Chapter 14
Reyla
Icollapsed on top of him, my heart slamming against my ribcage so hard it hurt, my body shuddering with aftershocks. Every bit of me felt stripped down to the bones yet somehow made me more complete than I was before.
Lore kept his arms around me, one big hand splayed protectively across my back, the other tangling in my hair as if he couldn't bear to let me go. His chest heaved beneath mine, each rough breath rattling through both of us.
The bond thrummed between us, hot and new and searingly alive. It curled through my veins, binding us with every breath.
My broken laugh scraped across his skin.
That was effective. The thought flowed from my mind to his.
His hand slid down my spine. You bit me, Wildfire. Claimed me. Fucked me into the ground. Effective doesn't even start to cover it. If we're worried it won't hold, we could do it again.
I snorted. You. Are. Amazing. I smiled against his skin, stroking my fingertip across the place where I'd marked him. My mark. I could still taste him on my tongue, his salt and heat and something deeper, something that screamed mine all the way down to my soul.
Lifting my head, I met his gaze, stunned by how different it felt to look at him now.
Like I was seeing him through new eyes. Maybe I was.
Maybe the part of me that had always held back, the part that feared love this consuming, was finally beginning to let go.
I saw not only the man who’d saved me, but the man I chose.
The one I would fight beside. Adore, no matter what came.
His green eyes burned into mine, his expression stripped of all pretense. There was no hiding from each other anymore. No distance. No walls.
You’re alright with…this? Could he hear how tentative my voice sounded? Probably. This man knew me well.
His mouth curved into the kind of slow, wicked grin that promised trouble; the kind of trouble I wanted with every fiber of my being.
Alright? He tightened his arms around me until I gasped. Fates, Wildfire, I belong to you. Now. Always. I’m grateful you finally took what’s been yours all along.
Emotion clogged my throat, aching and terrifyingly beautiful.
I kissed him, feeling him smile against my mouth before he kissed me back with the same desperate, endless hunger.
When we finally broke apart, both of us panting and dazed again, he stroked my cheeks. You’re never getting away from me now.
I grinned. Good, because you’re not getting away from me either.
He flitted us to our bathing area and we sank into a hot tub. I sat on his lap, facing him. Stroking him. Unable even now to say I’d had enough. We didn’t have a lot of time. No time, actually. We’d need to leave as soon as we could.
But this was precious. Us.
A bonding.
Mine, I shouted in his mind.
A cocky grin rose on his face. Tell me when you’re ready for more.
Soon. You’ve created a monster.
Who is all mine as well. I enjoyed that very much.
Me too.
He’d unleashed something inside me, and I wasn’t going to pen that part of me up again.
We finished bathing and dressed for the journey, him donning pants and an unadorned tunic, me one of my simpler dresses.
“We might encounter almost anything along the way,” he said, passing me to collect the weapons he dropped onto the bed.
Sniffing them, Farris huffed.
“So happy I have my blades.” I strapped them around my waist. “I’ll leave my sword.” Daggers had always been my preferred weapon. “What else?” I asked when I’d finished arming myself.
“I can’t think of anything but in the worst case, we could flit here to grab it.”
“You could.” My flitting power still remained elusive much of the time. I’d resigned myself to the fact. I had other skills that I valued more. It was just irritating that this was something I couldn’t master.
We left our suite, finding Moira and Calista in the foyer, ready to travel with us. They’d journey in the second carriage behind ours. Outside, we approached the two vehicles with harnessed zephyls. I marveled all over again about how amazing these creatures were.
“Too bad we can’t fly on dragons,” I said. “That would save time.”
Lore stroked his hand down my spine. “And it would startle everyone already there. Dragons aren’t common here, not like they are where you come from.”
This was something I wanted to change when I could find the time. One day soon, I told myself. We’d break the curse and then we could look forward to a long future full of dragons.
I also wanted to set up times to train with Kian. I hadn’t forgotten my promise.
Lore leaned over to kiss my temple.
This bond made everything sharper, every risk more dangerous, and every goodbye more unthinkable. I’d only just found him. I wasn’t ready to lose him.
The zephyl stood motionless at the base of the palace steps, its massive, scaled shoulders rising above the carriage roof. Steam coiled from flared nostrils as it watched us approach with liquid-dark eyes that held dangerous intelligence.
I held its liquid-dark gaze and did not look away. No beast that intelligent should be tethered to a vehicle, no matter how elaborate the sigils binding it in place. A great mind moved behind those eyes.
Farris whined from behind me. We’d tried to leave him, but he’d somehow found his way out into the hall.
After exchanging a long look and remembering how he’d joined us in the labyrinth, plus what he’d done for us while inside, we decided he should come.
We’d keep him in our rooms as much as we could and find an excuse for why he was with us if someone asked.
Lore stepped forward and raised a hand, the motion smooth.
The zephyl twitched one clawed foot in response and adjusted its weight with a low grunt.
No reins, no bit, no harness but the one it allowed.
It accepted Lore’s silent signal with a whip of its tail, the spiked end slicing the air behind it.
I’m still not fond of the smell, Lore said as we approached the carriage door.
Reminds me of a forge.
He gave me a dry smile, the kind he used when something was bothering him, but he hadn’t named it yet. I recognized the tightness around his mouth, the slight twitch in the corner of his eye. He’d sensed it too, that weight in the air, the subtle wrongness that didn’t have a shape or a name.
Our trunks had been secured to the roof, strapped down with thick cords wound through polished loops.
While my ladies were assisted into the vehicle that would follow, Surren opened the door to ours, urging us inside.
A small contingent of our guard would travel with us until we reached the place where we’d meet up with Dorion.
After that, we’d travel alone and disguised.
We’d explained this to Moira and Calista already, and they’d sworn they wouldn’t give us away.
It was dark inside the carriage, the windows only narrow slits. Lore followed me, and only once the door clicked shut behind him did the vehicle jolt forward, the zephyl’s claws scraping on the stones as it pulled us into motion.
I glanced back through the small rear window.
Moira and Calista’s vehicle followed at an easy pace, guards riding in a wide arc around both.
Per our request, they’d dressed like common riders in leathers worn smooth by training, their weapons and magic in reach.
Eyes watching, hands loose at their sides.
It was still early yet, but the people moved about inside the city. Some waved as we passed. Others bowed low, remembering the borgons. Remembering who had protected them.
Beyond the city, trees thickened and shadows stretched. I should’ve felt safer now, but I kept my fingers curled around a dagger. Just in case.
Towering trunks marched away from the road like pillars, their branches knotted with moss and leaves. Green dappled the path ahead in shifting patterns of light.
I settled into the seat but didn't relax. Heightened awareness had kept me alive before. I was listening to my instincts now.
Wind moved through the canopy above us, and something stirred in the underbrush.
Too small to be dangerous, too quiet to be sure what it could be.
Underneath the natural sounds I sensed something else.
A presence, maybe. Familiar, but not exactly friendly.
I couldn’t see it, but I felt it in my bones, that small prickle that warned when a spell brushed against the edge of your wards.
No words passed between us, but we didn’t need to speak aloud. Our bond had reshaped everything. How I heard him. How I felt him. His unease was now mine, and mine was his, a warning whispered into my ear.
We traveled farther, the vehicle creaking, the brisk trot of zephyl hooves almost soothing.
After a quick lunch with guards patrolling around us, we continued.
I soon began to believe that the uneasy feeling I’d had earlier meant nothing.
Nerves. The normal worry about whether we’d be able to grab the talisman and fuse the three in time.
Until the forest suddenly went still in an eerie, breath-held kind of way. The birdsong ceased. Wind didn’t even rustle through the branches. Even the creak of the vehicle wheels sounded muffled. Unease scraped across my skin, and I shifted in my seat to peer out the narrow window.
The trees pressed in close to the road here, their trunks as gnarled as ancient knuckles. Their shadows swallowed the path ahead, and something in the air crackled in an electric way.
The zephyl pulling our carriage gave a low growl.
One of our guards brought his horse up beside us and leaned close, keeping his voice low. “Something’s—”
The road heaved beneath us, and our vehicle rocked. My shoulder smacked against the wall.
Behind us, my ladies shrieked.
Farris let out a guttural growl unlike his usual whine. His hackles rose, fur bristling silver in every direction.
A zephyl roar was followed by the crash of splintering wood.
“Down,” Lore hissed.