35. Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Shift.”
Nothing.
“Go fire, go.”
Nothing.
Staying inside the palace, listening, talking, pretending made it hard to breathe.
I needed out. I needed to move, to scream, to fight.
So, before the sun rose, I snuck out of my window and ran for the woods. Deep, deep into the woods where no one would search for me.
And that’s when I dared to tap into my true father’s power.
In moments when the will to keep my mask up slipped, I felt it. Slithering like a snake around my organs, my muscles, my skin. Waiting, wanting out.
Except I didn’t know how to release it. The power felt ancient, like a wise, sentient power from long ago waiting for me to prove I could handle it.
Apparently, I wasn’t worthy yet.
I wiped my face with the hem of my shirt even though the material was soaked through. It’d been hours in these woods and my frustrations kept building.
A rumble in the ground caught me off guard, but my mind recovered quickly. Of course, Rune would find me. He’d always find me.
The oh-so permanent resident in my gut twisted. Good old guilt.
I know I should have said something to him after speaking with my mother, but it was too much. Her words about distance with Rune shook me when I had time to think about it.
Was our charade believable?
To eyes who watched, did they see the longing glances, the smirks, the heated cheeks? Did they hear the rapid pulses, the ripping of clothes I ruined to keep from touching him?
Rune didn’t look happy.
My head titled to the side as he approached.
It wasn’t just his expression that ate at my insides. His hair stuck out in different directions. His normally shaved jaw had a light dusting of hair, and those piercing blue irises stood out more against the pink surrounding them.
Rune was exhausted.
“I’m sorry.”
There was a chance that his appearance had nothing to do with me. But the odds were not in my favor.
He didn’t speak.
His body stopped a few inches before mine and I reached out to touch him but paused.
What if he was mad? What if this was too much? I could let him go, if he wanted it right?
Faster than I could pull away, he grabbed me and placed my hand over his steady heart.
“In this life, you are my moon, my love, and my mate. I will always wait. I am yours, snarling, cursed, and all.”
Our lips closed the distance. Yes, all was right. I could breathe again. My muscles relaxed and that weight in my gut broke apart and fluttered.
He knew what I needed, and he came. How could I not fall for him? Rune was my match. My balm and my accelerant in one deliciously handsome body.
He shuddered and groaned when I bit into his bottom lip.
Yes!
More, more.
“Rune.” I moaned, the sound flowed into his mouth, his lungs, the length of him pressing against my lower stomach.
It was wrong, and so, so right. I wanted him, and if I burned for it then so be it.
I’d burn for him.
He’d claimed my soul, branded my heart, and now we’d bask in the flames of our desire.
My skin tickled and shivered. Like being caressed softly by fingers all over my body. This was a new sensation of intimacy I didn’t know was possible.
Then I opened my eyes, and whisps of yellows, reds, and orange whipped around us.
I pulled back and Rune’s eyes shot open.
“Well, that’s new,” he said through a smirk.
Flames roared around us, like a protective shell, blocking out the world that wanted us apart.
My fire.
“I did it.” My hands shot to my mouth and I beamed. Rune’s lips lifted, his thumb brushing against my bottom lip.
“You are magnificent.”
“I made fire, and you’re not burning.”
In that moment, I felt like I could do anything. Take on an evil king’s plot to end magic, done. Accept that I have another father, King Lachan who?
“I told you, I don’t lie.”
Ugh, his smile was too damn beautiful.
“What—”
“How I’d handle a spirit like yours,” he said against my lips. A different kind of shiver rolled over me. “I’d feed her fire and bask in the flames.” He breathed and launched my body at his.
What do you even say to that?
Marry me now?
Fuck being a good girl, claim me?
The decision was made for me as a dark shadow shot over us, and the ground shook us apart.