Chapter 12 #3
Garran’s brows lifted. “Aye, princess.” He adjusted his grip.
“Mind her head. If that wound reopens—” She caught herself, her hands shaking. “Just take her!”
Aeryn turned sharply, scanning the corridor. “Where is the Healer’s Hall?” she demanded, more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes darted to Khaeric, frustration breaking through her panic.
“End of the western passage,” Khaeric said, already moving. “We’ll take her together.”
Aeryn nodded too quickly and fell into step beside Garran. They reached the western passage. The Healer’s Hall opened into a long chamber, where several orcs worked in silence, tending to a handful of wounded guards.
“Here.” Khaeric motioned to an empty cot.
Garran knelt and lowered Caeryth onto the furs. Another orc emerged from the back of the chamber. At his approach, Khaeric inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement.
“This is Brenn of Clan Kairn,” Khaeric said to Aeryn. “Chief Healer of Beinn Ork.”
“I’ll take her now.” Brenn’s gaze traced the pattern of wounds on her temple, shoulder, and forearm. He drew a slow breath and raised his palms over Caeryth, beginning at her temples.
Slowly, the blood at her hairline thickened, the wound tightening and paling. Shallow scrapes smoothed as he moved to her arms, red fading to pink.
Aeryn stared at Caeryth’s temple, at the wound that had sealed under Brenn’s hands. There had been no glow, no chant, no flare of power. In the Court of the Silver Bough, healing was a ceremony.
When her cousin, Princess Lyralei, had broken her arm in a riding accident, three healers had prepared for an hour.
Crystals had been arranged in precise geometric arrays.
The Restoration Canticle had been sung in flawless pitch, harmony layered beneath her voice while sigils were traced in arcs through the air.
Here, Brenn simply touched. The magic felt different to her senses. Warmer.
Aeryn leaned forward. “How does it work?”
Brenn glanced up, his hands still poised over Caeryth’s ribs. “Orc magic flows from the deep places. The stone-bones of the world, ye might say. We draw on what’s solid, what’s lasted.” His eyes crinkled. “Yer people sing to the light. We listen to the earth.”
“Does it hurt her?”
“No. Earth magic disnae force change. It reminds the body of what it should be.” Brenn’s palm pressed gently over Caeryth’s heart.
“The stories of old say elven healin’ is like teachin’ a song.
This is more akin... to clearin’ the stones from a stream.
The water kens its course.” He straightened, rolling his shoulders.
“She’ll live. But the deeper hurts’ll take their time.
I can close the skin, but the bruisin’ beneath it must mend on its own. ”
Aeryn looked up sharply. “Bruising?”
He nodded. “Aye. Hard fall, by the look of it. Her ribs are tender, and there’s bruisin’ along the belly. Nothin’ torn, but she’ll ache badly for days.”
“Can’t you—”
Brenn shook his head. “Cannae rush what’s meant to mend slow.
I’ll ease it a little each day.” He placed a broad hand just above Caeryth’s brow, holding it there for a heartbeat.
“I’ve set her into a deep sleep. She’ll stay that way through the night.
The body knits best when the mind’s quiet. She’ll wake come mornin’.”
Aeryn reached for Caeryth’s hand, her thumb brushing over her skin.
“She’ll sleep sound,” Brenn said. “Naught more to be done tonight.”
She didn’t seem to hear him. “She’s so pale.”
“Aeryn.” Khaeric stepped closer, his voice low. “She’s no’ alone.” His hand settled on her shoulder. “Brenn’ll keep watch, and Garran posted a guard outside. She’ll rest better wi’out ye hoverin’ over her.”
Her hand tightened around Caeryth’s. “If she wakes, and I’m not here—”
“She won’t,” Brenn interrupted. “But if she does, ye’ll be called.”
“Come,” Khaeric said. “Let her heal.”
Aeryn remained still, fingers laced with her sister’s, until the weight of reason finally pressed through the haze of fear. Slowly, she released her grip. Khaeric guided her toward the door. Only when she stepped into the corridor did she register the hush that had descended over the mountain.
The walk back felt longer. Inside their chambers, Khaeric shut the door, and Aeryn sat on the bed. Her hands trembled, but she pressed them together, as if one could keep the other still.
“We can’t leave tomorrow.”
Khaeric paused in adjusting one of the glowing crystals, its soft light casting long shadows across his features.
“She can’t travel. Not for days, maybe weeks. But the registry and the Hall of Memories—”
“Can wait.” He moved away from the crystal and sat opposite her.
“What about the memory orb? We’ve carried it for weeks, waiting for the chance to access the vault.” She gestured toward where Serathen’s orb was packed away. “What if delaying costs us the opportunity?”
Khaeric’s expression grew thoughtful. “It’ll wait a few days more.”
“And Caeryth?” Aeryn asked. Caeryth, who had never ventured beyond court walls without escort, had traversed the terrain alone to reach Beinn Ork.
Khaeric crouched so they were eye to eye. “She’ll mend. Brenn wouldnae say it if he didnae believe it true.”
“I know. I just… when I saw her—”
He reached for her hands, where they trembled in her lap. She tried to pull back, but he held them more gently. “Easy,” he murmured.
He brought her hands to his lips. The kiss was barely a touch. He turned her wrist, pressing his lips against the inside where her pulse still raced.
Aeryn released a shuddering breath. The tension that had locked her shoulders since the Healer’s Hall loosen.
“She’s safe now. Ye have done all ye could.” His thumb traced circles on her palm before he shifted onto the bed and drew her against his chest.
Aeryn let herself be pulled closer. Her head rested against his shoulder.
His hands moved to the nape of her neck, gently massaging the tight muscles there, then to her shoulders. “Yer mind’s still racin’. I can scent it on ye.”
She nodded and leaned into his touch as his palms slid around to her sides, thumbs brushing just beneath the swell of her breasts. “Khaeric…”
“Let me help ye relax.”
His hands traveled higher, cupping her breasts. Aeryn’s eyes drifted closed as his thumbs circled her nipples.
Khaeric worked at the laces of her dress, undoing the knots until the leather loosened. His hands slid inside to stroke her breasts before he tugged the wrap from her shoulders, letting it pool at her waist.
Then, he stood and stripped off his trousers, and the fabric slid down his thick thighs to reveal his massive cock, already hard and glistening at the tip. Khaeric leaned back on the bed and reached for her, his hands firm at her waist as he lifted her.
Aeryn gasped as he positioned her above him, then slowly lowered her until she straddled his hips. Her thighs spread wide to accommodate his broad frame. Her hands found his chest for balance, fingers spreading across the expanse of his gray skin.
Khaeric guided her hips backward until the head of his cock pressed against her center. The thick ridge of him parted her folds.
“Relax,” he said, as he rocked his hips upward, teasing her entrance until she was wet. He pulled her down onto him, driving upward at the same moment.
Aeryn cried out when he filled her, the sudden stretch to accommodate his size burning deliciously.
Khaeric held her there, allowing her body to stretch around him before he moved. His powerful hips rolled upward in a steady rhythm, each thrust sending sparks of pleasure radiating through her core.
Aeryn’s head fell back, a moan escaping her.
“Look at me.”
She forced her eyes open to meet his gaze, and he established a relentless rhythm. His powerful arms did all the work, lifting and dropping her onto his length, her breasts bouncing with each impact.
“That’s it,” Khaeric praised, his tusks gleaming in the dim light as his lips pulled back in a feral grin.
He increased his pace, bouncing her faster on his cock, each thrust sending her higher.
“Feel me.” The sound of skin against skin filled the chamber, punctuated by Aeryn’s breathless moans.
“Naught else matters right now. Just this.”
Every thick inch stretched her impossibly wide.
The world narrowed to the place where they joined, to the building pressure low in her belly, as Khaeric drove into her with increasing urgency.
With a guttural groan, Khaeric’s body tensed beneath her.
His release erupted inside her as hot seed flooded her womb in powerful pulses.
Yet he didn’t stop moving. Instead, he lifted her before driving her back down onto his still-pulsing length.
Aeryn gasped, her nails digging into his chest as pleasure spiraled through her. Her body clenched around him in rhythmic waves as her release swept over her, stealing her breath. When it passed, she collapsed against his chest, her skin slick with sweat.
Khaeric’s arms wrapped around her, and he stroked her spine. “Better?”
She nodded and lifted her head to kiss him. His lips were warm against hers, his tusks pressing gently into her cheeks. She melted into him, fingers threading through his dark hair and drawing him closer as if she could bind them together.