Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Ty
The next day, Ty awoke with the dawn. It was later than he intended, and he groaned as he opened his eyes to see the sunlight filtering through the trees. His entire body felt stiff and rigid, including his…
Memory flooded him. He’d been having a dream that Ena was riding him, her tits bouncing in his hands as she rocked into him, and now his cock was hard as stone.
Looking around, he turned to find the woman of his dreams peacefully sitting by the fire, stoking it with a long branch.
She was certainly a sight to wake up to. Her dark-brown hair glowed in the early-morning light, and the cold, crisp air made the pale, creamy skin on her cheeks and the tip of her nose slightly pink.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Ena greeted as she looked towards him, seeing that he was awake.
He grunted in response, it being the only sound he could muster as the blood flowed back into his brain.
Ena laughed. A sensual, delicate thing that made his heart race.
“What?” he asked, sitting up and giving her a small smile in return. Did he amuse her somehow? He hoped so. He wanted to hear that sound again.
“Nothing. You’re just extremely grumpy when you wake up,” she said, teasing.
He grunted in acknowledgment, on purpose this time. She laughed again, and he felt like he’d won a prize.
Standing up, he scratched at his unruly beard. It was getting too long and he needed to trim it, but it’d been weeks since he’d been in a position to do so. Just one more thing he was eager to do when they finally arrived at their destination.
Seeing that Ena had turned her attention back to the fire, Ty strode off into the woods to take a piss behind a tree, his body finally starting to wake up.
He’d spent most of last night thinking about what had happened with the Canus Elk, and what it meant for them.
Only in the wee hours of the morning had he finally, reluctantly, woken up Ena to take over on watch so he could sleep.
He would’ve let her sleep the whole night if he could’ve, but he knew he needed to be alert as they rode today, given how close they were to the entrance to the Underworld.
Clearly, he’d been more tired than he’d thought, because it seemed like no time at all had passed before the sun woke him up. He wasn’t mad about it, though—waking up to see Ena by the fire was… Well, for the first time in nine years, he actually felt like his reality might be better.
Or at least, he hoped it would be soon. They’d been traveling so hard and fast the last week—his only focus on getting them both as far away from Occidens as possible—that there’d been zero time for anything else.
He was pretty sure they’d done it, though—he’d been using his venator constantly, watching and listening for any signs of pursuit, but all had been quiet.
He hoped that by the time the witches had figured out they were gone, they’d gotten enough of a head start to make catching up to them impossible.
But still, he couldn’t let his guard down—not yet. And especially not with whatever new threats on the horizon the Canus Elk portended.
Returning to their fire, Ty watched as Ena began her now-familiar morning routine. After building up the fire with the logs and branches Ty had broken for her last night, she shook out her cloak, picking off large hunks of moss and sticks, before finger-combing her hair and re-braiding it.
He’d never admit it, but he often found himself mesmerized just watching her move. Like she was some elusive, rare animal he still couldn’t believe was his, and it was completely new territory for him.
He’d never been this…familiar with anyone besides Steig and Turner before.
Certainly not a woman. He couldn’t even recall the amount of times he’d watched Steig and his wife Lara over the years and yearned to have that kind of intimacy with someone.
But he’d assumed he would never be able to, and so after a while, it had gotten so painful to think about that he squashed the idea of ever having that with anyone entirely from his head.
But now here they were, living in a sort of unspoken harmony.
Averting his eyes before she could catch him watching her, Ty rummaged through his pack and pulled out their last hunk of stale bread and an extremely beat-up apple. Breaking the former in two, he handed one half to Ena, along with the apple.
“Don’t you want to split this too?” she asked as she took the apple from his hand.
“No, I’ll be alright,” he said.
“Are you sure? You’re bigger than me. You should probably have it,” she said, trying to hand it back to him.
“Just be a good girl and eat your apple before I give it to the horse, okay?” he said, giving her a wink.
Her cheeks turned pink, and this time he knew it wasn’t the cold. “Suit yourself,” she said, taking a bite. He watched as some juice dribbled down her chin, and she proceeded to wipe it off with the back of her hand.
Fuck, now was so not the time for all the dirty thoughts that image just gave him.
Turning away once more, he took a bite out of his bread as he went to ready their horse.
After finishing her food and kicking out their fire, Ena came over just as he finished securing the last of the saddlebags. He got her mounted up first before climbing up behind her, his body snug against hers, and wrapped his arms around her waist to grab the reins.
As always, it was the most exquisite torture.
The smell of her surrounded him, and he could feel the curves of her body tucked up against his.
He could touch her in a million small ways all day but in none of the ways he wanted to—the definition of teasing.
He loved it and he absolutely fucking hated it at the same time.
But he knew their cozy little torturous routine wouldn’t last. If they made good time, they’d be meeting up with Turner and Steig at the rendezvous point later today, and then…he’d have to finally tell her what was coming.
He’d already put it off way too long, but they’d been focused on moving as quickly as possible, dodging villages and taking back routes to throw any would-be pursuers off their trail. Or at least that’s what he told himself. In all honesty, he was just being a coward.
Because there was that voice…that nagging worry in the back of his head. What if she changed her mind once she knew? What if she decided to leave?
But he couldn’t hold off any longer—she needed to be prepared, even if it…changed things. So he’d break the news to her, tonight, once they reunited with Steig and Turner.
And if she accepted it, which he hoped to fucking Iblis that she did, then maybe it would be time for a different conversation—one that scared him nearly as much.
Did she want to be with him now?
He’d tried for so many years to forget her, to push her away with his anger…but now she was here. She’d come with him. She knew everything—well, almost everything—and she’d still chosen to come.
Yes, it was first and foremost to help with the amulet and breaking the bond, but…she’d said she was his. And as Iblis was his Master, as much as it scared him, he wanted to have her, in all the ways he’d always dreamed. Would she let him?
“You alright back there?” Ena asked, giving him an arch look over her shoulder.
“Yeah, of course. Why?” he said, clearing his throat and trying to clear his mess of thoughts.
“You’re just squirming like a worm. Do you need to pee or something?” she asked, and he could hear the teasing smile in her voice.
He couldn’t help but smile back. “No, viper,” he said drolly. “Just trying to get comfortable.”
“Here,” she said, wiggling forward slightly in the saddle. “Is that better?”
“No, it’s worse,” he said, pulling her back into him so her ass was cradled between his thighs as it had been. “I’m done squirming, I promise. We’re almost there.”
They’d been riding most of the morning, their horse weaving easily through the sparse, short evergreens.
Long gone were the oaks and maples that dotted the landscape further west—the climate here was drier and harsher this close to the Chasm Mountains.
Luckily, the snow had melted with the morning sun as the temperature crested above freezing, but with the brisk pace their horse was keeping, it was still fairly cold.
“Where exactly is ‘there’?” Ena asked cautiously, glancing over her shoulder at him again. “Where are we meeting them?”
“It’s a cave hidden behind a waterfall—a small one. Steig, Turner, and I used to play there as kids when we were given permission to leave the Underworld.”
“Permission from who?” Ena asked, her brow wrinkling.
Did she really not know? It didn’t sound like she’d been taught much of anything about daemons and the Underworld, but still, for the witches to not teach her even the basics…it seemed downright insulting.
“Cole, my uncle. He’s the king.”
Ena paused at that, and Ty could see her delicate brow furrowing in confusion. “What’s a ‘king’?” she asked, sounding out the word like it was foreign, which apparently it was.
Ty tried to suppress his smile. He supposed it made sense. She’d been raised by the witches, who chose matriarchs to lead their Covens—witches with strong Gifts, to be sure, but also women who were adept at leading and uniting others. She’d clearly never been exposed to another way of doing things.
“A king is…like a leader. Kind of like your matriarchs, only…their opinion is unilateral. They don’t need to consult others; their word alone is law.”
“So Cole, your uncle, he makes all the rules for the daemons by himself?” Ena asked cautiously, seeming surprised by this development.
“Yes. He divines Iblis’s will, then communicates it to us, letting us know which missions Iblis wants us to undertake. But he alone decides who goes and when, as well as oversees all the other inner workings of the Underworld.”
“Oh,” Ena said, as she contemplated this.