2. Chapter 2
“Look at me,” I commanded him again. It fought against the command, I could see it, but finally his silver eyes locked on mine.
The shade and the intensity were the tells that he had finally lost control and was being forced by the entity within him.
The entity that was not of his choosing, but of a mission set forth by a greedy king so long ago.
The man’s chest heaved as fear coated his face. “You’d do this to him? Use him? Hurt him?” The thing spit at my feet. “How can someone so squalid say you love someone then torment them? You’re nothing but a filthy whore.”
“Tell me what Dokvalon wants.” I continued to ignore the barbaric jabs.
It had been Peiro’s idea that we question the entity to see what secrets Dokvalon might have been hiding.
Everyone agreed with this extraction method, except me.
I hated every moment of it, but knew we needed answers, and I was the only one who could do it.
Why did Dokvalon attack? What were they after?
Peiro’s face strained as the thing inside him fought my control. It knew I was gaining strength in Wielding illicitus, but I needed more to successfully control this thing at my command.
“Fuck. You,” he seethed through clenched teeth. “You’ll never control me, you stupid bitch. I can’t fucking wait to catch his moonlight. When I’m released, I will save you for last to meet my wrath. After I’ve taken your sweet cu—“
Something deep in my core snapped. I was in front of him now and felt the alluring, raw power that radiated off him—the kind they said could destroy anything in its path. Could Wield into anything. How could no one else feel this intoxicating aura? I wanted more. I needed more.
Dim shadows danced at my feet. The lifesource glowed dimly inside of his chest. It wasn’t like Vovias’s or that of the urthens we’d encountered.
Faintly, in the back of my mind, I watched the memory of me grabbing the glowing light from Vovias’s chest, feeling the warmth it gave me before it disintegrated into ash.
The lifesource of the man before me was different.
While it still held a similar glow as every other lifesource I’ve seen, it was chained and rooted within.
The need to cradle it within my fingers became too much, but something repelled against any caress I would attempt.
So instead, I would bend it for my will.
I grazed the man’s face, feeling the power just beneath my fingertips as it hummed under his skin. I craved to have this magic imbued into mine. Slowly I tilted my head, taking in the faint black lines that appeared under my fingers that etched up and out across his jaw from my touch.
The man hissed and fought to distance himself from me but I only pressed more, feeling our power colliding in a delicious way. It filled me. Gave me a sense of understanding that this Wielding was true power. I wanted to get drunk in it. Revel in it.
I scoffed as I leaned in, taking in his faint scent of bergamot and mahogany.
Of home. “I’m torturing him? Isn’t that a bold claim from the very thing that has latched onto his soul and forces him to do your bidding?
Is it not torture, the cruel and wicked things you compelled him to watch as you controlled his hands? His actions?”
Peiro’s face smiled again, baring his teeth against the pain. I looked into his glowing eyes and saw the reflection of my own shining just as brightly.
“And what if I told you he liked it?” He looked at me with a strange lust in his eyes.
Maybe it was the call of familiarity with Peiro that lured me in.
We were now so close that our lips almost touched.
Heat flared inside of my body. I shifted my legs to alleviate the growing pressure between them.
The man shifted closer. “And something tells me,” Peiro’s voice purred seductively, “the more you dive into your Wielding, the more you just might like it too.”
Reason beckoned me to come back and not let this thing I needed to control, control me. I blinked rapidly, clearing the gray haze that had taken over my sight. The lush green of the forest, the blue of the sky, and the sound of woodland critters grounded me back to where I needed to be.
“You’re wrong.” I pushed my power into the man’s chest. He screamed a bloodcurdling wail that had every cell within my body wanting to retract, to stop hurting this thing. Stop hurting Peiro. But if it was that easy.
After a few moments, he stopped screaming and sagged against the chains. I jerked my hand away as I closed my eyes. This part was what brought me pain—seeing the damage I was doing to him.
I forced my eyes open to look at Peiro, unconscious.
“Peiro?” I whispered as I brought both of my hands to cup his face, forcing my Wielding to yield back into my skin.
“Peiro?” I whispered again, patting lightly on his cheek to wake him up.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” I kept repeating as I continued lightly patting his face and chest, trying to imbue my weak Healing into him.
“Please, wake up now.” This was taking longer than usual. Why wasn’t he waking up?
“Fyom!” My breathing grew frantic. “Get a tonic!”
“Already on it,” came his reply as he headed in the opposite direction, to the tent where he kept his Healing remedies.
“Sury! I need help with these chains!” But Sury and Ora were already at the task.
The chains loosened, causing Peiro’s body to topple over. I caught him but stumbled back; the sheer size of him towered over me and overpowered my balance. Fyom’s large hands guided his body away and helped me gently lay him on the ground.
I flung my arms around him, feeling for his pulse. It was so faint. “Peiro! Why aren’t you waking up?” I shouted.
I barely registered Fyom moving to Piero’s other side to pour a liquid into his mouth. “Help him swallow this. Now.”
I didn’t need to hear any more before I cradled Peiro’s head into my arms and lightly stroked the sides of his throat to work the tonic down. A tiny ruron zipped in front of me, holding a rather large flower, almost in glee.
“No, my fuzzy friend, the Whorled Thistle only alleviates joint aches and watery bowels.” The ruron let out a small squeal before Fyom continued on instructing the friendly urthen.
“Remember that time you played the gittern and you plucked such a solemn tune?” I whispered into Peiro’s ear as I stroked his hair. “I couldn’t admit it to you before, but it was quite lovely. I wanted to dance with you, but I didn’t have the nerve to ask.”
“His heartbeat is still weak. The tonic should have worked by now,” I barely heard Fyom say.
“Should I try—“ Ora started to speak but was cut off by someone reminding her of the theory that her life-imbuing Wielding couldn’t possibly work on the evil of this entity.
My eyes swelled with unwelcomed tears. One cascaded down my cheek as I leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss upon Peiro’s brow. Thuvina, divine giantess that harbors death, please grant him more time.
Seconds felt like an eternity as we waited.
“It seems like you owe me a dance, Naa’n le’ya,” Peiro croaked. “My moonlight.”
My eyes quickly found his. Those deep brown pools I could get lost in stared back at me.
I finally remembered to breathe, and felt a burdening weight lift off my shoulders.
Before I could say anything, Peiro’s hand found the back of my neck and pulled my lips to his.
The kiss was warm and portrayed a man who was starving.
Our tongues danced, each stroke provided a healing all on its own.
“Fucking giants. Get a room or go rut next to a tree…very far away,” Sury’s disgust called out as he walked away.
“Like we haven’t all heard the romantic notions of you and our queen,” Fyom called out to Sury’s retreating footsteps.
“What?” Ora squeaked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Fyom’s laughter echoed as he followed them back to the tent. Their retracting footsteps became quieter the more I dove into the depths of the brown eyes before me.
“You are magnificent,” Peiro whispered to me, his hand still holding me close.
“I hurt you—“
Peiro shook his head to cut me off. “You are growing stronger, and it knows.“ He struggled to swallow. “Your practice is paying off.”
My brow met his. “I’m so sorry.”
“I should be sorry for the vile things it says to you. None of it is true.”
“I know it’s just trying to distract me.”
“No.” I felt the intensity in his words as he pulled us apart, his eyes boring into mine.
“None of it is true. Since this curse, I haven’t known a true breath of air—until I met you.
I did not know what it meant to have life radiate against my heart again, until I met you.
Moonlight, you have granted me a peace I did not think was fathomable.
” Silence grew for a split moment before he whispered softly, “I love you.”
There wasn’t a second to process his words before his lips were on mine again, slow and delicate. Each stroke of his tongue stoked the fire that burned deep. “Don’t make me practice any more today,” I panted against his lips. “It’s taking longer for you to recover.”
“What is the magic word?” He smiled against my mouth.
“Please,” I begged and suddenly became briefly disoriented and felt the solid surface of the ground at my back. Peiro’s body pressed heavily against mine. I looked up into his stare. “I don’t want to keep doing this.”
He knew what I meant, the meaning behind the words. While my Wielding grew stronger and my body grew tolerant of the unnatural magic at my fingertips, my heart grew heavy every time I used him as the target.
He had already played the part of Dokvalon’s puppet for an amount of years I couldn’t fathom, and I refused to let him be a puppet for Gria. For me.
Those deep browns sparkled as they stared down at me, reading me in a way I couldn’t always understand, but I could see sadness unfolding. “What’s one soul compared to a kingdom?”
“I will let the kingdoms burn before I use you like others have.” I whispered the words with my eyes closed, unable to take them back.
I felt the sudden weight lift and a coldness claimed my body.
I opened my eyes to find Peiro steadying himself above me and smiling the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen.
“Come,” he said as he jumped to his feet with his hand extended to me.
“I think I smell Sury burning that poor rabbit he caught earlier. Better we save him from another miserable excuse of a dinner.”
I chuckled as I reached my hand toward his, instantly engulfed by his strength and pulled to stand. My feet stalled when I tried taking a step toward our camp. My hand was gently pulled back as I turned my head to meet Peiro’s gaze.
Gently he grabbed my chin in between his fingers and held me steady.
“Never fear doing what you have to do. Use this thing inside me to better your kingdom. If the last thing I can do is give you that final shield of protection, please know I would be satisfied in my dying breath.” He kissed me again before grabbing my hand to lead us to a burning dinner.