Chapter 18
Evie
Iwas so done with this. Tired of the constant push and pull with Kael, still aching that he’d do these things to me at the Academy Ball only to dip his cock into another woman.
Why not me?
The question whirled in my aching head as I fled through the trees. I didn’t even know where I was going. I only wanted to get away. I’d lost my satchel with all my research notes, and my head burned like the nine hells. And yet, some twisted part of me longed to see if Kael would chase me.
What would he do if he caught me? Would he make it better… or worse?
That thought alone aroused me and quickened my pace. My boots trampled the moss-covered soil, branches clawing at my sleeves, one snagging a thread of wool, another scratching my cheek. The forest thickened, shadows closing in, and breath burned in my lungs.
I ducked behind a great poplar tree, chest heaving, trying to recover quickly before running again.
But something felt wrong. All this time, I hadn’t heard Kael’s steps at all, only my own, thudding in the silence.
Nothing followed.
I dared a glance around the trunk, holding my breath.
Nothing. Only moss and trees.
Maybe he hadn’t chased me at all, and that, somehow, felt disappointing.
Silence reigned, heavy and watchful, until my eyes caught an unnatural blackness spreading across the distant trees. The blight. I must have found its path.
I stepped out of hiding to see it better when two strong arms seized me from behind.
I struggled against his grip, thrashing with all the strength I had. “Let me go!”
He pinned me hard against the tree, my arms forced above my head. Kael towered over me, his chest caging me in, his glare a blade that left me breathless. The scent of oil and smoke clung to his black leather armor as he pressed closer. Why in the gods’ name was the Court Wizard wearing armor?
I could feel the hard line of him, his sheer size pressed against my stomach. There was no escaping him. My heart raced with the fear of what he might do and the thrill of knowing he could do anything.
His blue eyes, darkened by something fierce and unspoken, fixed on me with an urgency that bordered on anger… or desperation. He was close. Too close. If I only tilted my head, our lips would meet.
Which of course, was the last thing I should ever want.
I didn’t want him this close. I didn’t want our eyes to meet again, because if they did, I would yield to them, to him, to the terrible beauty of it all.
“Let me go, Kael.” My voice aimed to be firm and low, though it trembled despite me. I twisted against the tree, bark scraping my tunic.
Being so close to him filled my mind with images of that night in the lavatorium of the academy.
“Evie…” he murmured. “Look at me.”
I shut my eyes and turned my head away.
His hand caught my face, forcing me to meet his gaze, his touch sending shivers down my spine. “Open your eyes, Evangelina.”
I didn’t. I wanted to see what he’d do next.
“Are you in a defiant mood, little doe? Do you really want to know what defiance gets you?”
I shook my head, pressing my eyes shut with all my strength.
He tugged my belt free. It struck the ground like a dead snake. His hand slid up beneath my tunic, and goosebumps raced over my skin like wildfire.
A long breath escaped me as my head fell back against the tree. His mouth crashed onto mine, desperate and hungry. His tongue pressed through my lips, and his hand traced the curve of my breast.
I gasped as he traced my nipple through the fabric of my linen bindings, his thumb moving in tiny, gentle, electrifying circles that sent a delicious shiver through me.
I thought I might lose myself right there.
How could Kael have such an intoxicating effect on me? How was it so impossible to resist him?
He released my hands and tore through my neckline, the shriek of fabric hurling me back to reality.
I opened my eyes wide and pushed him away.
At least I tried.
He was like solid rock, unmoving. A smirk crossed his face; he found this amusing.
“Let me go!” I shouted, shoving against him.
“I can’t,” he breathed, nibbling down my neck, tracing kisses down the tear in my cleavage.
He reached for my bindings and slipped them down my waist, freeing my breasts. My nipples hardened painfully. I told myself it was the cooler air, but that was obviously a lie.
“Please…” The word escaped me as I tried one final push before surrendering to the moment.
He cupped my breasts in his hands, giving them attention they had never known. His tongue traced one nipple, tasting it with slow licks, then he bit down hard while he squeezed the other between two fingers.
I latched onto his shoulders and moaned, loud this time. Then I caught myself. What if somebody heard us?
“Kael… Please let me—ah!”
He bit down my neck, hard, drawing another moan from my throat I’d desperately attempted to muffle.
Images flashed between my thoughts—us in the lavatorium, his power breaking loose, Selena bent over the tomb…
Tears burned in my eyes once more. I couldn’t tell if it was from the pain inside or the pain outside.
Kael noticed and cupped my face, brushing away a tear with his thumb. He kissed me once more, then held my gaze, his eyes pouring into mine as our faces hovered a breath apart.
“Open your power,” he growled.
“What?” I stared at him, lips swollen and parted, breath catching at the command.
He drew closer, his voice a whisper against my skin. “Let go, and you will see.”
His mouth explored my skin again, my neck, the scar, down my breasts until he kneeled before me. His fingers hooked the top of my breeches, and he pulled down slightly, slowly, kissing my lower belly, my hips, and lower. I shivered at every touch of his lips on my skin.
“Open,” he rasped, voice rough against my skin, “and you’ll see just how little she ever meant to me.”
I didn’t understand.
He tugged and slipped the breeches down my legs. He kissed my inner thighs, teeth scraping against my skin, and I didn’t want him to stop anymore.
He pulled my undergarments down and smiled with untamed hunger, one finger slipping between my folds, causing my vision to blur.
“You are so wet for me,” he whispered. “I will taste all of it. Every piece of you.”
He buried his face between my legs, his tongue gently lapping once at the bud of my pleasure, already swollen from desire.
I moaned and arched my back, presenting myself to him. My fingers tangled in his thick blond hair, seeking something to anchor me.
But he had stopped. I looked at him—poised, still kneeling before me—his eyes holding mine captive. Though he kneeled, the power was entirely his.
“Let go, Evangelina,” he ordered.
Now I understood what he’d meant. He wanted me to shatter the blackiron box I’d built around my power and let the echoes pour through me.
How he knew I was a seerling, I had no idea. Perhaps he'd seen me lose control when he’d made me come apart, or perhaps he’d always known.
They said seerlings lacked control, that our gift was a curse turned inward.
But the truth was worse. I could reach into the past of anything that breathed or bled, feel what it had felt, hear what it had heard, see what it had seen.
That was the real reason we were shunned—not for the visions we failed to control, but for what we could never unsee.
Kael didn’t seem to care. Yet I wasn’t ready to open myself to him. Not now. Not here.
He traced kisses down my lower belly, into my inner thighs. He bit my flesh hard, sucking my skin, and granted me a low growl. “Then I’ll make you.”
He lapped at the bud between my legs again, once, twice, multiple times. Pleasure began to swell the faster his tongue worked me. His hands settled on my hips, fingers digging into my flesh to keep me in place. I began writhing, grinding against his mouth just to feel him more.
Then, like a wave about to crash on high cliffs, I felt myself draw very close to that release. One hand tangled in his hair, the other gripped his shoulder, and I moaned in broken, uneven gasps, still fighting to quiet myself.
He growled, perhaps sensing how close I was, and he flicked his tongue faster than humanly possible.
I opened my eyes wide, light swelling behind them. This was it. I was about to lose control, to let all the echoes flood into me…
Then a loud, deafening roar—if it could even be called that—tore through the forest.
It yanked me back to reality, my vision snapping into focus. “What… What was that?” I pushed Kael away.
He rose swiftly to his feet, wiped his mouth, and glanced over his shoulder.
The roar came again, broken and metallic, a sound that seemed to scrape the air itself.
I tugged my breeches back into place and fastened my torn tunic as best I could.
“Where is it coming from?” I whispered, fear rising like fire through my veins.
Kael flicked his hand in warning for silence, then moved forward slowly, soundlessly, between the trees. I followed close behind.
Beyond the treeline, the ground turned dry and slick with black tar. The sight that met us was nothing short of desolation.
A village had stood here not long ago. Its palisade of upright logs lay shattered or strangled in black vines.
The stench hit next, dead flesh and rot. It was the smell of hospices during the plague, the air that hung over mass graves.
Kael halted before what must have been the village gate. I caught up to him, watching the way his eyes darkened, his jaw tight, his brows drawn low.
Before us, the streets glistened with oozing tar. Houses of wood lay burned and broken. Beneath a fallen beam, I glimpsed a blackened hand, charred, unmoving. A corpse.
We advanced through the ruin, stepping over one body after another, each one both burned and rotting, as though fire and decay had claimed them at once.