Chapter 23
ELOWEN
Theron takes me back to his home, carrying me right through town and ignoring the curious looks we get from the townspeople on the street. He says nothing but cradles me close to his chest as though I’m something precious.
I’m too upset to care that people are staring. All I can think of is that I’ve lost my home—the only place I’ve ever lived and the only people I’ve ever loved. I don’t have any other place to go—any place to live.
It’s kind of Theron to bring me to his home, but I can’t ask to live with him. Despite the things we’ve done together, we barely know each other. I can’t just move in with him—not that he’s offered.
I feel lost…adrift. When he puts me down on his bed, I turn on my side and curl in on myself.
Theron doesn’t say a word. He goes to the hearth and starts doing something.
I can hear some clanging and then the sound of liquid pouring.
I just lay there, wishing I could go back in time—wishing I could do the Time Weaving.
But there’s no way—it’s impossible. It’s meant to be impossible.
Clearly whoever wrote the spell didn’t really want anyone to be able to go back in time.
Maybe it’s dangerous…I don’t know. It doesn’t matter because I can’t even begin to do even one of the dangerous quests that make up the spell—let alone all four of them.
So I’m stuck and I have no idea what I’m going to do.
Die on the street, I guess. Maybe I can get enough for food if I beg.
Maybe I’ll have to sell myself like the women of the night and I’ll live a short, miserable life giving myself to men I hate who disgust me over and over, just to earn enough to get a crust of bread.
If it sounds like I’m depressed, well—I am. Who could blame me?
The worst part is, I can already feel the curse starting to ramp up again. Drinking Theron’s seed helped in the moment but it’s clear the relief it gave me won’t last. Sooner or later, I’m going to need male seed again and if I can’t get it…
My gloomy thoughts are cut off when Theron settles on the mattress beside me and holds out a steaming mug.
“Here,” he rumbles, pushing it into my hand. “Drink. You’ll feel better.”
I sit up and sniff the contents of the mug. It smells sweet and spicy and strong—some kind of tea, maybe? I take a tentative sip and it’s delicious. I take a longer drink and look up at him.
“Thank you,” I say in a small voice.
“You’re welcome, little one.” He sighs and runs a hand over his horns. “I’m sorry we got caught. I didn’t know there was anyone else in the garden.”
“That was Sister Agatha—she’s been trying to catch me doing something wrong ever since the other girls all got themselves pregnant,” I explain. I feel my cheeks get hot when I remember exactly what she caught me doing.
“Well, she succeeded,” he says simply. “Now what? I want you to know, you can stay here—at least for a while. I wish I could offer you more than that but…”
He trails off, a troubled look on his face. I’m tempted to ask, “but, what?” However, I can see that something’s bothering him and I decide not to.
“Thank you,” I say instead. “That’s so kind of you.”
He laughs harshly.
“That’s right—I’m a really kind male. Letting you suck my cock and getting you thrown out of the temple.”
I feel my cheeks heat again at his blunt words.
“That wasn’t your fault,” I say in a low voice. “It was the curse. If you hadn’t helped me when you did…” I shake my head. “I was going mad—losing myself in the curse,” I say. “I honestly didn’t think I could stand it—I was having thoughts of…of…ending myself.”
Theron’s tarnished silver eyes widen, and he grips my shoulders. Leaning down, he holds my gaze with his own.
“Never talk that way, do you understand me, little one? Never!”
His eyes flash pure silver for a moment and his voice drops to a low, inhuman growl. Could that be his Drake talking through him? I don’t know enough about Drake Shifters to be sure, but it sounded like it.
“I’m sorry—I was just in so much pain—so much need,” I tell him. “Of course I don’t really want to hurt or end myself, but I don’t know what to do now.” I sigh and shake my head. “I just wish I could work the Time Weaving spell. If I could just go back and stop all this before it ever happened…”
“Stop it before it happened?” He frowns. “How would you do that? And what’s a ‘Time Weaving’ spell?”
“It’s this spell I found in the Forbidden Grimoire before Grizalyn came and stole it,” I explain. “It allows whoever works it to go back to a specific time in the past to change something.”
“And what would you change?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I’d go back to the night that Mirabella bullied me and the other girls into going to Grizalyn’s house to steal her wish flowers and I wouldn’t let her make me go.
” I take another sip of the sweet tea, feeling a surge of anger for my past self.
“I was weak and stupid—I knew it was a bad idea. I never should have allowed her to drag me along!”
“Mirabella is the one we saw at The Anvil?” he asks.
I nod.
“Yes, that’s her. But that’s not the first time she…you know, went with a male.”
“It’s not?” Both eyebrows shoot up this time. “I thought priestesses were supposed to stay pure.”
“We are,” I say. “And anyone can tell if we’re not because our eyes change from blue to green. But Mirabella had some kind of magical eye drops that allowed her to do, uh, pretty much whatever she wanted to. Until the witch cursed us, that is.”
“Because the curse means instant pregnancy,” he rumbles.
“Yes,” I say in a small voice. “Which would be awful.”
“I know you don’t want that.” He cups my cheek and swipes at my cheek, and I realize I’m crying again.
“It’s all right, baby—I told you, that’s not going to happen,” he murmurs. “I won’t let it happen to you.”
“Thank you.” I find I can’t hold his gaze—the look in his eyes is so intense it makes the need in me start to grow again. I’m thinking of how hot and hard he felt in my mouth…and how good his seed tasted. “But I don’t know what I’m going to do. I feel so stuck.”
“Well, fuck…” He runs a hand over his horns again. “What about that spell you were talking about? The one to turn back time?”
I shake my head.
“It sounds good but it’s completely impossible. In order to work it, I’d have to gather four elements from the four corners of the land and then bring them all to the King’s Court to work the spell.”
I expect him to agree with me that it must be impossible, but Theron surprises me by asking,
“What elements do you have to gather?”
I tell him the four things I must have—a feather from the nest of an Emperor Hawk, water from the very middle of the Sacred River, a live coal from a Fire Demon of the Southern Wastes, and a jewel dug from beneath the biggest Grandfather Tree in the Western Forest.
“It would take me days and days—maybe months to get to all those locations,” I say. “And the I’d have to gain entry to the King’s Court to work the spell.”
The big Drake gets a thoughtful look on his face.
“We should concentrate on getting the four elements first.”
I look up at him in surprise.
“You think it might be possible?”
He shrugs, his broad shoulders rolling.
“Why not? It’s not like you’d have to walk to all those regions—you could ride on my Drake.” He looks at me intently. “If you’re not afraid to meet him, that is.”
I have to take another swallow of tea before I can answer.
“You’d let me do that? I mean, your Drake wouldn’t mind?”
A shadow passes over his face.
“Oh no, he wouldn’t mind. He’s…very interested in you.”
“He is?” I’m not sure if I should be flattered or frightened. I settle for a mixture of both. “Um…why?” I ask.
Theron shakes his head.
“I don’t know. He just feels very protective of you.” He shakes his head. “I don’t understand it—he’s never been interested in a woman before.”
I think of how the witch sent me to Theron specifically. Should I tell him what she said? How she forced me to seek him out?
But what if he refuses to help me? What if he throws me out?
If I really can work this spell, I can go back in time to stop all of this from ever happening and he never needs to know of the witch’s interest in him.
I decide to hold my tongue—for now. If I thought he was in any danger, I’d tell him. But for now, I’ll keep it quiet.
“Well I’m…flattered,” I say at last. “So…he really wouldn’t mind letting me ride on his back?”
“He won’t mind. He’s eager to meet you,” he says, but he doesn’t sound exactly happy about it.
I’m not sure how to feel about that but I’m desperate. I can already feel the curse working on me again, making me need to be filled and thirst for male seed. If Theron’s Drake is willing to take me to collect the four elements for the spell, I’ll go with him.
I put my mostly empty mug down on the rough wooden table beside the bed.
“When can we go?” I ask.
He lifts his eyebrows.
“You want to go right away?”
“Can we?” I ask eagerly.
He frowns.
“We need to pack some provisions, and you need to meet my Drake.”
I look around his small home.
“Here? I mean…will he fit? How big is he, anyway?”
“Whatever size he wants to be,” Theron says. “It’s easiest for him to be big—his full form would never fit in this hut. But he can make himself smaller when he needs to.”
“Can I meet him now then?” I ask.
He takes a deep breath and runs a hand over his horns. I sense that he’s reluctant for some reason.
“Is…is he dangerous?” I ask in a small voice.
“Fuck yes, he’s dangerous—he’s a fucking Drake,” he growls, then takes a breath. “Not to you, though.” He cups my cheek again. “He would never hurt you—any more than I would.”
“Why?” I can’t help asking. “Why do you care for me—why are you helping me?”
“I don’t really know.” He shakes his head. “I only know I have to. But it wouldn’t be safe for you to be with me forever. We need to work that spell.”
I want to ask why it wouldn’t be safe…but I sense he won’t answer. He’s holding something back from me.
Well, I’m holding back from him too. I guess that makes us even and at least he’s willing to help me.
“All right,” I say softly. “Let me meet your Drake. And then let’s go—we need to start soon if we’re going to collect all the elements. We need to go before—”
I stop abruptly, pressing my thighs together.
“Before what, little one?” he asks.
I shake my head, unable to answer. Unable to admit that the curse is working on me again and I’m afraid of myself when I feel like this…afraid of what I might do…what I might ask for.
“It’s all right.” Theron murmurs. “You don’t have to say it. All right.” He stands up from the bed and looks down at me. “So you want to meet my Drake?”
“Yes.” I take a deep breath. “Yes, I do.”
“All right then. Just stay where you are and let me Shift.”
I stay, sitting tensely on the edge of the bed, wondering what I’m about to see. But nothing I’m imagining could possibly prepare me for what I see next.