Chapter 31
There is now one prime suspect in my mind: Ranveeg.
She has never been subtle in her dislike of me, and there was the confrontation we had earlier in the hallway, when we were searching for Magnus.
Could the chandelier have been a reaction to that?
Come to think of it, the incident in the battle yard happened the same day she accused Kyor of using his powers on their sacred lands.
Maybe she wasn’t actually by the pyrrhic, as Astrid had thought.
And then there was the first slip, just after we arrived.
The timing of each negative interaction with the general, combined with the attacks afterwards, feels a little too close to be coincidental.
‘I know it’s been a long day and a lot has happened, so you don’t have to tell me about the Veil if you don’t want to, or if it needs to remain private. But if you want to … well, I’m here. Properly here now to support you and to listen,’ Kyor offers once we’re back in our room.
At his mention of the Veil, thoughts of Ranveeg slide away, and my teeth bite the inside of my cheek.
Despite having just asked me to be honest with him, he’s still giving me an out.
All I have to do is say I’m not supposed to share what I saw, say that the vision was for me and me alone, and he’ll leave it.
I know he will. I won’t have to tell him I was there, taken back to the worst night of both our lives.
And what’s another secret compared to the one I’m already keeping from him?
‘I don’t want to keep it from you,’ I say quietly. ‘But you’ve been through so much already.’
‘Yeah, but what’s a little more chaos? Yordenrin is one of my fealty Gods, after all.’ He says the comment jokingly, but I can still see the nervousness in his eyes.
‘Was I in it?’ he finally whispers.
As I dip my chin in a nod, his face pales slightly, but I can’t keep it from him just to avoid seeing the hurt in his eyes.
‘Fuck,’ he mutters before shaking his head. ‘It’s not right, Rose. I don’t care what they think it is you have to learn, and I don’t care what Gods or what magic is behind it. I don’t believe it’s true.’
‘You don’t believe what’s true?’ I ask, confused.
‘What the Veil wants you to learn. I mean, maybe it is. Maybe you need some kind of magic to knock some sense into you, but—’
‘Sorry, Kyor,’ I say, stopping him as my confusion grows. ‘What do you think the Veil showed me?’
‘That we shouldn’t be together, right? That you’re an Issen princess and you can’t be in love with a Morathkian prince.’
My heart feels as if it’s catapulted up into my throat. ‘That’s what you thought it would show me? That’s what you were worried about?’
‘Wasn’t it that?’
‘No. Not that, Kyor. Never that.’ I lean forward, combing my fingers through his hair. ‘You and I, we’re inevitable, aren’t we?’
His face crumples into a series of frown lines. ‘I want nothing more than to be by your side forever, but look at you, Thorn. You come from this line of wise, magnanimous, truthful, inspiring kings. I … I come from a line of fucking arseholes.’
He’s not wrong.
I sigh. ‘Nothing is ever black or white, Kyor. No doubt there’s more to your father’s choices than even we know.’
‘I don’t want to talk about him now.’
‘Okay. So you thought the Veil was going to tell me that I had to learn what? To live without you?’
He shrugs. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look like this before, so completely and utterly vulnerable.
Even the paparvy didn’t make him this self-conscious.
‘I just figured that maybe the Veil would push you towards one of the Issen. Stefan. Or maybe even Toren. He definitely worships the ground you walk on.’
I can’t stop the huff that escapes now. ‘So what? That little display yesterday in the snow was just to remind me what I’d be missing?’
‘I was just checking my powers, like you asked.’ He smirks, and the glint in his eyes makes it impossible for me to look away. ‘But … if it had been to show you what you’d miss out on without me, did it work?’
Memories of that orgasm out on the ice are enough to send heat curling between my thighs. I still can’t believe he did that.
‘I’m not sure,’ I say teasingly. ‘I can barely remember it, to be honest. Maybe you could try harder next time.’
His growl is instant as he pushes me down onto the bed and climbs over me, covering my body with his. It’s reminiscent of the pose he just used to save my life, and just the thought makes my heart pound again. He’s so fucking sexy and without even trying.
‘Is that right? Well then, Thorn, I’d better give you another memory you won’t soon forget.’ He presses his lips to mine and I’m lost in the swirl of vanilla and the brush of his tongue.
This is what I need. This.
Today has been too much. Way too fucking much. I feel like I’m sinking into quicksand, and all I can hold on to is him. Together, we can face anything.
We kiss feverishly, each as desperate as the other, and when he presses his hips into mine, I groan.
The fabric of his trousers is straining against his hard, aching cock, and I wet my lips, my heart pounding in anticipation. How a man can get me dripping wet so fast remains a miracle to me, but I’m not questioning it. Not when I need him so fucking badly.
I move to free his cock, but before I can, he pins my wrists above my head.
‘So you want me to try harder, do you? What exactly is it you want me to do, Princess?’
A smile twists his lips as he pushes his free hand against my knee and spreads my legs wide. The single movement is enough to make my insides blaze, but he’s not done.
Slowly he slides his hand under my top, grazing against my breast before tugging sharply at one of my nipples.
‘Kyor…’
His name comes out in a low moan as my lungs struggle to draw breath. The way he looks down at me, like he wants nothing more than to devour me, to claim me, makes heat coil through my entire body.
Yet he doesn’t move, other than to bite down on his bottom lip as he studies me.
One of his hands is pressed to my wrists, holding me in place.
His other hand reaches down and pulls a dagger from the sheath at his well-muscled thigh.
The light glints off the blade, and there is a wild thrill at the proximity of a weapon to me, yet I do not flinch as he inches it closer.
He groans. ‘See? You do trust me, Thorn. Utterly.’ And then he uses the dagger to cut, one-handed, through my shirt and then carefully through my bra.
I am panting, my breasts exposed to him, and I yearn for him to touch them.
‘I love seeing you like this. I can see the need in you. I bet you’re dripping already. But you know, Thorn, if you’re not going to tell me what you want, then maybe I should tell you what I want instead.’
As he sheathes the dagger, a stream of static cascades across my folds, causing my hips to lift towards him.
‘Please … please…’ I’ve no fucking idea what I’m begging for other than him. All of him. That’s what I want. But getting those words out, getting any words out right now, is proving incredibly fucking difficult.
My mind has gone blank, and all I crave is his next touch.
And the way he has me pinned to the bed, so that I can’t even reach for him, is causing my frustration to soar.
With the cold chill of air hardening my already pebbled nipples, his free hand ghosts over them, making my hips buck.
‘Here’s what I want…’ He trails his free hand down my stomach and brushes his finger lightly over the fabric of my trousers, sending dozens of sparks straight into my clit. My thighs clench as a silent scream catches in my throat. ‘I want you to tell me that you’re mine. Like I’m yours.’
I’m panting, barely sucking in enough oxygen, and as I go to reply, he slips his hand beneath my waistband, then slides his fingers under the edge of my soaked underwear, stretching my entrance apart with such expertise that I can’t stop the moan that rattles from me.
‘Kyor … please!’
‘I didn’t hear you say it, Thorn.’ He withdraws his fingers as he runs his tongue across my breast, claiming my nipple in his mouth with a slight suck.
When he pushes his fingers back inside me again, he stretches me, curling his fingertips against the heat of my walls, which grip him tightly. ‘Say you’re mine.’
‘I’m yours.’ The words come out as a gasp. ‘I’m yours. Always.’
He leans in, his breath soft against my ear. ‘You are. You’re mine.’
‘Yes … yes…’
The words cause a smile to twist on his lips, but my frustration grows. The yearning to feel his cock inside me, to feel him stretch me, is growing deeper with every shallow breath I take.
I arch my back, trying to feel the friction of him against me, but he shifts away, standing up and leaving me there, flat on my back with my wrists still secured. He’s using a static charge to hold me in place, and I don’t know why that realisation makes me moan so fucking loudly.
He reaches for my trousers, undoes them, and removes all the rest of my garments until I’m naked. Then he spreads my legs open and groans, low and rough.
‘I could watch you all day like this. I’m going to draw you like this, spread just for me,’ he promises. ‘But for now, I’m going to need something more from you. Do you think you can do that?’
With deft skill, he unbuttons his own shirt while simultaneously sending sparks across my chest and between my thighs.
My body twists, but my hands are still pinned by his power.
It’s the first time I’ve experienced this side of his magic, this ability of his to hold me in place.
And now I’m hoping it won’t be the last time.
‘I can’t hear you, Thorn,’ he says mockingly. ‘I’m going to need you to be a little louder for me, sweetheart. Maybe I should make you louder, hmm?’
The sparks he sends ricochet across my body and bring me so close to completion that I can feel the wetness pooling beneath me, drenching the sheets.
‘Fuck!’
He’s assessing me, coolly watching me, and as my hips judder upwards and I teeter on the edge of my orgasm, he stops.