Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
They sat across from each other on the small circular kitchen table, neither one of them speaking as they looked down at their cups of lavender tea.
Owain didn’t know where to start. He hadn’t told Orla the full truth because a part of him feared her rejection.
He had never been wanted in his life, not really.
His mother loved him, but her life would have been easier if she hadn’t fallen pregnant by his father.
His father had never wanted him at all, choosing to ignore his existence until he was five.
Owain’s life was a litany of being reminded that he was not good enough.
If he bore himself to Orla and she rejected him, he didn’t know what he would do.
Finally, after a long moment of silence, Owain began to speak.
“At the hot spring, before the hellhounds showed up, you asked me what things you still didn’t know.” Orla nodded in acknowledgment.
“I haven’t been fully honest with you about what led me to Imsil.
Yes, it’s true I was tasked with killing you.
Aengus was supposed to go but he died before he could do it himself.
But it was my idea to reach out to the palace and have you requested as our guard.
I told myself that it would be easier to kill you if I was around you more, but that wasn’t the full truth.
Really, I wanted to get to know you. To see for myself if you were as vile as everyone in Edam says, because that wasn’t how I saw you, and I had to know if I was right about you.
” At last, Owain looked up from his tea to gaze at Orla. Her brows were knitted in confusion.
“Right about me?” she questioned.
“You know I was there that day at Fontina.” She stiffened at the mention of the place. Her eyes creased with what Owain could only assume were conflicted emotions about his role in Rhyan’s death.
He continued. “I was sent to protect Gwayne’s back.
I wasn’t Edam’s best warrior, but my father knew I would do anything to get his respect, including protecting my vicious brother.
He wanted me to use my power to protect him.
So I did what I was told. I kept the weather warm to put the Emmentalian army at a disadvantage.
I fought at his back for much of the battle, prepared to heal him if any harm had befallen him.
But then I saw you.” Owain shifted in his seat as he recounted that day.
“Of course I had heard of you. Even in Edam you had become a legend at that point, but I had never seen you. Seeing the way you fought, the way you moved, was nothing short of mesmerizing. Hells, I was so caught up in seeing you that I stopped moving all together. The middle of a battlefield, and I was standing stock-still like a fool. I was so enraptured by you that I didn’t see Gwayne move on you until it was too late.
He was at your back, ready to strike, and that’s when I released those bolts of lightning.
I panicked. I had only glimpsed you for mere moments, and I knew I was in the presence of a goddess.
How could I watch as my worthless brother ended the life of someone so powerful and bewitching? ”
Orla continued to peer at him, her face unreadable.
“When I released the lightning, you froze, and it was the first moment I actually got to see your face. I was struck dumb. In that moment, I knew I would follow you to the ends of the earth if you’d only let me.
But Gwayne took advantage of your hesitancy and made to strike you from behind.
Rhyan was there. He blocked his blow but lost his own blade in his haste to defend you.
“That lightning strike was never meant to distract you; it was meant to distract Gwayne. But the result was the same. Rhyan died because of my actions, and you can never know how truly sorry I am that I caused you that pain.” Owain’s voice cracked as he looked into Orla’s eyes.
Tears shone in both their gazes. “I saw the look of devastation on your face when you realized he was gone, and then I felt it. My body was ripped apart by thorns the size of branches.”
Owain remembered that moment, staring at Orla’s face twisted in pain as she screamed over Rhyan’s lifeless body.
“I should have been afraid. I was bleeding so much and in so much pain I thought I would die right there on that battlefield. But I wasn’t afraid.
I looked at you and the destruction you had caused, and I thought I was gazing upon the face of Amara herself.
I did the only thing I could think to do when looking upon the face of a goddess.
I prayed. Prayed that you would take me with you wherever you would go.
I knew that if you held dominion over my next life that it would be an honor to follow you into the abyss.
I would be your most faithful worshiper if only to have the pleasure of being near you.
As soon as I had the thought everything went black. ”
“I’m no goddess, Owain,” Orla whispered, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
“Maybe not literally, but you are no less worthy of adoration. And no less divine.” The corners of his mouth turned up in a small smile.
“Then a fortnight later, I woke up, my wounds nearly all healed. Everyone was saying what a monster you were. That you killed your own men just to defeat us. Just for glory. But that wasn’t what I remembered.
I remembered your pain and your grief. I remembered the tender way you held Rhyan as he died.
So when it came time to end your life, I had to know.
Maybe I dreamed all those things about you, and you really were a monster.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
You were more than the person I saw on that battlefield.
And as I got to know the rich tapestry of who Orla is, I couldn’t help but love you. ”
Orla’s breath caught.
“I love you, Orla. I think I have loved you from the moment I saw you on that battlefield. I know I betrayed your trust. I know I have hurt you, but if you let me, I will spend the rest of my long life worshiping you. Cherishing you. And proving to you how sorry I am. If you let me, I will keep your heart in this life and in the abyss beyond.”
* * *
He waited for her to say something. To move. But for what felt like an eternity, she just sat there looking at him. He let out a deep exhale, shoulders slumping as he prepared for her to reject him. But what happened next elated him.
Orla pushed herself out of her chair, as she rounded the table to get to Owain. She cupped his smooth chin, likely seeing the apprehension in his eyes, before bringing her face to his, lips touching in a deep, passionate kiss.
Even if she didn’t say it, he felt everything she put into that kiss. The love she had for him, the way he made her feel cared for, the ways she saw him.
Owain gripped her hips as she deepened their kiss, eliciting a moan from him. Orla broke their kiss, leaning her forehead against his.
“I love you too. Gods, Owain, I am so in love with you.”
He looked up at her, grinning wide before kissing her again with ardent fervor. His tongue met hers, and his teeth pulled at her bottom lip. He could spend forever kissing her, but right now, he wanted more. He wanted all of her.
Quickly, Owain lifted Orla off her feet and moved her to the bedchamber, all the while peppering kisses along her neck and jaw. His injuries hurt like hells, but he would ignore them.
She loved him.
For the first time in thirty-six years, someone loved him. And it wasn’t despite who he was, it was because of it. He would do anything for Orla. Had done anything for her. Silently, he vowed to be a male worthy of her love and affections.
When they made it to the bedchamber, Owain gently tossed Orla onto the bed. She let out a surprised laugh before shaking her head.
“You’re injured!”
“I don’t care.”
He moved onto the bed, hovering over her. Kissing up her neck, he murmured in her ear.
“Let me have all of you. Let me bring you pleasure.”
He felt ravenous for her, playing her declaration of love over and over in his head. Never mind her body, her love was the thing that was making his cock swell. Though her body sure helped things along.
Orla stopped him, looking into his eyes, lips swollen from their kisses.
“You’ll tell me if you’re in pain.”
“And what if I like pain?” he asked, winking at her.
“Then you’ll tell me if it’s the bad kind of pain,” she retorted, giving his antler a firm tug.
“Of course, my goddess.” He nipped at her ear and licked up the column of her neck.
“And you’ll tell me if it’s too much. I only want to bring you pleasure.” She hummed in acknowledgment, hands roving over the expanse of his naked chest and back.
“Words, Orla.” He nipped at her ear again. “Let me hear them.”
“Yes,” she said breathily. “I’ll tell you.”
With that there was no holding him back. Owain pulled the dress Orla was wearing over her head, pleasantly surprised that she wasn’t wearing her breast wrap. Her dark nipples hardened under his gaze.
She was glorious.
He moved to cover one of the full peaks with his mouth, lavishing her breast. He grazed his teeth along her nipple before sucking it hard into his mouth. With his free hand, he gently pinched her other nipple, savoring the sounds of her moans as he touched her.
Owain was lost in the pleasure of Orla’s body. His cock jerked as she let out a soft moan when he softly bit the tender underside of her breast before he moved down, kissing over the plush swell of her belly. He licked and kissed along the waistband of her trousers before finally removing them.
“Perfection,” he said as he gazed down at her gleaming sex. “I want this pussy dripping for me.”
“Touch me,” she begged.
“How do you want me to touch you, my goddess?”
“Your tongue.” She was writhing under him.
“You want to come while I fuck you with my tongue? While I drown in your sweet nectar?”
“Yes,” she begged again.
Owain obliged, relishing in the sweet heady taste of her arousal.
He licked from her entrance to her clit, dipping his tongue inside her heat.
She moaned and panted as he worked her closer to an orgasm.
He licked her again and again, only stopping to suck her swollen clit into his mouth.
He felt her getting close, felt her inner walls beginning to tighten when he pulled back.
“Not this again!” she yelled. He couldn’t help but smile against her sex at her reaction to his denial.
“Hmm, I just realized, there should be consequences for you risking your life for me. I told you to leave me, and you didn’t listen.”
Orla smiled mischievously at Owain’s taunt.
“Punish me. I can take it.”
He groaned. “Sweet abyss, Orla. You will be my demise.”