39. Jaxus
THIRTY-NINE
JAXUS
K iera’s words ate at me over the next few days. The closer we got, the larger the glaring cavern between us felt. How long could I go without telling her where I came from? Eventually, she’d realize she didn’t know any of that about me and then what could I say? ‘I swore a blood oath, and I cannot even tell you why, but trust me’?
How long until she questioned it? I wished I could tell her before she realized how much I held back, but my hands were tied. She was doing so much better here, thriving with her Gran and having the time she needed away from work to do research while still taking it easy. And I knew it could bring the delicate balance of our new bond and our fledgling relationship as it was, crashing down.
As if my thoughts summoned her, Kiera bounded up the steps, a giant tome clutched to her chest. “I need to show you this,” she panted. Her energy levels were higher than they had been even before her reaction. She took the stairs at the archives two at a time.
“Show me.” I gave up on the text I’d been reading and moved to the table she’d laid the book down on.
She pointed to a passage. “Start here.”
I skimmed the words, roughly translating the old language in my head. I felt entirely out of practice, having not used the skill since I arrived in the First Kingdom. “Am I reading this right?” I met her gaze. “This seems like a rough explanation of how to treat a mate severing, but done purposefully? Healing the tendrils so they no longer feel cut. Like they are still alive?”
She searched my face. “It sounds like it, doesn’t it?”
I studied the passage further. “What does this refer to?” I pointed to a part of the alchemy.
“It’s a type of titration, but I’m not sure of what?” A little crease formed in her brow. “Gran may know. She had to run to her class, but we can bring this to her after. I’m going to see if they have any reference books from this era and see if that might enlighten us on the practices being used in that time period.”
“When is this from?” I held the place while flipping to the cover to see if it gave some clue. It was leather-bound but deteriorating even in the controlled conditions of the archives. “Warn them to recopy this one.”
“I plan to as soon as we are finished transcribing it.”
I stared at her. “Will they let you take the information out of here? I thought there were rules?—?”
The healers were even more secretive than Nyx had let on, and he’d told me they were off their heads with how they protected their knowledge when I brought him the idea of having the flyers helping them in the healing wing.
She laughed. “I can have anything I want. I told you, I’m a custodian. My family makes those decisions. ”
“No wonder Casimir sees you as a trophy,” I tasted the sneer as it left my lips.
Kiera glanced around, then lifted up on her tiptoes to brush her lips over mine. She pulled back far too quickly, and I chased her mouth, needing more than a taste. She giggled, pressing a finger into my sternum. “Someone will see us.”
“And why is that bad? Because you’re supposed to be promised to another, or because I’m a dragon?” I didn’t let up, cradling her lower back to make it harder to escape.
“Both!” She didn’t make a move to get away.
“Am I creating a scandal?” My fingers skimmed lower, and she squirmed.
“Is that what you want?”
“I want to show everyone you’re mine,” I hissed, making sure she tasted every word.
The scent of her arousal hit me like a ton of bricks. My mouth curled against hers as my hard cock pressed against her heat.
“Jaxus!” She playfully shoved me, breaking the kiss and glancing down at my tented leathers.
“I can’t keep anything from you.”
“At least no one else here can tell.” She glanced around to make sure.
I smoothed a hand down my tunic, stopping above my belt, not sorry it emphasized my hard-on. Her gaze followed the path of my hand, and she swallowed hard.
“Arsehole.” She pushed her hair out of her face, squeezing her thighs together. “I need to go ask them to pull these texts.” She turned on her heel and left without another word.
I went back to read the entire chapter of the tome she’d brought to get a better grasp on the idea of it. I wished Emrys was here. He’d have a wealth of knowledge of the old ways since they weren’t banned at home like they were in the Twelve Kingdoms. He may even know more about severing bonds without having to do all this research.
Could I contact him? Did I dare risk sending a raven?
What if we were over-complicating this and Kerani had the answers readily available? I could fly there and be back in a matter of days with an answer, but what if the elders didn’t let me leave? Kiera may spend the rest of her life looking for me while I was kept from her.
I couldn’t risk it, even if it could solve our issue.
“It will be a couple of hours before they have time to send someone to the tunnels to find what we need.”
“The tunnels? Is this place even bigger?”
“You can’t even imagine. There are centuries of history here.”
I opened my mouth to tell her of the great library Kerani boasts, but the blood in my veins boiled, heating as the words died on my tongue. My throat cut off like a cord coiled around it.
Kiera raised a brow. “Are you okay?”
I faked a sneeze. “Pardon me.”
“May the Goddess keep you.”
“Thank you.” I wiped my nose. “Lost my train of thought there. Sorry, what were we talking about?” I said, knowing full well what had happened. I’d pushed the blood oath too far. I’d have to be much more careful around Kiera.
“About the tunnels. We’ll just have to wait.”
“Can we go retrieve it ourselves?” I was desperate to not only change the subject but get away from the slip that nearly cost me my life.
“I don’t see why not…” Kiera said but I was too far gone in my head to process what she said fully.
I had to be more careful, especially with my mate. My secrets were an extreme I never would have agreed to had I known I’d end up with this kind of bond before I left the Kerani. But I couldn’t have known. Mates were rare where I was from. Certainly not something I could have expected. And now I was supposed to walk this tightrope between truths, risking Kiera’s trust and my life.
She returned moments later with a lantern and a set of keys. “The tunnel network is vast, and I’m not well versed on how it’s organized, so it may take some time if we aren’t in the right place…” Kiera trailed off, and I looked at her, trying to process what she’d said. “Jaxus?”
“Sorry, I’m just thinking through what I read.” I met her gaze, forcing a tight smile to my lips. “Can you handle the walk?”
“I feel worlds better than I did.” She led the way to the stairs down but didn’t stop on the ground floor, using the key in a slot in the rail to open a dark staircase.
I swallowed back the claustrophobia that I knew was coming, but it never did because, after a flight of darkness, we came out into a vast chamber.
When she’d said tunnels, I hadn’t been expecting vast vaulted ceilings and huge, well-lit rooms. I’d expected dark and dank. I didn’t know why. Everything I’d experienced in the Forest Kingdom had far surpassed my expectations.
No wonder none of the healers wanted to leave this place. With the wealth of resources and no oversight, they largely governed themselves, much like my own people. Why give this up for the King’s ideals and whims?
Obviously, not all of the kingdoms were united fully behind his rule like he thought. The healers knew their value to the King and the realm, and they used that as a currency in their negotiations. They had leveraged some autonomy with their vital skills. It was admirable, really, when everyone else just seemed to fall in line. It would be useful information for Nyx in his future planning.
“How big is this place, and how deep are we going?” I asked when we passed through another hidden door, bringing us down to a far larger chamber under the first.
“These are old water reservoirs. Before the city had levies and pumps, they held all the water they needed here, but when the rivers changed, they were left empty.” She smiled. “There are others, but I think this is where we need to be.”
I looked up, forgetting the ceiling was there for a moment, wanting to know how many stairs we’d come down and if Kiera would be able to handle the return trip. “Where to?” I glanced around, realizing that other than a gradual spiraled walkway down, there was no way to reach the walls of materials.
“The keys.” Her eyes glinted as she twisted the key into another hidden slot, just like a child given her own library, only this one had moving magical staircases. I stared in awe.
“Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Who isn’t turned on by a library?”
“Dragons,” she shot back before adding, “Usually.”
I gave her a flat look. “Obviously, you don’t spend time with the right dragons. Just because the ones you know are all meatheads doesn’t mean there aren’t intelligent ones out there.”
“How would you know? Aren’t you the only dragon from your village?”
Fuck.
“—I exist, don’t I? If there is one of me, there has to be more.” I barely saved myself.
“Maybe you’re a unicorn.” Kiera seemed satisfied and checked the numbers on her scrap of parchment.
“Ew. Don’t ever call me that again.”
“What’s wrong with unicorns?” she asked, holding back a laugh.
“Pretentious pricks who are obsessed with themselves. You’re a fucking pegasus with a horn. Don’t try to make yourself something you’re not! I’d rather not be compared to them, thanks. ”
She rolled her eyes, fingertips skimming over the numbers on the shelves, muttering to herself. We got halfway around the room before she stopped.
“It should be somewhere in this area they said. These would be the years that correlate to the manuscript we read.”
“How much of the shelf?” I asked, scanning it.
“The whole section.” She gestured at the entire stretch of shelves.
“Kiera, that’s hundreds and hundreds of volumes to search through.”
She lifted her shoulders. “Someone has to do it. Through time, they’ve become slightly disorganized. We don’t have the resources to keep them like we used to. There are not enough of us.”
“I can’t imagine how hard a task it is keeping all this straight or even close to organized.”
“We don’t even know all the knowledge we have here. We’ve lost more than we remember.” She sounded wistful.
“Goddess. Better get a cot because we live here now.”
“There are worse places.” She exhaled, surveying our work. “You start over there, and I will begin here, and we can meet in the middle. What do you say?”
It felt like hours passed while we went through tome after tome. “It’s impossible to know the hour,” I sighed. “How long do you reckon we’ve been down here?”
“Twenty minutes?”
I glared. “Don’t play with me, Firefly.”
She burst out laughing. “Reading becoming too much for the dragon? ”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine over here. You go back to your reading, and I’ll continue with mine.”
“Mmhmm,” she mocked and returned her attention to her book. I watched her turn the page, her eyes scanning the text. She bit her lip in contemplation, then blew a stray lock of hair out of her face. She was beautiful, even after hours of research.
“I can feel your eyes burning into me,” she said without lifting her eyes from her book.
I scoffed. “I’m just concerned for your energy levels, that’s all. We’ve been at this for hours, and it was only a few days ago you were still getting drained far faster than you should.”
She turned a page, feigning focus on the words. “Don’t you worry about me. I have a new way of boosting my energy stores.”
She was right about that. Our power exchange was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It had healed her fully, and we’d both felt the benefits of our increased shared magic.
I hardened just thinking about claiming her again. I was insatiable, which my own personal healer had informed me was typical of a new soul-bond.
My pants tightened. I had to get her out of here so that I could have her again. Then I thought about it, the keys to this vault were down here with us. Without them, no one could happen upon us.
I stood silently and prowled across the space to where she perched on the edge of a table.
She was engrossed once more and turned another page as I stood before her. I carefully slipped the book from her hands, finally gaining her attention.
“Jaxus, I—” She stopped when she saw the intent in my eyes. She glanced around despite knowing we were completely alone down here. “Not here,” she hissed.
“Yes, here,” I confirmed, leaving no room for argument. I grabbed her by the back of the neck and slammed my mouth on hers in a claiming kiss. She moaned into my lips. I tore myself away and kissed a path up her neck, inhaling the place where her scent was the strongest. It was heady, and my need pushed all other thoughts aside.
I reached down and undid my pants, freeing my hard length. Kiera’s hand went right to it, skimming along the shaft and giving the head a light squeeze. It felt amazing, but I needed inside her like I needed to fly. Hitching up her robes, I hooked one leg over my arm and with my other hand, shoved her undergarments aside and sunk inside her in one long thrust.
We both cried out at the overwhelming rightness of it. Her heat felt like home. I began to move, hard and fast, claiming her as our bond demanded. She reached a hand behind her to take her weight, and with her other on my shoulder for leverage, she met me thrust for thrust. Curses and praise to the Goddess slipped from her lips as she lost herself to the euphoria of our joining.
We both barreled towards our release without reservation, giving and taking our pleasure in a perfect balance. This was going to be fast.
She rose up so we were face to face, eye to eye, and she didn’t look away as she tightened around me, crying out my name as she came. I followed her over that edge, biting out “Firefly” as I stiffened and filled her with my release.
She blinked and blew out a rough breath. “Goddess.”
I laughed, slipping out of her. I was glad I had the mating tie under control for now. “Don’t thank her. That was all me.”
Kiera used a nifty bit of magic to clean herself up, I would have to have her show me how. I guessed it was some healer skill for bathing bed-bound patients, but it had other handy applications I was on board with.
“So I should be thanking you?”
“No thanks needed.”
“Your humility knows no bounds,” she deadpanned .
“I was only thinking of you, Firefly. You needed the energy boost to get back up all those stairs.” I smirked.
“Is that right?”
“Yep. So why don’t we get out of here while you have a spring in your step?”
“Because before your entirely selfless sex therapy session, I was about to say I think I found what we were looking for.”
My eyes went wide. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Now where did you put it?”
I glanced around at the books and scrolls scattered around and bit my lip. “Umm, I think it was round there somewhere?” I guessed.
“Really, Jax?” She’d never called me that before. It made me smile.
“I was kind of distracted by being selfless. It can’t be far.”