Chapter Thirteen #3
Onyx smiled. “One day, you won’t need to travel with him this way. You’ll be able to simply think of where you wish to go and take him there.”
“I don’t mind it,” Rowan said, gripping my thigh with one hand and resting the other on the window frame as he eased us up onto the sill. “Besides, don’t you know? Little birds love to fly.”
And then he leapt from the window.
***
The evening air was cool on my skin, holding moisture from the earlier rainstorm.
As Rowan scaled the building, part of me feared we’d fall to our deaths.
Because, although the dining parlor had been on the first floor, Onyx’s room was near the top of the castle.
And Rowan just kept climbing higher and higher, the ground getting farther away.
“Hold on tight,” he said, exhilaration in his voice. “You’re not gonna like this next part.”
“Oh god.” I squeezed him tighter, clinging on for dear life.
But I didn’t close my eyes like I used to.
While scary being that high up in the air, it was also beautiful—the lush landscape of grassy fields, groves of trees, and glistening ponds, all with a backdrop of rolling hills and distant mountains.
But did I still make an ungodly screech as Rowan leapt from one window ledge to another?
Yes.
One thousand percent yes.
“Gods, I love you, little treasure,” Rowan said, the laugh in his voice rivaled only by the affection.
“Love you too,” I rasped, fighting for my life. That fight being whether my heart was going to stop out of sheer terror or not. “I also love, you know, not dying. So please don’t slip and fall.”
He laughed. “Don’t worry. We’re nearly there.”
My nose picked up on Onyx before my sight did. A trace of woodsmoke and cedar wafted in the air, growing stronger as Rowan climbed toward a balcony. Reaching the edge of it, he pulled us up and over, then grabbed my waist once my feet hit the floor, as though knowing I’d stumble.
Which I did.
“About time you arrived,” Onyx said, standing near the set of doors with one hand resting behind his back and the other holding a goblet. “Though, I must admit, your climbing skills are impressive, combining your shadow talents with genuine athleticism. Very well suited for your line of work.”
Rowan beamed at the compliment, only slightly out of breath. “Glad you approve, my lord.”
Looking between them, my heart swelled. Clearly, they had spent time together over the past several days, but it was the first time I’d seen them bonding with my own eyes.
“What’s the plan for this evening?” I asked, stepping toward Onyx but grabbing Rowan’s hand as I did. Wanting to be near them both. “Are we making a Bob army?”
“What is this ‘we’ you speak of?” Onyx peered at me with a skyward brow and eyes that glistened with a devious delight. “If memory serves me well, you vowed to be but a fly on the wall during the lesson. Seems I was right in my earlier assessment. You’ll instead be buzzing around.”
“Guilty as charged.” I grinned and grabbed his forearm with my free hand. “My punishment should be a night chained to a demon lord’s bed.”
Rowan snickered. “The captain won’t like that. He damn near had a fit when seeing the bite mark. You in chains would send him to an early grave.”
I tried for a laugh but was hit by an unexpected pang in my chest. One caused by the memory of Maddox the night of the royal ball—how he’d shoved against the bars of my dungeon cell, nostrils flaring and eyes that weren’t even human anymore, as an unbridled rage consumed him.
“I’m always worrying him.” I dropped my gaze to my boots. “Which is why I need to sort out my powers. So I can protect myself and stop being so… helpless.”
“No matter how powerful you are, I’m still gonna protect you,” Rowan said, linking our fingers. “Maddox and the others feel the same. We’ll always worry over you. Probably even more once your powers fully awaken.”
“Why?” I stared at our joined hands before moving my gaze to where I held Onyx. Two of my shadow-wielding men.
“Because of the ones who will seek your power for themselves,” Onyx said, catching hold of my chin and tipping it up. “People who will try to corrupt you and twist you into something you’re not.”
“And what am I?” I asked, gut cinching. “Because right now, I just feel lost. I wish fate had chosen someone else for this saint gig. It’s done nothing but cause problems for everyone around me. Feels like I’m just a damsel who always needs saving and can’t do anything right.”
“I wouldn’t say you can’t do anything right.” Onyx smoothed his thumb along my jugular. “If there were a contest for who could ramble the longest without taking a single breath, you’d surely win.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” I said, though it was already too late. “I’m too frustrated to laugh right now.”
“The frustration will pass in time.” His gaze softened. “The elixir will be ready on the morrow. If successful, the block in your mind will be lifted, providing clarity.”
I breathed out, wishing all the jumbled nerves and chaos in my chest could be dispelled so easily. “Enough about me and my powers. Let’s see what you’ve learned, Ro. Amaze me.”
Rowan flashed my favorite tooth.
Several minutes later, we were inside Onyx’s room, sitting in front of the fire as Rowan lay belly-down on the rug, a book propped in front of him.
“You learned to read?” I asked.
Onyx lightly coughed.
A heavy sigh escaped Rowan’s lips, and he flopped to his back, resting the open book over his face. “Kill me, little treasure. Just put a fork in me, I’m done. How you do this for enjoyment is beyond me. It’s torture.”
“Oh, it’s not that bad,” I told him, sitting on the edge of the couch cushion as I stared at him sprawled out on the rug. “Reading is magical. Books can take you anywhere without you having to leave the couch.”
“Well, this one is taking me to hell.”
“Stop it.” I snorted.
“Everything you know about shadow magic you taught yourself, yes?” Onyx asked Rowan, sitting on the cushion beside me.
Happy little flutters had gone through my chest when he’d chosen the spot beside me instead of in his favorite armchair.
“Which is why your magic is impulse driven and unpredictable instead of based in a fundamental understanding.”
“Fork. In. Me.” Rowan didn’t move from his spot on the rug, still with the book covering his face.
“That can always be arranged,” Onyx told him. “Perhaps a sharp stab will jolt you out of this ridiculous state.”
I pressed my lips together. They were bickering. Onyx really did fit in well with our family. More than I expected for him to. It made me happy. Relieved too. While each of my mates were so different, they all balanced each other because of those differences.
Heaving another sigh, Rowan lowered the book. “I’m more of a hands-on learner, Lord Onyx. Words don’t do it for me. I need you to show me. Reading ain’t doing shit but making me want to take a nap.”
I stifled a laugh. In all the time I’d known Rowan, I’d never seen him throw this much of a tantrum. He was usually the one spouting off and making other people grumble and whine. Guess there was a bratty bottom in him after all.
“Is he laughing?” Rowan sat up halfway, propping himself up on his elbows as he looked over at me. “I’m glad you find this funny.”
“Oh, I do,” I responded, letting another chuckle loose. There was no holding them back at this point. “If I’m a sad toad, you’re a pout, pout fish.”
Rowan stood from the rug and walked over to the wall, lightly bumping his forehead against it. With another laugh, I hopped up and went over to him, gently guiding him away from the wall. He looked at me with pitiful eyes.
“Cease with the pouting.” Onyx sighed and stood from the couch, smoothing a hand down the front of his robes. “If you wish for a more hands-on lesson, then come with me.”
The pout instantly vanished. A cocky grin soon took its place. The look of a brat who’d gotten his way.
I couldn’t help but pull Rowan in for a kiss, finding him too adorable for words.
When I’d gotten drunk at dinner the other night, he’d mentioned seeing all sorts of sides of me and loving the drunk one especially hard.
Now, I was seeing new sides of him too and feeling exactly the same.
All it’d taken was an alpha demon lord to bring out his inner brat.
“Mm.” Rowan glided the tip of his nose across mine before pressing another light kiss to my lips. “The sweet taste of victory.”
“Go over there with Onyx before I spank you,” I told him.
He grinned and did as I said, a pep in his step as he neared the smoking-hot demon lord. One who may have had a hold over both of us in the knees-weak department.
“Take this,” Onyx said, handing him an apple from the bowl of fruit on the side table, one that also held an assortment of wine.
“An apple?” Rowan frowned. “What am I supposed to do with this? Eat it?”
“No.” Onyx motioned to the shadowy corner. “Make it disappear.”
“Oooh.” I scurried over and looped my arm with Onyx’s, watching Rowan. “I love magic tricks.”
Rowan didn’t share my same excitement. He looked confused in fact.
Onyx sighed. “Earlier at dinner, you threatened to throw Callum in the shadows and leave him there, yes? Consider this apple your lesson in bringing that idea to fruition. If you can’t place it within the shadows, how will you ever place a rabbit?”
I smiled at the reference to Callum’s nickname.
“Now.” Onyx nodded to Rowan. “Continue.”
Rowan’s brow scrunched with a new determination, and he knelt down, placing the apple on the floor against the wall. A moment passed, then another. Nothing happened.
“Close your eyes,” Onyx instructed him. “Imagine the shadows creeping over the apple. Envision in it your mind.”