CHAPTER XIV #3
Because joining the Court of Warriors should never mean that I have to discard any parts of me.
It should only ask that I embrace the new ones, the stronger ones.
Keane knows that. Has known that since our first encounter under the Shadow Oak when the same battle raged within me.
I don’t think he’s asking me to give up Knowledge completely, only to accept the Warrior parts that I’ve quickly come to love.
I reach down to kiss Keane in confliction, moaning when his tongue pushes into my mouth with a hard intensity.
His kiss tears me away from my thoughts, as if he knows where my mind is heading and he wants to remind me of all the reasons why the two of us fit so well together.
He tightens his arms in a full embrace as I wrap my legs around him, kissing him back without any hesitation as my tongue tangles with him in demand.
I need him how much closer I am to giving him what he wants, that I’m nearly at the point where I can give him the words that he so desperately craves.
So I kiss him in a way that lets him know just that, genuinely looking forward to the day when I can finally lay it all out for him.
After we collected ourselves in the clearing and I grabbed my dagger from where it was still embedded in the ground in the woods, Keane and I decided to take the path back towards the sleepy village of Fumagalli, despite how much I wanted to visit the Hidden City.
Not only was I completely weak from his touch and exhausted from the night as a whole, but I was freezing, and that cold hit me like the thirty-second height of Pyre once my adrenaline had calmed.
Keane had removed his thick tunic from his body and placed it around my shoulders the moment we got to walking. He held my hand in the moody forest and lead us through the darkness, asking very bluntly for me to tell him what happened before he arrived.
I told him everything I could remember, about the Ancient’s desire to restore magic to the Old World, alluding to his want of humans to no longer be mortal.
I told him how Hirovale planned to use me to that end even though I still didn’t know how or why.
I told him how thinking of being used as such made my blood boil, and then promised to myself silently that I would do no such thing.
Keane listened with a quiet calmness throughout my entire rant, and the only time he showed any sort of emotion was when he heard me speak about how the Ancient could watch me through Stormfall whenever he wanted.
He smirked at the idea, as if it amused him, and then grinned even wider when I told him that Hirovale had indeed been watching me since the arrival of his Bird of Ash and before.
He even narrowed his eyes on my lips when I told him that Hirovale caught every call to the Ancients that I’ve ever uttered.
We ended up talking about the dinner after that, how the tension in the room stayed even after I walked away.
He spoke about how him and his brother tried explaining their rationale and their reasons for inquiring into Holis and Mana, their initial distrust of the twins expanding from their father.
He told me how the group became worried when they saw Golem return to the inn alone and how that worry led to a small understanding and makeup between the men.
He regretted the way he handled the dinner and blindsided Cal and the twins, but he didn’t regret his requests for all the missing information.
He, too, has been just as in the dark as I am from his father’s secrets, and I had to remind myself of that again as we walked.
Both him and his brother have been dealing with everything in their own way, just as I have.
No one was awake in the village when we walked down the road and headed to the inn.
The pub was deserted when we entered, everyone either sleeping in their rooms or spending the night in the Hidden City.
Keane left to go change in his room, promising to meet me at mine when he was done, and I was just bending down to add another log to the fireplace when he entered without knocking, my body covered in only my emerald green slip for the night.
“Your ass, Alexis,” he groans quietly from the doorway.
I immediately stand up and turn around with a blush, finding his brown gaze narrowed on mine.
“Never hide from me,” he shakes his head.
I smile and tilt my hip to the side so he can still see the curves.
“I think you have a small obsession with my ass, Highness. I’ve never had someone grab it as much as you do.”
Keane closes the door quietly behind him, his eyes raking over the full of my body in the firelight. He takes a slow step towards me and runs his gashed hand through his brown hair as a mischievous glint reaches his gaze.
“I do enjoy your ass,” he nods, “and I’ll end up taking that, too, Lady Alexis.”
Keane chuckles at my shocked look and continues to step towards me. I hold my breath when his hands begin to finger the straps on my shoulders, his lips tilting up in a grin.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, trouble? I don’t think that would scare you away one bit.”
I shift on my feet, nipples going hard at the thought of him claiming me there.
“It wouldn’t,” I whisper honestly, “but it would be something new for me.”
Keane’s fingers grip my strap tight, “Alexis…”
He shakes his head and gently glides his hands down the straps to my chest, fingers brushing against the silk above my breasts. My body immediately heats for him, for his full presence in front of me, the call to meet him always finding me so easily.
“Tell me about you feeling me,” I ask hoarsely as my heart thrums in my chest, “I called to you through the same feeling I get when you locate me. I didn’t think it’d work…”
I look towards Stormfall resting on the bedpost, “and neither did Hirovale.”
Keane continues his trail along the silk on my breasts, his own eyes watching as he traces just above my nipple, “it was sudden. The feeling took me by surprise. But I could feel your need of me. It was like a pull that ached for me low in my stomach…”
“That’s exactly it,” I nod quietly.
“It led me to you. It mixed with my own summoning to find your location.”
Keane’s brows furrow as I move my arms around his waist. He brings his eyes back to mine and watches me thoughtfully, hands stopping their teasing on my chest.
“You shouldn’t be able to do that, Alexis,” he frowns, “that’s summoning.”
“I’m sure Storm assisted,” I shrug and push away the Ancient’s words from the woods, “he could sense my panic.”
Keane remains quiet and continues to watch me thoughtfully, his face telling me that he doesn’t agree. I sigh and move my fingers to the front of his torso and gently tug at the hem of his black shirt.
“Let’s get to bed. I have to be up early.”
Keane lifts his arms and smirks down at me when I can’t pull the shirt above his head.
I huff and roll my eyes at him when he does it himself, then take a step back to marvel at his bare chest. I let my own fingers do some tracing of their own, gliding them above his heart and down to his muscled stomach that has a few scars slashed across.
I take in every hard ridge of his body and trace along his lower abdomen, my heart racing as I watch the perfect muscles that dip below his waistband.
Keane eyes me as I take another step back and look at him in full appreciation.
My gaze travels upwards and past his broad shoulders, landing on his lips that are so naturally red.
I take in his brown hair that is swept perfectly above his forehead, to the sides cut to a shorter length and accentuating the sharp plains of his face.
He truly is the most handsome man I have ever seen, and the way he stands so tall and commanding in front of me only completes the proud presence that is him.
He’s also the best man I’ve been with intimately…
His hands, damn those hands, and his cocky ego every time we are together, just lights me to fire. He knows exactly how to touch me, knows exactly what I need and when. My body flushes just thinking about it.
“If you keep looking at me like that, Alexis, we will get no sleep tonight.”
I shift on my feet and bring my hand up to my hair, tucking one side behind my ear as I genuinely rethink my decision to go to bed.
Keane takes a strong step forward and lets his hands move swiftly to my ass, squeezing hard before he picks me up and carries me to the bed.
I laugh when he throws me onto the sheets in a rough sort of demand, his body leaning over mine as he puts his hand on my shoulder and pushes me down.
“Sleep,” he commands.
“You’re no fun,” I shake my head, turning away from him to lay on my side and arching my ass in a perfect display. Keane groans before laying down next to me, his arm snaking over my waist to pull my body into his as his hard length presses into my rear.
“How am I supposed to sleep with you there?”
He reaches a hand to my nipple and tugs on it over the thin fabric. “With sweet dreams, Alexis. Dreams of me there and in other places.”
My body hums at his words. Keane chuckles against the back of my neck and pushes his hips forward, “sleep.”
“There’s no way,” I reply breathlessly.
I try to relax into him and find there actually is a way. The two of us quickly fall asleep from the exhaustion of the night, with Keane’s arm never leaving its hold on my waist.
Dawn reaches us with a slight breeze through the window above the bed.
I wake up to the chill and hold back a groan when I see my body completely thrown over Keane’s without any shame.
One of my arms is splayed over his chest with my fingers gripping the black chain that hangs from his neck.
My hips are thrust into the side of his thigh, one of my legs draped comfortably over both of his in a possessive embrace.
Ancients, how is he able to sleep with me like this?