Chapter 25 Dylan #3
The way she said that ridiculous name they'd given me, dripping with attitude, sparked a fire deep in my chest. Gods, this woman would be my undoing. If her attitude alone could stir feelings no one else had, I didn't stand a chance.
“Come on, I had you down as more observant than that. I summon wood, cariad, not stone.”
Her jaw worked as my insult landed, but she ignored it, clearing her throat as she carried on. “I was under the impression only Witches of Llyr served the Western Coven?”
“The majority of the Coven is made up of those whose power comes from Llyr, but there are a small number of us whose power comes from D?n.”
Non moved to stand beside me and raised her open palm again. “Isn't that a little contradictory, considering Wielders of D?n are supposed to hate the Witches of Llyr?”
“Someone has already been pouring poison in your ear, I see.”
She scoffed and turned to look at me.
“Eyes on your weapon, cariad. Next time, you won't get so lucky.”
Non turned back towards Carnwennan, lodged in the wall, and closed her eyes.
After a few deep breaths, the dagger began to shake.
A small bead of sweat ran down Non's temple as she concentrated.
Eventually Carnwennan dislodged from the wall and spun through the air, landing perfectly in Non's open palm.
I opened my mouth to congratulate her, but was cut short when Non flipped Carnwennan in her grasp and pressed the tip to the underside of my chin. The gold and silver in each of her eyes was luminous with rage.
My eyes trailed down to her lips, and the image of her licking that drop of blood played repeatedly in my mind. I could feel the heat of her ragged breaths against my own, and the sensation drowned out the entire world around us.
For gods only knew what reason, Zenn's voice echoed in my mind.
Don't do it, big man. It's a terrible idea. You only needed to get her to trust you. This goes way past that.
Gods only knew what came over me in the moment, but my hand moved to stroke the strands of dark hair that fell over her face.
Non didn't flinch or pull away from my touch, but her eyebrows flew up in surprise.
I slowly grazed my fingertips over her cheek and down her jawline, before tangling my fingers in the hair at the nape of her neck and angling her face upwards.
My lips brushed hers, and the small gasp she let out was divine.
I wanted to bottle it up so I could listen to it for eternity.
A better man would have pulled away, taken the hint that the dagger pressed under his chin, which was now drawing blood, meant she wanted nothing to do with me. But as Non's eyes fluttered closed, I knew she wanted this too. And for a single taste of her, it was worth being impaled with a dagger.
As I crashed my lips to hers, a groan of ecstasy rumbled from my chest. I'd dreamt about tasting her every day since she landed on my lap in the study, but the reality of having her lips against mine was euphoric.
A rustling sound from behind us washed over me like a bucket of cold water, my senses coming back to me suddenly.
I made to pull away, but as I did, Non’s other hand grabbed a fistful of my habit and pulled me closer.
My eyes snapped open, unable to believe that she actually wanted this, too.
I had guessed she had, from the way she practically drooled on the floor when she'd seen me in the training ring with Zenn.
But I hadn't allowed my delusion to get the better of me.
Her tongue swept inside my mouth, and suddenly the kiss went from pressing my lips to hers to something else entirely.
Non whimpered as my hand found her lower back, and I used the hold to guide her hips closer to my own. My tongue sweeping and tasting her mouth wasn't enough; it would never be enough. I needed more of her by the second.
Non kissed me back with such ferocity that Carnwennan had pressed into my skin so deeply, streams of my blood ran down the front of both of our clothing.
But frankly, I could have been bleeding to death, and I wouldn't have relented my exploration of her mouth for a second.
Just as I started guiding her thighs around my waist, Non pulled away.
Her eyes shot to the blood that covered her hand, then back to me.
The flushed fullness to her lips seemed to fulfil some primal need inside of me.
Without thinking, my hand reached out, swiping my thumb over her plump bottom lip.
“Let me train you.” The words that came out of my mouth surprised me as much as they did Non.
Her grip on the dagger faltered slightly as she stared at me, mouth hanging open.
She took a few steps back towards the castle wall.
As she did, the bone-crushing sensation of the wards falling back into place consumed me.
I let out a hiss of pain as I moved away from the boundary.
Thankfully, Non was too focused on my proposition to notice the shift she'd caused.
“Aren't I your competition in the trials? Why bother training me? The less I can do, the easier I am to kill.”
I winced at her bluntness; in recent years, death was inevitable in the Anoethau. But I intended to do everything I could to get Non across that finish line. And not just because of the blood oath I'd sworn either.
Non paused, waiting for my response. When it didn't come, she continued. “Being trained by a Wielder of D?n hasn't worked out for me so far. What makes you different?”
“Almost the entirety of my Coven is made up of Witches of Llyr; both my mothers had the power of Llyr.
I know as much as the next Witch how this power works, even if I don't wield that power myself.
You're going to need to be able to fight with magic in the Anoethau. Besides, who else do you have lined up for the job?” She studied me closely, and when the silence stretched on for too long, I was certain she would refuse.
“Please, let me train you.” My voice was thick with emotion when I spoke those final words.
Something unreadable passed over Non's face, her breathing more rapid than it had been after our kiss.
“Where would we do it? Train, I mean. If I let you train me, how could we do it without my grandmother or the rest of the Cyngor Blaen finding out?”
Scanning her face, I looked for any sign that she was joking, but I only saw sincerity in her eyes. Desperation, even.
“The Western Coven encampment. I have a discreet way of getting you there.
It's unlikely anyone will come looking for you.
The whole time we've been here, no one has come to check up on you. Even when you screamed, no one came running. My guess is your punishment is just to make you stand here night after night rather than actually defend your Coven as you said.”
She studied me for a moment, her lips pursed.
“I still don't understand why you'd want to help me.
Wouldn't it make things easier if I couldn't wield anything and was super easy to kill?” I took a step closer to her, so close that her nose brushed against my own.
At the contact, she dug the tip of Carnwennan deeper into my skin.
“I'm only interested in winning if I'm up against skilled Witches or Wielders. I'll still beat you either way, but my ego loves nothing more than a challenge.” I winked.
Admittedly, this level of goading was a little unnecessary, but I couldn't get enough of her when she was angry at me.
With a conflicted snarl, she removed Carnwennan and stepped away. Non studied the dagger in her hands for a while before speaking again.
“When Ledr Caerwyn gave me this, he said it was a god dagger. What does that mean exactly?”
Non's lack of an answer to my proposition suggested I wasn't going to get any further with her tonight.
But she hadn't flat-out refused to train with me.
Either way, I had achieved what I came to Llwyn Onn for, and that was finding a weakness in the wards. I just wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with the information, knowing it would endanger Non further.
Zenn's voice was in my head again, pleading for me to get back to the Western encampment, and for once, I decided to listen.
“Tomorrow night, same time. Don't be late for our first date, cariad,” I threw over my shoulder as I made my way back to the copse of trees.
From my back, Non let out a cry of frustration. To my surprise, she started following me as she demanded I answer her question first, otherwise there was no way on this miserable earth she'd consider my proposition.
I was ready to turn around and keep this foreplay going; nothing did it for me more than seeing her annoyed like this.
But right on cue, my world seemed to tilt sideways.
The exact same sensation I'd felt during dinner with the Cyngor Blaen.
My head swam, but I pressed on, stumbling towards the summoning circle.
Non couldn't see me like this. There was no way in Annwfyn she would want to train with me if she knew what being near her did to me. With the little strength I had left in me, I began jogging towards the summoning circle, but after a few strides, my knees buckled beneath me.
Non's vitriol eventually turned into calls for concern when she noticed I could barely stand.
But I ignored her pleas to stop. I was certain I would black out before making it back to the encampment.
My body hit the floor with a thud, and I shut my eyes, preparing for darkness to take over.
Instead, I was free-falling. When I collapsed, I must have just made it to the edge of the ring, thank the ten gods.
I hit the ground with another unflattering thump as the breath was knocked from my lungs. Shuffling came from my right. As I cracked open an eye, Zenn's boots came into my line of sight. The steel-capped toes gleamed under the waning moonlight.
Zenn let out a long, exasperated sigh.
“You went to see her, didn't you?” I still had my face buried in the dry leaves beneath me, but Zenn was pissed. His voice told me as much.
“Maybe,” I croaked as I stifled the bile that made its way up my throat.
“This is exactly why I told you to steer clear of her. Look how sick she makes you!”
Groaning, I managed to push up to a sitting position. “At least I found what I was looking for,” I rasped.
Zenn crouched down, resting his elbows on his knees.
His eyes pinned me with his classic I'm going to skin you alive stare.
A sane person would likely have bolted, but I'd pushed his buttons so many times over the years that I knew he wouldn't do anything.
Worst case scenario, I'd let him land a few hits to my pretty face during our next training session.
“You mean to tell me you had enough time to find a weakness in Llwyn Onn's wards and spent so much time flirting with her, she almost made you pass out?”
The woods around us spun as I took a step forward. Zenn steadied me with an arm wrapped around my shoulders.
“I volunteered to train her, might have even kissed her a little.”
Zenn pulled away from me, and the absence of his support nearly made me pitch sideways again. But the bastard didn't care; he was too busy muttering to the sky as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Efnisien help us all! What the actual fuck were you thinking?”
I was too exhausted to respond. Barely keeping myself upright was a struggle.
“The plan was to get close enough so she'd start to trust you, not actually get inside her, you rake!”
My hands planted on my knees as I fought the need to dry heave all over the floor. “I haven't been inside her…yet.”
Zenn snarled in disgust at the same time as my knees gave way. Zenn moved to catch me, but he only managed to stop my head from smashing on a rock before I hit the ground again.
“She's the weakness in the wards,” I whispered, as my body began shivering from the pain.
The rest of the evening was a blur of figures and hushed voices.
I vaguely recalled Zenn dragging me somewhere.
Then the next thing I knew, a bony hand was forcing sickly sweet liquids down my throat.
The concoctions eased the pain, if only slightly.
Somehow, I'd ended up back in my own bed.
When sleep finally claimed me, the only thing I dreamt about was the taste of Non.