Chapter Twenty-Three #2
With that simple touch, Nahel shuddered and lay back.
It sent his erection pointing upward, but also removed the weight of his stare.
He became a pair of legs and a cock. Easier to look at.
I let out my breath and focused on his feet.
Taking my time, I ran my fingers over his toes, surprised at how clean they were.
Even the nails were cut short and free of dirt.
By the time I worked my way to his knees, it was clear that Nahel was fastidious about hygiene. That helped. A little.
I followed the curve of his knees. A sprinkling of black hair covered his calves and went halfway up his thighs.
I pushed his thighs apart and stroked the smooth, pale skin that bracketed his crotch.
Nahel made an aroused sound, and his cock wept.
I froze. My stomach turned. I couldn't bring myself to touch him there.
Not with Raven's body so fresh in my mind, the feeling of his shaft lingering in my hands. My mouth. My channel.
With a broken cry, I covered my face with my hands.
I felt Nahel's movement as he sat up. “I'm going to touch you now, even though I said I wouldn't. This is not a part of the knowing.”
I didn't respond.
His hands went to my wings. My wings! He stroked the thickest bones, sending a sensation of comfort straight to my spine. Of course, he knew that trick. He had wings too. Nahel had everything he needed to make me submit. With a whimper, I bent forward.
“That's it, my little bird. You can surrender now. It's all right. I'll be good to you. Shhh now.” He kept stroking my wings until I lowered my hands. His expression was insanely kind, and he deliberately set his palms onto the bed beside his thighs. “Whenever you're ready, you may continue.”
I stared at his cock. Once I got past that, it would be easier.
I lifted my hands, my stomach rebelling.
It was just a piece of flesh. I could do this.
It didn't matter that it was ugly compared to Raven's.
Short, thick, and dark brown. It repulsed me.
I'd done more repulsive things than this.
I would be fine. I reached for him. Nahel smiled.
A roar came.
I jerked my hand back.
Nahel's head spun toward the tent flap.
Sounds came that could only be described as violent—thuds, shouts, bestial shrieks. Nahel's thighs tensed. He was about to stand when the tent was torn away. The entire tent. Just lifted as if by a storm. And what lifted it was a storm, in a way.
King Raventar stood a few feet away from me, his arm lowering from flinging away the canvas and wood.
He bared his teeth at Nahel and roared. I'd never seen such fury on his face.
In his body. His entire being radiated rage.
It blasted from him, turning him into an animal.
Indeed, claws tipped his hands, and the bones of his face were sharper.
Oh, and he was naked. He lunged toward us.
I sat between Nahel's legs, shocked. Frozen. But the Chief of the Crimson Feathers wasn't.
Nahel shot up before Raven could reach us and shouted, “Kill King Raventar, Eliel!”
With a cry of horror, I lurched to my feet.
Raventar stumbled to a stop, his eyes widening to look at the ribbon on my wrist. “Eliel,” he whispered.
“Raven!” I took a step toward him.
Nahel slapped a dagger in my palm and whispered in my ear, “He won't hurt you, little bird. Don't worry. I'll find you again.” And then the bastard launched into the air, still as naked as Raven. “Fly!” he shouted to his men.
Behind Raventar, I saw Okon warriors engaged with Dragon knights. The Okons immediately obeyed their chief, launching into the night to flee the battle. The fighting stopped, but the true battle had just begun.
“Let me free you,” Raven said. He darted for my wrist, and I slashed at his arm with the dagger.
“Raven!” I cried, even as I tensed for another attack. “Stay back! I don't know how long I can stop myself.”
He held up his hands, his right arm dripping blood. “Easy, my foundling. My mate. I love you. I'm here for you, Eliel. Drop the dagger. Just open your hand and let it fall to the ground.”
“I can't,” I moaned. My hand clenched tighter. I stepped forward.
“Eliel—”
“Shut up!” I lifted the dagger. “You wouldn't stop, Raven. You kept going. You wouldn't stop. You didn't care about me. You just kept going.” My hand trembled. My muscles didn't know what to do—obey me or the magic.
Raven went still. “What didn't I stop? I don't understand.”
My whole body began to shake as I fought Nahel's command. “Get away from me! Go! Now!”
“No, Mate. I won't ever leave you.”
I cried out in agony, turning the blade toward myself.
“No!” Raven roared and leapt for me.
I spun and sliced at him. He ducked and rolled away.
“Do not hurt yourself, Eliel!” Raven stretched a hand out to me. “Please, don't.”
“I can't fight this much longer.” I let out a futile scream. “It's you or me. I have to use this.” I slashed the dagger through the air.
The King stood and opened his arms, looking utterly vulnerable in his stance and nudity. “Then use it on me. I will survive, my foundling. But I won't survive your death. Come to me. It will be all right.”
I shook my head rapidly, staring at the dagger, willing my legs to remain still.
“I'm sorry I ran, Raven. It was Bara. All that . . . what you did to me. The way you stood over me and came on me. He did that.” I lifted my gaze to his.
“You became Bara. In my head. And you wouldn't stop.
I made scared sounds, but you didn't hear me. You didn't stop.”
Raven's face crumpled. Behind him, his knights gathered. But they only watched helplessly, no one getting too close.
The Dragon King fell to his knees with a wounded howl.
He viciously gripped handfuls of hair as if he might tear them out, but then released them as his arms went limp to hang at his sides.
“No!” he roared at the sky before lowering his broken gaze to me.
“I never wanted to hurt you. I am not him.
Please see that. I love you, Eliel. I'm so sorry I didn't see your terror. I was lost to the magic. Please, my foundling, I would die before I hurt you.”
“I know,” I whimpered. “I love you too, Raven. Bara has made a fool of me. I ran from something real. I flew into the arms of evil. But you saved me. You came just before he—” I broke off on a sob.
My hand was clenched so tightly it was on the verge of going numb, magic urging me to stab the King in the heart. It was a miracle I hadn't done it yet.
I went still.
A miracle. Raven had called me his miracle, but he was mine. He was my miracle.
I met his gaze, an epiphany rocking through me. With wonder, I said, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Eliel. More than anything in this world.”
“No, I mean, I love you!” I shouted the words, and I felt the compulsion shatter inside me. Dropping the dagger, I ran to him. “I love you, Raven!”
“Eliel!” Raventar scooped me up and hugged me tightly. “My mate. Oh, love. You did it.” He set me down to cup my face. “You broke the magic.”
“Love broke the magic.” I laid my hand over his. “I just had to focus on my love for you.”
His eyes shot to the ribbon on my wrist. With a snarl, he slid a claw between the silk and my skin and sliced through the fabric.
The ribbon fluttered down. Halfway to the ground, the Dragon King blew a stream of fire and incinerated the evil thing.
Then he pulled me back into his embrace, and I felt the bond that had been started between us burst into joyful brilliance.
“My foundling.”
“Yes, you found me again, my Raven.” I nestled in closer and curved my wings around him.
“Please don't ever run from me, Mate.” He nuzzled my face. “Tell me if I scare you. If I must chain myself, I will. Whatever you need.”
“No, don't chain yourself for me.” I leaned back.
“I need you free, no matter how savage you get.
I know that you won't hurt me. It was just that particular act and the way you didn't notice how it affected me.” I grimaced.
“You should have warned me about all that cum, Raven!
An extended orgasm? That does not accurately describe what you did!
Sweet Gods, I didn't know one man could produce so much.”
The Dragon King burst into laughter.
Behind him, his knights chuckled, their relief clear as they walked away to give us some privacy.
“It wasn't cum, Eliel. It was my essence.”
“Your soul,” I whispered.
“A carrier for it, yes. I wish I had warned you better.” Raven bent to brush his lips over mine. “I didn't know it would scare you. I thought you'd feel me in that essence. That my soul would speak to you and calm you.”
“It might have, if I hadn't been lost in memories of Bara.”
“Damn that bastard! He's dead and still plagues us.”
“No longer, Mate.”
Raven went still. “What did you say?”
“I won't let him come between us ever again. If I need to, I'll ask for your help. But he won't win.”
“No, the other thing. What did you say?” He grinned.
“Oh.” I grinned back and cupped his face in my hands. “I love you, Mate.”
With a joyous cry, the Dragon King kissed me and lifted me off my feet. My wings went out to balance us as we spun into an ancient dance of triumph and love. He was mine. Despite all I'd done to ensure the opposite, Raven was mine.
And I was his. Yes, magic bound us, but we had accepted it willingly. That made all the difference.