Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Evadine
The sun had begun to set in this strange dream world, so Branock started a fire in the cottage’s hearth with a spell while I shifted into my wolf form and went hunting.
I didn’t know if there would be any wildlife out in the forest—or if we even had to eat in these dream bodies—but our stomachs were rumbling and I needed an outlet.
Being in my Shifter form made the world less complicated.
It brought freedom and peace from my tangle of emotions, like I was unshackling the half of myself I always kept hunkered down.
With my paws pounding on the forest floor, leaves and snow crunching beneath me, the cold wind whipping my ears and twisting through my fur…
it just made everything so vibrant. So full of life. Refreshing and liberating.
And I needed something to distract me from the way Branock was making me feel.
Which was ridiculous. He was going to be my husband. But that didn’t mean I ever expected to like him.
Or…want him.
I flopped my head back and forth to shake the memory of his hard body beneath mine, his hands grazing the bare skin of my back, the way those dark eyes smoldered when he looked up at me.
I made my way back to the cottage with a rabbit clutched in my teeth, rising onto my hind legs to twist the doorknob open between my paws.
When I padded over to Branock and set the rabbit down at his feet, he smirked and scratched behind my ears.
I nuzzled my nose into his palm before moving away to shift back.
“You’re cute like that, you know,” he said offhandedly as he stoked the fire. “Your wolf.”
“Oh?” I dusted myself off. “And what about the rest of me?”
Well, I wasn’t sure where that came from. My cheeks heated despite the winter chill working its way through the room.
He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, just as surprised as I was. When his shock faded, he shot me a wink. “You’re pretty easy on the eyes, Evadine Faelan.”
We worked together in a comfortable silence to prepare the rabbit. The scent of cooking meat filled the empty cottage, and the higher the flames grew, the warmer and less daunting the space became.
“So, how are we going to get out of here?” I asked as Branock handed me a piece of cooked rabbit.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
I drummed my fingers along my knee. “There has to be a reason we’re here. Or maybe we’re both sleeping, and Zaro has to wake us up. Right before I passed out, I thought I heard him say ‘you’ll thank me later.’”
Branock snorted. “Like that will ever happen.”
“Well, this dream did help you face one of your fears,” I pointed out, waving my finger at him. “And me, for that matter.” I thought about seeing my younger self in that mirror and how she voiced all the doubts I too often pushed away.
He gave me a bland look. “Isn’t you being on his side what got us here in the first place? Miss ‘it’s just tea,’” he said in a mocking voice.
“Fine, I deserve that one.” I finished my piece of rabbit and wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing my hands up and down my upper arms to infuse some warmth into them. The fire helped, but with night settling in, the air brought an icy edge that flames couldn’t dispel.
He glanced at me, then got to his feet. “Come on,” he said, holding a hand out. “Let’s go somewhere.”
I took his hand without hesitating. “Where are we going?”
He didn’t respond. He led me out the front door and to the side window, my teeth chattering the entire time. “B-Branock, it’s t-too c-cold for this,” I grumbled.
With one hand at the top of the window frame and a foot lifted to its sill, he looked back at me with a roguish grin that sent butterflies through my stomach.
A lock of unkempt, dark brown hair fluttered across his eyes.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m an Alchemist,” he said with a wink.
Reaching into his herb pouch with his free hand, he put something on his tongue and whispered, “Incendum.”
It was like someone had lit a fire inside of me. My entire body heated, a pleasant, comforting warmth spreading from my core and into every limb, every finger, every toe. A shiver ran down my spine at the sensation of his magic.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much. Thanks.”
He hoisted his other leg onto the sill, then pulled his body up until he could reach the edge of the roof. With a gracefulness that surprised me, he swung his legs up and onto the roof, those strong arms barely shaking from the effort.
Fates, what was it with me and his arms?
“Need a hand, killer?” he called down with that cocky grin.
I simply raised an eyebrow and smirked. Taking a few big steps back from the house, I crouched low and took off into a sprint, calling on my Shifter speed and strength.
I pushed off from the ground with a bounding leap and grabbed the roof’s edge.
I used my momentum to bring my legs up to the side of it, smiling at the look on his face when I got to my feet.
“I’m good, thanks,” I said sweetly.
He chuckled and held his hands up in a sign of peace, then motioned to the side facing the forest. “I like to go to the palace’s roof sometimes. Nobody else really knows how to get up there, and it’s nice to be alone.”
I gave a single nod of understanding, avoiding his gaze as I looked into the forest. The sun had fully set, but the moon was high and bright, allowing us to see beyond the cottage clearing.
The pine trees were full and green, laced with bright snow and elegant icicles hanging from their needles.
A fresh snow had started to fall, and it blanketed the dark floor in a winter wonderland, a veil of shadowed white and dark silver under the stars.
When he sat down, I followed, both our legs dangling over the edge. He cast another warming spell that made it feel like I was cozied up by a fire with a blanket.
“Some dream,” I said softly as we stared into the distance.
I felt his gaze lingering on me. “It could be worse.”
I rolled my eyes, but a blush crept up my cheeks. Leaning back so my spine hit the thatched roof, I brandished a hand into the air and said, “Tell me, Branock Aris—why do you want to be the emperor?”
“I’m the only heir. It’s my duty to take over once my father sees fit,” he said, almost without thinking.
“That’s not what I asked.” He looked back at me with a furrowed brow, “I asked why you want it.”
“I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that.” He bent a knee and fingered the opening of his herb pouch. “They just tell me what I should be doing. What I’m meant for.”
I resisted the urge to lean forward and rub a hand along his back. “Well, I’m listening. Why do you want it? Do you even know what it is that you want in the first place?”
He was quiet for so long, I didn’t think he was going to respond, but then his low voice washed over me.
“When I was a boy, I had this friend. Theo. He was the son of a stablehand who tended our horses. I found him picking apples one day when I went for a ride, and we became inseparable. We’d race horses, climb trees, fish on the Eldertide shores, everything. ”
A wistful smile fell across his features, and something twisted in my gut.
“He and his father were out buying supplies for the stables one day when they were attacked. His father was beaten and left for dead, and Theo…we couldn’t find him.
” Branock scrubbed a hand over the scruff at his chin.
“The Royal Guard ran an investigation at my father’s request, but not many people cared about what happened to a lowly stablehand and his son.
They never found his attackers. They never found Theo.
A man was dead and a boy taken, and there was nothing we could do about it. ”
He faced me again, those dark eyes full of conviction.
“It made me question everything. What’s the point of having the kind of power my family and I do if we can’t protect our people?
All of them? I want them to feel heard. I want them to feel cared for.
I want them to know they have an emperor who will give them both justice and mercy.
I may not be so great at that last part yet, but I’m working on it.
” He let out a long breath. “That’s what I want, Evadine. ”
I didn’t know what to say. Mere days ago, we were at each other’s throats, assuming the worst in one another based on superficial first impressions.
Fates, we’d both been so wrong. I judged him far too quickly.
I should’ve known beneath the tough, explosive exterior was a heart so big, so all-consuming, that it sometimes had nowhere to go but out.
I slowly leaned forward and put a hand to his cheek, his beard rough and scraping against my skin. “You’re going to be a wonderful emperor, Branock.”
He smiled, turning his neck slightly so his lips brushed my palm. “I think I could be even better with you.”
My breath caught when he placed a featherlight kiss beneath my thumb, then another at my wrist. My heart picked up speed, the air suddenly too warm with his nearness scorching me.
I could hear his pulse racing with my Shifter senses, and the thought that I had the same effect on him made heat course through me.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly into my palm. “For all the things I said before. I thought I didn’t need you. I thought I didn’t need anyone. But a life with you…” I felt his lips curl into my skin. “Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.”
“High praise, coming from you,” I said with a smirk, then moved closer and brought my other hand to his cheek so I was cupping his face.
“I’m sorry, too. I judged you too harshly.
I was so afraid of what this marriage meant for me that I didn’t stop to consider I might be wrong about it.
” I rested my forehead against his, and his hand came up to grip my waist. “I’ve spent all this time trying to escape,” I whispered.
“But you make me feel like I don’t have to run away. ”
“Don’t run.” His nose grazed mine. “Stay with me. Stand with me. We’ll get through it together.”
I could feel his breath on my lips, sending shivers down my spine. “Is that a promise, Your Highness?”
His other hand slipped to my neck, angling my head to look up at him. “That’s a promise.”
The air around us seemed to buzz with anticipation as he slowly, slowly brushed his lips against mine. Barely a kiss. A whisper.
I sucked in a breath, and the tension snapped.
His lips collided with mine, his fingers twisting into my hair, tugging me toward him.
I pushed to my knees to get closer and wrapped my arms around his neck, causing my shirt to ride up my back.
His hand pressed into my bare skin, the roughness of his fingers making a gasp slip from me.
He ran his tongue along my lower lip, and I parted for him, a groan vibrating from his chest and into mine.
“I knew from the moment I saw you in that throne room that you’d ruin me, Evadine Faelan,” he said between kisses, roving his lips down my jaw to my throat.
“You could use a good ruining,” I said. In response, his teeth nipped at the sensitive skin below my ear, making me moan. He pulled me down on top of him and I moved my legs to straddle his waist, our chests so close I could feel his heart pounding inches from mine.
He broke away, both of us panting as he held my gaze and tenderly brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.
“It’s us against the world, killer,” he said softly. “Are you sure you’re ready for it?”
The question sounded small, but to me, it meant everything. His way of acknowledging my fears and helping me through them. Of seeing me and showing that he cared, even after our rocky start.
I smiled. “Are they?”
His answering beam broke through the night, and as he brought his lips to mine again, I couldn’t help but hope this all wouldn’t be lost in the depths of a dream.