Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
ARKEN
With two croissant sandwiches and spiced cider in tow, I took my first cautious steps into Elder Guard headquarters.
Though I had been here before on several occasions, I had never been without Kieran’s escort—and we’d taken the front entrances so rarely that I felt woefully out of place, intimidated by all the men and women in uniform, guards of various ranks milling about with pride and purpose.
Fates, the main entry hall was massive. More often than not, I’d met Kieran on the fields, or he’d sneak me into one of the many spare training rooms in the back buildings.
This appeared to be where more official business took place, with several stories worth of offices, archives, and meeting rooms made visible by a series of dark wood indoor balconies.
As I searched for some kind of directory, I couldn’t help but notice the way some of the guards stared. Some with raised brows, others with bemused curiosity, or in a few cases, outright contempt.
You probably should have asked for more specific directions to his office.
“You’re lookin’ a little lost there, Miss,” a younger-looking recruit said as he passed by and then paused. “Can I help you with somethin’?”
“Could you point me in the direction of the captain’s office?” I asked.
“Sure thing, ma’am. Which one?”
“Scouting.”
The recruit’s eyes immediately widened, a nervous expression replacing his previously friendly warmth. “Oh, um, I. Err, well, you see…I actually can’t—”
“I’ll take it from here, Edmundson,” a low and grizzly voice spoke from just behind me.
Snapping out of his skittishness, the recruit immediately stood at attention, his back straightening as he raised his hand to his temple in a formal salute. “Yes, sir,” Edmundson said promptly.
I turned to face whoever carried such authority in these halls.
In a uniform noticeably more decorated than any I’d ever seen before, a tall and broad-shouldered man stood with both command and confident ease, looking past me and nodding toward his recruit.
“At ease. Carry on with your day.”
The lines embedded in his deeply golden-brown skin softened slightly as he turned to me, and if I had to wager a guess, he was probably in his mid to late forties.
With his cropped black hair, well-kept beard, and the serious gleam in his dark brown, almond-shaped eyes, he cut an imposing figure indeed.
No wonder the recruit had been so intimidated, all too eager to scamper off the moment he’d been dismissed.
“Hello, Miss Asher.”
How did he know—I didn’t even bother to finish the thought. If this man was higher in rank than Kieran, I had a feeling there was very little he did not know about what went on in his city-state.
“Hello,” I echoed. “I don’t believe we’ve met, Mister…?”
“Commander,” he corrected. “High Commander Hanjae Ka. And it’s a pleasure to make your formal acquaintance, Lightbearer—though yes, I do already know who you are. Naturally, I’m expected to keep tabs on those with a history of delinquency on their records.”
Oh my gods.
A corner of his mouth twitched when my eyes grew wide as saucers.
“I-I swear I don’t normally make a habit of getting into trouble, sir,” I stammered. “That whole getting drunk on the Biblyos’ roof thing was a one-time deal, and last week was just—”
“Come along, Miss Asher. I was only teasing.”
I found his conspiratorial smile rather disarming as he continued. “I take it you’re here to see my scouting captain?”
“Yeah—I mean, yes, sir? Commander? Sorry. Yes, I’m just here to bring Kier—erm, Captain Vistarii? Some lunch,” I sputtered out, awkwardly holding up the brown paper bags.
The idiot hasn’t eaten today.
I wasn’t sure if the full-bellied laugh that escaped the commander was over my irritated expression, or my scrambling attempts to follow decorum, but it made the man look about ten years younger as he said, “No need for such formalities, Miss Asher. You’re not under my command, which means we can skip all those pesky honorifics.
” As he guided me toward a short set of stairs leading up to the next floor, he grumbled something so low under his breath that it probably wasn’t intended for me, but I caught the gist. “The Source only knows your captain can’t seem to manage them, either. ”
I tried not to snort. Now, why did that not surprise me?
After the kind commander dropped me off at Kieran’s door, I took a moment to straighten myself out, quickly tidying up any stray curls with my fingertips, adjusting my outfit—feeling unusually shy as I reached out to knock on his door.
“You can come in, Little Conduit,” I heard him call through the door.
I nearly jumped out of my skin. Now, how in the Hel—
“It’s a ward,” Kieran explained as I stepped into the room with a raised brow. “And ‘loquacious fiend’? That’s a new one. Were you reading the dictionary for fun again, Asher?”
“That was an encyclopedia!”
“Same shit, bookwyrm.”
I blew an irritated breath through my nose as my eyes wandered from his handsome face, taking in the rather spacious suite—the one Kieran claimed was essentially his second home.
With floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a crackling hearth decorated with a miscellany of plaques and medals, and at least three teacups left in precarious locations, I could see that was indeed the case.
“An encyclopedia is decidedly not the same as a dictionary,” I argued, still examining the room. “They are two entirely different forms of reference.”
“I dunno, they look pretty similar to me.”
“They don’t even—Are you trying to get me worked up?”
I paused my greedy exploration of his private space to shoot him a pointed stare, to which he ran his eyes up and down my body with a wickedly lascivious gleam in his eyes.
“Is it working?”
“Don’t look at me like that, Vistarii,” I warned. “You’re on shift, and I’ve got another lecture in an hour.”
“An hour is quite a lot of time, Little Conduit,” he replied. I jumped as I heard the click of the lock behind me—in my curiosity, I’d forgotten to even close the door. “A great many things can be accomplished in under an hour.”
“Did you just—”
“Yes.”
I didn’t often see Kieran use his arcana—at least, not like that.
The ability to channel elemental energy with such strength and finesse that he could close and lock doors without a single incantation or gesture was impressive.
It was a subtle reminder that Kieran’s command over Shadow and his skill in the arcane arts were just as deadly as his martial prowess—a thought that made me shiver for more reasons than one.
Though he was murmuring a quiet incantation now, paired with a precise set of twisting motions between two fingers.
I glanced over my shoulder to where his gaze seemed to be focused and watched in fascination as Shadows began to meld with the doorframe, like a thick, dark smoke, snuffing out any and all light between the cracks.
I felt a subtle, protective hum reverberating through the air once the spell was complete.
“You presumptuous bastard.” He had just cast a soundproofing ward.
Kieran kicked his legs up on the desk, casually tilting his chair back as he crossed his arms behind his head. “Go ahead, Ark. Tell me my presumption was made in error,” he crooned. “Tell me you don’t want me to bend you over this desk and make you come until you see stars. I’ll wait.”
Curls of tension and heat thickened as they danced along my throat, skittering down my spine before settling and pooling at my core. I swallowed hard, attempting to maintain my resolve.
“You need to eat something,” I reminded him, nodding to the parcels in hand. “That’s the whole reason I’m here, if you recall—to bring you lunch?”
“Perhaps that was just an excuse to get you here,” Kieran mused, inspecting his fingernails. “An elaborate ruse, if you will.”
My eyes narrowed. “I swear to the Source, Vistarii, if you’re not actually hungry and you just lied to me just to get me out of class—”
“I didn’t lie,” Kieran interjected. “All statements made were true, thank you very much. I didn’t have time to grab breakfast outside of the one I took between your legs. And yes, Little Conduit, as a result, I am feeling rather…hungry.”
His tone made it exceptionally clear that we were no longer discussing food, and my jaw dropped, mouth falling open in shock when the shameless bastard slid his hand over one thigh, palming what was a very obvious erection. Fucking Hel.
“Ravenous, one might say,” he added, lowering his voice as if to tempt me to come closer.
“Are you really about to start stroking your cock in front of me on government property?” I asked, arching a brow.
“I might. Why? Can you think of something better for me to do with it?”
That smile was so wicked it bordered on lecherous.
“Or would you rather watch?” he inquired, knowing damn well that my eyes were glued to his hand right now, watching the way his prominent veins flexed as he put a bit more pressure behind those languid strokes above his pants.
Fuck.
“This is so inappropriate,” I muttered, feeling the last dregs of my willpower and better sense slipping through my fingers.
“And you’re already soaking through your panties over it,” he smirked. “So why don’t you come here and bend over, pretty girl? We’ve only got an hour.”
Asshole.
And he wasn’t even wrong.
Perceptive asshole.
Wordlessly, I set our food down at the table beside the hearth before drifting back into his orbit.
“There she is,” he murmured, rising to his feet to greet me with a kiss.
“You better not make a habit of this, Vistarii,” I murmured as his lips wandered from my mouth to my throat, his hands wrapping around my waist before drifting to the back of my dress, slowly but deftly undoing the ties keeping it in place.
“Which part, exactly?” Kieran mused. “Because if it’s the whole stroking my cock on government property thing, I fear that’s out of the question. I told you, I practically live here when I’m not at home.”
“I was referring to abusing your position to sneak me out of lectures under the guise of an emergency,” I corrected. “Though I can’t say I condone the former.”
“Noted,” he replied as he reached the last of the ties at my back, loosening the bodice of my dress enough that it began to slip from one of my shoulders. He bent his head down to kiss the freshly exposed skin.
“But if I’m not allowed to fuck myself in here, sweetheart, that means I’m going to need to fuck you.
Which, in your defense, is most certainly the superior option—an excellent point.
So turn around,” Kieran said, the authoritative tone intensifying as he took hold of my hip and spun me around to face his desk. “And bend the fuck over.”
The snarl at the back of his throat left me expecting to hear him fumbling with his belt—half hoping he’d take me with aggression after placing a commanding palm against my back, pushing me forward into his desired position, my chest and arms against the dark mahogany writing desk.
All that fuss with the ties of my dress, though, and he hadn’t even taken it off…
It only took a few more moments to discover why.
Two things happened simultaneously: cool, smoky tendrils of Shadow began to slink around my skin, tugging at the soft green linen until they pulled my dress up and over my head.
And at the same time, for the second day in a row, Kieran Vistarii dropped to his knees.
“Godsdamn,” Kieran breathed.
I hadn’t expected this, but I certainly couldn’t say I had complaints as I was laid nearly bare before him, and he proceeded to peel off my panties with slow decadence, as if savoring it. Unwrapping me like a present of his own as the scrap of gifted silk finally fell to my ankles.
Oh, sweet Hel.