Chapter 8
Chapter eight
“Miss Rynna!” The voice, pitched high and insistent, came from somewhere outside the window. “Miss Rynna! You promised we’d do fox forms today!”
Kaelith groaned beneath her, shifting just enough to press his face deeper into the pillow. Rynna blinked groggily, nestled in the crook of his arm, her cheek resting against the warm slope of his chest.
“It’s barely dawn.” His voice was rough with sleep and irritation. “If I wanted Hollow-born training before sunrise, I’d have stayed in the damn Reach.”
She cracked one eye open just in time to see his hand stretch lazily toward the small table beside the bed. Fingers wrapped around the smooth wood of a carved pipe, and before she could register what he was doing, he flicked his wrist and whipped the thing out the open window on the opposite wall.
A thwack sounded. Followed by an indignant grunt. Then. “Where—?!”
“Ha!” Another voice answered, younger, delighted. “You missed me, Uncle Kae!”
Kaelith grumbled something unintelligible as Rynna buried her face into his neck, shoulders shaking in silent laughter.
“Uncle Kae?” she echoed, lips pressing the skin just above his heart.
“Animals.” Came the distant mumble of the man who’d been hit, his tall shadow passing by the window, backlit by the early light. “As if the constant moaning every night wasn’t enough. Now there’s projectiles.”
Rynna’s mouth dropped open slightly, then closed as her lips formed the word silently—moaning. Her cheeks flushed hot.
“Oh my fuck,” she whispered into his skin, mortified. “They can hear us?”
Kaelith chuckled, shifting his weight on top of her.
“Seems we’ve been providing free entertainment these last few weeks,” he purred, pressing down slowly, muscles flexing.
Dark hair slipped down around her face.
Blood thundered in her ears.
“Should we give them another show?” He pushed his hips forward, the thick length of him slipping between her bare legs, teasing against her entrance with infuriating precision.
A jolt of heat spiraled through her at the contact, boiling her insides as the flashes started—not hers. His thoughts. Or memories. Or something in between.
His mouth between her legs. The throbbing, wet heat of her pussy. The long, sinuous glide tongue lapping at her until she quaked beneath him. The taste of her on his lips. His mind wrapped around the pleasure of devouring her.
Her body responded before she could think.
Her hips rose up to meet him, thighs falling open as her nipples peaked against his chest, taut and aching. Every nerve lit like struck flint. And a low moan slipped from her lips as she arched into him, the ache at her core blooming fast and fierce.
She really should have been worried.
The mental drift—her thoughts bleeding into his, his hungers bleeding into hers—had been happening for weeks now. Longer, maybe. And that should have set off alarms. Alchemical ones. Psychic ones. Existential ones. It was familiar in a way that could…that would destroy her… if... if…
But all she could think about…
His teeth grazed her lower lip before biting down, just enough to make her gasp, while his fingers pinched around her nipple.
She squeaked, high and breathless.
Stars above.
She saw what was coming next—felt it unfurling in her mind's eye like a prophecy etched in heat—and the anticipation alone nearly tipped her over the edge.
“Rynna,” Kaelith panted into her mouth, the syllables torn from his throat like they hurt to say.
“Miss Rynna!”
The other voice shattered the spell like a hammer through glass.
She froze.
“Miss Rynna!!” the boy called again from outside, more insistent this time.
Kaelith groaned like someone had stabbed him, a mix between a snarl and a sigh as he dropped his forehead to hers.
“It’s going to be something sharper than a pipe next time, squirt,” he growled at the window.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Ben’s voice shot back.
Rynna’s eyes snapped to the door as small fingers curled around the edge of the rawhide flap that served as their front door.
“Shit!”
She shoved Kaelith, rolling him off of her with enough force to send him tumbling over the side of the bed. He hit the floor with a loud grunt, limbs sprawled, hair tangled, gloriously naked.
“One second, little dude!” she yelped toward the door.
Kaelith propped himself up with one hand, rubbing the back of his head with the other.
“You’re a savage,” he muttered, just as a pair of yesterday’s pants hit him square in the face. “Hey!” he barked, peeling the clothing off his head.
“Get dressed!” she hissed, already scanning the room in a frantic sweep for her own clothes.
She bolted across the room, grabbing her loose red pants from where they’d been discarded the night before. Her head whipped back toward the door.
The flap peeled open another inch.
“I said give me a minute!” she yelped, wrenching the pants over her hips before her hands flew to the discarded leather wrap and dragged it up over her front just as the flap fully opened.
“Ben!” she hissed as dawn filled the room, only to freeze as she registered the much taller shadow looming just behind the boy.
Rynna’s gaze shot upward, catching the tall silhouette of a woman standing at full height, holding the flap open with one hand.
“Mira!” she blurted, this time a full octave higher. “Ah—I didn’t realize you were… there.”
Her fingers scrambled to finish the knot over her sternum.
Behind her, Kaelith had already managed to get his pants on.
Loose, dark fabric slung low on his hips, the tie at his waist dangling undone.
He was barefoot, seated with one knee pulled up and the other stretched out across the mat, looking maddeningly unbothered.
His long, ink-black hair spilled over one shoulder in silken waves, catching the morning light and framing the lean muscle carved down his pecs and stomach.
Still on the floor.
Still not moving.
And very clearly not sorry.
Fuck. Rynna tore her eyes away and forced herself to refocus on Mira, trying to slow her heart and chase the heat off her cheeks.
“I thought I’d walk you down to training today.” The tall woman’s brows arched as she moved her hands to her hips. “You can update me on Ben’s progress along the way.”
“Of course,” Rynna managed, voice just this side of hoarse.
Then, her stomach betrayed her with a loud, unmistakable growl.
Right. Food. They’d barely had time to get dressed, let alone think about eating.
“I made leaf rolls,” Ben offered brightly, already digging into the oversized satchel slung over his mother’s shoulder. The bag nearly swallowed him whole, but he wrestled it open with practiced enthusiasm. “Here!” He lobbed the bundle her way, tripping a little as he did.
Expecting some level of clumsiness, Rynna lunged forward, caught it with the arch of her foot, and flicked it up to her hands in one smooth motion.
“Woah!” Ben’s mouth fell open.
She winked at him, flipping the bundle once more and tossing it toward Kaelith without looking. He caught it one-handed, still reclined, still infuriatingly at ease.
Then Rynna stepped up to Mira, who was already holding another roll in one palm. The older woman handed it over with a short nod, her expression unreadable.
“Thank you.” Rynna accepted it with both hands, bowing slightly.
Ben hadn’t stopped staring. “How’d you do that?” He kicked out one bare foot, mimicking her motion. “With your foot like that?”
She laughed, the tension from moments before fading. “We have a ball game at home.” She peeled back the charred ban-leaf wrapping. “You can only use your feet. It’s pretty fun.”
The heat hit her first. Steam rose from pan-seared okra and supple root slivers packed inside a thin millet flatbread, warm and fragrant from the smoked leaf casing, with just enough fire pepper oil to make her nose tingle.
“Smells amazing.” She took a bite, groaning.
“Only your feet?!” His eyes lit up as he immediately began scanning the ground, clearly searching for something to kick.
Behind her, Kaelith rose from where he’d been lounging to stand behind her, tracing a hand along her lower back. “And where exactly do they play that foot-game again?”
She nearly choked on her bite.
Glancing sideways, she caught Mira watching her with one dark brow raised.
“Oh, you know,” Rynna said quickly, waving the half-eaten wrap in a vague arc toward the trees beyond the village. “Out there. Somewhere.”
“Right.” A quiet exhale slipped through the other woman’s nose.
Then her features softened, and she stepped closer.
“I hope, one day, you’ll trust us with your story.
” Her fingers grazed Rynna’s in a fleeting, maternal gesture.
“Even if it’s only the snake. Everyone deserves at least one person who truly knows them. ”
Kaelith didn’t speak behind her. She could feel him, though, like a shadow draped just out of reach. And something in her gut clenched so tight it might shatter.
She didn’t flinch or draw her hand away. But a twitch passed across her cheek even as she forced herself not to react, not to feel the way her stomach had just hollowed out at the words.
“It’s not that interesting.” The words barely escaped through the ringing in her ears. “Really.”
More deflections. The truth was, she didn’t know how to talk about it. Not the before. Not what she remembered. And not what she didn’t. Even the scraps she clung to would sound insane if she ever said them aloud.
Best to keep it buried.
Best to enjoy the peace here, however long it lasted.
She shoved the rest of the food into her mouth, chewing hard and fast, grateful for the excuse not to speak.
“Are we going or what?” she mumbled around the mouthful, shooting Ben a look and jerking her chin toward the door.
Anything to change the subject.
“Yay!” Ben bolted ahead, arms flailing as he galloped down the path like a wild colt set free. Mira followed at a more measured pace, the faintest smile ghosting across her lips.