Chapter 40
T hey walked back to the horses, arm in arm. Keane donning a flower crown Emer had made him and fully prepared to punch Calder in the face at the first twitch of his lip. To both their surprise, however, Calder was nowhere to be found.
“Is it too much to hope some kind of unknown creature devoured him?” Keane muttered, eyes scanning the area.
“You two have been at each other since the woods. Is everything alright?” she asked, still scanning the space.
“Peachy… everything is just peachy, love.”
After how he greeted her when she woke up, Emer was eager to find Calder. While Keane seemed in no hurry and, after making a half-hearted comment about taking the horses and leaving, was content to lay out on a blanket and let Emer search.
As she eyed the tree line, debating where to begin, a raven black as night touched down on the limb of a nearby tree. It watched her, and Emer tilted her head and studied the creature. The bird returned the gesture and as Emer approached her attention caught on a piece of parchment it seemed to be ferrying. As if sensing her hesitation, the bird gave a slow bow. Cautiously, Emer worked the note free.
One monster down, one to go. Come find me.
Emer’s heart seemed to stutter and everything around her faded as her vision narrowed to the thick black letters scrawled in front of her. Her original purpose for locating him was lost in the spaces between the beats.
“Did you find him? I don’t hear any growling, so I doubt it,” Keane hollered from over by the horses. Hiding the note, Emer cleared her throat.
“Not yet! Can you watch the horses?”
While the note gave no indication as to why Calder wanted her to find him, the anticipation tore through her like a meadow on fire. She did not wait for Keane’s response. When the bird took flight, she followed.
With her eyes on her guide in the sky, her boots caught on various obstacles littering the forest floor and she struggled to keep pace. The raven adjusted its course sharply and she froze. Turning in place, she searched for it but dropped her gaze, frowning at its sudden choice to abandon her.
A branch cracked and she was acutely aware of how ridiculously stupid she had been to venture into the woods alone. Ripping the note free from her pocket, she scanned it again and her stomach sank at the realization that it was unsigned. She assumed it was Calder, but what if she was wrong?
Despite the ordeal from the night before, fear invigorated her once-tired muscles and her feet pounded across the uneven terrain. Sweat began to streak down the nape of her neck and her hair clung to her skin. Calder stepped out from behind a tree, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth as he smiled. Her breath caught as their eyes met. Pools of ink, black as the raven he had used to find her.
Relief crashed into her as his powerful arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her from the ground. Using her momentum, he spun her through the air, settled her in front of him, and pressed her back against the tree. Arm still around her waist, he slid his other hand to her throat, his index finger and thumb resting on either side of her jaw.
“What has you running scared, little Merrow?” he asked, a finger slowly sliding down over her pulse.
“I wasn’t scared,” she panted.
“Liar.” His voice was all teeth as he dragged the words across the shell of her ear.
“Haven’t learned your lesson about running from me? I told you. There is nowhere you can go where I will not find my way back to you.” It was a truth he had proven many times over, but this time, when he said it, it felt like an oath rather than a threat, and it caused her chest to swell.
“Can you see me?” she asked, the darkness of his stare reflecting back her own surprised face.
He nodded slowly.
“Not as you see me. But yes, I can.”
He tipped his head to the sky and she followed his gaze through the trees to see the dark raven had returned. She suspected his talent had not been isolated to Alabaster, but wondered why he chose another for this task. The bird began to dive through the trees with ease and grace.
“Do they go where you tell them?” Before the question had fully left her lips, a rush of wind crashed into her face and the large black bird perched itself on his shoulder.
“They do,” he remarked as she muffled her gasp with her hands.
At such an intimate distance, she could see that the raven’s feathers were not a mournful black but rather iridescent. Painted delicately with purples, blues, and greens. Dark and ominous at a distance. Alluring and memorizing once close.
It watched her the way it had earlier, the way Calder had many times before. She slowly raised her hand, intending to stroke its beautiful black feathers, but paused to look at Calder. He dipped his chin in approval. Carefully, she brushed her knuckles down its chest and smiled widely as the raven leaned into her touch. Looking back at Calder excitedly, she was surprised to see his affectionate blue and gray gaze staring back at her.
“Careful, Merrow, we wouldn’t want either of the ravens before you to get jealous.”
He dismissed the raven with a glance.
“Now, where were we?” he asked as he shifted the hand behind her head, wrapping her braid around his fist before settling it between her and the tree once more.
The corner of his lip curled as he used his grip to tilt her head. “Oh, right… there is something we need to discuss.” The words rumbled deep from his chest as he nipped at her jaw before dragging his lips over her neck.
Emer tried to reel back, but she had little space to move. “Are you… are you angry with me?”
“And why would I be angry with you?” he asked.
“I don’t know, which is why I’m asking,” she huffed.
“No?” He placed his hand against the rough bark next to her head and leaned in as if to kiss her.
Emer closed her eyes as she drew in a breath.
“You were saying goodbye.”
She felt the heat of his words against her lips. Startled, her eyes flew open to find his fixed to her mouth.
“What?”
“When you thought the beast was going to take you, you tried to let go,” he accused, his eyes flickering up to hers.
“I wasn’t…” she began to argue, but the lie died on her tongue. Because she had let go of his hand and she had expected to be taken.
He leaned in closer.
“Let me be very clear. The only way you will be leaving my side is by choice. Nothing and no one will take you from me.”
Whether because of the heat in his words or his stare, her bones felt liquid. For the first time, it felt like the Well was not the end of something but the beginning.
Emboldened by his actions, she slid her fingers along his jaw and cupped his cheek. After a heartbeat, he closed his eyes and permitted himself to lean into her touch.
“I’m sorry. Can we be done being angry now?” she asked softly.
His chest vibrated with silent laughter and she felt a wicked smile form against her hand. He laid his hand over hers, turning slightly to kiss her palm.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked, eyes sweeping over her.
She nodded. “Good as new.”
“Good.”
Rational thought eddied from her mind at the first soft stroke of his lips on her neck. The sensation was quickly replaced by the scrape of his teeth, which drew a yelp from her. He chuckled darkly before she felt the languid slide of his tongue trace over the small hurt left by his canines. It was warm and wet and made up of all things tempting and wicked.
Her hands closed around his shoulders, the muscles tense and unmoving as her fingers pressed into them. He hummed his approval against her skin before drawing it into his mouth. The sound that escaped her was all the encouragement needed to fill the small space left between them. He slid his other hand down and gripped her thigh, lifting her from the ground completely. His movements were urgent and hungry, making up for all the times he had not touched her before and all the times he feared he might not get to in the future.
Emer wrapped her legs around Calder’s hips. The act received an approving groan as his grip on her thigh tightened. For a moment, she thought he was going to pull away, but instead, he leaned back and stared down, committing the sight of her clinging to him to memory .
With a multitude of forbidden words dancing on his tongue, he kissed her forehead. Speaking everything he could not say directly against her skin.
Stay.
He pressed another kiss to her nose.
Stay.
And finally, her lips.
Stay.
His breath filled her lungs and stopped her heart. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss, the claiming stroke of his tongue eliciting a whimper that she would have been embarrassed by if he had not groaned in response.
The wind began to whip around them and his grip tightened. Emer protested as he pulled back, his forehead pressing against hers. As the branches shook and the fallen leaves stirred around them, they both knew the cause of the agitation. Her head dropped back as she searched for her breath.
“Keane is worried,” she laughed.
Calder smiled, pressing a gentle kiss to the hollow of her throat.
“Your chaperone should be horrified .”
An overwhelming calm settled deep into Emer’s bones, chasing away the worries that had long since resided there. There was a lightness in her spirit—a drunkenness in her soul.
“Strange magic,” she whispered.
The peace they found felt tenuous and fleeting— a moment that was measured in sugar and hard to hold onto. So, they held onto each other instead.
“After the Well,” he paused, selecting his words carefully. “Lina was right. You should return for Samhain. There are things we need to discuss.”
Emer nodded in agreement but there was one topic that she did not think could wait .
“I am not ready to let go,” she confessed as she buried her face into his shirt, breathing in his scent.
He wrapped his arms around her, shifting to sit on the forest floor, and pulling her into his lap.“I have no intention to,” he said into her hair.
“Have you ever known a mortal with Fae sight?” she murmured against his chest.
The intensity of Calder’s stare shifted and he frowned. “Why are you asking me that?”
“Keane was saying there are different ways a mortal can receive it and I was just curious if you knew anyone else?—”
“Anyone else ?”
She didn’t move.
He didn’t blink.
Calder stood abruptly, startling her as she clung to his shoulders. The gentleness with which he set her down starkly contrasted with the fury of his expression.
“I’m going to kill him,” he vowed quietly.
Before she could even attempt to ease his temper, they were moving swiftly through the trees. Her words and feet stumbled as she tried to keep up. Even Alabaster could sense his shift in mood, calling out to him from somewhere in the distance.
“I’m not his mate!” she shouted, hoping that piece of information would calm him enough to discuss it rationally.
He looked at her over his shoulder with a wild gleam in his eyes.
“You bet the fuck you aren’t,” he growled, clearly not finding solace in that information.
“Start explaining!” he roared as soon as the horses came into view.
Keane’s hysterical laughter filled the air as he fell back onto the blanket he’d laid out .
“You aren’t helping!” Emer shouted.
“We both know I never intended to, lovie,” he sang back.
“What did you do!” Calder bellowed as they reached Keane.
“Perhaps my magic is simply fond of her,” he offered, turning to Emer with a smile.
As soon as his eyes found her, his features grew severe and his attention snapped back to Calder’s.
“Did you bite her!” he snarled.
It was Calder’s turn to smile. His lips began to curl into a feral grin. A primal look flashed in his eyes as he admired the mark. Emer’s hand flew to her neck and her skin grew hot with embarrassment.
“We need to get a salve on that, you have no idea where that mouth has been,” Keane said as he sat up and began to rummage through his satchel, which rested next to him.
“I can tell you where it would have been,” Calder provoked, meeting Keane’s stare.
White hot anger coursed through Keane. Though his magic did not speak in words, he could hear it urging him to act. It slithered up his spine, wrapped around his neck, and whispered in his ears.
Take. Protect.
Keane clenched his hands into fists. If Calder had not asked her to stay… then he technically had not made himself a threat. He repeated the logic until the grip of his magic eased.
He opened his eyes and narrowed them back on Calder. Though his magic would not force his hand, the protective friend in him still wanted retribution.
“Can we please change the subject?” Emer barked as the rosy hue continued to spread over her pale skin.
“I quite like this subject,” Calder argued, his tongue trailing under his canine, and it was unclear if it was reminiscent of the bite he left on her skin or his desire to tear into Keane.
“Yes… let’s keep talking about this… it’s inspiring new brutal ways to torture him and even I am becoming impressed with my creativity,” Keane remarked humorlessly as he rose to his feet and began to crack his knuckles.
“Why are you trying to rile him up!” Emer groaned, fighting the urge to stomp her feet and match their childishness.
“I would much rather play with you, but he is intent on preventing that which means he has volunteered himself,” Calder cooed.
Keane stalked forward with violence in his eyes. “That mouth is going to get you in trouble,” he sneered.
“It’s like he was there, huh, sweetheart?” Calder winked.
Emer’s jaw went slack.
Suddenly, the wind whipped up around them. Calder’s gaze turned black and sharp croaks pierced the air.
“Enough!”
Everything went still and quiet in the wake of Emer’s command. The unbridled rage in their eyes ebbed away as they watched her.
“Don’t diminish what we almost lost last night because you are afraid of what we have to lose. You are not angry with each other. You are just angry and I …” She paused. “Am too tired.”