Chapter Thirty two
“What happened with Charna? Do your parents suspect anything?” I asked a while later, tracing the lines of Darce’s chest with my fingertips.
“Charna will never come near you again. I’ve made my intentions very clear. If she even looks at you in the wrong way, she will pay greatly.”
“But if she’s an advisor to your parents, how can you truly silence her?”
“There is only one thing she values over her position within the palace.” I gazed up at him, waiting for him to continue.
“Her life.” I swallowed hard, remembering how deadly he was.
How easily he crushed her throat with his shadow magic.
“Have no fear, Starshine. The fire twins will be keeping watch on her, too. They understand how devious she can be.”
“We’re creating formidable enemies and we’ve barely started,” I sighed, pulling closer into his chest. His grip around me tightened. He may have been a dangerous, powerful force, but I had never felt as safe as when I was in his arms.
“We can handle them. Don’t worry.”
“My father doesn’t suspect a thing either. Uri had an alarming vision that we’ll go to war in three hundred years, though.”
“Nisha has had something similar, but it’s nothing to fear. All these visions are subjective. Nothing has been decided yet. There are many pieces to play on this board. Everything needs to fall into place to reach the final conclusion.”
“Must you always speak in riddles?” I teased, kissing his chest. “I understand there are things you must keep to yourself, but do you have to be so smug about it?”
“I’ll have to teach you how to play chess. You would perhaps then understand the importance of all the pieces being in place in order to achieve the right outcome.”
“Chess? Is it a battle move?”
“No. It’s a strategy game, played on a checkered board. It’s about moving pieces around, sacrificing some to win the game. It tests your wit, forward planning, and intelligence. My kind designed it over two thousand years ago.”
“I’m not sure I’m interested if it’s not about actual battle tactics.
” Darce chuckled softly, rolling me so I lay on top of him.
“You should think about leaving soon. My ladies-in-waiting will arrive shortly.” I kissed him gently, but Darce deepened it.
His hands fell into my hair, gripping and pulling as our tongues battled for dominance.
“My bed still smells of you. It’s maddening. I can’t get you out of my head,” he breathed against my mouth. “How do I stay away, knowing I can portal here whenever I wish?”
“You do your duties through the day, and in the early hours you visit this chamber. I do not wish you to stay away.” A low groan came from his throat as he began to kiss his way down my neck.
Before I could move, Darce had impaled me on his already hard length, and began to move me up and down.
I took over, placing my hands on his chest as I began to rock against the glorious feeling.
Having this strong male underneath me, allowing me to give him the pleasure he craved, was indescribable.
As I rocked faster and faster, his hands roamed up and gripped my breasts.
My body ignited as tremors began to build from my core.
He closed his eyes and groaned. My release set off his, and we came as one.
“Fuck!” Darce took a deep breath as I climbed off him, removing the evidence of our fornicating that was trickling down my thighs with a cloth. “I would take a bath before your ladies-in-waiting arrive. That was quite a release. There might be more of my cum up there.”
“Could you be any more crude?”
“You know I can be,” he winked, getting up and pulling his clothes on. Stalking over to me, he pecked my lips. “Until tonight, Starshine,” Darce whispered. Then, in a puff of black mist, he was gone.
****
LIFE BLISSFULLY CONTINUED this way for a long period of time.
A few hundred years, in fact. Darce and I would spend the early hours together in my bedchamber, exploring each other and talking about our hopes for the future.
We would also discuss possible answers as to the feud between our kinds and why our two races initially went to war.
Recently, going a few days without seeing each other was pure torture.
We became so in tune with each other that it was hard to see where I ended and he began.
My soul was immersed with his. Love. I never imagined it would feel this way.
Holy Ether wasn’t who I worshipped anymore. All I wanted and craved was Darce.
Eallarim became my second home for a week every month, and my father believed all the lies I fed to him each time I returned. It was amazing how effortless it all felt, deceiving both our races and looking for any way we could truly be together that didn’t involve veil hopping.
We were still trying to get our hands on the Dylin Elder World book. Even after two hundred years, it proved to me impossible. The spell Uri had it under was too powerful for any of us to break.
“No! That is out of the question!” Throwing my arms up in the air, I gave Darce an exasperated glare. He had been trying to get me to agree to this for almost a century!
“Do you have any other ideas?” he asked. “That book could hold the missing pieces we’re seeking. You’ve tried every other way you can think of, so now let’s try mine.” When I looked over at Noor, she gave me a sympathetic smile.
“Don’t you dare take his side on this!” I warned her. “He is risking his life!” Since Darce had begun to show Noor a few defensive battle moves, the two of them had strangely become friends.
“Alora, we all know how powerful he is. He can be in and out in seconds,” Noor pointed out. She was taking his side. “You’ll be in the library anyway. He can’t portal without you being there so he can use your connection.”
“Listen to your best friend,” Darce smirked, giving Noor an appreciative nod.
“When did you two suddenly become allies?” Loki, Enyo, and Boulder were playing in the long grass in Shielding Valley.
“About fifty years ago,” Noor snorted. “I’m as shocked as you.
” Rolling my eyes, I looked up at the sky.
The suns were already low. We couldn’t stay here much longer.
“Darce’s plan will work. No one will suspect.
We’ve tried to break the spell, but none of us are strong enough, even with our combined power. ”
“If this plan gets you captured...” When I pointed my finger towards Darce, he gave me a loving smile in return. “All our hard work will be in vain.”
“It’s been almost seven hundred years since we first met. You should have a little more faith in me, Starshine.” Pulling me into his embrace, he ran his fingers through my hair. “I am one of the most powerful guardians in Afterlight Veil.”
“And that arrogant ego of yours is as immense as ever.” Chuckling, he pecked my lips. “Okay, we’ll try your way. When?”
“Tonight,” Darce whispered. My chest tightened as fear took hold.
We had never been this careless before. Allowing Darce in the Dallethas library was dangerous if Uri sensed him.
My powers were surging. I could control them a lot better thanks to Darce and Noor helping me over the years, but my full abilities still hadn’t manifested.
If Uri was to find us, I would be defenceless.
“Don’t look so petrified,” he sighed. “We’re doing this together.
What could possibly go wrong?” Trying to not show my panic, I gave him my best smile as he kissed me softly.
There was so much that could go wrong, but we were out of options. We needed answers. War was less than a hundred years away now.
After studying the two Elder World books that the Noxlin’s had, Darce and I had begun to understand a few things.
Darkness and light must have existed before all the other veils.
The universe Holy Ether created couldn’t be made without them.
Creation and existence appeared to be the initial reason Afterlight was formed, because neither could exist without it.
Darkness and light couldn’t exist without each other, either, which left the unanswerable question.
Would either cease to be if the other was destroyed?
If that was the case, why were we at war with each other?
Nantu betraying both our races appeared to have something to do with Solace and Lustre, but too much was unreadable in her book. The images that might have been helpful were burned or torn. The hatred for both of our kind was evident, though. She had formed the mountains to keep us apart. Why?
Lustre’s version of events might shed some light on some of these questions, but I still wasn’t happy about the risk Darce was taking.
****
“brEATHE,” NOOR WHISPERED as we sat in the grand Dallethas library.
It was almost midnight, and we were the only Dylin left on the upper floor.
Lustre’s book of the Elder World was under lock, key, and spell around the corner.
A few priests were on the lower level, writing their scriptures.
“He’ll be in and out in a matter of seconds. ”
“Unless Uri has set a trap,” I murmured, pretending to read the book in front of me about light leaper history.
With a quick glance at the placement of the suns in the skylight, I knew we had a few minutes to get into place.
Picking up one of the books on the table, I gave Noor the nod to watch the grand staircase.
Noor slipped the key that opened the box the book was kept in into my hand before she moved into place.
Nell had managed to copy the key a century ago.
As I moved around the bookshelves towards the room, my heart hammered inside my chest. Pulling my light power to the surface and tracing my fingertips over my bracelet, I waited for Darce to appear.
I’m here. Find me. My mind pushed my light power into the bracelet and there he was.
The prince of Eallarim stood in the sacred Dallethas library.