CHAPTER VI #3
“Come on, trouble,” he grins, walking at my side as we leave the courtyard. “I want to watch you read the rest.”
“You’re the trouble,” I grumble, moving the wood to my bag.
Keane catches my wrist before I can drop the oak safely back into its hiding place, pulling it from my fingers with a tsk.
“Would you rather I read them for you?” he teases.
My eyes go wide, my cheeks blushing uncontrollably. “What! No, Keane!”
I reach for the slab and watch him lift it well above his head.
“You’re so cute when you’re shy, Alexis. Which is actually very surprising, as you’re anything but in bed…”
I huff and look away from his heated gaze, heading down the road.
“Might I remind you that you asked for this?” he laughs. “You’re the one who wanted me to write to you.”
“Yes, well, excuse me for thinking I’d be in the privacy of my room when I got your messages.”
“Why? Because you wanted to touch yourself?”
“The thought crossed my mind,” I huff again. “But now you want to get me all hot and bothered in the middle of the Palisades!”
“No time like the present,” he chuckles, angling the wood down to him. “Let’s see where you were. Hmm, very naughty.”
“I hate you right now,” I narrow my eyes and stick my foot out. I bring a hand to his back and push him forward with a hard thrust, watching as Keane laughs in amusement and steps over my boot, as if anticipating the move.
“I think you were at the point where I tell you just how much I like watching you find your release. There’s something you do just before you co-”
“-Ancients,” I breathe heavily, reaching out again for the oak. “I’ll read it!”
Keane looks down at me with a boyish grin, his brown eyes dancing across my face. He’s so teasing right now, so carefree, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
“You’ll read it out loud, Alexis,” he hands me the oak with a smirk.
I blush and grab the oak quickly with a nod. There’s nothing in this Old World that will keep me from stopping this boyish sense of elation on his face right now.
Keane smiles wide as I turn the slab over and read the first line of text, my breathing going shallow.
“Right before you’re about to climax…” I read slowly… “you surrender to me. You completely give me control, Alexis, and let your body submit to mine. Every damn time.”
Oh, fuck me.
What have I gotten myself into?
I take a deep breath, unable to look at Keane as I continue.
“It sets me over the edge, because I lose my own control when I’m in you. To watch you give yourself to me, to feel you let me take over, knowing that I’m so close to giving you the pleasure you deserve…”
Ancients, he’s always been good with his words.
“That’s what makes me find my own release. Even now with my hand working against myself, I can envision your surrender. I can hear my name on your lips as you cry out. You always trust me to bring you to satisfaction.”
Keane moves his hands swiftly around my waist just as I finish the last sentence, picking me up with a grin as he settles me against his chest. Stormfall caws in annoyance and pushes off into the night, my legs wrapping around Keane’s waist as I bring my arms around his neck.
I crash my lips onto his in pure, hot desire, feeling him smirk under me before he pushes his tongue into my mouth.
His hands dip down to grab my ass with a tight squeeze, pulling my lower body up against his hips as we deepen the kiss.
“I’m going to take you for a ride right now, trouble,” he grins. “Hold on tight.”
“Hold on tight?” I breathe heavily, “huh?”
The next sound that comes from my mouth is a squeal of surprise, the road of the Palisades blurring around me as Keane uses his Discerni speed to take us back to the tavern.
“So who ended up winning the bet on the night of the coronation?” I ask Alanna when we join the group again.
The blonde Discerni frowns as she lifts her ale up to her lips, looking towards Cal at the end of the table. He’s deep in conversation with the rest of the men from our group, all of them standing at the end.
“The two ended up drinking until the early morning before they decided to call it a truce,” she replies quietly. “The wager still remains. Heysan agreed that the next time they see eachother they’ll resume their bet.”
“And what exactly was the wager?” I ask as Sutton leans forward, also looking at Alanna.
The blonde slowly turns her gaze on me, shrugging a shoulder in response.
“I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.”
“Alanna,” I huff.
She gives me a small grin and shakes her head. “It’s for Cal to share, Alexis, not me.
“I’m not sure I like this,” I muse out loud, thinking of Heysan.
Sutton laughs, taking a sip of her whiskey with a smile.
“The Ancient seemed well enough when I was with him. He’s a very flirtatious man. Left me wondering if the people of the Old World used to engage with the Ancients back in the years when they walked.”
There’s no guessing what Sutton means by engage, and if anyone has the determination to engage with an Ancient, it’s certainly her.
“Relations weren’t forbidden,” Alanna says thoughtfully, “but it was forbidden to sire any children. No offspring was to come from an Ancient and another being of the Old World. It was decreed by the Elder Father and Mother many years before the Great Rift.”
“Interesting,” Sutton raises her whiskey to her lips again with a small grin.
I laugh and turn curiously to Alanna. She’s always dropping little hints of knowledge of the Old World past. Holis and Mana are well versed in the history of the Ancients, but Alanna, well, she always surprises me with her own awareness.
“When do you and Tripler take off?” Alanna asks.
“The morning after next,” Sutton replies. “We’ll ride into Dalloway and then down to Dardar for a few nights, stopping along the Green Valley.”
“Any chance you’ll be coming back up to Gaumond soon?” I smile.
“Not until a fortnight or after,” she looks at me curiously. “Why?”
“No real reason,” I shrug. “It’ll just be good to see some familiar faces when I make the court my own for the first time.”
Sutton grins, raising her glass as I do the same. “We’ll be sure to be there, then.”
“Did I hear you say you’re heading down to Dardar?” Cal’s cheerful voice asks loudly from the end of the table.
Sutton grins as her brother nods next to Cal in answer. “We are. For a few nights.”
“Care to bring back some smoke from their city? It burns like no other shisha I’ve experienced.”
“For you, Cal, anything,” Triple laughs.
Cal smiles broadly at the Discerni before he turns his gaze to me. “What do you say, Alex? Shall we light up tonight?”
I laugh at my big friend and shake my head. “You know full well that if we do, we won’t be leaving the table all night.”
“Sounds like a good night to me,” he chuckles, waving to Elliot from afar.
The men all make their way back to their seats at the table, with Cal next to Alanna and Keane at the head next to him.
Tripler sits to his right, next to his sister, while Holis takes a seat next to me, eyeing Stormfall on my shoulder.
I smile and bring my hand up to the Bird of Ash, loving the friendship between the two of them as I pass him on to the Discerni.
“Has he begun talking to you yet?” Holis asks, holding Stormfall on his arm as his other hand comes up to stroke his chest.
I shake my head with a small smile. “No. Though my thoughts reach him farther than I would’ve thought possible. He can be away in the Bell Grove and still hear me.”
“Distance will not come between you two, but I do think he’s ready to start talking. You just have to be willing.”
“Willing to hear him?”
“That,” he nods, still watching Storm thoughtfully, “and more…”
I frown in confusion as Stormfall’s yellow eyes turn my way.
You know I’m ready for you, Storm. It would be an honor to finally hear you.
The Bird of Ash caws loudly, drawing a few gazes in the room.
“Soon, Alexis,” Holis smiles, turning his own blue-green gaze to me. “Very soon.”
Keane and I are up early the next morning, awakened by the quiet footsteps of McQuoid and Clair as the two of them get ready to depart.
We hadn’t planned on rising so early, but I wanted to say goodbye to the two royals before they left, not knowing if we’d cross paths again before we all left Bardot.
Ancients, we would be leaving tomorrow to head into Woodlands. The anxiety settles strong in my chest as we both move out of bed.
“I meant to tell you last night,” I say softly, trying to keep my mind on anything but our travel tomorrow, “but I’d like to stay here whenever we visit Bardot…”
Keane’s hands pause at his waistband, eyes lifting to mine as he tucks in his shirt. He runs a hand through his messy brown hair, grinning at me boyishly once again.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“It wouldn’t be too much trouble, would it?” I ask, pulling a deep green robe over my body, “traveling up and down the mountain? You’ll be busy but hopefully not as much as this past fortnight.”
“No, Alexis,” he shakes his head, walking towards me, “it won’t be trouble. This will be our residence. Our home while we are here.”
Wow.
I look down to the sash of my robe and begin fumbling with it, trying to tie it tighter under my fingers that start shaking. Keane’s hands land on mine, grabbing the fabric as he loosens the knot completely and pulls both ends towards him, pressing his body firm against mine.
“You’ll need to start packing today…” he says quietly, pulling the sash hard so that it cinches around my waist. “Three different packs total.”
“Three?” I breathe heavily, feeling him knot the fabric against my torso.
“Three,” he nods. “One pack that you’ll leave here, for the Palisades. Another that you will take with you through Woodlands and to Gaumond. And the third that will go straight to Gaumond, so we can settle you in there.”
I can’t help the nervous sigh that escapes my lips as I look back down at the ground.
It’s happening.
The coronation is over, Keane is now the King of Disce, and we’re now going to start our lives together…