CHAPTER II
PREPARATIONS
“Pyre?” he whispers in disbelief, lips grazing against my neck.
“Pyre,” I confirm breathlessly.
“Some of the men don’t wear shirts there,” he nips just under my ear, “not in their cities, or their mountains, or their forests…”
I grin at the thought and welcome his thigh moving between my legs.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Alexis?” he chuckles.
“Maybe,” I reply with a smirk.
A small moan escapes my lips when his mouth skims down my neck to the swells of my breasts in answer.
I arch my back against the wall and angle my chest for him, jutting my hips forward to catch the friction from his sturdy thigh.
He chuckles again and lets go of the wrist he had pinned to my side, both hands now joining his lips on my breasts as he cups them over my shirt.
“Troy…” I moan, “more.”
He knows I want him to stop this slow torture. Knows I’ve been panting against this wall for too long as he asked me questions about my meeting with his father.
Troy laughs and pinches both of my nipples in response, his hands squeezing my breasts in full before he begins kissing back up my neck. I groan in frustration and close my eyes to the light blonde Discerni in front of me.
Troy Bardot, Leading Lord of Woodlands Court and second son of the King. He’s also Disce’s Emissary, a man who travels between the Four Kingdoms of the Old World as an envoy for his father.
Like all Discerni, Troy’s face is graced with the angular plains and high arched cheekbones that perfect a look of indifference.
His skin is fairer than his father’s, as is the blonde hair that he has neatly trimmed along the sides of his head.
His jaw is dotted with just a shadow of stubble, and his eyes, though the same color as his father’s, don’t have the same warmth as Zander’s.
Troy grabbed my hand the moment I stepped back into the fourth floor staircase after meeting with the King. He pinned me against the wall and took my lips in an instant, the action genuinely taking me by surprise as I had no idea he was even in Bardot.
“I wonder if your meeting has anything to do with Elena getting in a
few nights ago…”
His fingers tug on my nipples once again. I moan at the sharp sting and rock my hips against his thigh, my lust-filled brain clearing for a moment as I comprehend his words.
“Wait. You’ve been in Bardot for a while?”
I open my eyes and push a hand flat against chest, trying to hide my frown.
“Why?” he grins, “have you been missing me?”
I roll my eyes.
“Don’t be coy, Alexis,” he laughs, lips moving back down my neck, “you can admit it.”
He rubs his thigh against my center in delicious friction, hands pushing my breasts up so they can meet the slow descent of his mouth once again.
“You know,” I reply on a sharp inhale.
Troy nips down in affirmation.
He knows there isn’t a single shred of coyness in me at the moment, especially as I grind my hips over his thigh without abandon. Troy’s summoning allows him to read another person’s emotions, and right now, he knows I’m feeling anything but coy.
I feel another smirk against my chest just before his lips fully cover my breast through the shirt.
His tongue joins his mouth this time and sucks my nipple between his lips before he bites down.
The fabric rubs against my skin in a coarse embrace, the feeling sending a spike of heat straight between my legs as I arch against the wall.
I push my breasts into his face, urging for more again, and moan when he presses his cock perfectly between my thighs in answer.
“You want me to fuck you at the top of this staircase, Alexis?” his lips move to my other nipple before they bite down.
“You know I do,” I reply, reaching for his waistband.
Troy groans when my hand dips down and wraps firmly around the base of his cock. He turns his head to the side to look at the dark staircase we’re nestled in, the smile on his lips telling me he’s more than willing.
“It’ll have to be quick,” he thrusts into my hand.
“Mhmm,” I nod, “but that’s the fun of it, Troy.”
“Fuck, you’re perfect,” he groans, nipping back down before he takes a step away. His blue eyes graze over my flushed body before he nods his head.
“Strip for me, Alexis.”
I hurriedly drop my riding pants without hesitation, watching as he does the same. I’m about to pull down the dark lace at my hips when Troy closes the space between us, his hand stopping me with a firm tsk.
“Black…” he mocks, fingers gripping both sides of the lingerie, “always black.”
There’s a wicked gaze in his eyes before he tears the lace down my thighs with a rough pull.
“Forget the lace, Troy,” I shake my head, “get inside me, now.”
The Woodlands Prince laughs and bends down to grab my ass, effortlessly lifting me up to his waist in a movement that’s far too easy.
Along with enhanced speed, all Discerni are blessed with enhanced strength, and Troy is no exception.
He holds my weight with one hand and maneuvers my back against the wall, his other hand coming up to my mouth to cover the moans we both know are about to come.
We fuck into a rhythm all too familiar to the both of us… quick and quiet like the secret we are.
“What city in Pyre did you say you were visiting?” Troy asks.
We’re making our way back down the staircase, both of us adjusting our clothes.
“I didn’t.”
“Will it be the same as your other trips?” he looks at me curiously.
“Same as my other trips,” I nod.
He’s used to this, getting the bare answers from me.
He may be the King’s son, but no one save myself and Zander know of the nature of our travels.
Even Cal and the two Discerni twins that travel with us, Holis and Mana, have no idea why we visit the libraries of Disce.
The King asked that I not to disclose the reason of my travels since our very first meeting together, and I’ve kept that promise without fault.
Surprisingly enough, I myself have never inquired as to why the book he sends me out to retrieve is so important.
The King’s secrecy is curious, yes, but I’ve mostly ignored it because I’m just genuinely grateful to be in his service and out of the Queen’s.
The four years I spent in his wife’s Ladies in Wait were some of the most boring years of my life, so I’ve learned to take his employment as the gift it truly is and not ask too many questions.
“Did you say Elena was here?” I turn to Troy, remembering his comment from earlier.
Troy nods and runs a hand through his hair as we step onto the second floor.
“When I arrived two nights ago she was leaving my father’s study. The room you were in earlier.”
I smile at the thought of the quirky yet strikingly beautiful daughter of the King here in Bardot.
“Ancients, I haven’t seen Elena in ages.”
Both her and Troy inherited their mother’s blonde hair and fair skin, but their blue eyes come from their father.
Both children have a slight coldness to their features that also matches their mother, but where Troy spins his cool face into smug confidence, Elena embraces her sharp features in an attempt to ward off unsolicited conversations and social etiquette.
She’s never been good in public settings, yet somehow, the quirkiness she presents fits her.
The last time I saw Elena I was fourteen. She was standing next to me as I was provided the status of ward under the King and Queen. That was nearly eleven years ago.
“Probably for the best,” Troy frowns at my side, “she’s become odder with every turn of the year.”
“Is she still studying at Alston with the Seers of Sianoa?”
He nods, smiling in greeting at a serving girl who walks by.
“Sometimes she’ll show up at court with a few of her sisters. They’re different, Alexis. I don’t know how best to explain it. They’ll spend all their time in the temple we have in La’ Cour, sometimes even staying months on end before showing their faces in court.”
He shakes his head at the thought. “The Ancients are sleeping. What they’re doing with that time…”
I understand what he’s trying to convey, but I also know that’s just the general personality for most of those still devoted to the Ancients. Elena is definitely quirky and different like the rest, but she’s also kind when she chooses to speak behind that mask of cool.
“Is she still here? I wouldn’t mind saying hi.”
Troy stops before my door on the second floor with another curious look. “I believe she left this morning.”
“Next time, then,” I shrug.
Hopefully in the next ten years.
I grab my key from my bag and turn to the Prince, “I’m going to spend the rest of the day up in the Palisades. Need to buy a few items for my trip. Do you want to join?”
Troy smiles and shakes his head, the gesture not quite meeting his eyes.
“I have meetings with my father all day,” he straightens his pale green and silver tunic around his chest, “and I’m pretty sure he already called those meetings while we were busy. I’ll try to stop by tonight before you take off.”
I turn the key in the lock and give him a nod. The Prince smiles and turns back down the hall to walk away, and it isn’t until the door shuts behind me that I realize he’s never actually been inside my room, nor do I think he’ll start tonight.
I shrug off the thought and smile at the small residence within Castle Bardot that I get to call my own.
A quaint reading room greets me first, the space cozy and hosting a fireplace nestled in the far wall to the right.
Two plush, forest green chairs face the fire as rows of books line the other three walls, the greenstone surrounding the room covered with thick tree limbs that intertwine between the spines.
It’s a small little entry that’s truly not meant for much more than reading, but it’s the perfect place to host visitors without inviting them into my personal room.