Chapter Twenty seven
We had been dancing for hours and were in need of refreshment. Nyx had danced over to us a few times, as had Mrak. Many Noxlin simply bowed their heads to their prince and eyed me suspiciously.
I was definitely getting the hang of some of the dances, although some were much more complicated than others.
It was all about arm movements and moving around each other’s body in time to the music.
There was a lot of physical contact that made me crave Darce even more.
A gentle touch of hands before pulling away, or him holding me around the waist while we spun around.
Some dances even included him lifting me off the ground.
It made me giggle each time he lifted me, and I stretched my arms into the air, trying to touch the fireflies above us.
I don’t think I’d ever felt so carefree, and when I looked around at all the Noxlin, I could see they felt the same way.
This wasn’t a dance in the way of a ritual like back in Dallethas.
Here, they did it for enjoyment. For their pleasure.
“I can’t keep you to myself much longer. My friends are all glaring at me.” Darce tilted his head towards a small gathering of Noxlin that included Nyx and Mrak. “If anything gets uncomfortable, squeeze my hand and I’ll shadow us away in seconds.”
“I’ve already spent the afternoon with Nyx and survived.”
“You haven’t seen her drunk yet,” Darce snorted as we made our way over to his friends.
Even with all the dark eyes watching me, I pushed my fear away. No matter what happened, Darce would keep me safe.
****
THE WINE WAS FLOWING and I was laughing so much my insides ached. Nyx and Mrak were telling stories of a much younger, less confident Darce.
Nadine, who looked like she might be a priestess, almost choked on her wine as Nyx told us about a naked, sleepwalking Darce.
The only way I could describe Nadine’s appearance was wild and tortured.
Her wiry, black twisted hair and porcelain skin made her jet black eyes stand out.
She looked like she might have been to hell and back.
The two other females in our group were watching me very carefully.
Lisha and Nisha appeared to be twins. They had some differences in appearances, though.
Lisha was fair-skinned with long hair, while Nisha was darker with curly hair.
Both had hair that was dark red with highlights of white, yellow, and orange, and eyes the colour of cooling lava.
Their hair reminded me of something, and I suddenly realised who they were.
Darce has mentioned them once before. The fire twins.
“Have you all stopped trying to embarrass me in front of Lora?” Darce shook his head, looking between everyone. “I’ll have you know, your stories won’t make her think any less of me.”
“What about all the times I’ve beaten your ass?” Mrak snorted, nudging him.
“Are you saying you beat Darce’s ass on many occasions?” I laughed.
“What Mrak’s trying to say is that he could beat my ass when I wasn’t fully grown. He is six hundred years older than me,” Darce quipped, lazily stroking my arm with his fingers.
“I seem to remember beating you in training a few centuries ago,” Mrak huffed, downing the ale in his goblet.
“Are you talking about the day Darce was so hung over he could barely stand?” Nyx chimed in, rolling her eyes. “Mrak, he still almost beat you.” We all laughed out loud, watching Mrak stand up.
“I know he’s our prince, but do you all have to be on his side every time?” Mrak huffed. “He’s already an arrogant motherfucker.”
“Aww, are you feeling inferior, Mrak?” Nadine teased, laughing into her goblet.
“There is nothing inferior about me, Nadine. You’ve sucked my cock enough times to know that.” I choked a little on my drink at how candid they were. Darce soothed my shock by touching my leg under the table. Noxlin simply spoke what they were thinking.
“It doesn’t quite fill my mouth, though, does it?” Nadine smirked back at him.
“Whore,” Mrak sniggered, but I knew he didn’t mean it as an insult. “Does anyone need their goblets filled?”
“There’s an offer I can’t refuse.” Nadine fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Come on, Nyx. I need more wine anyway.” The two females followed Mrak, leaving Darce and me alone with the fire twins.
“You get used to the whore that is Mrak. Everything is a sexual innuendo with him,” Darce whispered into my ear, pulling my hand to his lips to kiss my knuckles. “You held your own really well with all of them.”
“I’ve spent so much time with you that none of that really phased me.”
“She’s not what we pictured, Darce,” Nisha said, moving closer to me so she could take my hand in hers.
“Such a pure soul,” she gasped, looking at her sister.
“Can you feel that?” Lisha nodded, giving me a small smile.
“The power you hold inside you is stifling. How do you bear it?” Why did it feel as if they could see straight through my disguise?
“D...Do you know what I am?” My voice didn’t sound like my own.
“Of course we do. You don’t have to fear us.
We mean you no harm. We all have a part to play in bringing peace to Afterlight.
It seems you and our prince might have the largest parts to play, though.
” Her eyes flicked to pure white as she looked up towards the night sky.
Watching Uri so often, it didn’t phase me.
I knew what was happening. She was reading the future.
“Nisha can see the future, among other things,” her sister, Lisha, commented, moving to sit by Darce. When she pulled a dull light into her hands, my eyes widened. Wait, was she harnessing light power? “I have my own talents...unbelievable magic power, that is neither light nor dark.”
“How can that be?” I breathed. It didn’t make sense. You had to be one or the other. You couldn’t share light and dark.
“The fire twins were found wandering Dreonarus as infants over nine hundred thousands years ago. We know very little about where they came from,” Darce explained before taking a sip of his wine. “They are our best kept secret, and have never fought in any of our wars against Dylin.”
“Why not?” The words fell out of my mouth without even thinking.
“We choose not to pick sides,” Nisha replied as her eyes faded back to the cooling lava appearance.
“We have our own dwellings in the mountains, but the Noxlin are the benevolent race in Afterlight. Zohar has poison running through his veins. Dylin have been corrupted for so long that they can’t remember the way they once were.
There is no helping them.” Nisha touched my face.
“Yet, you might be the one to finally bring them back to the light.”
“What did you see?” I asked her, desperate to know my fate.
“The events have been set in motion. You and the prince are entwined until fate runs its course.”
“What does that even mean?” What had she seen in the future, and why wasn’t she telling me?
“The events have to run their course without intervention,” Lisha explained. “The future is a delicate thing. If you know too much, it will affect the outcome.”
“You can’t even tell us the outcome? How are Darce and I meant to know if we’re on the right path?”
“You follow the path until one of you loses their life.” Nisha spoke the words so coolly that I almost didn’t take it in.
“One of us what?” I exclaimed. Darce gripped my wrist, making me look at him. “What is she talking about?” The look on his face told me that he already knew about this possible fate. “You knew about this?”
“Let’s go back to my chamber. We can discuss it better there.” Darce sighed, looking back towards Nisha. “Did you see any power loss or implications at all?” I couldn’t understand what he meant until Nisha replied.
“The two of you joining poses no threat to her or yourself. It will only strengthen your connection.”
“Thank you, Nisha.” Darce was up out of his chair in seconds, pulling me with him as shadows surrounded us. I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to the twins before we were back in the comfort of his bedchamber.
“What does she mean about one of us losing our life? How long have you known about this?” Pulling on the collar of his tunic, I made him look at me. “You said no more secrets. Do you think I would ever risk you? I will not do any of this if one of us dies!”
“You know seers’ visions are subjective. The future can change in the blink of an eye. It’s one possible outcome for us. There is nothing to worry about, Starshine. Nisha can be a little...dramatic. It’s her age, really. She likes to flaunt how powerful she and Lisha are.”
“You can’t throw this under the rug! How long have you known that one of us might die?”
“Alora, please. It’s nothing to worry about.
Trust me. Nisha’s powers show a lot of outcomes.
The visions here aren’t like your seer’s back in Dallethas.
The power they harness is different. It’s pure.
It’s not inherited like ours.” That put my mind at rest a little, but I wasn’t finished with the subject.
“Do you have any idea where their power came from?”
“It’s ancient, but neither of them have any memory. I personally think they are a force reborn from a different veil.” It made sense, but I didn’t know enough about the twins to make that judgement. “Either way, you don’t need to worry about what Nisha said. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
“I’m not worried about something happening to me,” I whispered, tracing the line of his tunic that exposed a part of his bare skin.
“I have powers, Alora. It would take a lot to kill me.” He was trying to sooth me, but his loving smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“I thought you might have been thinking about Nisha’s other statement more.
You’ve been begging me for so long, and now that the twins have finally read you, we have our answer.
” Heat spread through my body at the realisation of what this all meant.
“Did Nisha just give you the all clear to claim me?” I heaved, catching my breath. Watching his dark, hooded eyes, I didn’t really need him to answer me.
“Yes.”
“Couldn’t she have done that sooner if all she had to do was search for our future?”
“Nisha needed to be near you, to soak in your essence. It would appear Noxlin and Dylin can be intimate. Not that it’s ever been tried before, but you know me, I’m willing to try anything twice.”
“Twice?”
“Twice...to make sure I really didn’t like it the first time.
” How could he joke at a time like this?
“Not that I don’t think I’m going to enjoy fucking you.
” He swallowed hard, taking a step back and allowing his eyes to slowly move down my body.
“In fact, I know I’m going to enjoy it too much.
” Was he stalling? He studied me carefully for a moment, trying to get a read on me.
He must be able to tell that my body was burning for him.
“I won’t act on it until you’re ready, Starshine.
Having a Noxlin take you affects you much more than me.
I’ll break Noxlin tradition and wait, if that’s what you need.
” Wait? Is that what he thought I wanted?
I had been trying to make Darce take me for centuries, and now that we had our answers, there was only one thing left to tell him.
“Please, for the Mother of Mercy, fuck me! We have our answer. You know what I want...what I’ve wanted for so long. I’m not afraid. I want you, Darce. Claim me!”
“Is that what you truly desire?” His voice was low as his eyes raked over my chest.
“Yes.” I had never been more certain of anything. I loved this male. This connection was all I wanted.
“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to be gentle with you.” His honesty made worry lines appear on his forehead as he gazed at me. “You have no idea how long I’ve dreamt of this moment. I don’t want to ruin it by hurting you.”
“I stopped being fragile the day you started training me. Take what is yours, Prince!” Unclasping the clip on my dress, I let it pool on the floor, leaving me naked in front of him except for the undergarment covering my sex.
Enough waiting.
I wanted him to take this sacred part of me.
It had been his all along. From the moment I had first laid eyes on him, he had held power over me.
Back then, at the Barren Lands, I hadn’t realised it was desire.
A calling that not only saved my life, but saved my soul.
With his guidance, I had transformed into a warrior and a better version of myself.
I was humble, and saw the Noxlin’s for who they really were.
Finally, I was someone worthy of his love.
“Claim me,” I begged one last time before Darce sprang into action.