’s ready to move, to fight, to kill if necessary.
“You stayed all night.” I don’t know why I say it now, in the middle of this. Maybe because the silence is unbearable and I need to remind myself that the terrifying fae at the window is the same one who woke me with his mouth between my thighs.
His eyes flick to me. “Yes.” One corner of his mouth curls. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
My blush gives him the answer to that, and he laughs softly. “You slept wrapped around me so tightly, I couldn’t have left even if I wanted to.”
“Did you want to?”
His gaze slides to me again. “Did waking up with my tongue inside you give you the impression I was unhappy with staying?”
My face burns brighter. There’s nothing I can say in response to that. No words I can utter. He returns his attention to the window, and silence falls. I daren’t move from the bed in case someone below hears me walking around and wants to investigate.
Who are the humans? They could be soldiers who serve my father. Men I might have passed in the palace. What are they doing? Have they any idea of how much danger they’re in right now?
“You won’t kill them.” I don’t phrase it as a question.
“Not unless I have to.”
“They’re just doing their jobs. Following orders.”
“So were the guards at the Dell. Following orders doesn’t make someone innocent, Alleria. It just means money is more important than their conscience.”
I want to argue, but I can’t. He’s right.
An hour passes, maybe longer. Eventually, a door slams below, followed by men calling to each other, and the jingle of horse tack as they mount their rides.
“They’re gone.” Cairn turns from the window.
The tension drains out of me so fast, I sag.
“Where are you going?”
He’s already by the door.
“To meet with the others.” He pauses, one hand on the latch. “We need to find out who they are and what they’re doing. We may need to pursue them.”
“You mean kill them.”
He meets my eyes. “I’m not going to slaughter them without reason. But I need to know what the risk is from them being here.”
And then he’s gone.
I pace the room, too restless to sit. Adrenaline is still coursing through me, and my body hasn’t forgotten what we were doing when the bells rang out. There’s still an ache between my thighs, and a frustrated heat that won’t fade.
I splash water on my face from the basin, comb my tangled hair, and try to make myself look like I haven’t spent all night and early morning being ravaged by a fae warrior.
The marks on my throat make that difficult.
Bruises and bite marks that show exactly what I’ve been doing.
I touch them gently, thinking about his mouth, his hands, and the way he laughed.
I want to hear him laugh like that again.
I need to find something to do. I can’t stay cooped up in my room all morning. Maybe I should go down to the common room and find something for breakfast.
I’m lacing up my boots when there’s a knock on my door.
“Yes?”
“It’s me.”
I don’t expect it to be Nella, and hurry across to open the door. She’s standing in the hallway, hands clasped at her waist.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. But … I spent the night thinking, and I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I haven’t been myself since coming here. It’s been … hard.” Her fingers twist together. “Seeing you with these … people. It was a shock, especially after what happened back at … Well, you know?”
I catch her hands in mine, relief at hearing her words making my legs weak. “No. I’m the one who should be sorry. Things have changed so much since I left the camp, and I shouldn’t have expected you to accept it so quickly.”
“Sharla said it’s safe to leave the inn now, and I was wondering …” She hesitates. “We haven’t really spent any time together properly. I thought that maybe, if you’d like that is, we could take a walk? Just you and me.”
Hope fills me. Maybe this is a turning point. I can explain everything to her, and she’ll come to understand why my beliefs have changed.
“Of course!” I link my arm through hers, and we walk downstairs together. A few people glance up as we pass but no one stops us.
Outside, the village is coming back to life. We wander through the streets, and before I know it we’re at the edge of the village, near the clearing where I train.
“It’s so peaceful here.” Nella stops, and turns to me. “It took me a while to understand what happened to you.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“And then I realized, it wasn’t you. It was them. They took you, and they changed you, and you don’t even see it.”
“What? No. Nella—”
“You defend them. You eat with them. You let them train you to fight. You’re a princess, not a savage warrior! You’re not yourself anymore.”
“I’m still me.” I reach for her hand, but she pulls away. “I’ve learned things, seen things—”
“No.” She shakes her head, tears welling in her eyes. “You’re not. But it’s all right. I know how to fix it.”
Fix it?
“What do you mean? There’s nothing to fix.”
“Yes. There is.” The certainty in her voice turns my blood cold.
“Nella.” My voice comes out thin. “What did you do?”
Her eyes shift past me, staring at something over my shoulder. I turn, slowly.
Brennan steps out of the shadows between the trees. For a second, joy at seeing him rushes through me, followed by terror. If he’s here, then—
“Nella.” Her name is a whisper now. “Please tell me you didn’t—”
“I’m sorry.” She’s crying now, tears streaming down her face. “I’m so sorry. But this is for your own good. You’ll see.”
Movement to my left catches my eye, and I spin just as Vel appears, moving fast and silent toward us. She must have followed us. Must have seen us leave the inn.
I open my mouth to scream. To warn her. But a hand clamps over my mouth before any sound escapes. Brennan’s arm wraps around my waist, lifting me off my feet, and hauling me backward. I thrash against his grip, biting at his palm, kicking at his shins, but he’s too strong.
And then an arrow whizzes past my face. And the last thing I see is Vel, with an iron-tipped arrow jutting from her shoulder. Her face is twisted with rage and pain. Then pain explodes through my head, and everything turns black.