Chapter 28 #2
My belly fluttered. I could feel my pulse between my legs. If I swayed my hips a little more, knowing he was watching…well, I would never admit to it.
With Alaryk walking with us, no one looked in my direction once as we passed. And the time to the hatchery was short considering I wasn’t carrying the hatchling feed up the incline.
My guard—Tybor—straightened, a look of dread passing over his face when he saw Alaryk with us. He’d been waiting at the entrance of the hatchery. Moak clapped him on the shoulder, as if in apology, and Syris followed behind him as they entered the door.
“I’ll speak with you later,” Alaryk told him.
“Yes, Karath,” Tybor said, keeping a brave face.
I gave Tybor an apologetic smile as I passed him and sensed that Alaryk was right behind me as I entered the atrium.
“You can just leave that here,” I told him, oddly feeling a little shy when I found we were alone. Ahead of us, I could hear Syris and Moak passing through the incubation room, their voices echoing before a door shut, and then there was quiet.
“Come with me,” he said instead, leading us through the hatchery as I followed behind him. Past the incubation room—six eggs left, I counted, most of them Rythbacks—we entered the hallway that led to the kitchens and the courtyard, the sleeping-quarter doors shut.
Alaryk left the buckets of hatchling feed in the hallway and then pulled me into my old room.
“What are you—”
The moment he shut the door, his mouth was on mine. And I’d never thought of myself as easy, but I submitted to his kiss almost immediately, folding like the fur blanket I’d straightened on the bed that morning.
He pushed me back into the door, the gold handle pressing hard into my spine, but I didn’t mind. My hand dove into his hair as he crouched, as I went on my tiptoes for more.
His tongue was hot as it tangled with mine, kissing me harder, a low growl starting in his chest, one that I knew might bleed through the wood door, out into the hallway.
When he tore his mouth away, it seemed like it was nearly in frustration. With my pulse jumping in my throat and my lips reddened, I watched him run a hand through his hair, looking around my old room with unseeing eyes, the front of his trews tented, his cock straining the laces.
I didn’t know what was happening, but this was Daylight Alaryk…and I hadn’t expected Daylight Alaryk to push me into a room and kiss me senselessly, hungrily, against a door. As if he couldn’t go a second longer without it.
I nearly grinned in victory.
Darkness Alaryk would do that. Darkness Alaryk would slip his fingers between my legs and squeeze my ass with his other hand. Darkness Alaryk would smirk as he watched me tug on his metal piercings with my teeth.
I’d been twitchy and aching between my thighs all throughout today already. He’d only made it worse.
“It’s flattering how much you want me,” I found my glib tongue commenting, trying to keep a straight face and failing. My words were meant to lighten the tension strumming between us.
Alaryk glared after he ran a palm down his face. “Just you wait until tonight,” he growled. He returned to me, pressing me back into the door. “Does that please you, mariss? That I’ve thought about you all fucking day?”
“Yes,” I breathed, meeting his eyes, tilting my head back against the wood of the door, hoping I appeared calm and collected and not like I wanted to come out of my skin and crawl into his.
“You’ve had my mind in knots all morning,” he confessed to me, his breath a caress against the side of my cheek as he leaned down. The tip of his nose trailed along my jaw. I felt the bite of his teeth on my neck as his words made warmth bloom.
I’d done that to him? It relieved me to know that he felt the same, then.
“Have you been replaying it in your mind?” I teased gently. My hands came to his chest, and I curled my fingers so that my nails dragged against the material of his vest as I trailed them down. And down. And down…
Alaryk’s breath hitched, a Hartan curse whispered against my skin, before his teeth squeezed harder.
I teased my nail across the leather laces of his trews, hearing a ragged sound drop from his lips.
I could feel the heat of his cock just below the material, perfectly hard, and my hand nearly curled on instinct, wanting him in my grasp.
He tore my hand away, wrapping his palms around my wrists, giving them a warning squeeze.
I nearly grinned in satisfaction, seeing his frustration on display. The only thing that had it dying on my face was that I was denying myself too.
It was fascinating to watch Daylight Alaryk regain his brief slip of control.
And I was only mildly disappointed when he moved away.
It was for the best. Another moment more and he might’ve been deep inside me, his thrusts banging me against the door, alerting the entire hatchery to what we were up to.
The burn of embarrassment made my cheeks heat, thinking about how I would never be able to look Tarkosh in the eye again.
“Did you bring me in here just to kiss me a little?” I asked.
“No,” he rasped, once he was back in control. “Your guard stays with you at all times.”
“Ahh, so you came to reprimand me,” I said, my heart still throbbing in my throat as I rubbed my finger against my slightly swollen lips. “Your favorite thing. Well…one of them.”
“That’s our deal,” Alaryk said sternly, eyes rapt on my lips.
I didn’t know what made me do it. Maybe it was the indifferent stiffness with which he held himself, when he’d been passion and trembling need just moments before.
I was getting better at calling my magic forward, especially when Alaryk was near. I felt it drift up, all around me like a veil, simmering in the air between us, making Alaryk cut me a sharp look when he could feel it too.
“Amaia,” he warned.
I envisioned it trailing against his skin, like my own touch, stroking him in all the places I wanted to, to see if I could scrub away some of his coldness.
Alaryk closed his eyes, his jaw twitching, and I nearly smiled in accomplishment.
“If you’re trying to distract me—”
“It’s working?” I finished for him, a tendril of smugness entering my tone.
His eyes opened. I thought I spied a little amusement in them.
“Amaia,” he murmured. And I finally let it drop.
“I’m getting better at it, don’t you think?” I asked.
“You are,” Alaryk agreed softly. He sighed, a little of his sternness shaking away, when he tipped my chin up to his. “Promise me you won’t try to convince your guards to leave you be. They’re there for a reason.”
“It’s sweet how much you worry about me.”
Alaryk blew out a sharp sigh.
“Fine.” Then I remembered something. “Did you know that Brune was sent away from the croplands?”
His lips pressed. “Myzalla informed me this morning.”
“And Nevin?”
He drew himself up to his full height. “Myzalla thought it might be best for him to stay away from the other acolytes while we settle things in Grymia. Temporarily.”
I frowned. “You’ll send them away, won’t you?”
“They might want to leave, Amaia,” Alaryk replied, his eyes sharpening.
“Have you thought about that? Brune is hiding away in Ethrisha’s dwelling.
Why be there when he can go home? I cannot control the opinions of my people, nor would I want to.
I can only make the decisions that will keep people safe—Brune included. ”
“Hence the guard for me,” I added, his answer bringing about a slice of sadness. Brune had become a close friend. Maybe not as close as Syris and I had become, but a good friend nonetheless. And he might be sent away, for something he didn’t even do.
Maybe it’s best, came the unwanted thought. Considering what our true purpose was here.
My stomach roiled. Guilt swarmed me as I met Alaryk’s gaze.
“You’re right,” I said.
His eyes narrowed.
I changed the subject before he pressed. “Are you leaving somewhere? With Myzalla and Dresnar?”
“I said I wouldn’t, didn’t I?” he murmured. “I told you I was staying in the Arsadia, and I meant it. Gevanth, from Elysom, is leaving. Myzalla is accompanying him.” Right, she’d told me that last night. “I was going to see them both off.”
“Oh,” I said, the knowledge that he was keeping such a small promise to me warming my chest while also deepening my guilt. “All right.”
He released my chin.
“Stay out of trouble,” he told me.
Then he was gone, and I was left skimming my fingers over his bite, trying to fight my smile and failing.