Chapter 22
Rowan
I was trapped. Trapped in a nightmare I could not escape.
Trapped against a wall. Held against my will.
Trapped within a cage. Unable to move.
Trapped by dark eyes that prickled with ice.
I tried to run. Tried to scream. But nothing worked. My body refused to do what I asked of it. My mind refused to wake. Wake up, Rowan! You need to wake up.
Tears spilt down my cheeks in rivulets, dripping off the bottom of my chin. Drip. Drip. Drip. My heart pounded a song, small birds trying to break free from my chest. Thump. Thump. Thump.
“What a pretty bird, trapped within a cage.
Sing, pretty bird. Sing. Sing. Sing.
What a pretty feather, plucked from your wing.
Cry, pretty bird. Cry. Cry. Cry.
What a pretty colour, blooming on your chest.
Scream, pretty bird. Scream. Scream. Scream.”
I woke, screaming. But then Caelan was there. Holding me. Soothing me. Stroking me. I fell back to sleep, my mind at ease.
I was having the most amazing dream. One I never wanted to wake from. Sprawled across the bed, covers tossed to the side, I was deliciously warm, a subtle sheen of sweat coating my skin.
Yet still I shivered. With pleasure. With desire. A soft mouth pressed against my skin, against the pulse that fluttered there. Stroking my neck. Nibbling at my ear.
“Caelan?” I groaned.
“Mmm,” he murmured, mouth still pushed to my skin.
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. “Don’t stop,” I rasped.
My back arched as his hand found my breast, my nipple puckering with delight. His lips made their way across my cheeks, down my nose, until he hovered over my mouth, his breath flirting with mine. Our eyes met, and he lapped at my mouth before sinking in and pulling me under.
Deepening the kiss, I groaned into his mouth as his fingers trailed down my body, slipping between my legs and teasing me slowly. I panted. Panted! I’d never panted for anyone before in my life.
But those pants soon turned to moans as he moved lower down the bed. Lower down my body. He kissed a path from my collarbone to my hips, pushing my shift up as he went. The feeling of his hardness against my softness and his fingers slipping inside of me was all-consuming. A need built within me.
I clutched at the sheets, writhing beneath him.
So hot. So hard. So wet. A low, guttural moan burst forth as I succumbed to his touch, my eyelids parting to watch him when he reached my core.
His eyes locked onto mine, and I nodded when he paused there, silently answering the question that hovered in his gaze.
Without breaking our stare, he ran his tongue up the very centre of me.
“Oh. My. God.”
“Not a god, lass. Just a man.”
His voice reverberated against my already quivering bundle of nerves, and I throbbed with an ache that I could not reach. A sudden flush of heat swept through my body.
“Oh, God—”
A strangled moan escaped me as his tongue delved deeper.
His lips sucked and nibbled with an insatiable hunger.
Lost in a whirlwind of sensation, my body trembled, my mind consumed with pleasure.
I pulled at his hair. Desperate for relief.
Desperate to kiss him. To taste him again.
But he pulled me closer, his grip on my hips possessive.
His touch intense. He couldn’t get enough of me. And I couldn’t get enough of him.
“I adore your taste,” he growled, his voice making my toes curl.
His tongue swirled. His fingers danced. My hips twisted.
My moans sang. He sent me closer and closer and closer to the edge.
I was lost. My body aching for release. I had never experienced this before.
The way he worshipped me with his mouth.
The way he made me feel like the most desired woman in the world.
It overwhelmed me.
Consumed me.
Tangling my fingers in his hair, I pulled him nearer, and he brought me to the brink again and again and again. My body flooded. Soaking me in need. In longing. Sweeping me away on a cloud of euphoria. I was on the verge of exploding, but I did not want it to end.
“Caelan,” I gasped, my body trembling with anticipation. His hooded gaze locked onto mine, his dark hair tousled. His lips curled into a devilish smirk, and he blew on me. A short puff of air against my exposed skin.
“Hmmm,” he hummed. Vibrating against me.
“Caelan!” I sobbed, my fingers gripping the sheets. I couldn’t hold back any longer. “Caelan!” I cried out again, and erupted in flames.
Slowly, the embers drifted away. Floating, floating.
The tingles in my feet disappeared. Easing, easing.
My core, thrumming with remnants of desire, relaxed.
Sated, sated. My pulsing heart wound down.
Soothing, soothing. And my breaths slowed.
Deepening, deepening. Until, boneless and spent, I quietened into sleep.
“Milady?” A knock sounded at the door. “Are you there, milady?”
It took me a moment. Maybe a full minute. But suddenly I was wide awake – awake and surrounded by him. The pillow under my head, smelling softly of wood with a hint of pine. The warm body curled around me, a heavy arm stretched across my waist. And a hard…
Another knock sounded, and the handle jiggled.
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus, hide me!” I scrambled to grab the blankets to cover myself, causing Caelan to erupt with laughter. “I won’t be a moment, Jesmina,” I called out.
“Your clothes, milady! They have arrived. I’ll just set them up in your room.”
My room?
Realisation dawned on me. I wasn’t nestled within the familiar comforts of my own bed.
Instead, the space exuded a distinct masculine feel.
Rich, dark colours decorated the room, a stark difference from the lighter hues of my own haven.
Every piece of furniture was solid and substantial, the materials leather and wood, compared to the silks and plush velvets from the room across the hall.
I found it surprisingly appealing. Or maybe that was the man still curled up behind me.
“Good morning,” I peeped. I turned to look at him over my shoulder. I was certain I had fallen asleep in my own bed last night, so had no idea how I had gotten here.
“Good morning,” he answered, huskily. Sleepily.
God. That voice. That gravelly tone did things to me that I desperately wanted to explore. Reminding me of the dream I had just had. Heat rose in my cheeks, and I looked away, suddenly embarrassed.
I allowed the subtle nuances of his décor to draw my attention.
Looking around his room with an appreciative eye, I felt like I was being given a glimpse into his innermost sanctum.
The place that he called his own. His personality.
There were the standard furnishings – the bed, a dresser.
But also a chair and a small writing table.
A chest sat against the wall, his sword laid across it, as well as a cloak.
Books were stacked upon his desk, and my hands itched to open their covers.
I sat up, suddenly fascinated. “I didn’t know you read.”
He shrugged, watching me with sleep-filled eyes. I could drown in those eyes, so I looked away. And saw something familiar.
“My mobile! I’ve been looking for that everywhere. Where did you find it?” It rested innocuously on his bedside table, the modern technology looking so out of place in this world.
He stretched, and I was momentarily lost in the vision that was him. “Jesmina found it in the pocket of your pants when she took them to be laundered. She didn’t know what it was, so gave it to me. I have been meaning to return it, but haven’t had the opportunity as yet.”
He picked it up and handed it to me, the sheet dropping to his waist. When I just looked at him, he raised an eyebrow, a smirk quirking his lip.
Tongue away, Rowan. Tongue away.
I turned the phone on. The brightness of the screen was harsh in the muted light of his room.
No Signal still ran across the top, but that was not what I was looking for.
I had four bars of battery left, and wanted to save them for as long as possible.
Why, I did not know, but I quickly turned it off again and placed it back on the side table, leaving it there for safekeeping.
Without saying a word, Caelan leant in and kissed me gently, his lips softly brushing against mine. Pleasant shivers ran down my spine, but when he pushed in closer, his kiss becoming more urgent, I pulled away.
“I really like you.”
“Well, that’s good to know, because I happen to like you too,” he whispered back.
“How did I get here? In your room.”
His brows drew down. “You were having a dream. A nightmare. I could hear your screams from here. You didn’t quieten until I held you close.
I did try to leave again, but you started to whimper, so…
” He looked away, as if embarrassed. Or unsure.
“I didn’t want Jesmina to come in and find us there without your knowledge first. So I brought you in here. ”
Oh. Frowning, I tried to recall the nightmare. But all I could remember was the dream that came after. I’m certain those screams were not the ones that had awakened him. Surely, he would know the difference.
I quickly changed the subject. “What are your plans for the day?”
“I have a meeting with your brother after breakfast, and providing he has no tasks for me, I would like to spend some time with you. We could take a walk in the gardens or a ride through the estate.”
I smiled at him. “I would really like that,” I said, meaning it wholeheartedly. “But first, my new clothes have arrived! I’m going to try all of them on.”
He chuckled. “I will come find you after my meeting, then.”
I met with Jesmina in my rooms shortly thereafter, freshly washed, having snuck downstairs to the baths wearing only my shift.
When I entered the bedroom, it was filled with garments.
Beautiful green and grey dresses littered the bedspread.
There was an array of pants and tunics on the chair, but hanging against the closet door was the most spectacular cloak I had ever seen.
The inside was lined with soft, black-speckled white fur, the outside a deep burgundy velvet, the exact fabric I had selected in the shop yesterday.
Had it only been yesterday? It felt like a million years ago. So much had happened.
Jesmina was admiring the clothes. “Milady, did you see? Aren’t they wonderful?” she said, her hand stroking down an embroidered bodice.
Moving to her side and fingering the material of the skirt, I agreed. “But how did she make them so quickly? I only visited her yesterday.”
“It is her gift, milady; she is a Fabric Whisperer.”
“What is that?”
“A Fabric Whisperer can talk to materials. She only needs to tell them what she wants, and they will change before her very eyes, turning her vision into reality.”
“Like what? Changing colour?” I had seen that for myself.
“Oh no, milady, so much more than that. Whatever she can dream of, she can make. For example, she can ask the material to conform to a special shape or interweave with something else to make it stronger. I have seen her take tiny metal shavings and weave them with leather to create armour that cannot be penetrated. Milord has some vests and pants made of it. It is why she is the best seamstress in all Assyntian.”
“Are there many Fabric Whisperers in Assyntian?” I asked, intrigued by these gifts I kept hearing about.
“Not many, no. But there are plenty of Weavers, and Whisperers of other kinds. The gifts bestowed by the gods are personal and not all choose to announce what they have been blessed with; however, it usually runs in families, so you can nearly always guess what one has.”
“Gifts? As in more than one? I thought there was only one gift bestowed. And why would they not want to share?”
“Some fae have been blessed with more than one gift, yes. It is not common and rarely spoken of. As for the other, well… If your gift were the ability to talk to frogs, would you tell anyone? It is considered quite rude to ask someone what their gift is for that very reason.”
I laughed. “Really? Frogs? Why is that a bad thing?”
“Well, I am sure it has its uses. But it’s not the most glamorous gift, now, is it?” She snickered, turning away.
I was so very curious to ask what Jesmina’s gift was, but I held my tongue. “What’s the most interesting gift you’ve seen?”
She considered that for a moment, helping me find a matching top to go with a grey riding skirt I had chosen for the day. “I once saw a male in a travelling show turn into a bird.”
“He changed into a bird?” I asked, wide-eyed. “Could he change into anything else?”
“I didn’t stay around to see, but I have heard some have gifts that allow them to change into anything they can think of.”
“That sounds amazing.”
“And then others talk to frogs,” she said dryly.
I laughed. And so did she.