33. Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Three
Turner
The camp was quiet. It had been a long day of travel, with much more to go, and Turner knew that he should get some rest, but he couldn’t sleep.
He’d been sharing a tent with a couple other stryx so that Ena, Ty, and the baby could have their privacy, and his companions were all fast asleep, but his mind wouldn’t quiet, so he decided to get some fresh air.
First, he wandered around the camp, looking to see if anyone—or more accurately, a particular someone—was awake, though the fact that he was even hoping for that made him want to bang his head against a tree out of stupidity.
He and Xena had been dancing around each other for months—ever since the events of her Awakening when they’d shared that…
moment. He knew he should just let it go, that it was just a fluke—a one-time encounter—as so many of his failed relationships were.
But he still found himself thinking of her, and that night, often.
Not seeing signs of anyone else, he found himself standing around the fire outside his tent—alone—and deep in thought about all that was to come.
Everything Ty had said about wanting him to be king, how he could possibly convince him otherwise.
How everything would go with Cole, and his father, and so much more.
Distantly, he heard Ladon crying and fussing.
He felt bad for Ty and Ena; he could tell they were both under a lot of stress with their new little arrival.
Being a parent of a young baby did not look easy in the slightest, but…
at the same time, he envied them. He saw their little moments of joy at their son’s presence, and it brought back those old hurts.
Those feelings of “will this ever happen for me or am I doomed to be the fifth wheel forever?”
Turner sighed, poking the fire with a stick. It was nearly dawn, but the stryx would sleep well into the morning. They’d shifted their waking hours slightly for the sake of traveling during the day, but they still were a late-to-bed, late-to-rise people.
He was watching the smoke curling up from the flames, wondering if he should try again to lie down, when he heard the sudden snap of a stick behind him. He whipped around to see a dark figure emerging from the woods, and his heart stuttered.
Xena.
She blended in with the night so well, despite her pale skin, and she had that look in her eyes—the one she always did when she watched him, like she was a predator, and he was her prey.
“Daemon,” she greeted darkly as she prowled towards him.
“Hey,” he said, swallowing as his mouth suddenly filled with saliva. Nerves fluttered through his stomach, as they did whenever she was near.
She circled the fire until she was beside him.
“Why are you awake?” he asked, feeling like he needed to fill the silence.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she said simply. She was a woman of few words, and he couldn’t say whether he liked it or whether it drove him crazy, because it was so hard to know what she was thinking.
Usually, he wouldn’t have pestered her for more, but tonight, she had a melancholy look on her face that wasn’t usually there, as if something was bothering her.
“Are you alright?” Turner asked her. He didn’t know if she would tell him if she wasn’t, but despite himself, he cared about her.
“Yes,” she said pensively as she stared at the fire. “I just…”
“You can tell me,” Turner offered. “I know we don’t know each other that well, but…I’m here to listen, if you need it.”
The corner of Xena’s mouth quirked up, as if he pleased her, and it sent a thrill through him. “It is nothing, I assure you,” she said. “Just…sad to be leaving my home. And worried for my people. Even though I know it is for the best.”
“I can understand that,” Turner said honestly.
He could see, in his own way, how hard it would be to leave everything you once knew behind.
It’s what he’d done when he left the Underworld with Ty—risked it all to help him break the bond, in the hope of a better future.
“But we’ll find a place for you all on the other side, and it’ll be better. I promise.”
She looked at him then, a soft look in her eyes that caught him off guard. “You are sweet, did you know that?” she asked him.
“I did, actually,” he replied flippantly. “But it’s just these big eyes fooling you. I’m an asshole, really.”
She laughed, the sound of it making his heart beat faster.
The two of them sat in silence for a minute, before she spoke again, quietly.
“I like you, Turner, did you know that too?”
Turner swallowed, turning his head to look at her. She liked him? Like, like-liked him, or just liked him as a friend?
“No,” he said, the nerves in his stomach fluttering wildly again.
She walked over to him, so their bodies were close, and she looked up at him with her mesmerizing mismatched eyes. “You may be sweet, but you are not dumb. Don’t play it,” she said, her voice breathy as she stood before him. “You know there is something between us.”
“I’m not playing dumb,” he said, feeling like an idiot. “I just…find it hard to believe.”
“Why?” Xena asked sincerely.
Turner just shrugged. How could he explain that it made no sense for someone like her—powerful, sexy, intriguing, unique—to be into someone like him? He never got the girl, or the boy, as it were. He was never chosen.
She seemed undeterred by his non-answer, though, and instead took a step closer to him, so that he could feel her breath on his face. “Kiss me,” she demanded. The way she spoke made it clear it was not a request, but something she longed for, and his cock instantly filled with blood.
Turner stood there with his mouth open like a fish. “You want me to…?”
“Kiss. Me. Daemon,” she said, grabbing on to the front of his coat and pulling him close so they were nose to nose.
“But you’re Ty’s sister,” he said, and immediately regretted it after he spoke.
“So?” she asked, her breath mingling with his. She smelled like pine forest and snow, with just a hint of metallic blood underneath.
“So…he might be upset about it,” he said.
“Do you really think he would stop us?” she asked, looking down at his mouth in a suggestive way.
Fuck, he wanted to kiss her. Very badly. But…
“I don’t know,” he said, watching her plump, pale-pink lips as they moved.
She looked up at his eyes again then, skepticism crossing her face as she pulled back, breaking the spell of the moment. “Is that really what this is about, daemon? My half brother, whom I just met a few months ago, might be displeased by us kissing?”
“I—well, I—” Turner was blubbering like a fish at this point, but he didn’t know what to say. Was that the only thing stopping him? Because now that she pointed it out, it did seem a little silly. And yet, the thought of kissing her, while exhilarating, also terrified him, and he didn’t know why.
Xena released his jacket, lowering herself down from the tips of her toes so she was standing flat-footed again.
Her eyes looked almost hurt for a second—disappointed—before they returned to their normal steely resolve.
“If you don’t want to, you can just say so,” she said, turning away from him and heading back towards the woods.
Fuck. How had he fucked this up so badly? He didn’t want her to go. He wanted to kiss her, he just—
“Why do you even like me?” he blurted out without thinking. His voice held a hint of desperation that he was embarrassed about, but he didn’t know how to rein it back in. He was upset all of a sudden. Why was she doing this to him? Leading him on like this?
“What?” she asked, turning back around to look at him, as if the question perplexed her.
“Why do you even like me?” he repeated, quieter this time. “I’m nothing special.”
“Why shouldn’t I like you?” she said, facing him fully now, her brow puzzled.
“Because I’m nothing special. I’m not…” How could he put this? He wasn’t a brave leader like Ty. He wasn’t stoic and steady like Steig. He wasn’t a particularly good daemon. No one was clambering to date him. Why was she saying she liked him? She had to be mistaken.
“You’re not…what?” she asked rhetorically. “Sweet? Handsome? Kind to your friends? Kind to strangers? Funny? Please, tell me why I should not like those things.”
Turner swallowed. Did she really think that?
“Okay,” he said, feeling dumber by the second. “But you, you’re like…”
“Like what?” she asked, giving him a cocky, feline smile.
“Well, fucking hot, for one. And interesting. And so confident. Also don’t tell Ty, but I think you might be a better hunter than him and—” He didn’t exactly know what he was saying now, words were just tumbling out.
“You make me want to follow you around like a lost puppy or something, and I don’t think I’m good enough for you. ”
Turner ran his fingers through his hair, feeling embarrassed by the sudden admission. He hadn’t meant to say that.
Xena took several steps back towards him until she stood in front of him again. “Turner, I won’t ask you again,” she said, looking deep into his eyes. “Kiss. Me.”
Turner hesitated for just a second—just one more second of doubt—before he let it all go.
Without a word, he grabbed the back of her head, pulling her to him, and he pressed his lips to hers.
She instantly parted for him, opening her mouth in invitation, and Turner took full advantage.
He slipped his tongue into her mouth, tasting her, and fucking Iblis, she tasted good.
He dragged his tongue across hers, wanting to capture her wildness, even though he knew he never could.
Xena grabbed at his shoulders, lifting herself up closer, pressing her body against his, as their tongues danced together. Then, without warning, she sucked his tongue. The feeling of it made his cock get impossibly hard, and he groaned.
“Did you like that, daemon?” she paused to say, before throwing herself at him again, swirling her tongue with his as if she were starving.