Chapter Twelve
A Muffin, Standing in Front of a Demon Lord, Hoping to be Loved
A drop of water landed on the top of my head. My first thought was it’d come from the waterfall not far from us, like a little rejuvenating splash carried by the breeze. But no.
It had come from the sky. The same sky I’d glared at during our walk through the forest and told to behave. Clearly, it didn’t fear a muffin’s wrath. A fact proven further when a rumble of thunder sounded.
“Come with me.” Onyx drew back from my kiss-swollen lips and hooked one arm around me and led me closer to the waterfall. “There be a storm a-comin’.”
I was too shocked to react at first. Had the demon lord mimicked my pirate accent? And with a straight face, no less. Which only made it funnier. By the time my laugh finally escaped, we had reached the fall and passed behind it, tiptoeing along a narrow ledge to avoid being soaked.
Just in the nick of time too. The moment we were tucked inside the cave, the scattered raindrops transitioned to a heavy downpour, the rain barely audible above the rush of the waterfall. Luckily, the loud rush faded the farther we went inside the cave.
“Looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while,” I said, finding a dry spot on the ground to sit.
The rock was cool beneath my butt but not too cold.
Especially not as Onyx sat beside me, so close our thighs touched.
His body heat chased away the chill. “What do you wanna do to pass the time? Play twenty questions?”
“How do you play?” He slid his arm around my shoulders and drew me against his side.
Yep. I was definitely warm and toasty now.
“Oh, it’s super easy. Not much to it.” I rested my head in the crook of his neck.
“You ask me a question and then I ask you one. Simple and a good way to learn more about each other. We could always up the ante and play Truth or Dare too. Same concept, but you can dare each other to do things. And if asked a question, you have to tell the truth.”
“What happens if I don’t?”
I poked his stomach. “You get punished, my lord.”
“I’m terrified,” he said dryly. “Truly.”
“Okay, no games. You’d just lie or evade the question anyway.” I blew out a breath and looked toward the mouth of the cave. The sky had darkened drastically in only a short amount of time, and lightning became frequent, the flashes reflecting off the flowing waterfall. “Wanna make out some more?”
He lightly laughed and turned his face into my hair. “I have a better idea.”
Before I could ask what that idea entailed, he slipped both arms around me and lifted me off the ground. The ease in which he did it reminded me of Maddox and how he lugged me around like a sack of potatoes.
I linked my wrists at his nape. Tiny bursts of excitement exploded in my belly, like those snapping dragon firecrackers. Butterflies mingled with those excited pops too. “Where are you taking me?”
“Deeper into the cave,” he answered casually.
My smile faltered. “Not that I don’t trust you. But, um. Why?”
“You’ll find out soon.” He tossed me a playful grin.
Like earlier, it held a boyishness that both warmed my heart and made it ache.
The ache came from knowing he hadn’t been able to actually enjoy his youth before his mom was killed and war broke out.
He’d been denied a real childhood and had to grow up faster than most kids.
“How soon are we talking?” I asked. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, my lord, but patience isn’t exactly one of my virtues.”
“Neither is silence.”
I laughed. “You’ll fit in with my men perfectly. All of you love picking on me.”
“Do you truly believe that?” Hesitance touched his eyes. “That I… belong with all of you?”
Damn if that didn’t cause an achy knock in my heart. The fact he had to ask implied he didn’t believe it.
“Well, you already know Rowan adores you,” I said, playing with his silky hair by slowly twisting the strand around my finger.
“He has for years, even before meeting you. Lake trusts you too, which speaks wonders, as he doesn’t trust people easily.
Briar feels the same. Maddox and Callum are taking longer to come around, but they both accept you as my mate. ”
“I see.” Onyx averted his gaze from mine.
I could’ve sworn I’d seen something soft in his eyes though before he did.
“Seraphina speaks highly of your knights, and Phantasia says Briar is quite knowledgeable in green magic and herbology. I’ve seen Rowan’s skills with his shadow magic, and Lake’s keen perception of the world around him.
Together, I trust that they’ll protect you…
should the day ever come when I’m no longer able to. ”
“Why wouldn’t you?” I continued playing with his hair. “Do you plan on going somewhere? Maybe I’m the one who needs to lock you in the dungeon.”
“I prefer beds to dungeons.” He adjusted me in his arms and cradled me more against his chest, smirking down at me. “Preferably when you’re in them with kiss-swollen lips and flushed skin covered in my marks. Keep that in mind for any future punishments.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “What is it with you and Maddox using your charm and good looks to escape questions you don’t want to answer?”
“Because it’s the best weapon against you.” He grabbed my chin and brought my face to his. Grazing his lips over mine. “Even now, you melt in my arms.”
I kissed him.
A rumbling chuckle sounded in his chest before he returned the kiss. “This is your weapon, it seems. Using your lips and intoxicating scent to lure us in.”
“My scent?” I asked, gliding our noses together.
Softness touched his ruby eyes. “Like the pages of an old, treasured book.”
“You smell like woodsmoke to me.” My heart thrummed in my chest. “Comforting and warm, like a fire on a cold winter’s night.”
“You will find no comfort with me, little bird.”
“No?” I linked my hands behind his neck. “Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this, my lord, but you’re wrong. Because I feel mighty comfortable right now. Warm too. Toasty, in fact.”
He expelled the softest of sighs before continuing through the cave. Pretty sure I heard him mumble something about me being silly. I responded with a light pinch to his shoulder, which earned me an eyebrow tilt and a challenging stare that warned if I did it again, he’d return the favor.
I couldn’t help myself though and gave another little pinch to the cuff of his arm. Then one more to his nape.
Onyx bent his head and nipped at my neck.
“Hey!” I exclaimed, not having expected the lightning-fast attack.
He offered me an impish grin. “Don’t pinch me then.”
“You’re vicious,” I said, rubbing at my neck. “I think you left a mark.”
“Good.” He seemed much too pleased by that. “Let it be a reminder to your other mates that you also belong to me.”
I smiled as a giddiness bounced around in my chest.
A strange silver and pale blue glimmer appeared on the walls as we neared a sort of arched opening at the end of the walkway. The sound of trickling water reached my ears, louder than the distant drips I’d heard during the walk through the rocky corridor.
“Here we are.” Onyx stepped through the archway and placed me back on my feet but didn’t fully release me until I found my balance. It was like he thought I was clumsy or something.
“This is…” I surveyed the room in awe. “Wow.”
Colorful gems were embedded within the cave walls, and a decent-sized pool of water sat in the center with a narrow stream flowing from it.
Crystals lit the space in shades of blue and purple, with smaller ones shining like diamonds in the ceiling.
They gave off natural light, allowing me to see everything clearly.
“Would you like to go for a swim?” Onyx asked, retaking my hand.
“Swim?” I regarded the water and shivered at the thought. “Isn’t it cold?”
He shook his head. “It’s a heated spring.”
“Don’t tease me,” I said. “I’m a sucker for a hot spring. I went with Callum a few times to one he and the other knights used back in Bremloc, and it was like heaven. I never wanted to leave. If I could’ve stayed there forever soaking in the water, I would have.”
“How fortunate that you didn’t.” Onyx led me toward the pool. “Your skin would’ve become too wrinkled. Then you’d need to be called a raisin instead of a little bird.”
I snorted. Flutters swarmed my belly though. The shift in his behavior was like night and day.
Reaching the pool, I knelt down and touched the water.
The heat of it caused chills to ripple along my arms and legs.
I couldn’t wait to strip down and sink into the pool chin deep, letting the hot water ease tense muscles and bring some much-needed relaxation.
Too excited to wait another second, I untied my boot laces and kicked them off before removing my socks and trousers.
As I reached for the strings on my tunic, Onyx replaced my hands with his and slowly peeled it off me, his crimson eyes glimmering in the colorful light of the surrounding crystals.
My breath caught as he regarded me in silence, gently smoothing his fingertips along my collarbone, then over to my sternum. Up to my Adam’s apple. His gaze roamed my body, taking in every inch of me.
“Pretty as a red lily,” he whispered, leaning in and ghosting his lips over mine, his breath shaking. “And just as dangerous.”
I frowned. “I don’t know how I feel about you comparing me to a flower you see as a tragic omen.”
“A fitting comparison.” He slid his hand to my nape and gently squeezed. “My life changed the moment I first saw you. The earth beneath me shifted. You consumed my every thought, Evan. Haunted me.”
“And now?” I pressed my naked body flush against his clothed one and placed a hand on his chest. The red mark seemed to pulse beneath my fingertips, as though it were a living, breathing thing trapped inside him. “Do I still haunt you?”
Various emotions flitted across his face. Indecision, frustration, and lust. All burned within his heated gaze, fighting for dominance.