CHAPTER XIX #4
I quickly push off the ground with ragged breaths, attempting to tuck my shirt into my pants as my legs fight off a tremble. Keane watches me lazily and leans back against the trunk, his fingers lifting up to his mouth with a wicked grin before he tastes the arousal that was just between my thighs.
Fuck me.
I take an involuntary step backwards.
“I can catch you in a blink, Alexis.”
I nod mutely and take another step away from him, watching as Keane shakes his head in a way that tells me I truly don’t know how fast he is.
“I can catch you,” he looks up at the Willow just as the ground begins to rumble, “I can catch you and hold you here until I build another damn Shadow Oak. Then you will have nowhere to run, trouble.”
Keane’s intense gaze falls on mine in pure hunger. He’s deathly serious right now. He won’t hesitate to break the ground below us so that we can finally find eachother.
I shake my head at his threat and give him a knowing smile. The earth trembles below us as I bring my hand down between my thighs, watching as his gaze follows it closely.
“This place is not worthy of your Shadow Oak, Your Highness. There will be no replacing it.”
I slowly trail my fingers up my stomach, still watching as Keane stares back at me. I press my palm flat against my shirt and bring my hand over my breast, taunting him with a squeeze before pinching at my nipple.
Keane tsks in amusement, smirking like he’s won a game I’ve already lost.
“You denied me this morning,” I remind him with narrowed eyes, “and you didn’t write to me. You cannot have me here, Keane. This is penance.”
“I distinctly remember giving your body exactly what it deserved this morning, Alexis,” he smirks again, bringing a knee up to his chest as he casually rests an arm over it, “and having you touch yourself in front of me is no penance on my end, trouble. I can watch you for the rest of the night…”
My hand falters on my chest.
“So please,” he continues in confidence, “please continue, Alexis. I will enjoy watching nothing more.”
I immediately drop my hand with a scowl. Keane starts laughing, watching me from his seat against the Willow as his brown eyes turn playful.
“Storm!” I yell to the tree above me.
Keane chuckles again and stands up, taking a few slow steps in my direction as the ground finally settles beneath us. I try to ignore his commanding presence heading my way and urge the Brid of Ash to fly down, hating how hard my heart beats in my chest when Keane finally stops at my side.
He reaches between my thighs and firmly grips my sex, his fingers feeling for the wetness that’s seeping through the fabric as his thumb rubs perfectly against my clit.
He leans in to kiss me but instead brushes a smirk against my lips, his hand dropping almost immediately as he turns and walks away.
Damn Ancients bastard.
I greet Alanna at her door hoping to catch her before court. She’s ready and dressed when I knock, her cool grey eyes glancing over my body as she grins at my dress.
“A bit racy for your Knowledge Court, don’t you think?”
My smile is knowing and proud. I’m wearing the emerald green dress from the first night at court in Gaumond, the dress that I used to wear at Knowledge before I brought it to Gail for alterations.
It will be too racy for court tonight, but I can’t seem to care.
I love the way it hugs my curves and reveals so much with a daring slit.
I love the way I feel in it and will envision Keane’s hands pulling down the straps all night.
The other women of court will blanche, but I truly do not care.
“Will you join me for a drink?” I grin.
Alanna nods and steps into the hall, revealing her own racy and shimmering black Warrior dress.
It’s not long, but it also isn’t as short as most of the dresses the women wear in her Court.
It lays sharply on one of her shoulders and then cuts down to the other side of her chest, hugging her body until it flows beautifully around the middle of her legs.
The full of it sparkles under the moonslight in this hall and compliments her pale blonde hair and skin, and in the moment I admire just how beautiful she is.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
I smile in response, shaking my head. “Nothing.”
Alanna rolls her eyes and closes the door behind her, “will we come back to change before the Palisades?”
“That’s your decision,” I shrug, leading her to my room, “the weather isn’t cool enough to need a change, but we can get out of our dresses before heading up if you’d like.”
“I’ll be fine,” she replies as I push on my door.
Alanna walks into my room without any hesitation, pausing only to take in the small reading room with a single glance.
She then walks through the arch and into my bedroom without ask, her eyes darting to the green of my bed and the Knowledge symbol painted in gold on the wall above.
Her glance moves to the balcony, to where Golem stands greeting her in the shadows with a nod.
She returns the gesture with a small bow and then turns her gaze to Stormfall, the Bird of Ash waiting patiently for the two of us as he sits on the ledge.
“This is you,” she turns back to me, eyes narrowed and conflicted as she looks around the room, “but it’s also not, Alexis.”
“I know,” I nod in agreement, tilting my head so that she follows me into the reading room. I move to the mantle above the small fire and pour two glasses of whiskey.
“I’ve spoken to Prince Keane,” I turn and extend her a glass, “but I want you to know that the decision to talk to you right now is and has always been my desire, not his.”
“You’re about to tell me everything, aren’t you?” she narrows her eyes knowingly.
“Yes,” I nod slowly.
Alanna tips her drink, clanking it against mine before finishing it whole. I do the same and let her take my empty glass with hers, refilling for the both of us before settling into one of the chairs by the fire.
“I want to begin at the beginning…” I sigh and sit down with her.
Alanna leans forward as I tell her everything from the past two years and my travels for the King.
I tell her how I thought nothing of them at first besides simple employment, and how the King gifted me Golem before we left Bardot.
I recount my time in Gaumond and my experience with the Court and city there, how everything I thought I knew about Discerni and human relations started to unravel around me the moment I stepped foot in the Black Capitol.
I watch as she smirks at my realization but doesn’t say a word, then continue to tell her of our path through Fumagalli and the Bulwark Plains.
I tell her of my time spent in the Red Falls library with the help of Golem and Morose, feeling my body tense up when I speak of the thirty-second height.
I tell her everything surrounding the birth of Stormfall and how I finally found out why the King has been sending me out on my travels…
“Have you ever heard of a Kingdoms Council, Alanna?”
“Loosely,” she shrugs, nearly done with her second drink.
“I had never heard of the term until we reached Red Falls, but what I came to find out, what we came to find out, the Princes and I, was that everything that had taken place over the past two years was born out of an agreement between the leaders of the Four Kingdoms.”
I then go on to tell her about the Council and King Zander’s request. Of the votes between the leaders and the terms that were set out, all but one…
“But how do Holis and Mana come into all this?” she asks.
“They are followers of one of the Ancient Ten, the Ancient Hirovale,” I tell her quietly, “Stormfall is Hirovale’s right hand and Bird of Ash.”
“Ancients,” her eyes widen.
“I know,” I nod, grimacing myself, “but there’s more…”
“The words that I found in the book,” I peer into my new friend’s grey eyes as she leans forward again, “they were a prophecy, Alanna. A prophecy about the Old World and me.”
“Tell me,” she demands.
I tell her the exact words of the text and watch as a slow, sly grin starts to form on her face. She’s excited about the words from the book and ready to hear them, far more ready than I ever was.
“Have you experienced anything? Any connection to the mystics?” she inquires.
“Small things,” I nod and take a sip of whiskey, “mostly I’ve been seeing the magic within people and feeling it.
The Pyrenese have fire and flames under their skin that move.
It’s absolutely breathtaking. And the Leviathans…
their hair isn’t actually hair. The braids that rest on the backs of the two Princes are snakes. ”
“Snakes?” she scoffs.
“Snakes,” I affirm, “Prince Isham introduced me to one last night. The experience was not…” I shake my head, not having the proper words.
“They are not good people, Alexis,” she says coldly.
“No, they are not,” I reply solemnly, “but unfortunately my travels will eventually take me into Livyatan. There is a second portion of the prophecy that we just learned about today. I will need to search for the text in their lands.”
Just saying those words out loud brings a shiver of animosity through my whole body.
“And Cal knows of all of this?” Alanna asks quietly.
“Yes,” I reply, meeting her gaze, “since this morning’s meeting with the King, the majority of the travel group is aware of what is going on. I intend to speak with Lord Daniel soon.”
“Barnes and Claymore?”
“No, nor the three human Warrior soldiers.”
Alanna leans back in her chair with a hard sigh and finishes what’s left of her drink.
“We still plan to travel to Woodlands, yes?” she asks, glancing into the dying fire in the room.
“Yes,” I reply definitively and stand up, reaching for her empty glass, “I anticipate once the Livyatan delegation has left we’ll start making the arrangements.”
“And are you expected to kiss their ass until then?” she stands with me.