Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
M y days began to have a sense of normalcy as, between Ruhan, the Fae council, and the wary villagers, I began to settle into a rhythm.
It was a while before the villagers allowed the children close proximity to me, although they weren’t malicious about it. I had to prove to them that I wouldn’t again lose control of my magic, and so I continued to work with Ruhan. He was a surprisingly good teacher, and I had begun to look forward to our time in the forest.
It was after one such forest session, as I began to think of them, that I brought up fulfilling my half of our bargain. It had been weighing on my mind lately, but I had been hesitant to bring it up, afraid to upset the delicate balance we had struck. Fiach had simply rolled his eyes at my reluctance and called me a coward.
I didn’t want him to be right.
“So,” I began, bending down to pluck some herbs for tonight’s supper. Helmine had delegated the majority of the foraging duties to me, since I was ‘already spending so much time’ in the forest, she thought it would be an excellent way for me to contribute. I had jumped at the opportunity to participate in village life.
“When are you going to tell me what’s really going on?”
Ruhan’s eyebrows almost met his hairline. “Excuse me?”
I didn’t let him deter me with his brusque tone. “I pay attention,” my tone had an edge of its own. “I’ve noticed when the men disappear for hours on end and come back with scrapes and bruises, when Aldric starts to ask me questions about Rennesen and you shut him down. I can tell when the women have been asked to keep me busy or distracted so I don’t get in the way of what you are planning. Puzzles are one of my favorite pastimes, Ruhan, and I’m very good at putting the pieces together.”
Calculating eyes appraised me, and I stood tall, allowing him to see my sincerity. I’d begun to feel at home here in the forest with the Fae, more at home than I’d ever felt anywhere before. The Fae, though sometimes wary, had started to accept me in ways few others had done before. Perhaps it was because I didn’t have to hide my magic from them - in fact, since I had begun to work on balancing my magic, my magic was often requested. It was how I first started to notice something was going on. Several of the men had come to me with their cuts or sprains, giving improbable excuses for their wounds. After that, I started paying closer attention. The small things had started to accumulate, and I had begun to make note of it.
Just the other day I had been chatting with Fiach under the willow tree in the village, enjoying the cool retreat when Aldric and Matteo had ducked under, talking in low tones. “I don’t care how ready you think we are, we don’t have enough information. If only we c-” Matteo had noticed me then, and cut off his sentence, looking sheepish at having been caught.
I’d waved at them and left them to their discussion, but the words started to dance around my head, cementing that something was going on. Something I wasn’t a party to. After that, it wasn’t difficult to see the subtle signs of unrest. The small, piqued comments that made their way into everyday conversations. The pursed lips when I steered the conversations toward the human anti-magic mentality and my experiences in it, the changed feeling in the air when I would tell stories of my time in Bur?l. The unrest when stories of magic amongst the humans would come up.
Slowly Ruhan’s eyebrow arched, and he asked, “What do you think is going on?”
I threw up my hands in frustration. “I don’t know! That’s why I asked!”
He just stood there, arms crossed and that damn eyebrow raised, waiting for me to answer, fully in teacher mode.
I sighed “Are you planning an uprising?”
A small smile crossed his face so fast, if I wasn’t watching his face so closely I would have missed it. “We have no intention of going to war against the humans.”
Well that was a non-answer if ever I heard one.
“If not a war, then what?”
He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “What do you think of your king?”
“King Almains?” The question threw me, but I took a moment to consider his question. “I think he’s so caught up in his hatred of Fae and magic that he neglects his true purpose.”
Ruhan studied me, and I felt like I was being weighed. Fascinated, I watched as he clenched his jaw, the muscles of his face jumping every time he did. It was distracting. Just as I was about to grow uncomfortable, Ruhan uttered two words, “A coup.”
I felt my jaw drop, and my eyes almost bugged out of my head. “You’re actually planning a coup?”
Tersely, he nodded, watching me with those eyes that missed nothing.
I ducked my head, his scrutiny becoming too intense for my comfort while I tried to corral my spiraling thoughts. I needed to move, to think, to take a moment to process what I had just learned. Absently, my hands wandered across the grass, gathering herbs and berries nearby as I considered my next words.
I realized that I didn’t fully disagree with the need to have a worthy King on the throne. Too long had the Fae been relegated to subclass citizens, to be persecuted for simply what they were. I glanced under my lashes at Ruhan as I popped a sweet berry into my mouth. Fiach flew down and joined me as I continued to fill my pockets and satchel at my waist, eating as many berries as I plucked. What would Rennessen, or even all of Verlen look like with a different King on the throne? Would they crown a Fae king in his place? My mouth pursed as I considered that.
As my mind chewed over the situation, my eyes roved over a few small mushrooms, and I absentmindedly popped them into my mouth, considering how Ruhan might take my suggestion that placed Berengar on the throne instead. I knew him, had grown up with him. He would be a fair king, and there would be less chance of the people revolting against the crowning of King Almains’ only son. In fact, if done carefully, most people would never even know.
Would I be okay with that? Could I stomach signing the King’s death warrant so that my childhood friend could face his destiny and ensure the freedom of the Fae?
Yes. Yes, I could.
Decision made, I popped one last mushroom into my mouth and stood up. A delicious warmth wrapped around my middle and pooled in my center. I felt amazing.
As I turned to face Ruhan all my previous thoughts fled. How could I think of anything else but him as he stood there, all dark and broody and yummy? Fiach began squawking, but I ignored him, pushing the annoying sound to the back of my mind. There was room for nothing else, just Ruhan.
Ruhan. I rolled the name across my tongue and wished I could roll more than just his name over it. My feet carried me closer to him, and I watched the emotions flicker across his face. That beautiful, lickable face.
Mmm… It tasted just as I imagined he would. Scruffy and salty and pure man . I moaned in approval as I leaned into him, pressing myself fully against him, softness meeting pure strength. The body of a warrior. He felt so strong and solid as I wrapped my arms around him, my hands sliding under his shirt to caress his skin.
He wrapped his arms around me, the heat of his hands searing my waist as his fingers tightened. “Katharina…” he began.
I shushed him with a kiss, and for a second he remained still, shocked. Then, as his lips moved over mine, my world exploded.
Lightning flared through my blood, and my bones melted at his touch. How had we never done this before? Eagerly, I kissed him harder. Our lips battled for dominance, each frenzied brush stroking the flames in my blood higher. My magic entered the sensual dance with flirtatious caresses and licked up my spine, reaching out to intertwine with his. Gingerbread and ozone filled the air, mixing with a heady scent that shouldn’t make sense, and yet that made me crave more. More of him. More of his hardness, more of his kisses. I was drunk on pleasure.
His hands squeezed my waist, almost bruising in his strength, and I moaned my approval. Our kisses turned feverish, our teeth clashing as my tongue joined in our erotic dance.
My roving hands reached lower, and I slipped them beneath his trousers, searching for his hardness. He shifted, and I followed, needing more.
I was burning. My lips moved frantically over his, the heat almost unbearable as I chased my pleasure. His lips left mine and moved to my ears, breath brushing my sensitive skin, and I mewled at the sensual delight that zinged down my spine. My head was too full of carnal thoughts to hear his whispers, but I could imagine all sorts of lascivious things as I dragged my tongue down his face once more, whimpering at the delicious taste of him.
Rubbing against him, I needed him to fill me, to ravish the emptiness inside me. To stretch me as we give in to our animal appetites, finding completion in each other with sweaty abandon. I wrapped my fingers around him, and he jumped in surprise. I smiled at the wonton move as I stroked his hardness.
He moved again, and I followed, pressing harder into him until I felt him back into a tree. I pressed a kiss along the curve of his neck, and I shook.
No, he was shaking me .
Pain, sudden and intense, radiated down my skull, and I wondered for a moment if lightning had actually struck me.
“Katharina!” Ruhan roared, and it felt like my ears popped, sound suddenly filling them painfully. I covered my ears at the painful sensation.
“She can’t hear you, you buffoon! Stop touching her, it’s making it worse!”
“I’m trying ,” Ruhan gritted out, hands pushing me away with such strength that had I not been clinging to him so tightly would have thrown me across the clearing.
The fluttering of Fiach’s wings dragged my eyes toward him as he flapped above me, preparing to dive bomb me again. So that’s where the lightning came from, my muddled brain supplied.
I stumbled away from Ruhan as confusion filled my mind, trying to make sense of what I was hearing. My core clenched painfully, and I moaned, clutching my middle.
Finally loosed, Ruhan quickly stepped away from me, and tears of frustration and unsated ardor filled my eyes. What was happening? Was he not into it? Was I not enough for him?
“Here, eat this.” Ruhan shoved something at my face, and I obediently ate it, too emotional to think rationally.
As I chewed, the fire in my veins slowly faded, and realization seeped in.
I had just tried to seduce Ruhan.
My blood filled with horror, and I stepped away quickly, needing distance between us as I processed what I had just tried to do.
“It was the plasir mushroom. It - er, enhances the libido” Ruhan winced, and a part of me withered at the sight.
I turned to run away like the coward Fiach thought I was, when Ruhan grabbed my wrist, stopping me. “Stop! Just - stop,” he pleaded, and the look in his eyes held me as if in a trance. “I don’t want you to think - I mean, I -” He broke off with a growl and raked his hand through his hair. That same damn strand of hair fell over his forehead, and I clenched my fist to keep from touching him. I’d already done too much of that.
Ruhan found my other hand, his hands almost burning like a brand as they circled about my wrists. He leaned down slightly, filling my vision so I couldn’t avoid his eyes. My focus darted from eye to eye as he waited for my full attention, so I gave it to him, body settling down slightly at the motion. “Come to me without any magical influence, and I will seduce you until you shatter, for as long as you want,” he promised, an erotic growl lacing his words.
I left my herbs behind as I ran.