Chapter 13 #2
I dematerialized the empty glass, and then I couldn’t wait any longer, and threw my arms around him.
“I’m so very sorry you had to endure that,” he breathed, as I clutched at him.
“Me?” I asked, pulling back a little to see his face.
There was so much regret and pain marring his expression.
“You’re the one who went through that insane hell.”
“I know it was an ordeal for you also… to witness that being inflicted upon someone you love.”
“Don’t even say that. I only care about you.”
He brushed his lips over my cheek. “Shh, it’s all okay now. It’s done with. I’m well. Better and right here with you.”
Emotion threatened to get the best of me and I buried my face in his shoulder.
He stroked my back up and down, my hair, my nape, sending soothing sparks through me that had a peaceful moan escaping me.
Then I was startling—and grinning into his shoulder—as his free hand fondled my ass. “I do relish these on you. These tight little shimmering things and you forgoing a shirt were certainly a titillating view to wake up to.”
A thrill went through me and I had to stop myself from rocking against him.
He’d just woken up.
And given the timing and my reactions, I knew he was doing this to take my mind off the rest.
I eased back to see mirth shining in his eyes.
“Well, you in just a pair of black leather-like boxer briefs isn’t an easy thing to just swallow down either.” Especially given that the view and him now hardening a little under my gaze, had me wanting to swallow down something else entirely.
Damn fucking seductive Basilisk prince.
If Evira walked in here right now in her silver negligee and Win in that skin-tight cobalt-blue tee, I’d melt into a fucking puddle right here on the bed.
A chuckle escaped him, but it got caught in his throat when he noticed all the Basilisk gifts on pretty much every available surface around the bedroom.
“Well, this is… certainly something,” he murmured, looking both touched and… overwhelmed.
“Yeah, they kept showing up. Each time Evira and me stepped outside, there were more, day after day. I guess even though the place is warded and also concealed with Velra’s illusion, their vibrational resonance thingies being…
in you… must’ve made it possible for them to pass through it all or something. ”
“Something like that, yes.”
“It’s a lot, huh?” I asked, stroking his cheek.
There was a faraway look in his eyes as he said, “They’re calling me.”
I frowned. “Calling you?”
“To serve. To be their champion.”
“Like, their sovereign? To take power?”
He eased back a little and scrubbed his hand over his face.
Then he did that super concentrating tensing thing that meant he was searching out his immediate surroundings with his animal Basilisk senses.
Moments later, his brow furrowed as he looked back at me. “Where is Evira?”
“She… had business in the Dracoryn Realm.”
His gaze was darting all over the place then. Clearly the deeper meaning to those gifts that Evira and me hadn’t clocked because it was obviously deep Basilisk stuff and so much of their customs and things were still unknown, had freaked him out.
“Dracoryn Realm,” he murmured, as he caught sight of the dahlia on the nightstand. “For what purpose? Familial? An issue with Torvek?”
“It’s… uh—”
“Incredible!” he exclaimed as he realized what the dahlia truly was. He eyed me over his shoulder as he ran his fingers gently over it. “This is truly wondrous.”
“A get-well gift,” I said, grinning at his reaction.
“It’s so beautifully thoughtful. Thank you. I adore it.”
He went to reach out to me, but stilled when he caught sight of the amber gemstone.
With a sudden burst of his speed that startled me, he snatched it up and turned back, holding it between us.
Emotion clogged his throat as he asked me, all choked up, “How?”
Ah, shit.
“Zayn, is Winter… has he been—”
“No. I’m so sorry, that’s not it,” I interjected quickly, getting where his mind had gone. “He’s still… with that psychopath.” I swallowed. “Still in Sanctus.”
He grimaced and stared down at the gemstone. “Yet, he was able to forge this and… pass it along to you and Evira?”
I’d hoped I could have given him more time to acclimate before getting into that.
“How so?” he pressed.
I took his free hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’ve been in your self-immobilization for several days. And in that time, there was… an incident.”
Vax hadn’t had a moment of space since he’d gotten out of the shower.
And even then it had been touch-and-go on me not barging on in there to be with him, to not let him out of my sight.
But I’d held off, getting that he needed to recalibrate, come back to being conscious, all of that. Especially after I’d told him all about the Dracoryn Realm battle and every other fucking brutal thing that had gone down since he’d been out—including the story behind Win’s gemstone.
After that, though, as soon as he’d come downstairs dried and dressed—in his black leather pants and black tee that showed off his granite-hard fucking biceps—I’d been on him nonstop.
Holding his hand as I’d made him his favored Feast Plate.
My arm wrapped around him the whole time that he’d been eating.
Nuzzling against him as we’d settled in the living room afterward.
And he hadn’t complained once.
Of course he hadn’t. It was Vax.
“Continue, Zayn,” he spoke, snapping my concentration back to my schoolwork that needed doing.
I grumbled as he tapped the next spellwork problem laid out on the instruction sheet I had resting on the cobalt cushion on my lap.
I flicked my pen on my notebook. “You’d think making it into my fourth year, I’d be home-free.
But, no, here they are bringing in this complex shit, like a damn mountainous obstacle getting in my way of graduating. ”
“It isn’t getting in your way. You can see to this. You have the means, the knowledge base, and three prior years of intensive schooling—all of which have been leading to, and preparing you, to handle this “complex shit” accordingly.” He winked. “With flying colors, actually.”
I groaned. “This one is worse than the other two you just made me work through—and like an ass-busting drill sergeant, for the record.” I flicked his jaw. “Great, now I’m thinking about the ass-busting thing.”
He chuckled and snatched my fingers. “The phrasing you yourself, brought up?” Off my disgruntled look, he gnawed at my fingertips.
“Mmm, I love your little punishments.”
“That wasn’t punishment, merely rerouting you back to concentration.”
“Is that so?” I teased, sliding a hand down to my pants, and over my hardening cock.
My hand was batted away in the next second and then a slap right there had me jolting, a grunt escaping me at the sparking ache it elicited.
“Focus,” he rumbled, delivering another spank right against my shaft, this one a little harder, and making me squirm away a bit. He noticed it pulling me back, and nodded approvingly. “Good boy. Eyes on that worksheet.”
Good boy? Damn, he was kicking my ass all over the place when he brought that sort of talk.
It had me straightening and zeroing in on the spellwork problem with some real intensity and determination.
“So… the issue is… I’m approaching this one from an abstract perspective? Seeing just the equation, not how the spell would work in practice, and the behavior of the different facets of the magic involved?”
His eyes lit up. “Yes. Exactly.” He stroked my hair. “Well done.”
I grinned to myself, and continued on, starting to see exactly what to do now, how to go about it.
When I was done, he kissed my forehead, and stroked my worry stone bracelet as I reviewed the next spellwork problem.
“For all your concerns of being ill-equipped to handle this sort of thing, you’ve just proven otherwise.
The same goes for your terror of losing control of your magic and your Ifrit flame.
From your own report to me regarding the Dracoryn Realm battle, you were able to perform a spell as control-intensive as Ecliptic Convergence without any prior preparation.
Your magic is also able to operate instinctively in certain cases, which is a true rarity, and takes immense coordination and regulation.
” He fixed the partially rolled-up sleeve of my neon-pink marble T-shirt I’d slipped on while he’d been in the shower earlier, the action making me smile.
Always taking care of us, even in little ways like this.
“You have come a very long way and we’re all extremely proud of you.
You deserve to know that and recognize what a feat and remarkable evolution it truly is. ”
Holy. Damn.
I stared at him, incredulous for several moments, trying to absorb his wonderful words, and all that they meant so deeply to me.
“Shit, that’s it. I’m taking a study break.” A growl escaped me. “Right fucking now.”
And then I was lunging at him, and straddling his lap.
“Gonna worship the hell out of you, you sexy motherfucker.”
He chuckled, hands coming up and grasping my hips to steady me, just a second before I crushed my mouth to his.
And that was all I got in.
One nip and suck of his lips, before he stilled abruptly and eased me back gently, then swung his head at the door, frowning in concentration.
I was gonna ask what on earth was happening when a massive rush of power answered my question. He must’ve picked up on it before me with his Basilisk senses.
“Who is that?” I asked.
“Ambrose and Ketheron.”
“What? Here? At our place? I’d only ever expect that if Win was here.”
“Indeed.”
“Why do you think they’re here?”
“Let’s see,” he said, then swept a wave of his citrine power at the door.
It must’ve connected with the ward outside and kind of… pulled from the interference of their arrival, them being so near it, because then their voices were gravitating toward us. It was a specialized version of an auditory enhancement spell.
“Don’t pass through uninvited, Ketheron.”
“I won’t break the ward. I promise, my gorgeous.”