Chapter Twenty-One
“ W hat do you mean you were dead for three days? How the hell is that even possible?”
I’m really trying to hold my shit together while Forsythia tells me what happened the day I was captured. Okay, maybe not trying too hard since I keep stopping her every few sentences to yell, but come on.
I knew a lot about that day that I had missed out on, and I felt the severed connection, but when I saw her alive, I assumed that was the magick dampening or some other nasty trick. But now I learn that she actually did die and I want to strangle her.
“And where the fuck were you?” I ask Lucian, barely keeping myself from snarling at the guy.
He glares at me, but his shoulders sag a little, and I know that he feels guilty about what happened.
Good.
Our mate died . I want him to feel just as guilty as–
As guilty as I do, I realize.
I let out a huff of breath and look back at Sythia. Her arms are crossed at her chest, and she is barely holding back on her irritation.
“I’m sorry,” I say to her and inject as much sincerity into my words as possible.
She relaxes and drops her hand to my shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.
“I won’t apologize for what happened, Blake. I would save Cordelia a million times over. Even if–well, even if it meant forfeiting my life completely. Besides, it gave me that chance to speak to my mother, and that alone was a gift in itself. And I learned a little more about the full scope of my capabilities.“ She finishes, and I see the look of pain that washes across Orobas’s face.
He speaks up almost immediately at the mention of his lost love. “She is at peace now,” he says so quietly I almost don’t hear him.
“I wish I could tell you that she spoke fondly of your time together, but that would be a lie.”
She seems to watch him, waiting for a reaction, but he gives none. “ I’m not sure what happened, but Mother refused to speak of you at all. Some nights I would hear her cry herself to sleep. She never had a lover that I ever knew of.”
Again, he gives no reactions. “ I think that she loved you deeply, and whatever happened to cause the two of you to separate hurt her just as deeply.” This time Orobas nods sadly at Sythia’s words, but she is clearly not done with him yet.
“Ori refused to speak about you as well, but he always seemed afraid. Now I know that he had a good reason.” At her words, Orobas’s face takes on a confused expression.
“Sorry, Ori was my raven familiar. You may have known him better as Morfran.” The second the words leave her lips, Orobas’s face takes on a sickened hue. That doesn’t stop him from jumping in to offer an explanation.
“It was all a misunderstanding. I didn’t know that at the time, but I do now. I do now...” He trails off for a moment before continuing on.
“I loved your mother, and someone in my faction discovered that. She was maddeningly jealous and spread rumors with your mother’s people that I was courting a demon mate.” He seems truly disgusted by the thought of mating one of his own kind. How curious.
“She also planted a seed amongst our own people that your mother was having a love affair with my brother. I was angry when I confronted him. Everything happened so quickly, I barely remember it all.” He scrubs his hands down his face but eventually continues on with his admissions.
“I won’t sit here and tell you that I am a good man, Forsythia. I have made mistakes. Some of those mistakes have cost lives. Maybe if I had caught on to the madness gripping hold of my closest friend, we wouldn’t be dealing with the Creatori at all right now.”
He contemplates his words for a second before adding on. “But I cannot change what has already happened. I can only hope that these past few decades have served as a bit of punishment and that this freedom will allow me the opportunity to make penance.”
He finishes, and none of us say a word. Sythia stares into the dwindling fire, and the look in her eyes makes me think that she is a million miles away.
“It’s been a long day, and I think that we could all use a good rest,” I offer the group.
Everyone nods in unison.
Lucian stands and stretches out his arms. The hair on my arms raises, and I realize that he is doing magick.
His fae magick is mesmerizing to watch. It’s equal parts similar and strange to me. As he hums low in his chest, my hand tingles in response. I suppose that will always happen, considering a small bit of his essence calls to the magick it recognizes.
He claps his hands together and stops humming. I feel the ward snap into place around our camp.
In my distraction, Forsythia created small beds of moss for us. I notice that there are two smaller ones and then a larger one a little further away. I quirk an eyebrow, and she actually blushes in response. That will never get old.
“I thought maybe since we had been apart for so long, we could sleep closer together tonight. Lucian wants to be closer to Orobas. He doesn’t completely trust him, which is fine with me.”
I nod and make my way over to the bed.
She yawns, and I pat the ground next to me. As she descends, I remember that my mate is one of the clumsiest people I know, and while I want to cuddle with her, I also don’t want to injure my healing hand. I quickly flop to my back and extend my arm. She takes the hint and adjusts, curling her body in close to mine and resting her head on my extended arm.
She sighs, and it only takes a few moments before her breathing turns heavy and rhythmic with her sleep. I listen for a few minutes, and then I too, drift away.
My body is so fucking stiff.
I slowly blink my eyes open and realize that while Forsythia shifted around during the night, I must have laid perfectly still. Speaking of which, she is still soundly asleep and drooling on my chest. It’s both cute and gross.
I carefully tilt my head from side to side, attempting to work out the kinks. I do the same with my left arm, reaching up high and slowly twirling my wrist. I freeze at the realization that it should be bound against me, but when I touch my chest, the cloth is gone.
“I checked it about an hour ago. It has completely healed, so I removed the bindings.” Lucian startles me a little, but when I tilt my head in the direction of his voice, I don’t see him anywhere.
The guy is weird, but I suppose that is the fae in him. “Oh, uh… thanks. Where are you?”
As I ask the question, I see small movements in the treeline, and Lucian emerges from the shadows. If it weren’t for his eyes, I would have assumed he was a tree dryad.
Questions for another day, I suppose. He nods at me and then melts back into the shadows.
I bring my new hand closer to my face and begin a thorough inspection. It looks identical to the old one. I even have the freckle on the inside of my index finger and a scar going across the back. When I clench and unclench the hand, it moves the same as before. I slowly pull my other arm out from underneath my sleeping mate, and she rewards me with a snore to the face. Cute.
With my right hand free, I use it to continue the inspection. If I press too lightly, I almost can’t feel anything at all in the new hand. If I squeeze it or poke it a bit aggressively, it feels almost as if it fell asleep. The feeling is there, it’s just a bit muted compared to what it once was.
That’s fine.
I mean, it’s a little weird, but I can absolutely learn to live with it.
Going around with only one hand? Now that’s something I would rather never have to deal with ever again. So I will cope with the slightly weird feeling because it is a million times better than the alternative.
Now that my hand is fully healed, I can get it wet. I glance over at the lake. The water has been calling to me since we arrived here. I look down at my sleeping mate, and another idea comes to mind.
I stand up, bringing a still –sleeping Sythia in my arms. Seriously, nothing comes between this woman and her sleep. I take a few steps when Lucian’s voice reaches me.
“I will keep watch over the camp and Orobas. You will not be disturbed.”
The guy is a giant with a giant heart. Maybe this shared mate thing won’t be so bad.
“Thanks,” I whisper over my shoulder and slowly make my way down to the water.
The breeze coming off the lake is a little cooler this morning, and the brisk air wakes Forsythia. She looks up at me and smiles. I lean down to kiss her, but at the same time, she panics a little about my hand, causing her to jerk forward and headbutt me. Right in the fucking nose.
Why is it always the nose with this woman?
I groan and kinda drop her. She lands on the ground with a thump.
What a romantic situation this turned out to be. I mean, in all fairness, this clusterfuck is not all my fault.
She starts coming at me, and I know exactly what she is going to go on about, so I just hold the new hand in her face. “All fine, see?”
“Oh,” she says in response.
My patience finally snaps, and I can’t wait another second. I need to get into that water, and if I’m being completely honest here, I’m starting to get a little nervous about showing this side of myself to another person.
I yank the shirt over my head and toss it on a taller rock. Sythia’s eyes heat instantly, and I know that I have her attention. Shivers trail across my body, following her eyes as they take in every inch of my exposed skin. I smirk to myself.
“Enjoying the show?” I ask. She makes an appreciative noise as my hands go to the buttons of my jeans. “Just you wait, little nymph. You haven’t seen anything yet.”
I pull down the zipper on my jeans and watch as her tongue flicks across her lips. Before my nerves get a chance to take hold, I pull off my pants and briefs. Tossing them aside with my shirt.
When I look at Forsythia, I see that she is taking her fill of me. I give her a wink, then turn around and give a little shake. I hear her laughing as I walk to the water and dip my toes in.
The water is cool but comforting, so I slowly make my way further in. Once the water is up to my waist, I turn around to look at Sythia. She is hesitantly looking at the water.
“I believe the deal was that you show me yours, and I would show you mine,” I taunt. “Well, I can see you just fine from here, but you will have to come much closer to see mine.” I taunt her.
She bites the inside of her cheek as she debates my words. “I will show you mine, but that water is just too cold.” She says sadly, shaking her head.
Silly female. She will eventually learn that every crazy idea in my head has been planned out fully. “It won’t be cold,” I tell her, but she looks unconvinced. So I add on the selling point that I know will turn her into putty. “Trust me.”
She nods at me and stands, leaving her boots behind. She pulls her short dress over her head and steps out of her pants. She stands there, gloriously naked in the growing morning light, as she lets her hair out of the braids. The sight of her brings an ache to my chest, and my hand raises to the spot, only to see her do the same. Our bond is calling out to one another.
She smiles when she catches me perusing her naked flesh with the same appreciation she gave me a few moments ago. Then I notice the change. Her eyes are enveloped in that deep golden glow, and a pair of glorious black wings unfurl from behind her. I watch in awe as the mark trailing up her side unwraps itself and flicks out, revealing her magnificent tail in the same dark coal coloring.
When her tail flicks and swishes into the sunlight, I realize that it has a golden sheen to it. My hands itch to touch her. I curl my finger at her, and she walks to the shoreline but stops and looks warily down at the water that laps only inches from her feet.
I take a deep breath and push my magick out with my words.
Calida Cutis
Sythia’s wings and hair ruffle slightly as the spell encompasses her. She takes a step and plants her foot in the water. She looks up at me and smiles before coming the rest of the way to me.
My mouth waters when the flesh between her legs disappears under the lake’s surface. I begin to back up slowly, pushing further into the deeper waters. Once it reaches my shoulders, and Sythia is only an arm’s length away, I hold up my hand for her to stop.
“I have never shown anyone this part of me. I know that it can be a little unnerving, so I promise not to be offended if you prefer me like this instead. But a deal is a deal.”
Without giving her a chance to respond, I dunk the rest of myself under the water and feel the change flutter across my skin instantly.
When I come back to the surface, I anticipated a lot of different reactions from my mate.
However, a whimper of pleasure was nowhere close to that list.