Chapter 29 #2
As pompous as he was being, she liked that idea. Anyone could learn to use a muscle. A weak muscle didn’t make you horrible or bad—it simply created an imbalance, and that could be addressed. She took a sip of her coffee. “I think I have a lot of relational muscles I’ve never used.”
An honest smile broke through his grumpy facade, and a flush of warmth ran through her at the sight of him tired, rumpled, and half-slumped over the dining table, but smiling at her.
She cleared her throat delicately. “I am sorry for not trusting you and making you worry.”
“Thank you. Will you tell me about the instructions from the fates?”
Her ankle pulsed angrily, but she ignored it, only flinching a little. “They said the death voyage is the space between me and the crown, and that the tapestry remains untied. Basically, they don’t trust me and sent me off to the temple to get killed.”
Aidan made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. “Manipulative little dictators. No two death voyages have been the same, but the one thing they have in common is the fates making sure the new queen will bend to their whims.”
Elysia’s brow quirked. He’d never been quite so direct in his feelings about the fates.
“I knew getting to the water would be tough, but…” Her cheeks pinked as she trailed off.
“After seeing the temple and the acolytes on the grid, I didn’t think there was a chance in the realms they could keep up with me.
They look like they just sit around staring at their own reflections and stealing people’s money all day. ”
Aidan’s shoulders shook. “So arrogant.”
Elysia didn’t bother to defend herself given how thoroughly she’d been humbled. “So, what exactly did you all see? I assumed I didn’t have a tail since the reaper prayer failed.”
His jaw worked, his gaze homing in on her swollen ankle and the smattering of road rash decorating her skin. “We had eyes on you in the temple up until you were dragged back and Oren arrived.”
She cringed and looked away. She’d hoped he hadn’t seen the bone-breaking and magic use. “I’m surprised you didn’t make a reaper cart me away.”
Aidan leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “To be honest, I was shocked Grim offered you the option.”
“Why? They’re following us around anyway.”
Aidan blew out a half laugh. “There are rules. Reapers are not meant to be seen or heard. And they’re absolutely not allowed to interfere.
To do so goes against the laws of the living and the dead.
If the fates found out, they would have punished him severely for allowing his people to act on your behalf. ”
Elysia drew back, slightly shocked. “I’ve barely even spoken to him since being here. He shouldn’t have offered that—why would he do that?”
Aidan looked at her with both frustration and something softer. “You matter, and you seem to keep forgetting that.”
Sidestepping his comment, she mused on this new information. “That must have been why Oren said to tell Grim he was welcome.”
Aidan nodded even as he bristled. “And how was Oren?”
Her eyes went big as she made a face. “He turned the temple into a sinkhole, sent vines out of it, which pulled very alive acolytes down into its abyss, and then climbed out wearing a bearskin cape with the head as a hood.”
Aidan exhaled and stared at the ceiling. “I was an only child as a mortal, you know.”
“I actually very much can believe that.”
He shot her a look. “Oren likes to think he’s less dramatic than the rest of our siblings, but really he just likes to be dramatic from his woodland isolation.”
Elysia chewed on a muffin. “I could see that. I told him about the grid, and he said he’s going to come by.”
Aidan looked appalled. “You invited him here? To our home?”
“No, he said he was going to stop by.” She set the muffin down as pain shot through her entire body. Gritting her teeth, her face betrayed nothing. She didn’t need Aidan swooping in. She remembered how he had eased her pain last time.
Still aghast, he grunted, “Very well. We’ll deal with that later. I imagine we’ll have to put up with the rest of them then too.”
“How else did you think it was going to work?” Ohmygods, I’m going to pass out.
Grimacing, he stood and stretched. “I was hoping to have the reapers set up viewing stations in all of their homes, and therefore, never have to see them.”
He was serious. Okay, then.
Elysia attempted to get up only for Aidan to make a sharp sound of disapproval as he flashed to her side. His hands gently guided her to standing.
“You really do smell like a fish,” he muttered.
She glared back over her shoulder. “I can do it myself.”
He looked down at her from over her head, dark hair falling onto his forehead as his fingers pressed firmly against her ribs.
Little zaps of awareness shortened her breath, but she ignored it and wriggled free of his hands only for her good leg to collapse when a wave of dizziness rocked her.
One arm under her shoulders and one banded beneath her knees, Aidan cradled her against his chest.
“Yes, you’re really doing it, aren’t you?”
Tipping her head back, her eyes narrowed. “I made it from my bedroom to here, and I can do it again.”
While it wasn’t a look she was familiar with, she would have almost described the soft exasperation on his face as fond.
“Really, Aidan, I just got a little dizzy, but I can get back to my room and wait for Maya.”
All traces of fondness disappeared, and his voice became a growl. “Maya is lucky I’m not allowed to throw her in my prison. Spineless witch disappeared right when she was needed.” Aidan’s anger washed over her, and Elysia silently allowed it, curious about how Maya fit into the death realm’s court.
But that seemed to be all he was going to say, his long strides smooth and efficient as he carried her through the house back to her room.
The door swung open magically, and Aidan shook his head at the sight of her many piles of clothes strewn about, stopping abruptly to stare at the small collection of pens placed in a glass goblet like a trophy on her fireplace mantle.
“You do realize I’ve been blaming Grim for my disappearing pens.”
Elysia smiled innocently. “They’re just pens. Was I not supposed to borrow them?”
His eyelid twitched as he continued staring at her stolen goods. “Just pens,” he echoed, clearly wanting to snatch them all up and put them in their color-coded homes back in his office.
A shit-eating grin weaseled its way onto her face, and Aidan looked down at her, his blue eyes widening. “This is what you find funny? Torturing the anxious and organized?”
“Very much so.”
His voice deepened as he kicked the bathroom door open. “I’d throw you in the tub like a puppy if it weren’t for your damned ankle.”
Elysia made to tell him exactly what she thought of being compared to a dirty puppy, but then he was sliding her slowly, carefully down his front, giving her time to settle onto her good foot while still gripping his upper arms for support.
Her response died as she drank in the tortured look on his face.
His words were a dark rumble. “I was awake all night imagining every terrible thing that could have happened to you, knowing I was powerless to stop it. I sat outside your door for hours, listening to you breathe. Please let me take care of you.”
Her brown eyes grew wider, her fingers digging into the strength of his arms.
“You have no idea what it does to me that you could be so easily broken, and I’m stuck here while you wage this battle for us. Because war is coming, and I’m chained to my throne.” His lips were against her throat now, kissing softly, nipping as he came upon the juncture of her neck and shoulders.
Her eyes closed, chest moving of its own accord.
She didn’t want this, couldn’t want this.
She needed the lines to be stark. Him on one side and her on the other.
He had done terrible things. His fingers inched beneath her sweater, warm and smooth against her skin, while his lips feathered lightly where he had nipped.
Sensation flooded her, heating her from the inside out, and then he was tugging her sweater up and over her head, leaving her bare.
An appreciative thrum rolled through Aidan’s chest as he pulled back to look at her. “Tell me yes, Thorn. I need to hear your yes.”
Heartbeat in her throat and between her ears, she gave a shaky, wordless nod.
Ink-stained fingers gently gripped her face. “Say it.”
“Ye-es.” She felt like a fawn instead of the viper she had once been. “But no sex,” she blurted, cheeks crimson as she looked away.
A delighted light came into Aidan’s burning eyes as he turned her face back to look at him. “Define that.”
Her brain stuttered. The number of times she’d imagined his hands all over her body, and now she couldn’t even muster a single coherent thought.
Those same scarred and ink-stained hands slid from her shoulders, grazing her breasts as they moved down, down, down to push against her pants. His hands stopped there, her skin buzzing beneath his touch.
“How about this?” One hand moved back to her clavicle, his finger tracing lightly down her sternum, making her skin goosebump and nipples peak without even a touch.
“I’m going to take off all your clothes, and put you in this bath, and rub every inch of your filthy body until it's clean. Yes or no, Thorn?”
She swallowed hard, nodding fast as his rough laugh tickled against her, making her squirm. “Out loud.”
“Y-yes,” she stammered.
“Good girl,” he murmured, and she flushed instantly, heat pooling in her lower stomach.