Chapter 17
JESSAMINE
I did not miss the knowing looks from the other males or the teasing smile from Tessa once we returned to the camp. While the others debated what King Goll would do to squash this rebellion, I kept myself busy by holding Saralyn and playing with the sweet, bright-eyed babe.
Of course, all I could think about was my encounter with Redvyr in the woods. I’d pleasured myself alone many times, but it had never felt like that. So absolutely overwhelming.
And his kiss…
My mind drifted, new desire unfurling in my belly. I was surprised by Redvyr’s aggressive intimacy. I knew he was attracted to me, but I didn’t realize he would act on his craving like that, in the middle of the woods against a tree. It was the most wonderful experience of my life.
When I glanced at Redvyr, it was to find his steady, golden gaze on me. He’d stretched out atop his bed of furs, leaning his weight on his forearms, pretending to listen to the others chatter about King Goll. But his attention was on me. And by the gods, I reveled in it.
I wanted his eyes on me, his hands, his body. I wanted his mind on me, too. I wanted him to be as twisted on the inside as I was. His unshakeable stare didn’t tell me whether he felt as wildly desperate as I did, but it warmed me through.
Saralyn cooed and tugged on a lock of my hair. I smiled down at her in my lap while she wrapped her tiny fingers around one of mine. I admired the pretty babe, wondering if I might have a daughter like her one day—with golden or green eyes.
The thought shocked me, that I was considering such a thing.
And yet, I’d never felt this enchanted by a male before.
I’d been infatuated with some, but I’d never felt like this.
It was a deep longing that felt like madness and exhilaration and unquenchable need all at once.
If Redvyr and I were alone, I would already be crawling into his lap.
My parents would be disgusted with me, that I was falling for a dark fae, and a beast fae at that. But I didn’t care what they thought. I didn’t care what anyone thought, except him.
I caught his ever-watchful gaze again across the fire.
“Here, I’ll take her now. It’s time to feed her,” said Tessa, lifting Saralyn from my arms.
Tessa settled beside Bezaliel and lowered the strap of her dress, shifting Saralyn to her breast. Dayn had come back from the woods with two hares which the group roasted and shared along with the last of the bread and cheese.
I’d eaten very little of the latter, my thoughts too full of something else. Someone else.
“I hope Shearah has one of her stews cooking when we arrive tomorrow,” Dayn said.
“All you have to do is flirt with her and she’ll make whatever you want,” teased Leifkyn.
Dayn grinned while he unrolled his bedroll. “Don’t be jealous. I’ll share with you.”
“You’ll share Shearah?” Leifkyn sat on a tree stump he’d dragged over to the campfire. “That’s generous of you.”
“The stew, you oaf.” Dayn shoved Leifkyn off the stump with a boot to his chest. “Don’t even fucking think about touching Shearah.”
Leifkyn laughed. “I thought you said it wasn’t serious?”
“Just keep your hands to yourself. Or I’ll cut them off.”
Bezaliel laughed along with Leifkyn. Redvyr smiled but his attention was still on me.
After a brief inner debate, I decided to do what I wanted and not worry about what the others might think.
Standing, I lifted my fur bedroll and stepped past Tessa and Bezaliel.
Then I spread out my fur directly next to Redvyr and slid inside it, scooting closer to him with my back to his front.
Without hesitating, he curled his hand and arm around my waist and pulled me tight against him.
Silence fell around the campfire, Leifkyn and Dayn smiling at each other.
But no one said a word. Sighing in contentment, I closed my eyes and drifted instantly to sleep, comforted by the weight of Redvyr’s arm at my waist and his body at my back.
For the first time since my brother died, I felt safe.
“I wonder if Tylok’s wife is cooking something good today,” said Dayn as we followed the path downhill toward a small valley and clearing in the woods below.
We were winding through hillier countryside and woodlands toward Ghasta Vale.
“You are constantly thinking about your stomach,” complained Leifkyn.
“I wouldn’t mind some of Farla’s meat pies myself,” added Bezaliel.
“Mmm, me too.” Tessa walked behind her husband with Saralyn strapped to her back.
This trek downhill with knotty roots growing across the trail was much safer on foot than on wolfback.
“Who is Tylok?” I asked, walking directly behind Redvyr.
“He’s a shadow fae who lives in that valley with his wife and children.”
“Why doesn’t he live in Gadlizel?” I asked, knowing all shadow fae lived in their great city high in the Solgavia Mountains.
“Tylok is a bit of a renegade,” Redvyr answered. “He was one of their priest warriors, but he fell for a wood fae female in the Borderlands. His king commanded him to give her up or be exiled.” Redvyr looked over his shoulder, catching my gaze. “He chose exile.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It’s rather romantic, if you ask me,” said Tessa. “Of course, I’m a light fae who fell for a beast fae, so I can understand.”
“I didn’t threaten to exile Bezaliel when he brought you home,” growled Redvyr.
“You couldn’t,” said Bezaliel. “She was my mate.”
There were a few grunts of agreement amongst the group as the land began to level. In the valley below, there was no cabin anywhere that I could see among the sparse trees. There was a giant, black oak tree at the center of the valley, its trunk as thick as twelve beast fae standing side by side.
“Bezaliel,” I asked, “how did you know Tessa was your mate?”
Leifkyn and Dayn chuckled then swallowed their laughter when Redvyr shot them a glare. Tessa blushed as she stepped beside me on the flatter ground. “I’ll tell you later.”
I remembered that Redvyr had avoided this topic once before when I asked, but my curiosity about Tylok got the better of me as we walked across the small clearing.
“Where do they live?”
Redvyr waited for me to move alongside him and pointed to the great oak tree. “There.”
I stared as we drew closer, seeing steps carved into the trunk, winding upward into the sheltering branches. Though the branches were covered in snow, I could see the walls of a home nestled high in the boughs.
“How do you know Tylok?” I looked up at Redvyr walking beside me, Wolf on my other side. “He’s a shadow fae, you said.”
“We met him on our trek this way when he first moved into the valley with his wife, Farla. He had some leatherwork to trade for some of our grain. Since then, we’ve stopped here each winter to give them a sack or two of our haul from Hellamir.
It keeps him and his wife and children going for a while, since they rarely travel down to the Borderlands for provisions.
They prefer to stay here in the valley.”
“That’s very kind of you,” I noted softly.
His beautiful eyes slid my way, but it was the quirk of his mouth that held me captive. We were lost in each other for a moment when Wolf suddenly chuffed and stopped walking. Redvyr instantly pushed me behind him, and the other wolves had frozen too, all growling.
“Do you smell that?” Bezaliel whispered.
“Yes.” Redvyr’s voice had dropped deep, his hands and his hands flexed at his sides.
“I don’t hear anyone,” added Dayn.
“Bezaliel and Leifkyn, stay with the females.”
Hallizel fluttered out of Tessa’s hood, the closest place near to the baby. “I will go too.” She flitted off up into the branches of the tree.
Redvyr and Dayn strode stealthily toward the steps carved into the trunk and began to climb, circling upward until they disappeared into the house.
I waited, still and quiet, terrified of what they sensed that I could not. “What do they smell?” I asked Bezaliel.
“Blood. And something else…that doesn’t belong here.”
A whistle echoed from above.
“It’s all clear,” said Bezaliel.
Then Hallizel zipped down straight to us. “Lord Redvyr says keep Tessa and Jessamine down here.”
We closed the distance to the trunk, the wolves flanking us. I stared up but saw nothing at all except the floorboards of Tylok’s home up in the branches.
“I’ll stay with them,” said Leifkyn.
Bezaliel clapped his hand on his shoulder and hurried up the winding stairs, taking two at a time.
Dayn’s expression was dark and grave as he peered back the way we’d come from the woods, sniffing the air.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It’s an unfamiliar scent. An unpleasant one at that.”
“A barga or something?” Tessa circled around the huge trunk of the tree, Hallizel fluttering next to her.
“No.”
I circled around to the other side, marveling at the craftsmanship of the staircase.
A shadow fae wouldn’t need stairs since he had wings, but his wood fae wife would.
He took great care in carving and smoothing them for her.
There was even a decorative ivy design swirling along the trunk of the tree, something to make Farla smile.
Footsteps announced that the others were coming back down. I continued around the tree, noting an iron hanger that held an unlit lantern.
“What did you find?” Dayn asked.
“Tylok’s head,” Redvyr answered, his voice rough with emotion. “But not his family.”
“No!” shouted Tessa.
“What happened to them?” I asked in shock. “His children are missing?”
“And Farla,” said Dayn.
Wolf rounded the trunk, but rather than coming to me, he trotted on into the small field behind it.
There was something in the long grass where he stopped.
He looked over at me, whining. I followed, approaching cautiously.
When I realized what I was looking at, I gasped.
One wing was torn, or cut, from his body, the other obviously broken, his head missing.
“I’ve found Tylok,” I called back to the others, my voice quivering.