Chapter 18
Enara detangled her limbs from Baztien’s and stretched her tired muscles. Last night had been something else. Soren would have blamed it on the mysterious silver liquid, but Enara would have had her way with Baz regardless of the aphrodisiac. Her only regret was that they hadn’t made it until midnight to witness the surprise that Saoirse had kept saying they had to see.
She couldn’t help herself. After a few hours of being pressed against Baz’s hard muscles, her need to take him to bed had overpowered all rational thought. They had barely shut the door behind them before Enara was throwing off her mask, untying the knot from his waist, and taking him into her mouth. The white fabric of his outfit still lay in a heap by the door.
She reminisced about how his hips had shuddered and bucked as she’d swallowed the length of him. His hands tangled in her hair as she appreciated every inch of his olive skin.
It had only been a few moments before he’d been begging her to stop through clenched teeth.
“If you keep going, I won’t have time to return the favor.”
Her smile was hungry as she stood to lift his mask off his face and kissed him. “Well, we can’t have that, can we?” she whispered in a sultry voice against his lips.
“My turn,” he growled as he lifted her up in one fell swoop and dropped her in front of the blazing fireplace. They had forgotten to light their oil lantern before the party, and he wanted to see her.
Without a word, he began untying the few knots that held the fabric of her outfit together and tossed the material aside. He beckoned for her to sit on the lounge that faced the fireplace, and she complied.
Enara was not shy about her body, apart from the scars on her back, and so she leaned against the cushions, opening her legs for him. His mouth went dry, and he swallowed thickly as he kneeled before her.
He wasted no time, diving into the apex of her thighs like a man starved. He devoured her as she rolled her hips against his mouth. She made no effort to stifle her moans, and the sound made him even more ravenous. It wasn’t until her legs were shaking and he had lapped up the rest of her juices that he gave her what she really wanted.
He lifted her into his arms and, with her legs wrapped firmly around his waist, eased himself into her. Once he was fully seated, he adjusted his grip on the soft flesh of her ass and began sliding in and out, slowly picking up the pace. His breathing became ragged, and Enara’s moans turned to screams of pleasure as he pounded into her. She had a vice grip around his neck, leaning her head back in ecstasy, her long brown hair falling in waves behind her.
The firelight danced off her skin as the warmth from the flames heated them. In that moment, he thought he had never seen anything more beautiful.
He could feel that she was about to climax by the way she tightened around him, and he turned, bringing her mouth to his and pressing her back against the stone wall. He moved with ferocious intent as their mouths clashed.
“Baz, don’t stop,” she whispered as her orgasm crested.
“Never,” he replied, resuming the amorous kiss.
She cried out as she came around him, her nails digging into his shoulder blades as one wave of pleasure after another rolled over her. That pushed him over the edge, and he nuzzled into her neck as he spilled inside of her, pulsing each time her muscles clenched.
They both sighed heavily, and Enara brushed away the hair that was plastered to Baz’s forehead before kissing the tip of his nose. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
It was the best sex of her life, and heat pooled low in her belly as she glanced over at the lounge. Their room was one of the fancier ones in the castle. She would have to thank the king later for his generosity.
She tightened the strings on her navy leather vest before slipping on her boots. Then she gave the still-snoring Baz a quick kiss on the temple before exiting their quarters. She had heard Soren speaking with a man in her room last night and wanted to investigate.
She closed their door and shuffled the few steps to Soren’s, hesitating at the threshold. She debated knocking but decided to say fuck it and walked on in.
“Rise and shine, bitch!” she yelled loudly, smiling at her quip. Her grin quickly faded, however, when her eyes landed on the bed.
A surprised Soren sat up, rubbing her eyes. “What the fuck, Enara? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
But Enara was too busy staring down the white-haired man in Soren’s bed.
She couldn’t control the rage that flowed through her veins. Rook had shattered Soren’s heart into a million pieces. This was the monster who had killed the only person in her life who had deserved the title of father.
“How dare you come here!” Enara’s nostrils flared, and she saw red as she stalked toward him.
Soren, realizing her friend’s intent, shot up from the bed to stand between them. “Enara, stop!” she demanded, holding up her hands. “Let me explain.”
Enara flicked her eyes to Soren then returned them to the enemy sitting nonchalantly on the edge of her mattress. “How is he even here, Soren? How could you let him into your bed after everything?” Her voice was balanced on a cliff’s edge, walking a tightrope on the verge of snapping.
“If you used your eyes, you would see that we are fully dressed,” Soren said, gesturing to the white outfit she had obviously slept in.
Enara scoffed. “Like that would stop you!”
Enara regretted the words as soon as they flew out of her mouth and immediately began apologizing, but Soren held up a hand to stop her.
“You’re not the first person to insinuate that in the last twenty-four hours,” she said, pointedly looking in Rook’s direction.
To Enara’s surprise, he looked genuinely saddened, but that didn’t make her want to kill him any less.
How dare he call my best friend a whore!
“You asshole, I should chop off your dick for saying that to her.”
The amused grin he responded with only infuriated her more.
“Enara, stop. As entertaining as that would be to watch, we don’t have time for this. The king will send for us soon, and I don’t think he would take kindly to you committing attempted murder under his roof.”
“Fine,” she grumbled, smoothing out her hair. “But I don’t trust him, and neither should you.”
Soren gave her a serious look. “I don’t, but we may need him. He knows our enemy better than any of us, and we would be stupid not to use that knowledge.”
“Fine,” she said again, stalking toward the door. “But we’re keeping him on a short leash. And Rook”—Enara turned her attention directly on him—“if you hurt her again, I will flay the skin from your body piece by piece and feed it to the wolf dogs.”
Rook chuckled to himself as she slammed the door behind her. “Your friend has quite the way with words.”
Soren turned and smacked him hard on his bare shoulder. “You didn’t need to go and rile her up. If you haven’t forgotten, you’re the one who needs to earn our trust, not the other way around.”
She sighed heavily and rubbed her hands down her tired face. She was still exhausted from all the revelations from last night and had fallen asleep against Rook’s shoulder. Sometime in the night, he had lifted her fully onto the bed and covered her in the blanket. He had intended to sleep in the small reading chair by the hearth but, in her sleeping, drunk state, she had beckoned him to lay with her. She vaguely remembered him crawling in beside her, the heat of his skin pressing into her back, and him wrapping his arms around her waist.
“You’re going to hate me in the morning, little bird,” he’d whispered against the nape of her neck.
“I already do,” she’d replied and pulled him closer.
It had been the first time a man had ever stayed in her bed without sex being involved. Even so, the men she had bedded only stayed the night when they were too liquored to make it home safely. She hadn’t wanted to give anyone false hope that they would share breakfast in the morning, but she also hadn’t wanted to be responsible for someone’s son getting lost in the woods and eaten by some wild animal.
Even back at the manor, Rook had always slipped out before she’d woken, seeming to understand the invisible boundaries of their “relationship.” But she had to admit that, for the first time in a long time, a man other than her father had made her feel safe.
She clasped her mother’s ring that still hung on the chain around her neck. She hadn’t taken it off since that day back in Thorncrest. It was a miracle she hadn’t lost it in the lake.
“Soren?” Saoirse called from the door. “Soren, are you awake?”
Before she could get to the door, Saoirse turned the handle and walked on in, her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline when she noticed Rook, who was still perched at the end of the bed.
“Does nobody understand doorway etiquette in this province?” he asked, rolling his eyes.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you had company,” Saoirse said, addressing Soren.
“It’s fine. What did you need?”
“The king has sent for you.”
“Okay, we just need to change, and we will be right down.”
Saoirse nodded and gave her a quick hug before exiting the room. “Don’t forget to say goodbye before you head back to Edras Mora.”
“I won’t,” Soren replied then turned back to face the man who had her in constant emotional turmoil. “You should go.”
“And I was so hoping I could stay and watch the show,” he said, his eyes shining.
Soren rolled her eyes. She knew he was kidding, but it did seem kind of silly to kick him out when he had literally seen every inch of her naked body.
He hopped off the bed and stood toe-to-toe with her, heat radiating off his skin as he looked her up and down.
“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
“Saving a mental image. You look delectable, and I find myself wishing last night would have gone differently.”
“If you think last night means you’re getting anywhere close to this again,” she said, gesturing to her lady bits, “think again.”
“We’ll see, little bird,” he replied, booping her on the nose before exiting the room, leaving her blinking like a doe in the torchlight. “Meet me in the stables when you’re done,” he called back to her.
“I hate you!” she yelled after him.
“I know!” he yelled back from somewhere down the hall, and she couldn’t help the smile that graced her lips.
* * *
The trio stood nervouslybefore the king, wondering what news he had for them regarding Edras Mora. The distractions from the previous evening had now subsided, and their chests filled with worry for their tracker friend and his lover.
“Come. Sit. Eat,” King Elias commanded, gesturing to the empty chairs that surrounded the large gray table. It was made of carved stone that speckled as though stars had been trapped within the dark rock.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” they replied in unison. They ate in a rush, wanting to get a move on as early as possible and fidgeted with the remnants of their breakfast as the king wiped stray toasted wheat breadcrumbs from his beard.
“So, back to business,” he said, placing his elbows on the table after the servants had removed his plate and clasped his hands together.
“Yes,” Soren said. “You mentioned something happened to the King of Patrivah. We were hoping you could share with us whatever details you may have.”
“You seem like wonderful folk, but there is only so much I can reveal to commoners,” he replied. “Protocols and such.”
“That is why we brought this,” Baz said, handing the King Jai’s heritage documents, still sealed from the late King Otis.
King Elias broke the seal and read the contents, stroking his beard thoughtfully. His large brows furrowed, and the group held their breaths, unsure of what he would say.
“I have corresponded with King Otis many times during my reign in an effort to heal what our grandfathers damaged all those years ago, and I recognize this to be his writing and royal seal. But one detail is of concern to me.”
“And that is …?” Enara asked, her mouth dry with worry.
“He names Jaideep Ashwood as the true heir of Patrivah, but unless there was some confusion with my informants, it also matches the name of the man arrested for his murder.”