Chapter 38 Irena
IRENA
As I sit there, reliving my shame and trying to suppress my desire, Valen comes over to me. Somehow he still has the burlap sack with our supplies and he’s been busy cooking something—maybe the last of the sausage and bread.
It smells delicious, but I’m not hungry anymore—I’m too ashamed of what I did and how much I enjoyed it.
“Hey…” Valen crouches beside me and I can’t help inhaling, breathing in his scent. Am I addicted to him in some way now? I feel like my whole body wants to be closer to him, but I make myself lean away.
We haven’t really talked about what happened between us—about how he came to save me and what I did to get the witch to set us free. When she let us out of her hut, it was already growing dark. Too late to try and find the path again, which is why Valen found us this shallow cave instead.
“Hey,” he says again. He takes me by the left wrist, being careful because I’m still covered in scratches from the thorn vines—though what happened with Old Man Oak seems like a thousand years ago now.
“What?” I can’t look at him but I can feel his eyes on me.
“You want to tell me what happened here?” He nods at my arm—at the scratches and wounds. “Who did this to you?”
I guess there’s no point in lying to him.
“It happened when I accidentally left the path,” I say in a low voice. A tree thing—the witch called him ‘Old Man Oak’—he wrapped these vines around me and they grew thorns. He was trying to drag me…drag me into his mouth.”
I’m surprised at the sudden outpouring of fear and horror my own words bring. It was so distant only a moment ago, but now it’s almost like I’m reliving the awful attack. I shiver convulsively and suddenly I’m right on the edge of tears.
“His teeth,” I somehow get out. “They were like these long, jagged splinters in his mouth. I was…was so afraid he was going to…to…”
But I can’t go on.
“Fuck, baby—you must have been so frightened.”
Valen’s words surprise me almost as much as his gentle tone. I’ve been waiting for him to shout at me for leaving the path but he doesn’t seem angry at all.
I open my mouth to agree that yes, I was frightened, but a sob comes out instead of words. Suddenly tears are stinging my eyes and pouring down my cheeks. I feel girly and weak but I can’t seem to stop them.
“Hey, sweetheart.” Valen surprises me again by pulling me into his arms. I struggle weakly against him, then give up and bury my face in his broad shoulder. He feels so solid—so safe. I haven’t felt safe since I heard my brother and the Healer talking about how my mother was going to die.
No, to be honest, I haven’t felt safe since my father died two years ago.
It made me realize that anyone can be taken from you at any time.
It made me desperate not to lose anyone else.
Which is why I threw myself into this insane quest with no planning or preparation and now look where I am.
Stuck in a cave in the middle of an evil, enchanted forest with a man who’s my enemy as my only companion.
But Valen isn’t acting like my enemy right now. He cradles me close to him, stroking my hair and murmuring soothingly.
“It’s all right, baby,” I hear him rumble. “Let it out. You’ll feel better if you do.”
I’m glad he’s not one of those men who get frightened or angry or cold when a woman cries. Because at this moment, I couldn’t stop if I tried. All the uncertainty and fear I’ve been trying to hold back come crashing down on me and the tears pour out, hot as fire on my cheeks.
Valen just holds me and rubs my back until at last the sobs taper off to hiccups. I know I should let him go and straighten up, but his skin is so warm and his spicy scent is so comforting. I hold on a little while longer and he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Thank you for coming to save me,” I say at last. “How…how did you find me?”
“Followed your scent—though it was all over the fucking place,” he says. “My Drake has a better nose than any bloodhound. “How did you get lost in the first place?”
“I…I stepped off the path,” I admit, in a small voice. “I know I shouldn’t have, but the pool right beside it showed me my mother and she was calling for me…”
He sighs deeply.
“This fucking forest is so fucking devious. You can’t trust anything you hear or see, I guess.”
“I guess not.” I sigh as well and sit up. “That witch—she looked like a young, innocent girl when I first went into her house—which I only did because a wolf chased me in,” I add quickly. “Also, the whole house looked like it was made of candy.”
“Candy?” He gives an incredulous laugh.
“Yes—I’m glad I didn’t eat any of it.” I shiver. “Well, except for licking my palm to clean off the peppermint.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t take a bite of anything or we wouldn’t have gotten out of there so easily,” he remarks.
I give a broken laugh.
“You think that was easy?”
He grows serious.
“Not for you, I guess. I’m sure that’s the first time you’ve had a shaft in your mouth.”
“Of course it was!” I look down at my hands. “I mean, I’ve never…never done anything like the things I’ve done with you since we started this quest.”
He cups my cheek and looks into my eyes.
“Should I apologize for stealing your innocence, Princess?” he murmurs. “Because I’m not sorry—I just want more of you. I want your mouth on my cock again and I want to taste your sweet little pussy. I want to make you come while I’m on top of you, making you moan.”
My breath catches in my throat and I find that I can’t look away from his burning gaze.
“I…you…you shouldn’t say such things,” I whisper at last.
“Maybe not,” he says. “But I’m not taking them back. Now, let’s get you healed.”
“What? What do you mean?” I blink, surprised at the sudden change of topic.
“I can heal all this…” He nods at the wounds and scratches up and down my arm. “Using my Drake’s power.”
This is news to me.
“You can? But how?” I ask.
“Like this.” And he lifts my hand to his mouth and sweeps his tongue from my wrist all the way up to my elbow.
The hot, wet sensation sends a shiver down my spine.
“Oh!” I gasp, and try to yank my hand away. But Valen won’t let me.
“No, let me heal you,” he insists. “It’s bad to have open wounds in the forest—you could get sick.”
“You can’t heal someone by licking them!” I protest.
“Oh no? Take a look.” He nods at my arm.
I look down and, to my surprise, he’s right. The area where he licked me is healed. There are no scratches or wounds or even scars—no marks of any kind. It’s almost like he magically erased all the damage the thorns did.
“How…how did you do that?” I whisper, turning my arm back and forth in the firelight. It doesn’t change—the area he licked is still healed.
“I told you—my Drake’s power. He likes you, you know,” he adds in a low voice.
I feel a surge of fear.
“If you—or he—are doing this because you think I’ll let him…let him breed me—”
“No, I don’t think that.” He sighs. “I know your people would consider that beast-loving—though to be fair, he’s a person just like you or me, he just happens to have scales and a tail and wings.”
“But you said it to me the other night,” I point out.
“Yes, I said a lot of things. I was angry. I’m still angry.
” He touches the collar around his throat.
“But you and I made a deal—once we get the Healing Draught for your mother and I take you home, I’m free.
Until then, we need to work together. And since I can’t have you dying from infection before we finish this quest, you’re going to need to let me heal you. ”
Then he tightens his grip on my wrist and begins licking me in earnest. I shiver and bite back a gasp as his warm, wet tongue caresses my flesh, moving up and down my arm until I’m all healed.
Well, my arm is, anyway.
When Valen finishes my arm, he sits back and looks at me critically.
“Is that all? The only place you got hurt?”
“Yes, that’s all—just my arm,” I say quickly. I’m not saying anything about the way the vines wrapped around my breasts. And I’m especially not going to tell him how one pierced my nipple—even though to be honest, that area does feel quite achy and hot and painful right now.
Valen narrows his eyes. He leans closer and inhales deeply. Then he sits back, frowning.
“I can tell you’re lying, Princess,” he growls. “I can smell it. So come on—where else did the thorns pierce your flesh? Tell me. Or better yet—show me.”
I bite my lower lip and find I can’t meet his eyes.
“They…they got inside my shift,” I admit at last, because apparently there’s no use lying. Though how he can smell my untruth, I don’t know—maybe it’s more of his Drake’s magic. “They…they wound around my breasts,” I add in a low voice.
“Let me see.” He makes an impatient gesture with one hand, as though it’s no big deal for me to take down the top of the tattered gown of rags I’m wearing to bare myself to him.
But that is exactly what I end up doing. I tug at the strings holding the top together and let it fall, pooling at my waist. This frees my too-large breasts, which are covered in thorn marks.
Valen sucks in a breath.
“Gods, baby,” he murmurs. “Those fucking thorns—look what they did to you!”
“I know,” I whisper. “I…I’m afraid I’ll have scars. My breasts are already ugly and scars will only make them worse.”
“Ugly?” He looks up at me, and the expression on his darkly handsome face is honestly incredulous. “What the fuck would make you think that?”
How can I explain to him what the standard of beauty at the Castle is?
How any woman who has breasts bigger than a teacup is considered too big…
too much? Vulgar is the word I’ve heard most often applied to my figure, as though I grew these overflowing curves to please myself and show off, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
I just refuse to live exclusively on clear broth and vegetables.
“They’re too big,” I say at last. “All of me is too big.”
“You’re perfect, just the way you are,” he growls softly. “And your breasts are fucking gorgeous.”