Chapter 6
Roots tangled around me, hiding me in their shadows. I let them, because I wasn’t quite ready to reveal myself to Althirion and Nymirae as I watched over Sylaira. Because her fucking mate had his head too far up his ass to see that he needed to grovel at her feet to fix what he had broken.
Maelsar approached, his footsteps wraith-silent.
I only sensed him because my body was a traitor where he was concerned.
My knees cracked as I rose, meeting him out of earshot of the three.
Sylaira was deep in her focus, and I didn’t want to break her concentration. Especially now that she wanted to See.
“Did you know?” I accused him, jabbing a finger into his broad chest. We hadn’t spoken alone since Sylaira emerged from Vaeron’s tent two evenings prior, almost as pale as the day Heraphia had died.
“Know what?” he said, running a hand through his tousled hair.
“That Vaeron had swapped out the virelthorn,” I hissed, crossing my arms, one hip cocked like a challenge.
He went utterly still. “I was just as shocked as everyone when she collapsed mid-vision after the trial.”
A scoff slipped out of me. “I may be a commoner, but I am not stupid, Maelsar. Your carefully chosen words will not appease me.”
He shifted his weight, looking at the canopy overhead. “Yes, I knew.”
“You bastard.” My nails bit into my skin. “You lied to me too. Both of you!”
“Lyr–”
“Don’t you ‘Lyr’ me.” I spun, stomping back to my hidden observation position.
But Maelsar caught me mid-stride and twisted me back to him. “He made me promise not to tell you.”
“Well, I guess it was always obvious where your loyalties lie,” I snapped. But hypocrisy was bitter on my tongue. I was keeping Sylaira’s secret the same way he kept Vaeron’s.
“Do you know why he did it?” Maelsar’s aquamarine irises searched mine.
“Of course not. He hasn’t spoken, not even to defend himself or his actions. And here I thought both of you trusted me.”
Maelsar sighed, his grip on my shoulders loosening. But he didn’t release me. “I trust you. And so does he. He wouldn’t let you shadow Sylaira if he didn’t think you’d bleed for her. If you didn’t want what was best for her.”
“Like he can claim he does,” I shot back, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
“That is what he thought he was doing,” Maelsar murmured. “Iaoth knew she wasn’t Seeing. As much as we hate her, she was right about one thing.”
“And, pray tell, what could that possibly be?”
“Sylaira’s visions could end this war. Vaeron’s duty is ingrained in him in a way that surpasses all else. I’ve long since given up trying to understand it.” Maelsar blew out a long breath. “To him, keeping his mate safe is his scripture. By any means necessary.”
“Including replacing her virelthorn so that she is forced to See,” I finished for him.
“Exactly.”
“And you helped him do that.”
“I did.”
I ran my tongue along my teeth. “And do you feel any remorse for any of it?”
He released me. Stepped back. Flicked his attention to the rustling leaves overhead.
“That’s what I thought,” I muttered, already whirling again.
But his hand closed around my wrist and hauled me back. I stumbled into him, pinned against his chest. “I am sorry that I lied to you about it. That doesn’t mean I trust you any less. Doesn’t mean I love you any less.”
My eyelids dipped closed, lashes brushing against my cheekbones. “Don’t say that if you don’t mean it.”
“I do,” he swore, his hot breath ghosting across my ear. “I think I knew from the moment you raked your claws across my neck during your capture. Commoner or not, I plan on marrying you once this war is over.”
I opened my eyes to find his waiting with raw fervency. The tenderness swimming in them made my heart ache.
“Which is why I will follow Vaeron over a cliff with no wings. We’re in this together.
And Sylaira. I may not have Sight, I may not be the most pious male, but I do know that a bond like theirs means something.
For it to emerge when the Angels are halfway to Uzhhorod?
” He shook his head, pewter hair tumbling onto his forehead.
“The Goddess has a plan, and it’s working through the two of them. ”
“Then we have to get them back together,” I murmured as his lips drifted closer to mine, like a predator savoring its kill. I hooked my fingers at the back of his neck and dragged him the rest of the way.
But he resisted that final connection. “Thankfully for me, you are far less stubborn than Sylaira.” He huffed a laugh, his mouth hovering so, so close to mine.
“I didn’t say that I’ve forgiven you,” I whispered.
“You didn’t have to.”
With that, he kissed me. A low moan quaked in my throat as his tongue swiped against the seam of my lips. I opened for him, losing myself in the scent of pine. Nails scratching the base of his skull, I pulled him closer.
When it came to this male, I couldn’t get enough. Nor could he.
Guilt sank teeth into my pleasure. Because Sylaira couldn’t have this right now with her mate. Maybe never again if Vaeron couldn’t drag his head above water and suck in a new breath.
Maelsar backed us into a nearby trunk, his weight pressing me into the bark. Breaking our kiss, he trailed his nose along the side of my neck, inhaling deeply. “Fuck, Lyr…you have wrecked me.”
A roll of his hips told me exactly how he felt.
Molten need pooled in my pussy, and I desperately wanted him inside me. “Make me come and I may change my mind about leaving you.”
A growl vibrated in his chest. “You wouldn’t.”
“Do you want to test that belief?” I teased, a malicious smile curving my lips.
Maelsar gripped my skirt and bunched it between his fingers. Evening air scraped my thin tights, and the shiver that followed wasn’t from the chill. “I found you once. You don’t think I could do it again?”
“You gave away all your methods before. I know how to avoid you now.”
Fury flashed through his expression at my taunt. But I fucking loved how it made his grip tighten.
“You’re mine, Lyr. No one else will ever get to have you.”
“We’ll see about that,” I panted, my center aching to be touched.
He cupped me there, drawing a gasp from my throat. “Will we?” His hand slid to the waistband and tugged it down. Skillful fingers swiped through my arousal. “Because I don’t think anyone else could make you scream like I do.”
One digit dipped inside me, and my breath hitched.
“See, that noise right there tells me exactly why you’d never leave me.”
He wasn’t wrong. But I’d never admit that to him.
“I am going to make you come with this single finger. Because I control your pleasure.”
The tip curled against the spongy spot inside me while his heel ground into my clit.
“Goddess!” I swore, head tipping toward the sky.
His teeth raked along the side of my neck, eliciting a wave of goosebumps. That finger pumped in and out of me, drawing my walls tighter and tighter.
“You’re dripping all over my hand,” he groaned into my ear. “I bet you want another finger inside you, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I pleaded, body wound tight and ready to snap. A little more fullness would send me careening over the edge.
“Tell me you’ll never leave then,” he taunted, circling that single digit.
My lashes fluttered as my eyes rolled back. “I’m not going anywhere.” The barest brush of that second finger had air fleeing my lungs.
“Tell me you forgive me.”
“You haven’t made me come yet.”
His laugh was dark, sinister, sinful. The kind of sound our Radiant Mother would condemn and covet.
My core clenched around the two digits as they pumped faster. Shamelessly, I ground into his palm, chasing that last scrap of friction between me and oblivion.
I leaned my head into his chest, muffling my cries. Because they belonged only to him. Chest heaving, body buzzing, mind blanking, I shattered. “Maelsar!”
“That’s it,” he crooned, continuing to fuck me with his fingers as the wave—the holy, violent wave—crashed through me.
Dizzy, the world reassembled around me as I slumped back against the tree.
He removed his fingers, bringing them to his mouth.
He sucked them one by one with a low groan.
“This is what divinity tastes like. And if I could wield a hammer rather than a sword, I’d build an altar with your name carved into the stone. ”
He captured my lips again, the flavor of me coating my tongue. When he finally released me, he boasted a self-satisfied smirk. “After that, I know I am forgiven.”
“Don’t get cocky, Maelsar,” I purred, the post-orgasm haze softening my tone. “No one likes arrogance.”
“I would call it confidence. Because there hasn’t been a time you haven’t screamed my name.”
With an incredulous laugh, I shoved at his chest. He stepped back, and I smoothed out my hair, mussed from how he’d pressed me against the rough bark. “I need to get back to Sylaira.”
“And I need to find Vaeron,” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Not that he will talk to me either. I’m really worried about him.”
“He’s your oldest friend. It makes sense you are,” I told him, straightening my tights and skirt.
Maelsar’s grin grew wry. “Perhaps they need a rough fuck to remember how good they are together.”
“Make-up sex is the best sex,” I laughed, but it scraped out of me all wrong. Hollow. Forced. Because we both knew what was broken between them couldn’t be fucked back together.
His hands found my waist, and he curved down to kiss me one last time. “See you at dinner.”
“See you,” I replied, teeth dragging over my bottom lip as he backed away, his gaze raking over me like a male starved. Mine snagged on the hard outline in his pants.
Once the fading light had swallowed him, I returned to my observation spot, noting that the three hadn’t moved.
The moment I settled cross-legged, Sylaira let out a low whimper. My attention snapped to her, air freezing in my lungs.
With a gasp, her spine locked straight, head snapping toward the sky.
I was on my feet again in an instant, jogging toward the blanket upon which she and her keepers sat.
The three of us had worked together at Thalvireth Palace—though they both had been assigned to the male Seers.
The two shot me warning looks, like I was foolish enough to attempt to interrupt the grip of her power.
While spying for Vaeron and Maelsar, I’d learned that once the Goddess spoke, sinking her claws into her chosen, there was no freeing them until she was finished.
Althirion’s charcoal hovered over the parchment, ready to note anything Sylaira said.
I hated them even more now than I had when I was pretending to be a servant. Revealing myself this early was a risk, but I needed to be at my friend’s side. I only hoped that they wouldn’t report my presence to the Korona.
Sylaira’s lips moved, but no noise came out.
Thank the Goddess.
Whatever she said, these fuckers would report to Iaoth.
And I didn’t want the crown to have any valuable intelligence on the Demons.
Maelsar was right—the end of the war hinged on Sylaira and Vaeron.
I didn’t know how it would happen, but I did know that we needed to be the ones to control it. Not the Koron and Korona.
With a choked sob, Sylaira snapped back to the present. Her hands clutched either side of her head like she could stitch the seams of her mind together and prevent another vision from wriggling past her defenses. “Get it out get it out get it out!”
I grabbed her wrists and brought them flush to my chest, where my heart beat a furious rhythm. Offering her something real.
Althirion was already leaning in, poised to record every word that slipped past her lips. “What did you See?”
I pinned him with a glare. “Maybe give her a minute?”
“It is important to record while it is still fresh,” he sneered.
“You don’t think I know that?” I snapped.
Sylaira released a shuddering breath. “I’m okay,” she whispered to me.
I unwound my fingers, searching her expression for any sign of distress.
Unfortunately, that was all there was. After months of being around the power, I’d garnered a lot of sympathy for Seers.
The protectiveness I’d always carried for my Elessarum family members had shifted onto those blessed by the Goddess too.
Wiping away her tears, she glared at her two keepers. “Clarity was four. I only glimpsed a battle in the desert.”
“That’s it?” Nymirae asked, exasperation lining her tone.
“That’s it,” Sylaira snapped.
“Surely if you think har–”
“There is no thinking about a mere glimpse of something uncertain. If I said there was nothing important to report, then there was nothing important to report.” She shoved to her feet, fingers curling into fists.
“You can either believe me or not; I honestly don’t give a fuck.
But your cajoling will not make something appear that wasn’t there. ”
I pressed my lips together to smother a grin.
“Our hour is up now, and I need to eat something. If I can even hold down a meal after the death I witnessed,” she spit.
Nymirae opened her mouth like she was going to protest, but her teeth clicked shut instead. “Fine. We’ll try again tomorrow for a vision with more clarity.”
Because all they cared about was certainty—a high enough number to act on. And they’d ply every Seer in this realm with drugs to get a ten.
Sylaira didn’t deign to give them more of her attention, whirling and stalking away. I waggled my fingers at the two, offering them a mocking grin that said everything my mouth didn’t, then jogged after her.
Tears carved down her cheeks, and she dashed them away at my approach.
“You don’t have to be strong for me,” I told her.
“It’s just so horrible, Lyriasthe,” she whispered, her posture folding inward under the weight of her power. “I know I said I didn’t want more virelthorn, but…”
“It doesn’t make it any easier. For what it’s worth, I’ve never watched someone walk toward the thing that terrifies them most like you do.”
She offered me a sad half-smile. “I needed that. These visions will help us. I only wish that they weren’t so horrific.”
I pulled her in for a hug. We remained like that for a long moment, neither of us making any move to let go. We didn’t need to explain why, not when we’d both suffered so much.
Her stomach rumbled, and I released her. “I snuck some chocolate into my bag from the kitchen before we left. If real food makes you nauseous, I know you’ll be able to eat that.”
“The only thing I could eat when I first arrived at Thalvireth,” she said, voice thin as smoke. I didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that she was thinking of Heraphia.
“Exactly.” I looped my arm through hers, and together we made our way back to camp.
Yet as we picked at our food, silence reigned. A cloud hung over my friend, dark and oppressive, and I wasn’t the wind that could blow it away.
I would figure it out. Because this war would be won or lost in the wreckage between Vaeron and Sylaira. And I refused to let anyone else I loved become a casualty in the crown’s holy war.