CHAPTER VII #9
Our movements are near mute as we walk slowly down the path. The sound of the running water becomes louder as we continue on, the grass path disappearing completely once the trees open up to a steady stream ahead.
I crouch behind a large pine and look towards the gushing blue. It’s a powerful stream, not wide in diameter but definitely fast in its flow. I let my gaze follow along the bank before it stops on a large stone building in the distance, my eyes going wide at the sight.
Ancients, the water mill is massive. It’s moving in quick circles as it catches the power of the stream and sends it cascading in a fall below.
“That makes no sense,” I stand up and shake my head to Golem, “it’s real.”
“Of course it’s real, Alexis,” Keane’s proud voice responds.
He’s watching me from his stance next to the stream, his eyes dancing with playfulness as he grins, “did you think we were lying?”
I push away the curiosity that wants to know where Keane came from and why I didn’t spot him earlier, then glance again to the water mill at the top of the stream. There’s a second building standing tall behind the first, that one even larger and looking like it can store hundreds of barrels.
My eyes roam back to the Prince standing just as proudly in front of me, his posture owning the powerful mills at his back as his shoulders straighten with pride with the stream gushing behind him.
He’s wearing a deep green tunic that nearly mimics the colors of the forest around us, his brown hair slightly swept to the side from the breeze and yet tasseled to perfection.
He takes a step forward and watches me with intensity, everything about his presence just as proud that I found this place on my own.
“Warrior,” he smirks.
“No, Keane.”
“Oh yes, Alexis,” he nods, taking another step forward, “while all of your friends go about their day in contentment, you seek out the unknown. While they remain happy to continue their normal routine, you throw that to the fire and find something new to captivate you. Even when I give you free reign to roam a place of simplicity, one that you’re familiar with, you barely make it around the second floor before letting the thrill of a daring adventure take over. ”
I shake my head even as I feel his words tug against my heart.
“I’m just a curious person, Keane.”
The Prince laughs, “curiosity leads those from Knowledge to libraries and old boys’ clubs where they can either read or talk about the ideas that interest them. It never leads them to do.”
“Discussing ideas is just as import- wait… were you locating me? In the library?”
“No,” he replies, brown eyes still holding mine, “I didn’t need to. From the moment you told me about the nature of your travels for my father, I’ve made sure that there will never be a time that you enter a library on my lands without my knowledge.”
Ancients.
So damn intrusive.
I take a step forward and narrow my eyes on him, remembering the feeling of his chuckle under my skin and in my bones.
He was laughing at my attempts to ask questions yesterday, almost as if he was amused at my prying.
I even felt that same vibration in my bones today. He was watching me. I’m sure of it.
“What of yesterday?” I hold Keane’s gaze hard, “when I questioned the woman of the inn about the village? You were locating me then, weren’t you?”
A flash of surprise crosses his face before his playful demeanor takes over again.
“I don’t know what you’re referencing.”
“What a handsome lie, Your Highness.”
I shake my head and walk directly in front of him, crossing my arms in front of my chest as I look up in seriousness. Keane’s more than a half head taller than me, so his body looms over mine as I continue.
“And this late morning, when I asked the little Discerni boy for directions…”
Keane’s hands move to my shoulders in a blink. He grips them tight and looks down at me in a new seriousness, his eyes searching mine while his face reverts to the hard, angular plains of a Discerni.
“How could you possibly know that, Alexis?” he asks quietly.
I push my hands against his chest as hard as I can, hoping to put some distance between him and his grip on my shoulders. Keane doesn’t let go. Instead, he lowers his hands to my waist and swiftly picks me up, moving the two of us to the edge of the pines.
“What the? Put me down, Keane!”
I push into his chest again to no avail.
He drops me against a large tree trunk, pinning my back to the wood and taking a step forward so that he’s hovering over me again.
He releases both of his hands from my waist and rests them over my head, his cool features staring down at me as the full of his body towers over mine.
“How do you know that, Alexis?” he asks again, this time more forcefully. His brown eyes never leave mine, all sense of playfulness gone.
“I don’t know,” I shake my head breathlessly.
“You’re lying,” he replies, moving one of his hands down the side of my hair to rest at my neck. He places his thumb against the inside of my throat and presses down.
“Your heart is beating too fast for someone who doesn’t know.”
I glance away from his heated gaze and look down at his hand now skimming past my collarbone. He lays his palm flat against the top of my chest to feel my racing pulse.
“Alexis,” he says softly, voice reverting back to the playful Prince I can’t resist.
“You didn’t just question the boy…”
My body stills at the words.
Keane catches my gaze with a smile, his red lips dipping closer as he leans down.
“You manipulated him,” he grins against my jaw.
I groan at the guilt I still feel for tricking that boy. Keane chuckles at the sound and then nips just below my jaw, the small move delivered with such confidence that I bite my lip in response.
“Tell me,” he commands, “tell me how you knew I was watching you.”
I shake my head at the Prince and feel his hand leave the top of my cloak to wrap around the back of my neck.
He pulls me into his lips and angles his hips into mine, his other hand still resting firmly on the tree above us as he cages me in.
His tongue reaches out and traces the seam of my lips, as if it’ll draw the answer out of me, while the moan that falls from my own lips has him grinning in response.
I open my eyes and frantically search for Golem, search for any help out of this situation and the pull the Prince has on me.
I feel my hips responding to his, my body pressing closer into his torso for the friction he’s just barely teasing.
I really shouldn’t be alone with him right now, not when he’s holding the back of my neck in possession, and definitely not in the middle of the woods with no one in sight.
I also shouldn’t be thinking about all the things he could do to my body to draw the answer out of me. ..
Keane’s eyes notice mine as I look around, his brows lifting in surprise. “Golem?”
I could blame it on Golem and say that he warned me of the Prince using his summing on me. My magical friend may be upset but he’ll no doubt understand. In fact, I think that’s what I’ll do…
“No,” Keane shakes his head before I can open my mouth, “not Golem.”
I frown and look back into his mischievous gaze as he chuckles.
“Your heart is still giving you away, Alexis,” he replies softly.
“Can you hear it?” I ask in disbelief.
He wasn’t even checking my pulse this time.
Keane gives me a small smile and caresses the back of my neck before he leans in to whisper again. “I’ll share my secret if you share yours.”
Dear fucking Ancients.
The things I would let this man do to me here and now.
My full body is on fire, my back shifting against the tree as my hips purposely rock against his.
His lips are still so close, and his hand wrapped around the back of my neck is determined to keep me in the exact position that he wants me.
Would it be bad if I leaned in to kiss him?
To let that kiss lead to what would no doubt be the best sex of my life?
I want to, desperately, but I also don’t want this teasing banter to end.
I don’t know how I do it, but against my better judgement, I ignore the need to let our bodies do the talking and instead snake my own hand around Keane’s neck.
I press my thumb against the side of his throat in the same way he did to me, feeling for the pulse that I hope to the Ancients is just as wild as mine.
“It’s beating as fast as yours,” Keane grins, flicking his tongue against my neck just under my ear.
I moan.
It is.
I can feel his strong heartbeat pushing against the pad of my thumb. The beat moves quicker when he nips down on my neck.
“Ancients,” I groan, head tilting to the side.
Keane smiles against my skin, “the Ancients won’t hear you out here, Alexis. It’s just you and me.”
I press down fiercely against his throat in response, feeling his quick pulse again and making me want him even more.
Keane rolls his hips into mine as a small gasp escapes my lips, his hard cock pressing perfectly between my thighs as it rubs against my clit.
He swiftly pushes my head to the side with his, his lips crashing down on my neck before his tongue draws me in.
Keane brings his hand down from the tree and grabs my waist, pulling my body flush into his.
The sheer size of him has a groan spilling from my lips, my hips moving with absolute hunger as he presses one of his thighs between my legs and rocks my body back and forth.
He holds me tight as he moves, urging me to use him, his whole body commanding mine just as his lips move down my neck.
“Fucking Ancients, Alexis. The things I want to do to you right now.”
I grab his hand on my hip and intwine our fingers, moaning when his teeth nip down sharply just below my ear. I thrust at the jolt and guide his hand off my hip, moaning when Keane feels where I’m leading him and lustfully cups my breast with a squeeze.
“Fuck,” I cry.