Chapter 24 #2
My mask shattered. The High Lord. The composure.
All of it slipped through my fingers like sand.
My hands braced against the cold dirt as if the ground were the only thing keeping me upright.
The aftermath of being infused with her left me hollow and aching.
I knew I had crossed a line…one that could not be redrawn.
This was the cost of being a ruler. Of being raised to choose duty over desire. I had done the right thing. I knew I had.
So why did it feel like I had just destroyed the only good thing left in me?
I fisted my hands in my hair and ground my jaw so hard I was surprised my molars didn’t crack. The pain encompassed me entirely like a cocoon of torment and unrelenting torture.
I wanted her, and I hated it. I hated myself.
I hated being High Lord. I hated the responsibility and the weight of it all.
I was so tightly wrapped in my agony that I didn’t hear Draxxinar approach—but I felt his lukewarm, scaly muzzle nudge my side with his head. He rumbled a sympathetic sound, as though he felt everything too.
He nudged me again, harder, trying to push me to my feet.
“I can’t go after her,” I told my beast, voice rough. “She hates me. And that’s the way it has to be.”
He rumbled again, the pitch shifting like a whimper.
“It’s for the best, Draxxinar,” I said, stroking the scales on his nose.
I couldn’t recall the last time I had… petted my dragon.
Was she changing me? Or was she helping me find who I really was?
I sat and gave him overdue affection, brushing his scales with my palm as I waged an internal war with myself.
How could I protect myself and my kingdom from someone so dangerous, when she was the only thing I wanted?
Then my heightened Fae hearing caught a yelp and I scented her blood.
My heart raced.
My mind spun with every way she could be injured, with everything that could have happened. Fire erupted at my fists and heels as I rushed toward her.
When I found her, I was taken aback by what I saw.
She had cut the leather skirt from the leggings and fashioned a strapless top that tied behind her back. The ensemble was surprisingly impressive. You would never have known it had been modified—like it had always been intended to look that way.
My attention fixated on her cleavage. The tightened leather
gave her breasts a corseted shape.
Then the scent of her blood hit me again and snapped my wandering stare back into focus.
My eyes scanned her quickly. A cut on her palm. A sharp, bloody rock at her feet.
She had cut the skirt free with a sharp stone. Resourceful. Clever.
It made me realize I still had a lot to learn about her. I grabbed her injured hand.
“I can’t take you anywhere, can I?” I teased lightly, and healed the cut within seconds.
Healing her now was nothing like before. A superficial wound only required localized magic. But her allergic reaction… that had been systemic. I’d pushed my power into every cell of her body to neutralize it, and it had been the single most intimate encounter of my life—more intimate than sex.
She almost smiled at my jest, took her hand back, and examined it with satisfaction.
There was so much I wanted to say. I pushed it all down and hid it away.
She thanked me with a polite smile, and I nodded once. I cleared my throat.
“So,” I said, “now that the wardrobe malfunction is resolved, I’m going to glamour us to look like Earth Fae.”
“How come? Will it hurt?” she asked.
“No. It’s like wearing a costume. It’s for political reasons.” I exhaled. “At the border, just give them your name and we’ll walk right in.”
“I take it other kingdoms aren’t fans of Fire Fae?” she asked. I hated how perceptive she was.
“It’s complicated,” I said. “Now hold still.”
I closed my eyes and called on my glamour magic to alter our appearances. It wasn’t magic I used often, so I was eager to see the result.
I looked at my reflection in the lake’s still water.
The red tone in my auburn hair had turned black. The golden glimmer my tan skin casts off was muted to a pale, fleshy color. My amber eyes were lime green like my mother’s.
My chest tightened at the sight.
I examined my arms, and to my delight, raw gemstones covered me up to my biceps. I grinned. If only Folliade could see this, he’d be pissed at how many gems I had.
“Uh… Titus?” Delilah said, uneasy.
I spun around, and the sight of her made my world stand still.
Swirls of raw gems covered her from hands to neck, across her back and stomach. Larger stones formed across her forehead like a permanent tiara.
She was slightly taller, her limbs and fingers longer. Her eyes were bigger, tilted up at the outer corners. Her ears were delicate and pointed.
Her cheekbones were sharper. Her lips and lashes were fuller. And when I noticed her hips wider, her hourglass shape exaggerated by a fuller bust…
I nearly went to my knees. She was so spectacularly Fae. The most beautiful female I had ever seen. A goddess in flesh and gems.
She examined her skin with bewildered curiosity.
“It’s okay,” I said quickly. “I have them too. See?” I rolled up my sleeve and showed her my forearm.
“Oh.” She frowned. “Why do I have so many?” Her question felt like a swift kick to my nuts.
Admittedly, I was annoyed that she had more gems than me.
Earth Fae weren’t born with immediate power like Fire Fae. Their power accumulated over time, marked by the gems that appeared on their skin. The more gems, the more power.
Most Earth Fae capped out around the elbows or biceps. I had never seen gems cover an entire body. The tiara suited her, like she had been meant for royalty.
The sting of jealousy was almost neutralized by shock… and by how devastatingly beautiful she looked.
Almost.
I couldn’t tell her the truth. I couldn’t tell her I suspected she had otherworldly power that could surpass my own. If I did, she wouldn’t be a tool—she’d be a threat.
And I already had enough threats to deal with.
So, true to my nature, I gave her a plausible excuse.
“It’s probably due to the amount of magic I used to heal you earlier,” I said. “The excess is appearing on your skin.”
She nodded, not even questioning it. Good.
“Let’s go,” I said. “We’re burning daylight. It’s a two-mile hike to the border and another four after that to the mines. I’d like to be home before dark.”
She agreed, and we grabbed our packs and headed north.
She was a little clumsy in her new form, stumbling over roots. I walked behind her so I could catch her if she slipped. I didn’t feel like healing her for a third time today.
Walking behind her was a sick kind of torture. I caught myself staring at her ass more than once.
I loved looking at her like this… but I preferred her powerless mortal body.
Because as sexy as her Fae form was, it was unnerving to imagine how formidable she’d be if she truly were Fae.
The glamour didn’t give her additional power, only the appearance, so other than her unique connection with dragons, she was still fragile. Thank the Guardians for that.
An unspoken heaviness rode between us, like invisible weight added to our packs.
I knew what I’d felt when I healed her. I knew she felt it too.
But she acted like she wanted to forget it ever happened.
If only forgetting were that easy.
My entire opinion of her had shattered when I saw her fly
Zephyros, and ever since, I’d been drawn to her. Obsessing over her.
I wanted Delilah for myself. Not to share. Mine.
After half an hour, she was steadier, adjusting to her longer legs. She pulled a banana from her pack.
She was always eating fucking bananas. Were they her favorite? Why did I care?
I was pleased her handmaid had survived the night with Cercies and packed her bag.
I smirked. He must not be doing it right. If I found my fated mate, she wouldn’t be able to walk the next day—let alone pack a bag.
Fated mates were rumored to experience ultimate sexual pleasure because they could feel everything their partner felt, so, the entire experience was two-fold, giving and receiving simultaneously.
Chosen mates had something similar after the blood-binding ceremony, but only a fraction of the connection.
I had detected jealousy in Aurelius when we discussed fated mates. I assumed it was about amplified pleasure… but now I wondered if it was something deeper.
Something like what I felt around her.
The rest of the hike blurred into awkward silence, my eyes drifting to her ass, and the occasional small talk. There were a million things I wanted to ask her, but again—I shoved it all down and kept going.
The Kingdom of Terrain had a jagged rocky wall protecting its border from my kingdom, with only a few entry points monitored closely by Folliade’s army. We approached a small wooden building where a clerk shuffled parchment inside. A line of heavily armed guards blocked the entry point.
We waited behind a short line of merchants and traders until it was our turn.
“Name?” the clerk said mechanically. I nudged Delilah.
“Delilah Raye,” she blurted, nervous.
He flipped through files and pulled a list.
“Yes. You have a permit to mine three crystals today. Who is your companion?” he asked, pointing to me.
“Oh—uh, this is my…” we answered at the same time. “— servant,” she said.
“—mate,” I said.
I widened my eyes, slowly turned my head, and glared at her.
Servant?
Fucking seriously, Delilah!?
The clerk gave us a leery look. Great. Not suspicious at all.
I was about to talk our way out of it when she continued, “What I meant was… he is my servant that I mate with sometimes, and I’m not even sure why because he’s not very good at it. He is my bedroom servant. If you know what I mean.”
And as if it couldn’t get worse, she gave the clerk an over exaggerated, theatrical wink.
Dear Guardians. What in the actual fuck did she just say? Were all mortals such terrible liars?
She tucked hair behind her ear, exposing more of her face. The clerk’s eyes widened—fixated on the gems across her forehead.
His demeanor shifted instantly, almost shrinking in her presence.
“Forgive me, My Lady,” he said quickly. “I was not informed a royal would be passing through my checkpoint today.”
Without further question, he stamped her permit and handed it back. “Welcome back to the Kingdom of Terrain, Your Majesty.”
The guards stepped aside and bowed as she walked through the gate.
I stopped and gawked at the ridiculous sight.
“Move along, slave,” one of the guards grunted at me. They studied me like I was some filthy concubine.
I ground my teeth, fighting my flames. My long sleeves covered my gems, so I couldn’t even pass as a high-born Earth Fae.
I had never been so disrespected. So degraded.
I was the High Lord of the Kingdom of Flame. I could have turned them to ash where they stood.
But thanks to this incompetent mortal, I swallowed my pride and followed Delilah through the gate with my head down to avoid suspicion, my skin burning with outrage with every step.
When we were far enough down the path and alone, I snapped.
“What the hell was that, human?” I hissed.
She didn’t flinch. Like she’d been waiting for it, which only irritated me more.
“What’s wrong, Titus?” she asked mockingly. “You don’t like being a sex slave? … Weird.”
Oh good. We’re back to the slavery lecture. Again I ignored the jab. “I could have you killed for that display of disrespect,” I replied darkly.
She ignored me and kept walking ahead.
My temper flared. I needed to remind her who I was and put her in her place.
I fast traveled in front of her and wrapped a hand around her throat, applying pressure to the sides so she could breathe, but firm enough that she understood: "listen," I commanded.
She gasped at the sudden movement.
The moment I looked at her in my grip, my anger began to subside—morphing into a different kind of heat.
“Let me make this very clear,” I growled. “I am a High Lord. You are a powerless, fragile mortal. It would be wise for you to remember that.”
Then I pulled her closer and breathed into her ear.
“And for the record… if I were your whore, Delilah, make no mistake—I would be very, fucking good at it.”
Her body trembled, but not with fear.
Because the forest air flooded with the delicious scent of her desire.
Our hearts hammered in our chests. I wanted to kiss her. My mouth hovered over hers and then—
I forced myself to release her and push her away.
I knew that a third denial would be impossible. Each time I’d tried to resist her, my will had frayed further, and now there was nothing left of it. I had been strong at first, but even a roaring forest fire could be doused with enough rain.
She gave me a frustrated look as she stepped back. Her breathing was heavy, and all lust evaporated from the air.
I knew I’d struck a nerve because we hiked the rest of the way in painful silence.