Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Daemon
Daemon would never outgrow the feeling of having Auraelia in his arms. As soon as they’d returned to her chambers, Auraelia slumped against him. Her eyes were half-lidded as she attempted to stifle a yawn.
“You need to sleep,” he said softly, soothingly as he stroked her hair.
Auraelia groaned and buried her face into his chest, her voice muffled as she spoke. “I am not getting into my bed like this. I need to bathe first. But… I’m just so tired.”
She couldn’t fight the yawn that escaped with the tail end of her statement any more than Daemon could fight the chuckle in his throat. “I can help you if you’d like.”
Even with her eyes heavy from exhaustion, there was no mistaking the quizzical look she gave him as she tilted her face up toward his.
Daemon laughed and shook his head. “I have no ulterior motives, Princess. I swear it, by my goddess and yours.”
Her eyes narrowed a little more as she contemplated his words, but eventually, they rolled to the back of her head as she nodded.
Helping her to the seat at her vanity, Daemon removed the dagger he’d strapped to her thigh and placed it on the seat next to her. When he moved on to her boots, carefully unlacing each one before setting them aside, Auraelia ran her fingers through his hair.
“You should get on your knees more often.”
Her words were slightly slurred from exhaustion, but he could still hear the smile in her voice. And though he knew he shouldn’t—and it would undoubtedly backfire on him—he couldn’t resist playing along.
Daemon looked up at her through his lashes and let his smirk shine through. “I don’t get on my knees for just anyone, Auraelia. But I would gladly make my home at your feet.”
Even with the sly smirk on her lips, a rose-colored flush crept across her cheeks, and as he ran his hands up her thighs to her waist, it deepened to a rich crimson.
Daemon held her gaze as he rotated his hands inward to unlace her bodice, her breath hitching as his fingers skimmed her breasts.
Fuck, this was a bad idea.
He had zero intention of taking this further than flirting.
Hell, he’d had zero intention of flirting.
They were both tired, but Auraelia was so far past exhaustion, so far past the ability to give informed consent, that it would feel like he was taking advantage of her if he pushed this too far.
And that was something he would never do…
regardless of how many times she bit her lip—which was becoming more frequent with the more clothing he removed.
When she was down to her undergarments, Daemon gently lifted her from the seat and brought her into her bathroom.
It was bigger than her previous one, and instead of a skylight above the bath, the wall next to it was full of opaque, colored glass, which cast a rainbow of colors across the floor as the sun shone through.
After setting her on a tile next to the tub, he turned on the shower to let the water heat before he helped her into it.
When steam began to roll out over the top of the glass surrounding the stall, Daemon knelt in front of Auraelia and swept the hair from her face. “Do you think you can handle a shower by yourself?”
Sitting up straight, Auraelia fixed him with a hard stare. “I am a grown woman. Of course, I can.” But when she went to stand, her knees buckled, and she reached out to cling to him. “Okay, I usually can.”
Daemon chuckled and placed a chaste kiss on the crown of her head. “I’ll help you into the shower. Just rinse off as best you can, and then we’ll get you into the bath, okay?”
Memories of helping her bathe after her mother’s death resurfaced, and he had to fight to keep the smile on his face.
This is different; she’s just tired.
It’s not the same.
Auraelia nodded and let him help her out of her undergarments and into the shower. Once she was under the streams, he backed away, making sure to give her privacy without being too far away should she need him.
The warm water seemed to rouse her enough to scrub the soot and grime from her skin, the smell of her lavender soap filling the air around him.
He didn’t mean to stare but also couldn’t help it.
There was nothing sexual about it; he just simply liked looking at her.
Liked watching the way her muscles flexed as she moved about the shower and the unintentional sensuality in her movements.
How she would tilt her face to the water and just let it rain down over her.
Like she was letting it cleanse her soul as well as her body.
When she turned around, shock colored her features, like she’d completely forgotten he was there.
“Oh…um…hi,” she said meekly, the flush on her cheeks from the heat deepening with her apparent embarrassment.
“Hi, yourself. Do you still want me to run you a bath?” he asked, making sure to keep his eyes on her face.
Auraelia’s lips curved inward as she nodded. “I need to wash my hair…but my arms are so sore that I don’t know if I can manage.”
“I can help you with that once you’re in the tub if you’d like?”
A small smile played on her lips, and she nodded.
“Alright, I’ll go start the water. You just let me know when you’re finished.”
The bath was half full by the time Auraelia emerged from the shower, and Daemon had to focus his mind on anything but the water rolling down her naked frame as she sashayed her way to the bath—anything to deflate the erection growing in his pants.
The Nevermore.
The Cerulean Sea.
Aiden.
A small shudder ran through him with his last thought, but it did the trick.
Auraelia eyed him curiously as she slipped her hand into his and stepped over the edge of the bath. “Everything alright?”
Nodding, Daemon sat on the tiled edge surrounding three sides of the tub and retrieved the hair wash.
Once Auraelia was settled, Daemon lathered the wash into his hands and began to work it through the strands. When he began to massage her scalp, a contented sigh escaped through her lips, and her eyes fluttered closed.
After rinsing her hair and adding her smoothing lotion, he gently detangled her locks and began to weave them together.
“You know how to braid?” Auraelia asked with a small chuckle.
“I do,” he replied with a chuckle of his own.
“Who taught you?”
“When I was younger, back before I learned anything about knots and sails, Yvaine made me learn. She said it was a trait my future wife would appreciate, and if I ever had a daughter, I could do it for her too.”
Auraelia sat silently as he finished the plait. When he tied it off, she turned to face him, leaning against the edge where he was sitting. “That’s really sweet. And thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Auraelia. And you think so?”
Resting her head on her propped arms, she nodded.
They sat there for a few moments, rainbows of light dancing across Auraelia’s cheeks before her yawn cut through the silence.
“Let’s get you to bed, Princess.” Daemon slid from where he was perched and grabbed a towel from the shelves lining the wall between the shower and tub.
As he helped her dry off, her exhaustion seemed to creep in once more, her eyelids drooping further as the minutes ticked by.
Scooping her into his arms, Daemon carried her to the bed, then tucked her beneath her blankets. But when he began to walk away, she grabbed his wrist.
“Stay. Please?”
A soft smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he gently stroked her cheek. “I’m not going anywhere, Auraelia. I just need to shower, then I’ll be right back.”
When she grimaced, Daemon knelt down beside her. “What is it?”
Yawning, Auraelia snuggled deeper into her pillow and pulled the sheets up to her chin. “I don’t like when you call me that… it’s too formal.”
“It’s your name,” he responded with a small laugh.
“You didn’t use to call me that.”
Auraelia yawned again, and then her breathing evened out, sleep claiming her at last. Daemon stroked her cheek once more before standing and smiling down at her. “As you wish, my star.”
Auraelia had been asleep for a few hours.
Snuggled up against his side with her arm draped over his lap while he sat propped up by pillows against her headboard.
Other than the sound of her deep breathing, there was a peaceful stillness around them.
But not even that could quiet the thought that spun around relentlessly in his mind.
It was my fault.
Although she hadn’t outright said it, Davina was there because of him.
Because he thought that with her in the Court of Garnet, he would be able to get away with slipping into Lyndaria unnoticed.
But he was wrong, and he’d never forgive himself for the pain and destruction that his presence had brought to Auraelia and her people.
The one thing that niggled at the back of his mind that he couldn’t quite put his finger on was who was the one reporting back to Davina?
Was it someone in his own court? In Auraelia’s?
Very few people in Kalmeera knew he was going to Lyndaria, and even fewer knew in Auraelia’s court. As far as he was aware, the nobles of the Sapphire Isles believed that he was in Lunaria doing his bi-monthly check-in with the priestesses…which he would eventually have to do.
Taking a deep breath, Daemon looked down at Auraelia’s sleeping form.
He’d idly smoothed her hair with his hands the entire time she slept, and the contented smile on her lips brought a small smile to his own.
Peace. She looked at peace, and he had a feeling that she hadn’t experienced that in a while. He’d do anything to let her hold on to it, even if it was just in her dreams.
When Daemon thought back over everything that happened down at the harbor, his stomach churned.
Seeing Xander on the ground with blood pouring out of his face would be etched into his mind forever.
But the crazed look on Davina’s face when she realized that his star had outsmarted her to get her brother to safety was priceless.
His star. Goddess, she was impressive. He had no idea what happened on that pier after he’d gotten Xander out—they hadn’t had a moment to talk about it—but he knew it had to have been amazing.
He hadn’t wanted to leave Auraelia to deal with Davina alone. He’d fully intended to be there with her for the entire fight, fighting by her side—goddess knows she didn’t need anyone to fight her battles for her, and she would have killed him if he’d tried.
The moment Davina moved out of the way to reveal Xander, he just knew what he would need to do. What he would have to do so Auraelia could concentrate on getting her cousin out of the city and away from her people.
He couldn’t explain it any more than he would have been able to then.
All he knew was that it was as if he and Auraelia had become connected in a way that he couldn’t describe.
That he could read her so well that she wouldn’t have to utter a single word.
And in the moment, it seemed as if she’d felt it too.
She somehow just knew that he would understand her when she said ‘now.’
Resting his head back on the headboard, Daemon closed his eyes and breathed deeply.
He needed to apologize to her for—albeit unknowingly—causing her so much grief and pain.
A small moan came from Auraelia as she stirred in his lap—her arms reaching above her head as her legs extended in a long stretch. When he looked down, she was gazing up at him with a sleepy smile on her face.
“Hi.”
“Hello, my star. Did you rest?”