53. Ellowyn
Chapter 53
Ellowyn
“ T orin!” My feet slapped the hard earth as I sprinted across the open plain toward the blond Southern lord who seemed to simply appear out of thin air. The magical storm above the dreamscape was, as usual, fitful and agitated, a few tendrils of wayward magic sneaking out from the clouds to tentatively touch both of us. The magic was growing more sentient, something Torin and I had discussed in detail the last few times we were here. I expected the touch of magic to burn or at least feel wrong, but it was more of a lover’s caress than anything.
At least that’s what Torin compared it to. I wouldn’t know what that feels like, even though Torin was getting more liberal in his touches while we were here.
“Ell!” he shouted in return, a smile stretching across his handsome face as his honey-hazel eyes warmed. I adored his nickname for me. It made me feel special, wanted, desired.
I launched myself into his outspread arms, and he caught me, squeezing my chest tightly to his. Our chests rose and fell in time with each other’s breaths, our hearts beating as one. I tucked my face into his neck, breathing in his scent, and experimentally pressed a kiss against his pulse point. I felt a vibration from beneath me and pulled my head back enough to see his face. There were lines of tension in his mouth and around his eyes, but his pupils were slightly blown, his lips parted .
“Careful, Ell. That particular spot gets me . . . excited,” he growled. My own pulse fluttered at the sound, and I let out a girlish giggle.
Who am I?
“Well, that’s probably something your future wife should know, isn’t it?” My voice was breathy as I stared unblinkingly into his eyes. He hummed in response before slowly setting me on the ground. My legs instinctively unwound from behind his back so I could stand, and I felt every hard inch of him as he dragged me down his body.
“Yes. That is true, but not what we came here to discuss today, is it?” he admonished, though there was a distinct note of teasing in his voice. I still felt slightly embarrassed over my lack of experience with intimacy and men, and tried to step away to give him space, thinking I may have read him wrong. Torin must have caught whatever look of inadequacy flashed across my face, because he shot a hand out quicker than I could comprehend and laced his fingers with my own.
“There is nothing I would love more than to tell you and show you all the places that drive me wild and discover yours in turn. To be the first one to do that? To find those places with you?”—he gave me a look so heated I felt my cheeks redden—”It’s something I think about often. But we both know that our time here is limited. We should try and call upon Fate again before we’re inevitably kicked out of here.”
He was right, of course, and I nodded my head in agreement, even if my body would much rather do the other things he suggested.
We sat down on the ground, hands still clasped, and tried to summon Fate. We thought about them, tried speaking to them and about them, tried cursing them and calling for them, but nothing ever summoned them to the dreamscape. The whole time we searched, the tendrils of magic fell from the sky to weave around the two of us, eventually encasing us in what looked like a rainbow of magic. It was beautiful. Though the inability to call on Fate dampened the effect.
After what felt like hours, Torin laid on his back and pulled me down beside him, both of us quiet in our failure to call upon Fate. I sighed, a frustrated thing, which prompted Torin to sit up slightly, propping his head on the hand that once held my own. His other hand dangled close to my body, his fingers twitching every so often as if to touch me.
“You can touch me, you know,” I said a bit breathlessly. Torin quirked up a corner of his mouth in a smile before allowing his fingertips to trail a line from my wrist to my shoulder and back again. His touch was light and obscured by the sleeves of my nightdress, but that didn’t stop a trail of goosebumps from appearing on my flesh, the heat of his touch hardening my nipples. My nightdress was thin and almost sheer and, from the way I was lying next to Torin, there was no disguising my body’s reaction.
A slow decadent smile spread across his face, lust and joy sparking in his eyes as his touch grew a bit bolder, tracking across my collar bone and up my neck. My breath came in little pants as I stared into his eyes, my body coming alive under his delicate touch.
“You like that, Ell?” His voice was like gravel, and I nodded my head earnestly, inherently pushing my chest up in an attempt to get his hand to fall lower. He chuckled again before trailing his fingers down between the valley of my breasts. My heart thumped erratically as I turned my head to face him. His face was inches from my own, his breath feathering over my lips, and my gaze shot there as his tongue darted out to wet them.
His hand tracked up my right breast, stopping just short of my nipple, as his lips lowered to mine. He stopped—both his movements and his face—and I wantonly groaned in frustration. Torin chuckled at me.
“Tell me to stop, Ell, and I will,” he said. But I didn’t want him to stop. I shook my head, words failing me, and he dipped his lips to mine on a growl, his fingers finally finding my peaked nipple.
His lips were soft and warm, and wetter than I anticipated. A zing of electricity shot through me at the contact, both at my lips and my breast, and I moaned into his mouth. Torin’s fingers never made a move to grab, never increased their light pressure. They simply continued trailing across my breasts as he pressed his mouth to mine.
“Really? This is what you’re using the dreamscape for?” The raspy tone of Fate’s voice floated to me, and Torin quickly tore his mouth from my own, his fingers following seconds later. I sat up slightly and craned my neck to see Fate floating a few feet away. I smashed my head back on the ground with a groan.
“Seriously, Fate? We’ve been calling you for hours and you decide to show up now?” I grumbled before pushing myself into a seated position. Torin was already sitting with his legs drawn up, muscled forearms resting on top of his knees.
“I heard you. Loud and clear. But I was busy. Being Fate comes with a lot of responsibilities, Child.” If Fate could be irked, I was certain that was the emotion bleeding through their tone.
Well, that makes two of us .
“What is it you need? I have other business I must attend to, and soon.”
“We have questions, Fate. Questions that need answers,” Torin interjected a bit more harshly than I would have, but I supposed we were both a bit peeved by being interrupted and the lack of information that we were given.
Fate inclined their robed head.
“One question each. That is all I have time for,” they begrudgingly admitted.
One question each? My head spun trying to decide what I wanted answers to the most. Torin glanced at me, and I shook my head, indicating he should ask first.
“This is Meru?” he asked, gesturing around us and to the mountains in the distance. Fate nodded in ascent.
“Yes. This is Meru, the home of the gods. Or whatever is left of them.” Torin chewed his lip in thought and went to ask another question, but Fate held up a black hand to silence him. “One question, Child.”
Torin gave a sharp nod before turning his hazel eyes expectantly on me.
“I can use both Creation and Destruction Magic . . . why?”
If Fate was surprised by my question, they didn’t show it. The dreamscape—Meru—seemed less than pleased with my inquiry. The previous kaleidoscope of color that encased Torin and I shot back into the sky, a swirling vortex taking its place. Thunder rumbled and lightning cracked as the wind picked up.
“The gods are coming, and we must be prepared,” was Fate’s cryptic reply.
Torin’s hand gripped my own as the ground rumbled again.
“Time to return to the land of the living, my children. I’ll see you soon. Perhaps think of better questions while you’re away.” With that, Fate disappeared with a pop leaving Torin and I to muddle through our thoughts before we, too, were expelled from Meru.