Chapter nineteen #2
“Are you still concerned about your powers?” he inquired, pulling me towards one of the large pillars in the temple for some privacy.
“Your offering was a wonderful idea. I’m sure Holy Ether will hear your plea.
” Pretending to become friends with Xavier had worked better than I could have imagined.
He believed we were building a foundation of friendship before we took things to the next step.
I had to allow him the occasional touch, though.
It may have been his hand lingering a little longer on the swell of my back, or a gentle kiss, but Xavier never pushed it too far. He was desperate to win my affection.
“Luz gave me the flower.” Xavier played with the few loose strands of my hair, twisting them around his fingers.
“Perhaps taking our relationship to the next level would please Holy Ether?”
“I don’t think it works that way,” I chuckled, brushing off his comment. “Are you coming to The Falls later? Nell, Luz, Noor, and I are all going.”
“I have to sort out the patrol teams,” he sighed softly, moving in to inhale the scent just below my collarbone. Knowing his schedule, it was easy to invite him to events I knew he couldn’t attend. I had been doing it for years. “If I can make the time, I will try.”
“I’m having dinner with my father and Elin next week. Perhaps you could join us then?”
“I will try and clear my plans for that.” With a glance over my shoulder, he saw that Jarious was trying to get his attention. “Excuse me, Alora. I am needed.” Pecking my cheek, he quickly left.
“What was all that about?” Noor made me jump, coming up behind me. “You two looked cosy.”
“Oh, he was telling me he can’t make the tavern. He’s sending more patrols out.”
“It’s probably because of all the beast attacks. The last four patrols and a few pilgrimages have been ambushed. Lito was telling me that they fear it might be a pack of noc beasts.”
“I thought they were meant to be solitary animals?”
“The males are. This pack is likely to be some females with almost fully grown young.”
“How do you defend yourself with a pack of them? How many are we talking about?”
“Lito thinks five to seven with the destruction they are causing. Xavier has lost some very strong warriors. Nell and Uri are considering stopping pilgrimages until the pack has been destroyed.” Fear for Darce suddenly entered my mind.
He had farther to travel across the Barren Lands than me.
What if he ran into the pack? My route was a lot safer.
There wasn’t much open land for the pack to follow, and a lot of the secret tunnels Darce had shown me were too small for them.
“You need to consider your bi-weekly adventures, too. It’s not worth risking your life, Alora. ”
“I’m not seeing him for another few weeks.”
“You’re only seeing him once this month?”
“Don’t look so surprised. I told you it was just a bit of fun.”
“You forget, I know you! You can’t hide anything from me.” Noor was wrong, though. I was hiding everything from her. All in the name of love.
****
“YOU DOUBT MY SKILLS against seven noc beasts?” Darce teased as I kissed up his chest. “You remember how easily I killed one to save you, right?”
“Seven is a little different. What would you do if they all attacked you at once?”
“Blind them with shadows,” he replied as a matter of fact. “I’m more concerned that you haven’t thought of your own safety in this. What would you do if they had tracked your scent?”
“You know my journey here is safer.”
“You still have to cross part of the Barren Land. If this pack is as dangerous as you say, I might have to hunt them myself. I can’t have you in danger trying to get here.”
“No! My kind will find the pack. Don’t put yourself in harm’s way like that.”
“You seem rather worried about me. You’re not catching feelings are you, Starshine?” Darce teased, running his hand down my bare back. A month apart had made us feral. Both of us began ripping each other’s clothes the moment we saw each other.
“The only thing I’m catching feelings for are your mouth and fingers.”
“What about my cock?”
“If you deflowered me, I’d have a better answer. It’s hard to fall for something that only goes in my mouth when my warm, wet core craves you deep, deep inside me.”
“That fucking mouth,” Darce gasped, crashing his lips against mine. “If you want me to fuck you, I’ll fuck you...if you run away with me.”
“You know I can’t do that.” We rolled so Darce was on top. He bit my bottom lip slightly before pulling back to gaze at me.
“Fuck the princess, Alora. I can give you a better life. I will always keep you safe. Run away with me and I’ll claim this.” His fingers slipped inside my waiting sex. “The sex might drain us both, but I’m willing to sacrifice all my power to be able to call you mine.”
“You would do that for me? Sacrifice your power?” Darce removed his fingers from my core. I pouted a little in protest.
“Yes.” He spoke without a shred of doubt. “You don’t know what your power is capable of yet, though. Do you really want to risk losing it before you even see its full potential?”
“From what you’ve seen of my power, do you think I’ll even be that powerful?”
“It’s hard to tell. Your power forms very differently from my kind, but the strength of the light I feel against my shadows it’s immense. It’s something I wouldn’t feel easy about you losing.”
“Would you ever consider stealing my power?” It was wrong of me to ask him. I was comparing him to Xavier, but I was still searching for a fault in those beautiful, star-specked eyes of his.
“Why would you ask that?” He searched my features, sorrow framing his face.
“Alora, I would never steal your power. Is that what your kind tells you? That we take Dylin power? We have no desire for light. Our dark power is more than enough for my kind. It’s your kind who are trying to extinguish the darkness, not the other way around.
” No! Darce couldn’t be telling the truth.
We were the peaceful race, not them. “You don’t believe me, do you? ”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” I muttered, tracing his lips with my fingertips. “You walked into my life and turned everything upside down.”
“It wasn’t done intentionally.” He smirked, moving to kiss down my neck to my breasts.
“If there was a way we could be sure that us having sex wouldn’t risk you, I would be sticking my cock here right now.
” His hand cupped my sex again, putting a little pressure against my entrance.
“You have no idea the longing I have to claim you, Alora. I want to possess every hole, every whimper, every arch of your beautiful body while I make you climax. The heights I could take you to with my cock...you have no idea how deep inside I would be.” As Darce spoke, he began to rub my bundle of nerves.
My hips rocked against his hand, needing all the friction they could get.
“Run away with me and I’ll take this. Fuck, please be mine.
” He licked over my breast and then pulled on my nipples with his teeth, making me cry out as he set a quicker tempo with his fingers in my core.
“We’ll have forever. It will be just you and me enjoying each other’s bodies and fucking morning until night.
” He was painting the most glorious picture, and his fingers were already starting to bring me to the brink.
“We could start jumping veils as early as tomorrow.” I was on the edge of my climax and Darce could sense it.
Twisting his fingers, he began to hit that sweet spot inside me.
“Give yourself fully to me. You don’t owe your race a damn thing.
All they’ve done is lie to you.” Crying out, my climax rippled through my body as Darce clamped his mouth over my right nipple.
He bit down roughly, making my orgasm shoot through every vein in my body.
“Give it all to me, Alora.” My body convulsed over and over.
When I finally came down, Darce was watching me intently.
“You won’t risk my powers, and I won’t risk yours. You have no idea how much I want you to claim me, but we have to know we’ll both be safe.”
“It’s a shame there are no records of anything like this before.” The Book of Elder World entered my mind. It made me wonder if his kind had any similar manuscripts.
“Have you ever heard of Elder World?” Darce looked alarmed, almost as if I had uncovered some dark secret.
“You know of the Elder World books?”
“There is one under lock and key in our library.”
“Your kind possesses one of the missing scriptures? How?” The missing scripture? There was more than one Elder World book? “Alora, you have no idea what power that book holds. It might have the answer I’ve been searching for, for the last two thousand years.”
“And what’s that?”
Darce swallowed hard before answering. “What made our two races enemies in the first place.” Oh! “You need to get your hands on that book.” That was going to be easier said than done.