Chapter 37
Elysia found herself beneath the castle, deep in its safety. She used to use this path all the time to escape into the forests with no one the wiser. The stale, musty scent of dirt and rat shit was as terrible as it was familiar, but her mind was far from the vile stench of the tunnels.
Life so often stole people away before she ever had a chance to say goodbye. Whether they died or walked out of her life of their own volition, it was rare to end things with everything she wanted to say clear from her chest. Instead, she carried the unspoken words like iron weights inside her heart, knowing they would never grow wings to leave her mouth and kiss the other’s ears.
Whoever Topp Blatz was to her now—he had once been everything, and if she was going to do what she needed to do, then she was going out on her terms. She had her plans and he had his, both unwilling to bend ambition for love. All she wanted was one good final memory to take with her.
A memory that was hers alone, untainted by lies and chaos. That way, she could pull it out of her pocket and remember the good instead of how it all went wrong.
She exited the tunnels outside the castle walls, feeling the tug of her magic, but not needing it to guide her. Swaths of pines and ash and oaks rustled in the wind, the few lingering winter leaves and needles bending in a familiar wave. A damp chill enveloped her as she entered beneath the trees’ open arms, bringing goosebumps to her skin. Inhaling deeply, Elysia felt her spirit relax in the forest’s shade. The moist earthen smell of soil and dying leaves was the next best thing to the scent of flowers. Invigorated, she followed the familiar footpath into the forest’s dark.
The sudden crescendo of her magic didn’t startle her, not when she’d come here knowing where he would likely be. Staring up into the trees, she tilted her face, knowing he was somewhere in the branches' shadows.
“I’m calling a truce.”
She received no response.
Elysia untied her cloak, letting it drop to the forest floor. Hands on her hips, she kept staring into the black. “I want one last night. And then you’ll get your wish, and I’ll be gone.”
Eyes adjusted, she realized he was sitting on the lowest branch of the ash tree, considering her offer. The prince pushed off of the tree, landing in front of her. Elysia swayed, leaning into his ever present smell of rain and ozone. Her hands drifted to his chest, and he stared down at her with a wary face.
“Since when does Elysia Parker ever call a truce? The woman I know isn’t satisfied unless she’s steamrolled her opponents into submission.”
“It’s a one-night-only offer. Consider yourself blessed.”
His lips lifted in spite of himself, and one hand slid to her waist. Mouth brushing her cheek, his face dipped down closer to hers. “I was an asshole.”
She gave him a small, close-lipped smile. “You were.”
Just like that, with a few soft words and a lingering touch, the past few months were tossed from mind and memory while their bodies remembered what had once been so easy.
She pressed her face against his, the scent of his skin cascading through her in a swirl of warmth. A sigh fell out of her parted lips as her shoulders relaxed and the tension eased. A steady chorus of want and need began to hum through her. “You really, really were, but I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
He leaned back, a slight crease forming in between his eyes. “Why do I trust you even less now that you say you’re here for a truce?”
She pulled her sweater over head, her skin bare and dimpling in the night. “Because you’re an asshole, not stupid.”
His fingers tightened on her waistline, his green eyes bright and pupils wide. “You’re sure about this?” His much longer legs were already walking her back toward a tree. Rough bark scraped against her smooth back and she laughed, jumping to wrap her legs around him like she had a million times before.
Large palms caught her ass, holding her there easily.
She licked her lips, tracing his face with her eyes. “This isn’t our first time, Topp. Whatever heart I had to break, it’s already been done. I want this—I want you. I want one last memory that isn’t us flinging knives at each other because everything has gone to shit.”
Understanding clouded with his own pain was there and then gone in his eyes. He held still, so still as he weighed out her words and what she was asking for tonight under the dim moon.
Elysia stared back at him, the tree digging into her skin and cold turning her blue. She barely noticed the cold, though. Not when the anticipation and vulnerability of her request left her feeling far more bare than any lack of clothing. She waited for him to move, to say something, anything.
Then his mouth descended in a blink, covering and claiming hers like it truly was the last time. One slow, deep kiss left her head spinning and blood rushing, and then it was a frenzy. Mouths moving frantically, tasting each other over and over beneath the trees that had always kept their secrets.
Topp unlatched her legs, planting them back down to the ground as his mouth moved down her neck to her collarbones, kissing a trail that left her eyes closed and hands fisted in his shirt as she drank in the sensations. Moving lower, he captured one rosy nipple in his mouth, tongue gently bringing it to a peak and her pulse even higher. His thumb rolled over her opposite breast as his explorations continued downward, causing an impatient sound to vibrate in her throat.
Lips smiling against her stomach, Topp found the button to her trousers and worked them down until he was kissing her from the ankle back up. Elysia grasped the bottom of his shirt, tugging it up and over so she could run her hands up and down his back. Once upon a time, Topp had been muscled but lean. Now in his late twenties, he was thick and muscled with a chest like a bear. Hands full of him, she squeezed his upper arms, enjoying the feel of him. The cool wind slipped past, turning her nipples even harder, and she fought the urge to writhe against him. Gods, I’ve missed this.
Her thoughts shorted out altogether as his mouth finally reached where she had wanted it all along. Head cracking back against the tree, she barely felt the hurt as his mouth worked with the steady skill of a partner who knows you all too well. Over and over he laved, devouring her whole.
Fingers fisted in his hair, she squirmed, but his hands held her still, not yet done enjoying the taste of her. With one final kiss, he looked up at her as she panted down at him. His lips glinted with her upon them, and he held her gaze as he slid his fingers into her and curled.
Her knees damn near buckled, and a pleased rumble of a laugh moved through his chest. Deft strong fingers reached for the perfect spot again and again as she rocked into the palm of his hand. Vision hazy, she looked down at the man she had loved, and the sight of him crouched beneath her, working her perfectly, sent a thrill of power through her. She bucked against him, urging him on, and Topp complied, increasing his ministrations to the rhythm she demanded.
Heat spread through her like the flames of a furnace as she reached higher and higher. Breaths short and fast, her body folded into him as a brilliant feeling flooded her entire being like a cosmic shot of light, racing to every last corner of her. And then it wrecked her, plowing through the flimsy walls she held and bringing an unwanted wave of emotion to her eyes. She stayed where she was as he held her there, planting small kisses along her hip as she rode the final waves.
Topp stood, the question back in his eyes, if they should continue as he saw the wet emotion in hers, but Elysia didn’t want to talk or acknowledge what she felt—there was no point, so instead she reached for him, ridding the prince of his trousers. Elysia pushed his chest, bringing him down to the ground where she sat astride him, taunting him as she slid over the length of him.
Hands digging into her ass, the man’s eyes squinted shut.
“You’re fucking killing me.”
She grinned, tossing her dark hair over shoulder, naked and triumphant like a dark goddess of the woods. Ducking down, she nipped kisses and small bites along his neck.
“Good.”
And then she allowed him to slide into her, a groan escaping her lips as the hot length of him filled her.
Two breaths to adjust, and then she was riding him, one hand on his face, demanding he look at her as she brought him home. She slowed her pace, rocking her hips until she could see the strain upon his face, and then she slammed down and watched him break. Back arching, he made a muffled sound as he collapsed back down to the dirt. He lay there sweaty and spent, and Elysia allowed herself one last look at his face. Cheeks warmed, hair messed, and chest still moving fast.
A hollow pain crept into her heart. She’d gotten what she wanted, and she wouldn’t ruin it with words. Standing, she grabbed his undergarments, using them to fix herself, and then she was pulling her own clothes back on.
The prince propped himself up on one elbow. “Running out already?”
She looked back over her shoulder, moving her hair to one side. “Truce is over. I’ll see you at the ball and then I’m gone.”
Elysia could see him swallow back whatever emotion or words he truly felt as she’d known he would do.
“Right.” And then his head tilted, eyes suddenly focusing on her intently.
She stepped into her trousers. “What?”
The crown prince stood next to her, unbothered by his own nakedness, pulling down the collar of the thin sweater she had just donned. Elysia twisted her neck, trying to see what he was looking at and failed.
“What is it?” she asked again.
His thumb brushed over a spot below her ear. He repeated her earlier words slowly as a dangerous look entered his eyes. “You didn’t try to make a deal with death. You did make a deal with death. Elysia, what have you done?”
Her shoulders drew back, body stiffening. The memory of the god of the dead pressing his fingers to his lips before touching her skin played back in her mind, clear as day. Her hand shot to her neck, covering where she presumed the mark was and stepped back from the prince.
“I haven’t done anything. There’s no deal.” She took another step back. “You do what you need to do, and I’ll do what I need to do.”
She felt like she was cornered by a wolf. Except she hadn’t trained her whole life just to feel like prey. No, she didn’t care for the feeling of her hackles rising defensively at all.
Shooting him a look of warning, she kept backing up, not liking how his body seemed poised to attack. Hand drifting to her pocket, her eyes remained on the threat.
“Tell me how you found him. Tell me what you know, Elysia.”
Maybe if he’d asked calmly or given any indication that he could handle the information like a reasonable person, she would have told him, but he didn’t look like a calm or reasonable person. He looked like a forest gale ready to rain down havoc until she broke.
She looked him dead in the eye, mouth drawn tight. “No.”
The single syllable of her response had barely left her lips when he threw himself at her, plowing into her middle and holding her down to the ground. Eyes flashing, he swore at her as one hand came down hard beside her head.
“This isn’t a fucking game, Elysia, tell me what you know.”
But she’d been ready, had known he would explode with temper instead of noticing how her hand had found the small dagger in her pocket. She pricked the tip of the dagger against the thumping artery in his neck.
“Get off me, or bleed out beneath the trees, Blatz.” Her voice was as cold as the steel she pressed to his neck. The prince flinched, conscious awareness once again entering his eyes.
Slowly, stiffly, he clambered off of her.
Elysia stood up, dusting herself off. She shook her head at him in disappointment. “All I wanted was one night, one memory.” A bone-deep ache filled her, but she kept the dagger lifted as she started walking backwards. A certain sadness flitted through her voice. “I don’t know how anyone else reaches him, so don’t bother. Trust me that I’m going to do all I can.”
When she reached the edge of the woods, she lowered her dagger and whispered to the trees. “Truce over.”
Inside her, a little girl in a charcoal dress with a red ribbon sash watched one dream die as another was born. She would never wear the Kavian crown or stand beside the one who did, but maybe she could be someone who helped save her home from the ruin of rot that swept it now.
The dark-haired little girl looked out at her, dropping her red ribbon to the forest floor from her hand. In its place, a bronze-handled dagger shone bright and true, a flower appearing behind her ear where a skull and dice now lived.