Runebreaker

Chapter 39 Terrible Timing

TERRIBLE TIMING

A fire crackled, casting dancing shadows across the cave walls.

Hours had passed, and my shift had finally dried, but my dress still hung near the flames. Kairos had left to forage when the tide pulled back. When he returned, he was cradling spiny black spheres.

He crouched in front of me, cracking one open with a squeeze. Then he scraped out gleaming orange flesh with his dagger, offering it to me.

“Eat.”

The meat pulsed on his blade, glistening like something half-melted.

My nose wrinkled. “What is that?”

“Sea urchin. It’s a delicacy in some courts.” Kairos’s eyes glinted as I bit on my lip. “You ate street meat in Skalgard but you’re squeamish about this?”

I eyed the lump sliding down the knife. I raised it to my mouth and slurped. I braced for the worst, but the taste was mild. Barely salty. Soft like foam, dissolving almost instantly.

“Oh. That’s good!”

“Told you.”

I licked my lips. “Where did you find them?”

“Tide pools.” Kairos cracked another shell and carved out more urchin. “When my mother and I fled to Sanguir, she met a warrior, Rhodion—Elwen’s father. He’d bring me and Elwen to the coast. He taught me how to forage these.”

He popped the meat into his mouth. Then he picked up a translucent orb the size of a plum. It glowed pink, like a heart wrapped in gelatin.

“Moonbell jelly. They only surface during solstice.” He turned it gently in his fingers. “We put them in dessert wines to make them glow.”

“That’s what makes the wine shimmer?” I leaned closer, fascinated.

“Has to be cooked first, though. Raw, it gives you hallucinations.” His mouth quirked. “Burns out after a few hours, but some people eat them on purpose. Claims it helps them commune with Ocalis.”

I blinked. “The dragon?”

“Sea dragon.” He set the jelly down carefully. “His bones are buried in the southern seabed. The stories say that’s what makes the tides swell. Some still think the ocean carries his breath.”

“How did he die?”

“Other dragons killed him.”

So dragons kill each other. The one who spoke to me, is he like Ocalis? I almost told him about what I’d seen while drowning. The broken world and the golden-eyed man, but I shoved the impulse down. I just wanted a moment of peace.

“Why would they do that?”

“Jealousy.” Kairos cracked open another urchin. “They feasted on his heart for nine nights, then threw what was left into the ocean.”

“Lovely.”

“Fae stories usually end in blood.”

I picked at a piece of shell, tossing it into the fire. “Tell me a better story. Something that doesn’t involve cannibalism.”

“There’s one about a tree that grew from a girl’s ribcage.”

“That’s not better!”

“It has a happy ending.”

I sighed, leaning into his side. His arm came around me, pulling me against him, and I soaked in his warmth.

“Fine. Go ahead.”

“She died protecting her village.” His voice rumbled through my back.

“They burned her body, but the ash wouldn’t scatter.

It clung to this rune stone. By morning, a sapling had grown.

When it bloomed, the leaves were red. Same color as her hair.

” His fingers sketched patterns on my arm.

“They say it still stands in the Mirenwilde. That it protects travelers who’ve lost their way. ”

My skin lit up under his touch. “Horrifying but beautiful.”

“Your turn.”

“Alright, but no laughing.”

Kairos’s thigh grazed mine, and a jolt hit my heart. His hand was unbearably soft and it was difficult to think.

“Um, there’s this silly story about a fae prince who fell in love with a baker’s daughter.

” My body buzzed from the heat of him, and I bit my lip.

“She had no idea what he was. He’d show up every day, buy three honey cakes, and just…

stare at her. Like she’d personally hung the stars in the sky.

She thought he was some rich idiot with too much gold. ”

He chuckled. “Fair.”

“She teased him relentlessly. Called him ‘syrup fingers’ because he always licked the glaze off first. One day, he got so flustered he forgot to glamour his ears.”

Kairos laughed hard.

“Instead of fleeing in terror, she made him earn her trust. She demanded something ridiculous in exchange for cake. A poem. A song. Once, he recited a recipe while hopping on one foot.”

“He actually did it?”

“Of course. And when he asked her to marry him, she said no.”

His brows lifted. “No?”

“She loved her bakery, so he stayed. Gave up his crown, enchanted her oven so it never burned a batch, and supposedly, if you eat one of her cakes, you’ll dream of your truest desire.”

“Only mortals would invent a royal who gives up power for pastries.”

“You don’t like it?”

He rubbed my cheek. “Didn’t say that. It’s very…you.”

My heart pounded. His hand had settled on my hip, and I inhaled a tight breath. All this touching…had sucked the air from my lungs. A fire blazed in my chest, a wildness that was getting harder to ignore.

I turned around and brushed salt crystals from his jaw.

His smile transformed his face, making him almost boyish. “No one’s looked at me like you do in many years.”

“Like I’ve recently seen you shirtless?”

He squeezed my hip. “You’re beautiful, too.”

“I look like I drowned.”

“You did. Still beautiful.”

“That’s…really not fair.”

“What isn’t?”

“You. Touching me like this,” I whispered. “Saying things that make me forget who you are.”

His eyes darkened. “I could do worse.”

“Go on. Threaten me with a good time.”

His gaze dropped to my mouth. “Everything about you is lovely. Your scent especially. It’s sweet, like the little flowers that bloom in summer. It lingers in places you’ve been.”

He smelled like firewood and sun-warmed steel, like a blade resting in its sheath, ready to be drawn. He smelled like sunlight and warmth, and when he spoke I wanted to close my eyes, let it ring in my head like the softest music.

I caressed his hair. Strands of white-gold, ivory, and silver slipped between my fingers. Then I stroked his temple, following his sharp angles.

He shut his eyes, sighing. “That’s nice.”

“You like that?”

“It’s not often that I’m…touched.”

My nails lightly grazed his scalp, and he leaned into it like a cat. I moved up and down his neck, tracing the thick ropes of muscle, the faint patterns of runes that sparked.

He sucked in his bottom lip, and suddenly I wanted to do more than touch. I needed to get closer. To press my mouth to his and taste the danger I shouldn’t want. The kiss in the forest had made me desperate and wild, and I’d never experienced anything like it.

I wanted to feel it again and understand what this was. Why his touch made my skin hum. Why being close to him felt dangerous and irresistible. What would happen if I kissed him now? Would that devastating heat crash through me again?

I had to know.

Kairos’s eyes were still closed.

My heart hammered as I leaned in. The space between us narrowed, and then my lips brushed his clumsily, catching the corner of his mouth. His eyes flew open, the pupils blown wide.

I pulled back, breathless. “Sorry.”

“Do it again.”

His command roared inside me like a fever.

This time I didn’t miss. His lips were warm and salty. When I tugged him closer, a sound broke in his throat. Then his mouth opened against mine and everything shattered.

A delirious excitement spread through me, tightening my nipples into raw points. His tongue. It pushed at the seam of my lips, forcing inside my mouth, the possession making me whimper. He grabbed my waist, yanking me against his chest.

I couldn’t get close enough. Couldn’t think past the taste of him, the press of his firm mouth.

I caught his tongue and sucked on it. A growl built inside him, rumbling through his chest, into my body until it vibrated between my legs. My mouth slammed into his, and I savored every stroke of his tongue, shaking like I hadn’t eaten in days and his kisses were small bites.

More.

I ripped open his shirt. My hand found bare skin—hot, solid muscle—and I groped his chest. His mouth was everywhere, wet and demanding, and when I grazed his runes, sparks crackled.

I winced. “Oh gods. Did I hurt you?”

Kairos shoved me down. His weight crushed me to the floor, and his eyes were completely black. His mouth moved to my throat, his teeth scraping me.

“You think your little hands could hurt me?”

I tried to reach for him, to feel the strength of him under my palms, but his mist circled my wrists and bound them tight above my head. The more I pulled, the tighter it held.

“Stay still.”

His command rippled through me like dark honey. I nodded, my breaths coming in shallow gasps. The mist binding me loosened slightly. When I didn’t move, his mouth curved.

“Good girl.”

Heat pooled low in my belly, and I bit back a whimper.

His fingers traced the column of my throat, feather-light, maddeningly slow. “I want to learn every place that makes you tremble.” He wandered lower, skimming my collarbone. “Every sound you make when I touch you.”

I whimpered.

He grinned wickedly. “You make the sweetest sounds when you’re trying to behave.”

My protest died as his hand slid up my calf, finding the hem of my shift. His palm scorched against my bare skin.

He traced lazy, torturous patterns along my inner thigh, laughing. “You’re squirming already, my princess.”

I hadn’t realized I was, but my hips shifted against the stone, thighs pressing together.

“That’s not fair,” I gasped.

“I’ll touch you how I like.” He drifted higher, pushing fabric aside.

Yes. Gods, yes.

His hand stilled at the top of my thigh, fingertips resting against heated skin. So close to where I burned for him.

“Kairos, please.”

“Please what? Please touch your cunt?”

My cheeks were on fire.

The dark gleam in his eyes told me he fully intended to make me plead. Every nerve screamed for more—more pressure, friction, more of him—but he kept his touch feather-light. Teasing. His other hand found my hip through the dress.

I moaned.

“That’s not begging, my princess.”

“Please,” I whispered, my pride crumbling. “Please, Kairos, I need it.”

“What do you need?”

“You. Touch me.”

I gave up trying to stay still. My hips moved with him, desperate and needy. Stone scraped my shoulders.

His smile was pure wickedness. “I like watching you fall apart.”

“You’re cruel,” I breathed.

“Yes.” He kissed me hard, and his fingers slid over my clit.

The cave walls echoed with my cry. I was soaked. The friction was relentless, each stroke feeding that ache between my thighs.

“So greedy. Taking everything I give you.”

His tongue slid against mine while he kept that lazy rhythm over me. My thighs trembled, my muscles tight. I tried to rock into him, but he held me still, forcing me to take every teasing pass. Then his fingers slipped inside me.

His knuckles dragged against me before sinking deeper, curling to stroke me. My protest melted into a broken moan. The stretch was perfect, indecent, his thick fingers spreading me open.

He thrust harder. My hips rolled against his hand, chasing the pleasure. I gasped as his thumb played with my clit, faster, harder, the ecstasy spiraling hot and sharp. I couldn’t breathe.

Mist slithered up my arm like a lover’s touch, pulling my dress off my shoulders. It slipped down my arms, over the peaks of my breasts, baring me to his heated gaze.

“I’ve missed these.”

His other hand left my hip to palm one breast, squeezing gently. The dual sensation—cool magic and hot skin—made me arch into him.

I whimpered, his pace torturous. “Please. More.”

“Good girl. Now, say my name.”

“Kairos.”

He kissed me ravenously, fucking me with his fingers. Every twist of his hand coiled bliss inside me, tighter and tighter, and then his lips brushed my nipple. His tongue teased it into an aching point while his fingers fucked me.

“You want me to make you come?” he purred.

“Yes.”

“Beg prettier and maybe I’ll give you what you need.”

His mouth closed over my nipple and stars shattered in my head. Even his mist played with me, tightening around my nipples, sliding up and down my body like extra hands.

I made a tortured sound, like a sob, and he thrust faster, the wetness so loud, obscene.

My thighs tensed.

His fingers drove into me, curling to hit a devastating spot.

“Come for me,” he growled. “Soak my hand.”

“Yes, Kairos, please.”

“That’s it. Give it to me.”

The orgasm ripped through me like a snapped rune. My cry caught in my throat, my body locking as ecstasy crashed over me, my thighs clamped over his hand. Then I was gasping and shuddering.

He pulled his fingers free, slick with my arousal, and brought them to his mouth. His eyes locked on mine as he sucked them clean. “Now every time I look at you, I’ll remember how sweet you taste.”

I lay there, trembling, still raw and wet, aching for something bigger than fingers. I couldn’t catch my breath. The hunger hadn’t left. If anything, it had sharpened, and I didn’t understand what that meant.

The mist loosened its grip, and I grabbed his face. I slid down his chest, but he snatched my wrists, stopping me.

“Not yet.” He leaned down, his mouth brushing my ear. “I want you more desperate than this.”

My limbs were loose, unsteady, and sensitive. He kissed me, achingly gentle compared to earlier.

I’d never felt so completely undone, so dangerously out of control. This was nothing like fumbling with Vaeris in dark rooms. I didn’t have words for what just happened.

Slowly, my surroundings came into focus. Ocean waves crashing, the cold air seeping into the cave. We were in Skaldir territory, being hunted, and Vaeris’s armies were searching for me, and I was…ripping off my clothes?

What’s wrong with me?

“We need to go,” he said gently.

I sat up, sliding the shift into place. It was wrinkled, my hair a disaster. I smoothed it with trembling hands. After I’d pulled on my dress, he ushered me outside.

The chill bit my cheeks, shocking against my overheated skin. In the distance, faint lights from a village twinkled, and a horn keened on the wind.