40
Aire
She was hiding something. Whatever it was, it must have occurred last night. Only in times of great strife did Aspen permit her feelings to show, the facade as tough as sediment.
Signs pierced through the cracks. As the sun rose during breakfast, purple welts darkened the sacs beneath her eyes, tarnishing her complexion like a bruise.
She stared into her coffee mug, tuning out the rest of us, her mind churning like the spokes of a wheel as if she’d spent all night confronting an ultimatum.
The sight consumed me. My fingers clenched my own steaming cup.
Nicu cast her concerned looks, then swung his gaze to me, those bright irises searching for an explanation. I had none to give. For this had nothing to do with the enduring tension between us.
Even Lyrik noticed. The rogue’s eyebrows furrowed as he processed her ominous silence, though the man didn’t remark on it. To his unexpected credit, he knew when to bait and when to step back.
Aspen’s inner turmoil swept over me like a gale of wind, erratic and directionless. Inside, she was spiraling.
Although I shouldn’t be able to read her, somehow my psyche encountered a chink, a crevice that allowed intuition to slip through. How or why escaped me, but it couldn’t be random.
While the hours passed, we demolished a rotting exterior cabin wall down to the studs.
As the daughter of a former Master Carpenter, Aspen insisted this had to be done, setting about this project with the determination of someone in need of a distraction.
As we prepped the replacement panels, I stripped off my damp shirt, sweat dripping down my pectorals.
The woman’s eyes veered toward my naked flesh, the brush of her gaze stoking my blood.
Life returned her features at last, the pupils simmering.
But then she turned away, taking my hopes for her recovery with it. With abrasive motions, she operated a plough plane along the raw edge of a wood sheet.
Aspen had given Nicu explicit instructions that he filed in his mind, to help him assist with the construction.
Only once did he grab the wrong item—a crowbar instead of a breathing mask—and froze.
Aspen and I paused, marveling as he recognized the difference, gave the distinction ample thought, and calmly set the tool aside before retrieving the correct item.
A small advancement. A triumphant leap.
My heart grew three times its size. He acted as if it was nothing, but the scene brought a hopeful light to Aspen’s countenance that matched the weight lifting from my chest. Only a year ago, that moment wouldn’t have been possible for his mind to register.
Nicu’s condition would never fully abate, but he was making exceptional headway.
Otherwise, he trained himself to live fully regardless, turning what others would presume as disadvantages into strengths.
Of everyone in our clan, Nicu proved himself to have the strongest will.
From the corner of his eye, Lyrik witnessed the episode. Then his head tipped down, a grin crooking the ledge of his mouth.
Later, Nicu’s attention strayed when the rogue peeled off his own shirt like snakeskin. Plates of olive skin and whipcord muscles glistened with perspiration, every groove bathed in sunlight.
My liege paused, his long lashes flapping in confusion as he took in the spectacle behind Lyrik’s flexing back. Unaware, the man focused on sawing through another sheet of wood, his biceps inflating with each downward thrust.
Meanwhile, Nicu’s attention trickled down to the low waistline of the man’s dusty pants. Red suffused my liege’s ears before he spun in the opposite direction, his movements flustered.
I would slash through the rogue if he wounded Nicu’s spirits. Aside from that, it wasn’t my place to interfere. Therefore, I pretended not to notice, respecting my liege’s privacy.
That evening, I took a chance. After washing and dressing in a claret knit pullover and black leather pants, I slipped my fingers into a pair of obsidian gloves. On my way to the fire pit, I strode to the communal kitchen to procure an essential for supper.
Leaves carpeted the platform. Lyrik’s lanterns glowed, illuminating the way.
I turned a corner and bumped into a soft body. Aspen’s head snapped up to mine, her eyes bloating in surprise.
“Shit,” she gasped. “Sorry.”
“It’s my fault,” I insisted while veering aside. “After you—”
“No, after you.”
“Nonsense. You first.”
We faltered, then dissolved into an awkward chuckle.
“Together, then,” I suggested.
For a while, we strolled in companionable silence. Locks of hair tumbled down her body, and a fetching tapestry coat dress hugged her curves, accentuating everything the hooded mantle had once attempted to hide.
As a winged shadow coasted overhead, instinct drove me to act. Absently, I took her hand, then stalled. Aspen did the same but swiftly relaxed her fingers into my own, miniature bolts of lightning charging across my wrists.
On the way, she noticed the basket in my free hand. Thankfully, she made no comment.
We found Nicu sitting at the banquettes, his lanky form hunched over Briar’s note, those folktale irises shimmering as he reread the passage.
“What are you thinking?” I asked, releasing Aspen’s hand and sitting opposite from the young man.
Nicu mused at the letter. “It’s a star.”
A piece of his destiny. Fate, parceling this note to him.
Folding the parchment and tucking it into his suede vest pocket, Nicu beamed across the swaying flames. “I’ve found other stars here too.”
I did my utmost to maintain an unbiased expression while recalling his eyes on Lyrik today. “Such as?”
“The fauna,” he replied. “All the ones of Autumn. And this treehouse castle. It likes me, and I like it back.”
“A limitless bond with nature,” Aspen concluded. “I’m jealous.”
My features melted into a grin. “That bond is a good start. And tell me, are you enjoying yourself? No regrets?”
Yearning pulled across Nicu’s visage. “I miss Papa and Mama. I miss Queen Granny and Tumble. And the clan too. But I’m happy here for now.” Those eyes flared with sudden concern. “Is that okay?”
“You must decide for yourself. But I would say, it’s perfectly fine.”
“I wager you can find joy in more than one place,” Aspen encouraged.
Nicu perked up. “Like Autumn and Spring.”
While she bobbed her head, I inclined mine. “Yes. Like that.”
His teeth flashed into a broad smile, the tips of his canines faintly honed. This feature, I had noticed the day I returned to him. It suited the Royal Son, particularly in this mystical environment.
As he tucked himself under a checkered wool blanket, Lyrik arrived. Not for the first time since this morning, Aspen tossed the rogue an inquisitive glance.
Rifling into the basket I’d brought from the kitchen, I withdrew the stoneware carafe, then extended it to her. Uncertainty plagued me for a quick moment. Had I mixed the ingredients correctly? Too much brown sugar or too little?
Aspen blinked at the offering, then accepted the container. Uncorking the vessel ejected coils of steam. After drawing in the scent, her countenance snapped to mine, astonishment dashing over her features.
Melted chocolate. Cinnamon. Plus, a splash of vanilla.
Lyrik supplied the kitchen well. So much in fact, I’d located milk in a cellar.
I winced under her gaze. “It was vexing to get the cursed stove to maintain a blaze. I’m not sure the temperature was right.”
She said nothing for far too long. The hot chocolate wouldn’t compare to her mother’s recipe, but still. Dammit, I must have blundered the fucking ingredients.
But then Aspen’s eyes softened in comfort. “Thank you.”
The makings of a grin threatened to spill across my face. I grunted to conceal it.
Enthusiastic, Aspen inhaled the chocolate, then strapped her lips over the rim. Her throat pumped, the foliage motifs dancing as she sipped. And fuck, a moan slid off her tongue. The noise produced a simultaneous effect, tingling across my cock and constricting my chest.
“That sounded downright orgasmic,” Lyrik observed while bending forward and flapping his fingers. “Give it here.”
Aspen cradled the chocolate. “Not a chance.”
“Rude. I’m the host.”
Ignoring him, Aspen offered the container to Nicu, who also made a contented noise as he drank. At the reverberation, Lyrik shifted in his seat. Too keenly, he averted his gaze.
After licking his lips and passing the vessel back to Aspen, Nicu countered, “The treehouses are the hosts. You’re the seneschal.”
Lyrik slanted his attention back to my liege. “You got me there.”
They watched one another. Then Lyrik changed the subject in the same way Lyrik changed all subjects. He slouched and slapped his palm on the bench. “So between us, who’s got the least experienced sex history?”
Not a shred of discretion. I might as well be reveling with certain members of the clan. Not least of all, the woman beside me.
I sighed, Aspen raised a brow, and Nicu flushed twelve different shades of red that complimented his ribbon bracelet. This, despite him being the son of the most erotic male specimen on the continent. Nicu knew little of Poet’s prolific past, even if everyone else in The Dark Seasons did.
“Let’s see.” Lyrik pointed at my glowering face. “Mid-thirties, hot as fuck, and armed to the teeth. Answer’s clear.” He pointed at himself. “Plus, me. That disqualifies two of us.”
“Three, actually,” Aspen corrected.
My retinas singed. Really, I hadn’t needed a reminder of this goddamn fact.
I snatched a log and flung it into the pit, launching a riot of sparks that vaulted to the trees. While I wanted nothing more than to ease her private burdens, addressing the topic of Aspen’s sex life wasn’t my preferred fucking route.
Because I fed the blaze with too much enthusiasm, three faces glanced my way as I wiped my hands.
“Christ.” Lyrik brushed soot off his coat. “What happened to your knightly restraint? You don’t need to burn the fucking terrace down just because you’re jealous.”
“Lyrik,” Nicu scolded. “That’s a hush.”
“No, it’s not. It’s not personal or private or secret. Not if they make it obvious.”
“He’s not jealous,” Aspen insisted.
“I am not covetous,” I barked.
Lyrik groaned, amplifying to the treetops, “Enough with the horse shit. Nobody’s got the patience for it!
” He swatted his arm between Aire and me.
“You’re hard for her. You’re wet for him.
And from that territorial alpha look—” then he regarded Aspen, “—plus your refusal to humor his possessive side, I’d say your pussy and his dick have already met.
So since this won’t be the first time, pick up the pacing and either iron out whatever residual shit is lingering between you two, or rage-fuck the tension out of each other already. ”
Lyrik’s head hovered in slicing distance. However, before I could separate his skull from his neck, a hand thwacked across the back of his scalp.
“Ow,” he growled, twisting toward Nicu. “What the fuck?”
“They’re my friends,” he reproached. “Leave them alone.”
The authority in his tone left no room for debate. Lyrik’s hand dropped, and he reclined farther back as if to view Nicu better. “All right, then.”
Not all right. I tamped down the rancor clawing across my flesh and let my glare speak for itself.
Aspen merely regarded Lyrik with an unimpressed expression. She would strike him with her axe long before my sword made an appearance.
Embers scattered into the air, and some unidentified mammal howled. So began the most indiscreet supper thus far. Lyrik might have been offensive, but none of us could say he’d been wrong.
The consistency of buttered yams congealed on my tongue. At some point, plates clattered. Footfalls shuffled from the platform, and a musical voice faded down the stairway, Lyrik and Nicu disappearing somewhere deep within the enclave.
Flames twitched in the darkness. Aspen’s breathing roared in my ears like a tempest, unbridled and uncontrollable.
We rose at the same time. Call it fate or coincidence. But any second, I would seize Aspen and never fucking let go.
Confide in me. Tell me your worries. Let me be your refuge.
Claim me. Be mine.
I got the hell away from her. Stalking to the rails, I clenched the barrier while focusing on the woods. Her boots padded to the space beside me, and her fingers clasped the ledge.
How I wanted to see this world through her eyes. How I longed for much more.
Distress filled her voice. “Why did you take my hand?”
I could not stand it anymore. “Why did you let me?”
We spoke while viewing the forest, our questions floating into the darkness.
The fire burned my back, I tasted smoke on my tongue, and the world went silent.
An eternity passed like this, my stomach in knots, her scent too near.
My wrist shuddered and then—fuck it—brushed against hers.
And Seasons’ help me, she reciprocated, nudging her fingers closer.
I broke into motion. Spinning to cup her face, I hissed, “Aspen.”
“Aire,” she warned, my name teetering on her lips like something about to fall and crash. “Aire, don’t.”
“I must say this,” I rushed out. “I need you to know.”
“Wait. Please. I have to tell you something too.”
But before she could verbalize another thought, two words flew from my mouth. “I lied.”