Chapter 65
LYRAE
The mist that shrouded Frostveil Keep split apart the moment my boots hit the ramparts and I drew an unsteady breath—then another—as the world settled back into place around me with cold, gray finality.
Rooke’s arms lingered around me for a long minute as he scanned our surroundings before letting me go.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” he confessed, staring down at me. “I have to do some research—see if there is precedent for giving our magic back to the land. I mean, it sounded so…logical inside my head, but…”
“Anaria managed it. You can, too. Just…”
Just…what? Put that Crown back on your head and command it to stick your ancestral power back into the ground? Point the magical staff in the right direction and hope for the best?
Damn it. I’d had plans for these six hours. Plans I now had to put on hold, because too much was riding on this for Rooke to fail.
“Let’s get started, then,” I urged, tugging him toward the door. “We have six hours until Zeph arrives with the others and we’d better be ready, because he’s an impatient son of a bitch when he has to wait. And two trips down here in two days is sure to put him in a foul mood.”
While Rooke bent over the biggest book I’d ever seen in my life—the Rooke Ancestral Codex, he called it—I spent the time sitting on the worn leather couch, trying not to stare.
Trying not to notice how the misty light hit his face just right, picking out the faintest glitter of gold in his indigo-blue eyes.
Definitely trying not to notice the way his corded forearms flexed with every turn of the page, or how long those elegant fingers were, the way I wanted him so badly I could taste it.
There was a perfectly good bed right upstairs, and here we were…researching.
Well. He was researching. I was thinking impure thoughts.
The two ravens slept on the top of the chair behind him. I stoked the fire every so often to keep it going. Kaden kept turning pages…and I kept wanting, until I could hardly stand the heat coiling in my belly.
I rubbed my thighs together, trying to find a comfortable position that didn’t make me want to implode, and found him staring down at the Codex with a wicked smile on his face.
“What?” I demanded.
“Can’t get comfortable?” he asked casually, flipping another page, those fine muscles in his forearms making me lose my godsdamned mind. “I wasn’t planning on spending this time poring over an old book, you know.”
Another flip.
More heat gathering between my legs.
“In fact, I hadn’t planned on spending any time at all in this room,” his cool, detached tone had me going still. And when he lifted his head and pinned me down with his hungry stare, I felt rather like a baby bunny caught out in the open.
“But unfortunately, this task has to be done, Lyrae.” Two of his fingers dragged slowly down the very center of the pages and a ripple of fiery lust shot through me, my prurient imagination taking me places I really shouldn’t go.
“Give me another hour,” he said, voice a low purr, “then I’m taking you upstairs and I am going to show you all the things I’ve been fantasizing about ever since you arrived.
Now be a good girl and let me concentrate, and stop distracting me with your delicious scent. ”
He licked his bottom lip. “Because all I can think about right now is my face between your legs, and how good you are going to taste when I finally do, Commander.”
Holy. Fucking. Gods.
Kind of hard to stay quiet after that, but years of discipline and my iron-clad will—who was I kidding?
I was a swollen bundle of need, my heart racing, my pussy dripping, practically eye-fucking him from over here, and it was all I could do not to wiggle around on the leather couch like a cat in heat.
But I managed.
Barely.
And I thanked all the gods when Rooke finally leaned back, rubbing his temples. “I think I figured it out. This won’t be like when I claimed the power. No blood circles, no containment spells, and the relics won’t do anything except direct the magic.”
“That sounds…good, right?”
Please let it be good, because I was on the verge of begging.
He dragged his eyes slowly over me, pausing on the pulse pounding in the hollow of my throat, that wicked smile making a reappearance.
“There’s an unbinding spell that’s a bit tricky, but I can manage—with a little practice.
The tricky part will be where to cast the spell.
I’m thinking up on the ramparts. Good height, and the castle wards will keep everyone protected.
” He shoved to his feet, a powerful line of muscle that had my entire body clenching.
He paced toward me, one big wall of male intent, and my mouth dried out. “Your sister was excited to be staying in the city?”
“Excited might be an understatement.” I closed my eyes, breathing in nothing but petrichor and thunder, a scent that I now associated—would always associate—with him. “She asked Tavion if he’s any good at cards,” I murmured. “Asked him to teach her a few games.”
Rooke tipped his head, confused. “That…doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”
I laughed, the sound echoing around the vast room. “Rooke.” I leaned back as he leaned in, caging me with hands braced on either side of my head. “Ariel’s been cheating at cards since she was three. Tavion won’t know what hit him.”
Lust was replaced by surprise—turning into a small, real smile.
“Three,” he echoed, shaking his head at the absurdity, heat pouring off his body, washing over mine in delicious waves.
“One of the Shadow King’s meanest soldiers taught her,” I said. “Thought it was cute, until she took all his wages. She told him he sucked at cards and deserved to lose all his money and should take up knitting. He chased her through Southwell and she dumped a pot of hot coals over his head.”
Rooke shook his head with a huff of disbelief. “Your childhood was…”
“Terrifying?” I supplied, eyeing the way his shirt offered me a view of him all the way down to those sculpted abs. Unfair, really, to keep them hidden.
He looked down at me, eyes shining. “Remarkable,” he corrected quietly. “Remarkable you survived. You are absolutely the most extraordinary person I have ever met in my life.”
“Well, thank you.” I tipped my head back so I could see his face. “Though, to be fair, you’ve been a prisoner in this castle your whole life, but I’ll take your compliment in the spirit in which it was intended.”
With no warning at all, he scooped me up and tossed me over his shoulder, hand plastered over my ass, my hair hanging down over my face.
“Kaden, put me down. Now,” I hissed. “I mean it—I can’t see a thing and—”
One second the world was solid. The next…
Everything was moving, flying past…and then I landed on something soft, my hair tangled around my face, no sense of up or down or—
Oh.
I pushed up to my elbows. Shoved my hair out of my face.
I was in Kaden’s room, on my back…in a sea of black sheets that reminded me of his shadowy magic, like he’d dumped me into a thundercloud.
There were still books stacked everywhere, and with a wave of his hand, a fire crackled to life in the grate, golden light painting the high-beamed ceiling and plain walls with warmth.
Then all I saw was Kaden—legs braced apart—taking his time unbuttoning his shirt, black silk parting to reveal that pale, toned chest, then the line of black hair leading to his waistband as he shrugged it off, revealing square shoulders and magnificently muscled arms, looking like he belonged not down here with us mortals, but somewhere up among the gods.
“I’ve been thinking about that kiss last night,” he said roughly. “How good you tasted.”
“Really?” My voice was practically a squeak.
“Really. Because that was only my third kiss.” He undid the button at his waist, and my heart tripped over itself, breaths coming fast when he leaned in, dragged his nose down the side of my throat—slow enough I felt every breath skate across my dimpled skin.
Wait…what did he mean…?
“I’ve been aching for this, ever since you got here.
Every night, every day, every hour I’ve spent wondering how I could lure you into my bed.
” My entire body turned to butter when his teeth closed over the tendon in my neck, fingers skimming the underside of my breast. “And now that you are, Lyrae Antares, I want to learn what you like. I want you to show me everything, and teach me how to love you.”
He pulled back, looked me straight in the eyes, something tender and sweet and vulnerable gleaming there as he quietly confessed, “Because I’ve never done any of this before, and I want to make this perfect for you.”
Oh gods.
Of all the things I’d expected to come out of Rooke’s mouth…that was not it.
And just like that, I found myself on shaky, never-before-trodden ground.
“Kaden.” I scrambled up, reaching for his face, brushing back his hair, tucking it gently behind his ear. “I’m…notoriously bad at…” I pinched my lips together as he waited, patient, watching me intently.
“Your first time should be…special.” I swallowed, nervous and off-kilter, my heart beating as fast as a bird’s. “I’m not sure…not sure I’m quite up to the task.”
“Just…” A hard swallow moved in his powerful throat. “Kiss me again, and we’ll see where we end up,” he urged, stepping close enough my stiff, sensitive nipples brushed his bare sculpted chest.
So warm.
So fucking perfect.
“Give me anything,” he pleaded. “A touch, a word—anything. I will take whatever you can spare, and be happy.”
“Gods, Kaden.” I captured his wrists. “Never settle for scraps when you deserve so much more. You deserve everything. You’re a prince. In another reality, you would have ruled over us all. If anything, I should be kneeling to you.”