Chapter 25
Rylee
I crash into the pool so hard it stings.
Axl’s power bangs on the door, playful and restless, as the warm water surrounds me.
Frustration rattles my very core as I kick toward the surface, sucking in a deep breath as I clear the water. I wipe the hair from my face, turning as I hear a deep laugh behind me.
“It’s not funny,” I say, but I can’t stop a laugh from slipping out.
Kal flashes me an apologetic look, waving me off.
“It’s not,” he says, barely containing his amusement from where he stands at the edge of the pool. He folds his arms over his chest, his red sweater sticking to his muscles.
Ash lounges on a cushioned chair at the opposite end of the pool, his tail flicking back and forth.
He eyes me in a very judgmental way, but at least he’s stopped skittering off when Kal takes a step too close to him.
He still tries to claw at him any time Kal tries to pet him, but I think the all-you-can-eat fish dinners have stanched any permanent escape attempt.
He’s still prone to nightly explorations beyond the princes’ houses, but he’s come back every morning.
Though it’s midday, the sun shining brightly above us, early spring still brings with it a bite in the air. Luckily, the ruby stone pool deep in Kal’s grounds is heated by some Occuli-powered magic. It’s a goddess-send, especially today.
Kal shifts to kneeling as I swim toward the edge. He reaches for me and tips my chin up to meet his eyes. “You would’ve laughed at me when I first learned to fly, too.”
“You were a child. Not an adult. I highly doubt it was funny.”
Kal gives a casual shrug. “Axl certainly laughed.”
“I managed to hold myself aloft for ten minutes that time,” I say, blowing out a breath.
“You’re incredible.”
“It feels incredible when I get it right. It’s all the times I get it wrong that bother me. We don’t have time for mistakes like this.” I motion to the water, miming my splash earlier.
“There’s nothing else we can do but this,” Kal counters. “Rylee, you mastering these powers is crucial for your mental, physical, and emotional health. Nothing else matters.”
So much else matters, but I’m not in the mood to argue those points with him again.
I think he can see it on my face, though, because he gives me a faux pout and backs away from the edge of the pool. He gathers the hem of his sweater, pulling it over his head in one smooth motion.
I swim back a little, heart racing at the sight of him. It doesn’t matter that I’ve spent countless hours studying the curves of his muscles, the blue of his eyes. I’m always stunned.
“Let’s try again,” he says, unbuckling his trousers and letting them fall to the ground. He steps out of them, leaving him in nothing but tight red shorts, his massive thighs on full display before he slides into the water and slowly stalks toward me.
“What?” I blink out of my haze. “Were we training? I’ve suddenly forgotten everything from before you took off your clothes.”
Kal laughs, the sound full and rewarding. “You think you don’t torture me in that bathing suit?” He eyes the emerald green two-piece I wear. “But I know you’ll feel so much better once you’ve gotten the hang of this. And you’re already doing so well. Let’s try again.”
He’s not wrong. If I can give myself any credit, it’s for the amount of information I’ve learned over the last month, the first half with Pierce, the second here with Kal.
From the history of Lumathyst to the goddesses, the kings, and the realms across the sea.
History lessons are a reprieve from playing with powers all day and night.
Though, when I left the Emerald Wood, I felt all the more confident about Pierce’s power.
“Okay,” I say, slightly pouty. “I’ll pretend I’m not hurt you didn’t come in here to ravish me,” I tease.
Kal’s smile deepens. “Think of this as foreplay.”
I laugh. I can try to blame my insatiable need for him on the mating bond that crackles between us, but I know a lot of it’s just me. I’ve always had an appetite when it comes to the Legends, and no matter how much I’m with them, I always want more.
Kal shifts in the warm water, gliding behind me. My bare toes are on the smooth stone as we stand there, his chest grazing against my back. He slides his hands over my shoulders, down my arms, and to my fingertips, gently lifting them out of the water. He stretches my arms to either side of me.
“Close your eyes,” he whispers, his lips at the shell of my ear where he dips down to speak to me. “Concentrate, like we’ve practiced.”
I take a deep breath, doing as I’m told.
We’ve done this a hundred times now, and it’s always easier when he’s touching me.
Just like it was easier when Pierce was in my mind with me.
Their powers are more bendable when they’re close, but Kal had given me space moments ago to test my limits, and that’s when I crash-landed into the pool.
“Feel the sun on your face,” Kal continues, his voice a soothing balm for my tangled nerves. “Feel the wind kiss your cheeks.” He drags his lips over my cheek for emphasis, and warm sparks ignite down my spine.
I hold my focus, miraculously, and concentrate on the elements he refers to. The ones his goddess mother, Neph, blessed him with. Blessed my ancestral line with.
The sun is warm on my skin despite the crisp chill on the wind, and the contrast with the heated pool creates all sorts of sensations.
“There’s a thread,” he continues. “Or at least, I’ve always pictured it as a thread. A line of energy I can draw from. The sun and sky have always replenished my power, fueled it as I believe my mother intended.”
“I thought your power was endless,” I say, keeping my eyes closed as I search inwardly for the thread he speaks of. “At least it’s supposed to be, now that you’re mated.”
“It feels like that now,” he says. “When you return them to us. Where before we found you, they were so much less.”
I can’t imagine less. Not when I can feel the full strength of his power inside me now.
The door I lock it behind is wide open, the other three tightly secured while I work with Kal’s power.
His feels like the sun—warm and consuming, strong and healing.
It radiates beneath every inch of my skin, filling me with hope and strength and dreams of soaring the skies.
I can practically taste the clouds on my tongue. His power wants to fly so badly . . .
There.
I gasp, mentally gripping the thread he speaks of. “I . . . I found it,” I whisper, terrified that if I speak too loudly, I’ll lose the thread. It’s like a string of clouds and sunlight braided together.
“Good,” Kal says, pride radiating from his voice. His hands drift off my skin, but I can still feel him behind me. “For me, it was easier once I found it. As long as I held on to it, I never faltered. Hold on to it enough, and it becomes second nature.”
I focus harder, mentally gripping the thread in one hand and the well of his power in another. I smile. “This is incredible,” I say. “Kal, your power, the way the air and sun feed into it, back and forth like a never-ending stream. It’s amazing. It’s endless. It’s—”
I open my eyes, turning to look up at him, but he’s not behind me.
He’s below me.
I gasp, jolting in the air where I hover a good four feet above him. I didn’t realize I’d flown. I almost lose the thread, but I hold on to it like my life depends on it.
Kal smiles up at me. “Look at you,” he says, eyes full of pride. “Stunning.”
I wet my lips, a blush creeping over me. I’m certain I look awkward, floating here with no sense of direction, but the longer I do it, the easier it feels.
Remembering our earlier exercises, I move to the left, then to the right, flying short distances and keeping the pace slow, the speed controlled by how much power I draw from the well inside me. The one that flows freely around the bond between us now that I’m not forcing it one way or another.
“Good,” Kal says, never taking his eyes off me. “You’re doing so well.”
I press my lips together to hold my focus. When he says things like that, it does things to me. Probably because he praises me so much in the bedroom, it’s hard to take it any other way.
“Want to test your limits?” he asks.
I halt, tilting my head. “Should I?”
He grins up at me. “I think you should.”
I slowly return to him, dipping back into the water enough to get eye to eye with him. “You trust me?”
“With my life,” he answers immediately.
The instant declaration fills me with a reckless sort of confidence.
I take a deep breath, nodding as I embrace him. He wraps his arms around me, holding me close, and then I draw a little more power from his well inside me—
We shoot into the sky so fast my heart drops to my stomach.
“Shit!” I gasp, trying my best to slow us, to push some of the power back behind the door.
“It’s okay,” Kal says in a calm tone. “You’re okay. You’re in control.”
“I’m so not,” I say, feeling his power rush through me, as if touching Kal has given it some release it’s been dying for.
We rush higher, the wind cold against our wet skin as the pool grows smaller and smaller beneath us. My body trembles, my mind whirling. I’m nothing but a vessel for the power to fill, to use when it wants. I’m nothing—
“Rylee.” Kal’s voice is demanding but gentle, drawing my focus. I meet his gaze, clinging to him.
What if I drop him? What if I lose control? I didn’t mean to go this high.
“Rylee, love,” he says again, holding me tighter against him. “You are in control.”
“I’m not.” I shake my head. “It’s too much, Kal. Your power—”
“Our power,” he cuts over me. “Breathe. We’re not in danger. You have the ability to take us wherever you want. I trust you.”
I’m shaking now, and he is, too. If I don’t get us back to the heated water, we may freeze to death. Or I’ll lose control and we’ll plummet to our deaths. That would be such a horrible way for Kal to die. An incompetent mate drops him. How tragic.
I can’t let that happen.