CHAPTER VI #7
I sigh and shake my head against my arms, still looking up at the oak. “And why shouldn’t it be? It deserves to be looked at by those who can appreciate it, and I came here tonight hoping it would consider me to be one of those people.”
The ground below me begins a soft rumble, the roots and earth vibrating against my back. Keane swiftly let’s go of my boots and leans over my body within a blink, his brown eyes finding and holding mine in demand.
I gasp at the quickness of his movements and the way his shoulders and chest hover over the full of me. His knees land on both sides of my legs, his hands falling to the ground next to my head as he stares down at me, the full of him trapping me beneath his embrace.
“You belong in Warrior, Alexis,” he states, voice hard and rough like the ground below.
“I don’t,” I shake my head at him breathlessly.
“You do,” he replies with a nod, leaning down.
His mouth moves close to mine, so much so that I can feel the heat of his breath on my lips.
“I don’t, Keane,” I assert.
The Prince looks down at me with pure intensity, his heated gaze making every inch of my body burn in return.
“I’m content in Knowledge,” I rush out, “I enjoy the simplicity of it.”
“I don’t think you do,” he laughs coolly, smugly, then dips his head down to whisper in my ear, “because I know that there is absolutely nothing simple about you.”
My body shifts under his just as he plants the softest kiss against my neck.
Fuck.
“I crave it,” I try again, “I crave the effortlessness of our Court.”
Keane lowers his body onto mine and chuckles outright.
“No. You only tell yourself that you crave the humility of the people there…” he kisses my neck again, “but I know you crave something more, Alexis. Something daring.”
My hips arch in response and bring a smirk to the Prince’s lips. I close my eyes when those lips move gracefully along my neck, every breath in my body catching in my chest as my heart pounds in my chest.
“You’re wrong,” I whisper.
“I’m not,” he grins, tongue darting to my neck before he nips down.
Ancients, this is all types of trouble.
But I’m not sure I want it to stop...
My mind is quick to send me a vision of the woman that was on him at Marybeth’s, watching as her body reacted in the very same way mine is now. That thought is enough to clear my head from the sensual fog, but it still doesn’t stop my body from humming for him.
“There is a thrill that comes with the daunting and daring,” I admit quietly, breathlessly, and move my hands to my sides. I push myself off the ground, breasts flushing into his chest in small defiance as he pulls back and takes me in.
“But that thrill will not hold me, Your Highness.”
Keane catches my gaze and leans up more fully, his brown eyes dancing across my face as he replies with a knowing smile.
“It’s holding you now, Alexis.”
I groan in response.
It is.
He is.
Him, and the dare of him. The dare of him exposing me to myself.
It’s the daunting way he speaks to me about things that tug on the inner heart of my being.
The way he knows, somehow, that ever since I’ve stepped foot in Gaumond, I’ve been questioning everything I thought I knew about human and Discerni relations.
There’s something here in the Black Capitol, something so right that it should be spread across all of Disce.
Keane’s eyes remain on mine, watching as the small realization forms in my mind.
“Say it, Alexis…” he smiles.
I bite my lip and close my eyes to his powerful gaze. Keane presses his body against mine again, pushing me back down to the dirt as the full of him surrounds me from above.
“Ancients,” I moan.
I feel the heat of his lips grazing mine, their softness tantalizing and hovering just over my own but not pressing down fully. Keane slowly brings a hand up to greet the side of my jaw, his fingers brushing away my hair so he can look at the jewel on my ear.
“Or do you want me to say it for you again,” he whispers against my lips, “as I did tonight at court?”
“No,” I reply breathlessly.
Please don’t.
“No?” he chuckles, “but I could have sworn you liked it.”
“I did. Ancients, Keane, I did. But if I hear those words come out of your mouth again, then you and I will be up all night getting to know each other in a very different way that doesn’t involve words.”
The earth below us begins to shake again, violently, the roots of the oak moving around our bodies as Keane crashes his lips onto mine.
His hand leaves my jaw in an instant, his fingers relentlessly grabbing the nape of my neck as he draws me closer and clashes his tongue with mine.
My lips part without hesitation, the kiss commanding and claiming all at once.
I moan into his embrace and thrust my hips against his, every part of our bodies melding together as the vibrations continue to rock the ground.
Ancients, I can feel the desire dripping off of him.
Can feel it in his lips and the steady movements of his tongue, in the way that his hand holds me against him and offers no release.
But he pulls away as quickly as he came, that same hand tilting my neck back so that I’m forced to meet his gaze.
“Say it, Alexis,” he demands again, “say that you belong in Warrior.”
I can’t.
Not when my heart still yearns for the familiar green of my home.
Not when it pines for the simple walks along the Bell Grove or to the Willow, or the steady rides around Loughty and being high up in the Palisades under the sun and stars.
Not even when a little voice reminds me that I found that same happiness today when I explored Gaumond, that I found myself coming alive while experiencing Warrior’s Row and the humans and Discerni who all work together.
I found the same joy sitting in the Marybeth’s Tavern as I do sitting on the veranda of Sera’s café in the Palisades…
Everything I’ve found in Bardot, in Knowledge, I’ve been finding here in the Warrior capitol as well.
But this place holds a sharp edge against my easy nature that I’m not sure I can let go of yet.
It takes a flame to my contentment and wills it to burn away.
It’s exciting to experience, but I don’t know if that’s enough for me to simply toss aside my home of over ten years.
Do I really want to replace the beautiful simplicity of Knowledge for something more daring, as Keane says?
Or is this fire and call to adventure within me just a passing whim?
You know the answer.
I think Keane sees that I’m battling again.
He releases my neck, fingers rubbing against my jaw in comfort as his brown eyes lose their intensity and stare back at me with the same kindness as his father’s.
He lifts his body off mine and presses his lips to my forehead, releasing us both from the heavy moment.
“It will come, Alexis,” he smiles down at me, “and I am a patient man.”