Chapter 38 Ariana
ARIANA
“We need to tighten things up around here,” Iver stated. We were all clean and rested compared to the last few days of travel, sitting in the Bavadrin council room which was becoming more familiar than I liked.
“Are you either the King or the Leader Superior? Because I don’t think you can make such commands,” Kiora offered him a tight-lipped smile. It had been more of a suggestion than a command, but Kiora didn’t hear it that way.
I looked across the table, meeting the sapphire eyes that always seemed to watch me.
Erik’s lip lifted just a touch. If allowing them to volley back and forth with their words allowed me to stare into those eyes longer, then so be it.
I had missed him. The presence of him. The sight of him.
The way he made me feel safe and seen and whole.
“Just a suggestion, little Sparrow.” Iver smiled, his attention easily resting on her.
“Stop calling me little.” Her eyes narrowed.
He raised a brow. “You have seen yourself? Stood next to a Lysian? Yeah?”
“Must you enjoy aggravating those around you?” Eislyn commented with a resigned sigh and a knowing stare.
Iver turned to her. “Awwh. Miss my attention on you and Kole?”
“Feel free to keep the Sparrow,” Kole muttered, leaning back in his chair, and folding his thick arms over his chest.
“I belong to no one,” Kiora snapped at him.
“Do you wish to change that?” Iver’s smile grew in invitation.
Willis sighed but said nothing, as if waiting for me to put an end to this.
Kiora bristled. “I am going to cut out that tongue.”
“Oh, but I am certain it would be so much more enjoyable for you if you let me keep it, little Sparrow.” His gray eyes sparkled.
“Before this conversation went off course, what did you mean by ‘tightening things up’?” Erik focused on his brother, finally bringing the crossfire to an end.
Iver ended Kiora’s torment by returning to the point of this gathering, figuring out how to strengthen our homes and forces, before ultimately figuring out how to dethrone the Sidhe King.
“I mean our exiled cousin in the mountains, Hedrek. He is a problem, one that we cannot continue to entertain.” He did not mention the other thing we still needed to figure out.
Mal. The assassin recovering from her wounds in my dungeon.
“If we told him of what we know, is there a chance they might stand with us?” I asked, looking at Erik for his thoughts.
“I would need to let him and his followers off of that mountain.” It was not a flat no, nor was it a yes, nor really an answer at all.
“We won’t know unless we try, and he is a strong conjurer. It would be useful to have more of those to stand with us, just in case.” I offered.
Erik tapped his thumb rhythmically against the armrest of his chair as he contemplated.
“Can these Lysians be trusted?” Willis leaned his forearms on the table.
Kole snorted. “No way.”
Erik’s thumb stilled. “You all need to understand that my hands are stained with the blood of Hedrek’s direct family and followers, a lot of it.
” The heavy stare of a King settled on me, and I was well aware of it.
I had seen him single-handedly eliminate a handful of those Lysians.
A chill ran through me, not out of fear, but awe of the lethal power of him.
“Perhaps we could come to terms for a time being, but as soon as the Sidhe King is handled, I doubt we would live amicably.”
“What are the choices, then? Just kill them all?” Kiora’s brows were drawn, not liking the idea. “Can we at least try to talk to them before deciding? Test the waters.”
I nodded. “I agree. Perhaps they have even more conjurors. It might be helpful in what is coming.” I looked at Erik. Ultimately, these were Lysians on his lands, the final decision was his.
“We will talk to them and see where that takes us,” he said and I offered him a small smile.
Iver leaned back with a grin. “Edmond is going to just love this idea.”
“Edmond is not King,” Kole grumbled.
“He has been playing King back home while Erik has been staying in the Bavadrin lands,” Iver replied.
“Playing at King and being King are not the same.” Kole leveled his stare at Iver.
“Right.” I took the attention of the small gathering. “If there is nothing else, I need to speak to Erik alone, please.”
“Lovely, I am famished.” Iver stood, setting his sights on the one he didn’t seem capable of looking away from for very long. “Sparrow, you want to come grab a bite?”
Kiora gave him a side eye as she moved towards the exit. “Not with you,” she said cooly.
“What about a bite of me, then?” He grinned, following her out as she groaned in reply.
The others filed out behind them without nearly as much flourish till it was just the Lysian King and me left.
Erik remained seated across from me, his posture exuding a quiet but undeniable authority that made my muscles tense involuntarily. The room seemed to buzz with his presence, the air thickening as if charged with electricity. With everyone else gone, the intensity of his presence seemed to amplify.
His stare bore into me, holding a weight that felt almost physical, heavy enough to make my knees tremble. I could feel the force of his gaze like a touch, sending shivers skittering down my spine. It was as if he could see straight through me, unraveling my thoughts and desires with just a look.
In a feeble attempt to regain my composure, I rubbed my lips together, feeling the dryness there.
His sapphire eyes flickered down to my mouth, and I was acutely aware of his gaze tracing the movement.
A rush of heat flooded my cheeks as his eyes lingered, my heart pounding erratically in my chest. When his gaze returned to mine, I found myself captured by those piercing eyes once more.
A small, knowing smile curved on his lips. He knew the effect he had.
I needed to get this out before just sitting across from him turned my mind to mush. Before I could do nothing other than crawl across the table to him. “There is something I need to tell you, and I have no idea how you will take it. My guess would be not well.”
The delicious curl of his lips vanished. “Does anyone else know whatever this is?”
“I don’t think anyone on this side of the border knows yet.”
He nodded.
Spirit, how was I supposed to say this? My stomach twisted with nausea. “I need to try and get this out, so please just listen.”
He waved his hand across the room. “The floor is yours, Ariana.”
I drew in a breath, steadying myself before I began.
“Around the time when you all breached the Sidhe city, I saw a painting. It was hundreds of years old, one of Clause and his mate. She looks exactly like I do, apart from my ears. He said that I was the reincarnation of his mate. That he and I were destined for one another, that our blood sings for each other. This is why I have this unexplained pull towards him.” As I spoke, Erik was completely still.
His face portrayed nothing. “When I saw the Spirit at my ascension, they told me I was the curse. I think I was reincarnated to be his downfall because he doesn’t let anyone close, except for me.
” I paused there, not knowing what more to say.
“Why does he not also assume you are the curse to be his downfall?” Even Erik’s tone portrayed nothing of what he was thinking or feeling. It was a bit terrifying.
“He says the wording of the original treaty cannot be confirmed, that it was just passed down by word of mouth. What’s to say that it was not a curse, but a gift, that the breaker of it would receive from the Spirit? But I saw and spoke to the Spirit. They told me I was a curse.”
The Lysian King held my stare as he considered my words. “What do you feel for him?” The question sent an uncomfortable chill through me.
If I were a Lysian, I might have barred my teeth at him. “You know what he made me do.” The temperature of the room plummeted.
The hard look in Erik’s eyes softened. “I just need to hear it.”
“It would be a lie if I did not say that it saddens me that he has turned into the person he now is. He is lonely. He says he loves me but I do not think he knows what love is any longer. He wants to break me, to change me. There is nothing in my heart but aversion for him. I reject him. He is not my mate, even if I am some reincarnation of her. I do not want him.”
He swallowed, tension barely leaving his shoulders. “But you are still drawn to him?”
I forced another deep breath, keeping the fear away. Whether Erik rejected me for what I was about to say, would not sway my response. I would be honest with him. He deserved to know everything. “My body seems to easily react to him. Like there’s some messed up control he has over my blood.”
“But your heart wants nothing to do with him?” Erik remained rigid, sitting before me.
My eyes slid shut. “No.” Then I whispered my fears, “You probably want nothing to do with me.”
“I didn’t say that.” My eyes opened, finding him watching me. That gaze was unnerving. “I still very much want you.”
I felt those words all the way down to the spot between my legs. “I- I thought you would be mad,” I said in surprise.
“Oh, I am enraged.” His head tilted, the movement fully predatory. Sapphire eyes seemed to burn with blue flame beneath the surface. “My desire to incinerate him out of existence is second only to my desire for you.”
My throat tightened. “You are certain?” I was afraid that he might have walked away after I shared this with him. For how could we fight a pull created by something neither of us fully understood?
“From what you say, I have your heart. He does not. You may crave him, but you crave me, too. I am ready to do whatever it takes to sever that connection you say you do not want. Burn it out of existence. Have you crumbling apart in my hands till that tether has absolutely nothing it can hold on to.” His words stroked me.
My heart all but stopped in my chest. “What did you have in mind?”
His eyes darkened, the tension in the room thickening. “You should rest first. We have been back for two days, and you have hardly slept.”
“I don’t intend on resting much till this is all over.
My mind cannot risk me stopping for very long.
” Pause for long enough and everything I had done, the people whose deaths I was responsible came crashing in.
I did not have time to fall apart. To heal.
So instead, everything was pushed aside for me to deal with later.
Erik seemed to understand, for he stood, and came around the table.
He pulled me from my seat and moved me until I sat on the table in front of him.
The skirt of my dress rode up on my thigh when he stepped between my parted legs.
His hand brushed my hair back before his fingers dug into it, holding the back of my neck. “Is this what you want, Ariana?”
I burned for him. “Yes.”
His lips crashed hungrily against mine. I ran my hands along his muscular arms and broad shoulders. Clinging to him, I threaded my fingers through his hair, consumed by desire. The kiss deepened. He was all I wanted. This was exactly what I needed. And he was extraordinarily giving.
I cursed our clothing, separating our skin.
Fisting his shirt, I pulled in frustration, eliciting a small chuckle as he continued to claim my mouth before leaving a trail of kisses over my jaw.
His lips traveled down my throat, across my chest. My skin ignited wherever he touched.
I needed to get out of this dress. My hips rocked against him, feeling the hard length of him beneath his pants.
Just the thought of his cock made my head fall back with a moan.
“So eager,” Erik crooned.
“You set me on fire,” I admitted.
With a smirk on his lips, he fixed his dark gaze on me. “Good. Do you want to know what I plan to do after that fire deliciously wrecks you?” Lips pressed into my throat once more and I was slowly dying with need.
There would be nothing left to do anything with. But I asked, “What?” as my back arched.
Erik’s hands moved over my shoulders, down my breasts, to my hips.
His lips stopped their torment at my neck as he rose to his full height.
Dark blue eyes drifted over my lips, neck, chest, waist, legs, before rising to meet my eyes once more.
Holding my stare, he took a knee, one hand on my hip, the other pushing my dress higher up.
I tensed, only for it to melt away with the heat of his attention.
Erik kissed my inner thigh, licking it, grazing it with his teeth.
“I will lick this realm’s ashes from your skin.
” His hand found lace, and he tugged. I shifted, lifting my hips enough so that he easily pulled it down past my ankles.
His mouth moved up higher. “I will rebuild your soul with my tongue.” And that tongue did remarkable things between my legs before it plunged into me, devouring me.
My body was no longer mine to control. I withered, gasping for air.
He was dragging me down into a fiery pit with the things that mouth did.
My skin burned with the blood in my veins.
My toes curled. I was completely vulnerable, and he seized everything he desired.
He continued relentlessly, even as I climaxed.
Pressing my hand to my mouth, I tried to stifle my screams of pleasure.
Finally, he relented. Allowing me to catch my breath as he rose to his feet before lowering his pants and releasing the length of him.
He gripped my legs, and I fell back onto the table. “You will become the fire that I wield,” he said as he worked himself into me.
But I was already exactly that. Burning for him. Unable to think clearly. Completely at his mercy, under his command. At his touch, I simmered or raged. Whatever he desired of me.
As he took me, I felt full with him, tight. Each movement left me gasping for air. In and out. My soul felt each thrust, reaching all the way to my toes.
He placed a possessive hand on my hip, then moved it between my breasts and up to my throat. The touch pushed me over the edge again. “You are mine, Ariana.” The growl in his voice had me falling into an abyss. The feel of the release was life-consuming. Leaving me a mere shadow of my former self.