5. Chapter 5 #2
I called vines along the ground to pull the crested walker pieces into a pile and cast fire for them to burn.
Peiro used his sword to spear other pieces, hurling them into the flames.
It was eerily silent as we worked. The thoughts of the events just moments earlier—of what I had been so willing to do—continued to run rabid in my head.
No. That wasn’t me. I would never harm anyone I loved. I forbade it.
Peiro stayed close by my side as we made a large radius through the woods we had claimed as home the past few nights.
I should have been amazed by what he was able to detect in the dark, but I was learning that his body had been pushed in so many ways, earning him skills even Wielders didn’t possess.
I continued to take light steps, careful not to make too much noise.
Eventually I looked up at him, taking in the sharpness of his nose and the fullness of his lips.
Could he sense power and magic the same way I did? Was that how he knew to stop me?
My thoughts swirled recklessly the farther we walked.
“I wanted to give you a moment of peace to clear your mind, but now your prolonged silence is telling.”
“What do you mean?”
He grumbled softly before suddenly grabbing my hand.
I barely had time to question his motives before he led me away to a small brook that cut through the trees.
I was thankful he could see so clearly, because I for one continued to stumble across fallen tree limbs and stray rocks.
We stopped at the brook’s edge, where the water shimmered in the moonlight.
If one listened carefully, they could hear it gently rippling over the rocks as it carved its path.
“You’re hurt.” Peiro sat me on a broken stump next to the water. My mouth opened, ready to argue that I was indeed fine, but suddenly a sharp pain zipped through my thigh.
I looked down and noticed the large gash where one of the crested walkers’ claws had torn through the skin. Peiro turned toward the brook, strangely limping along the way, and dipped a cloth into the water. He returned and, ever so slowly, wiped away the dirt and dried blood.
“If Fyom’s up to teaching me, I’ll have this healed in no time.” I chuckled, hoping to bring lightness into the tense air. My Wielding sprang to life over the wound and gave it just enough Healing to numb the pain.
“Tell me what happened.” Peiro moved to his knees and gently tugged my hand, urging me to follow.
I watched as he gently placed my hand in the cool water and slowly began to wash off dirt and ash and what I hoped weren’t urthen-y remains.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he continued to hold my hand before moving to wash the other.
I knew his question held more meaning, yet I lied anyway. “I’m okay.” I couldn’t admit out loud what the power that surged in me desperately wanted.
A light moan escaped my lips as he began to work the muscles in my palm. When did my hands become so tight? “You should know better than to lie to me,” he responded playfully, but his tone still held a serious edge.
I didn’t respond and focused on the soothing ministrations of his fingers that sent tingles up and down my spine.
“Do you remember,” he began as he continued to knead away the ache, “when I said that your heartbeat gave me courage to approach you?”
“Yes?” The corners of my lips turned, blushing at the memory.
“Hmm. Well, your heart flutters when I’m near, but it races the more I caress your skin or coax out your release.”
A welcomed shiver raced through me. “Why are we talking about this? Now, of all places?”
“Because, Naa’n le’ya…” He stopped his care and cocked his head toward me.
“It skips, just for a blink of an eye, when you are lying.” His eyes shone brightly in the moonbeam and gave me pause, like he could see every part etched within me.
“I also know you well enough to know when you are not fine. It doesn’t take me having a monster to recognize the war inside you. ”
I quickly looked away to avoid his gaze as shame crept like a growing vine. Shame for not only what I’d been so ready to do to my own blood, but for how I was willing to lie about it to him now.
An inky voice that sounded so far away slithered in the back of my mind. Can he truly understand you? The voice had grown bolder in recent weeks, whispering my inner thoughts into my mind. Maybe the cursed madness was taking over or I just needed a moment’s peace.
But it was right, wasn’t it? How could I begin to explain what I didn’t even understand—that lately I’d been so angry all the time?
That I was so angry at my dead parents for leaving me unprepared against the threats we faced?
So angry for Ora and her kingdom? So angry that we have to find some giant-forsaken prophecy about some sort of key, and angry we can’t even translate it ourselves?
You’re alone in this. No one can understand what courses through your heart, especially him.
No one can understand the depth of your power and how we deserve every lifesource within our clutches.
I clenched my eyes shut, willing the voice to go away.
You’ve only tapped into your power and you’re already holding yourself back.
Think of all that you could control, if you only allow yourself to fully embrace it all.
“Open your eyes.” Strong fingers took my chin and turned my head to meet a piercing stare. “You cannot run nor hide from me, moonlight. I see the turmoil written on your face, but…” His tone dropped. “I especially do not like being lied to.”
The look he gave me should have made me cower, but instead, it lit a defiance. Something that wanted the challenge. And it smiled.
Warmth flared through my body the longer his stare bore into me, igniting a fire that could only be extinguished by his touch.
Peiro cocked a brow, his tongue sliding with seductive slowness over his bottom lip.
He leaned in, his large frame overpowering the air around me, and slowly shook his head.
“You, above all, think you can withhold from me?” He exhaled in a tsk, still holding my chin in place with a soft grasp. “What am I going to do with you?”
Peiro’s lips collided with mine, sending a tingling charge surging through my body.
Another moan escaped my throat as I locked my arms around him and tugged him closer, knotting my fingers in his hair.
He shifted me onto my back near the brook’s bank and pressed his body into mine, deepening our kiss.