Chapter 14 Alar
ALAR
"Trust is never more profound than when we close our eyes in another's arms."
—Old Elucian saying
To say that I didn't appreciate Shovia's comment about Kailin being all chummy with Commander Ravel was a huge understatement, but I did my best to shove my jealousy into a corner of my mind and focus instead on my seduction plans for tonight.
Provided that Kailin had the energy to play. She looked exhausted, but the smoldering looks she'd been casting my way indicated that she was just as desperate for intimacy as I was.
"You smell like the wind," I murmured as I leaned to smell her hair. "And a little like a dragon."
She huffed a laugh. "I'm not sure if this is a compliment or an insult."
"A compliment."
"Good save."
As we got into our room, the familiar, faint mineral scent of stone and the soft hum of a heating vent were like an aphrodisiac to me, signaling that this was where I was free to make love to Kailin. This simple, utilitarian space had become our sanctuary.
"Don't scare me like that again." I pulled her closer and rested my forehead against hers.
"I'll try not to get summoned by any more dragon queens," she promised.
"Good." I kissed her softly, a gentle brush of lips that tried to communicate my worry, relief, and love. "How tired are you?" I asked.
She smiled. "Not too tired to make love to you."
"Good answer."
"Close the door," Kailin said.
Her smile had that shy-then-brave tilt I loved, like a door inching ajar and then thrown wide open. I obeyed her command then I eased backward until the backs of my legs met her bed. She came with me, fingers hooked in my belt as if claiming spoils.
We undressed each other in silence broken by laughter when buttons caught or boots stuck. The laughter dissolved into kissing and the kissing into something hungrier.
"You're mine tonight," she said, her voice husky.
"I'm yours every night."
We didn't bother joining the single beds into one. We'd slept in Kailin's room for three nights without doing anything more than kissing and touching, and we were starved for each other.
Sliding under the thin cadet blanket and the softer one Kailin had brought from home, we embraced, her warm, soft skin against mine.
I loved the way she looked at me just before we touched, her eyes steady, mouth set with intent, my warrior queen.
When she kissed me, the world narrowed to two heartbeats and the rhythm they worked out together.
Nothing mattered in the space between us.
All the conspiracies, traitors, prophecies, doors that opened to other worlds, even the assassination attempt, could all wait for when we were done relearning each other.
I traced the delicate map of her shoulder blades, listened to the steady climb of her breath when my mouth followed the line of her ribs, reveled in the way her hands found the back of my neck and held on.
She tangled her leg over mine and pulled me closer, a wordless request I was more than happy to grant.
Her camisole slid off her shoulders, and I chased its path with my lips, tracing every inch of revealed skin. She arched beneath me, nails lightly raking down my back, urging me closer.
When I reached her breasts, she gasped, back bowing as I took her nipple between my lips. My hand wandered lower, slipping between her thighs, and I felt her shudder at my touch. Slick, ready. I teased her slowly, drawing out each sound she made until she was whispering my name like a prayer.
"Alar…"
I entered her carefully, savoring the way her body welcomed mine. Her eyes fluttered shut, then opened again to hold me there, locked together. She wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling me deeper, and we began to move as one. The rhythm built slowly, like a tide, each wave higher than the last.
Her breath came fast, lips parted, cheeks flushed. I kissed her throat, her jaw, her mouth, drinking in every sound she gave me. She clung to me fiercely, hips rising to meet mine, urging me harder, faster, until she broke, crying out and trembling around me as her release tore through her.
The sensation pulled me over the edge with her. I buried my face in her neck, groaning as I climaxed, my entire world narrowing to the wild pounding of our hearts.
Afterward, we stayed tangled, slick with sweat, the sheet a crumpled mess beneath us. I stroked her hair back from her damp forehead and kissed her mouth.
She looked at me with that half-smile of hers, equal parts tenderness and challenge. "How tired are you?" she said and tugged me down for another kiss.
"Never too tired to make love to you."
This time when we joined, it was with a care that felt almost ceremonial, and maybe it was. She found the rhythm that suited her, and I followed, adjusting, listening. She was my goddess, and I worshiped her with my hands, my lips, my tongue.
She touched my jaw with her fingertips, and I kissed her palm. We moved slower still, not to prolong anything but to make room for everything we wanted to say to each other with tender touches and soft whispers.
At some point, I realized I was murmuring promises, and I intended to keep all of them.
I didn't dress them up, and I didn't promise what I couldn't deliver.
I told her I would stand where she stood, and when she had to go where I could not follow, I would wait with a light for her to find her way home.
I told her I would sharpen her blades and dull her nightmares.
I told her that whatever the seven were meant to be, my part in it included bearing witness to the woman at the center of the storm, loving her, and lending my strength to hers.
"Alar," she said, and it was relief, warning, and an invitation all at once.
"I know." I pressed my forehead to hers and let the last of my restraint go. We climbed together, breath to breath, until the world thinned and widened and then folded, clean and inevitable.
After, she clung to me, her arms holding me tight.
"It feels different here," she said after a long stretch of quiet.
"At home, I kept thinking about who might be listening on the other side of the wall.
Here I only think about who might be watching.
" She glanced out the window. "Dragons have excellent night vision. "
"Then we'll give them a show," I said.
She chuckled, thumping my shoulder.
"Will you drink the tea tonight?" I asked.
"Nyxath said I should." She tipped her face to look at me. "Don't leave before I wake up?"
"Are you sure? You don't have to wake up as early as I do."
"I'm sure. My biggest fear is not being able to pull my consciousness back into my own body. I don't want to be trapped sharing the body of one of the animals that I meld my mind with during those dreams."
"I'll never let them have you." I brushed her hair back, loving the way the auroras painted the golden strands. "This belongs to me." I squeezed her bottom and kissed her at the same time. "All of you. I'll wrestle you back from whoever tries to take you away from me."
Her laugh was quiet and happy, and for a handful of heartbeats, I could pretend we were just two ordinary cadets stealing hours from curfew and talking nonsense because it kept the shadows away.
Kailin rolled onto her back and tugged me with her, maneuvering me so my head rested on her stomach. I listened to the steady drum beneath my ear, delighting in my private music. She combed through my hair with absent fingers, and I could have fallen asleep like that, but she nudged me.
"I need to drink it now," she said, ever practical. "Will you get it for me?"
I got out of bed, Kailin's appreciative eyes following me around the room as I found the sachet of leaves, dropped some into a mug, and poured cold water over them. It wasn't as effective as steeping in hot water, but then I didn't want Kailin to drink the fully potent tea anyway.
She sat on the bed cross-legged and magnificently nude. When I brought the cup, she took it with both hands and took a sip. "Still awful."
"Hero of Elucia, undone by tea," I teased.
She rolled her eyes, then drank. Flinching. When she was done, she set the cup down on the desk. "Come back to bed."
I drew her down and tucked myself around her, one arm under her neck, the other over her waist, palm splayed against her stomach where I'd listened minutes ago. Her breathing slowed, smoothed.
"Alar?"
"Yes?"
"I'm glad to be back."