Chapter 22 WE ARE INEVITABLE #2
We both turned as Ciaran strolled in wearing brown, loose-fitting pants.
There were elaborate designs sewn on the left leg, which stretched from mid-thigh to just above his ankle cuff.
His silk vest was the same amber-and-gold colour of his eyes and had been left unbuttoned to expose his muscled torso that was lightly dusted with auburn hair.
The brown tattoos on his left pectoral and shoulder were similar to Rian, but I could tell the gold markings painted on his biceps and rippling abdominals were ornamental.
He usually wore his honey-blond hair in a long plait over one shoulder, but he had loosened it.
The gold and amber strands seemed to gleam in the torchlight as they fell in waves that contrasted beautifully with his tawny skin.
It was admittedly hard not to stare at him.
“Ew! Go put some clothes on,” Ornella hissed at him. Her ears pinned back and her lips curled at him as if she were disgusted by his audacity to flaunt his sex appeal.
“Of course, you found the wine, little doe. I clearly did not push you hard enough today,” he chirped back at her without missing a beat.
I had to lower my face so neither of them would see the knowing smile that crept onto my face.
They continued bickering, but I was no longer paying attention to them when my attention snagged on the man behind Ciaran. It was always difficult to keep my eyes off Rian whenever he entered a room, but the sight of him just then had me practically losing my breath.
He wore the same loose-fitting pants as Ciaran, which slung low across his hips, and his unbuttoned vest was the same colour as his emerald-and-gold irises.
The charcoal he’d smudged around his eyes made their breathtaking colour even more striking.
His hair was also unbraided and was even longer than Ciaran’s strands.
It shone such stunning shades of red and gold that it almost seemed to catch fire before my eyes.
His exposed arms were corded in muscle, which rippled beautifully beneath his rose-gold skin.
The tattoos on his arms transitioned from the pale brown of the familial aes sídhe markings on his shoulders to the aesthetic murals of black ink on his biceps and forearms. He was taller and leaner than Ciaran, and the way his waist and hips tapered accentuated the breadth of his chest and shoulders.
The hair dusting his stomach just beneath his abs and navel was darker and somehow more provocative, and the way he was moving toward me like he was stalking prey…
He was so mesmerizing that the mere sight of him was enough to reignite the burn of want in me that had barely quieted in the hours since our kiss.
It was all I could think about the night before after he had gone to keep Ornella company so she was not left alone long.
And if éadrom had not been in the bed with me, I might have given in to the urge to explore my newly intact body.
To sample the aching want that I had never known before him.
While I was admiring him, Rian was looking his fill at me as well, and the sensation of his attention sliding so deliberately over me was electric.
“Stunning work, Edyna,” he said when his gaze finally met mine. “Although you must agree that your subject is already the embodiment of perfection.”
My cheeks heated with pleasure from his compliment, but I refused to lower my eyes or succumb to the urge to simper for him. He would need to earn that with more than pretty words and gentle hands this time.
“Quite right, Your Highness,” Edyna agreed with him, bowing low before she took her bag and left the tent.
Rian tilted his head with a look of playful curiosity as he stepped near enough for me to feel his body heat.
“Are you challenging me, little witch?” he asked me, perceiving my defiance. He reached up to twirl one of my loose curls around his finger, and just that faint brush of his hand made my skin erupt in shivers of anticipation.
“What makes you think that?” I asked, keeping my head tilted back to continue meeting his teasing eyes.
Rian did not answer as his eyes roved over my face again and down my throat to the tendril of hair wrapped around his finger.
“You truly are exquisite,” he whispered.
I could not help closing my eyes as my heart ached in longing for it to be enough, but I knew better now.
I knew that I was far from the most physically beautiful woman he would ever know.
It would not be my middling beauty that would captivate him.
It would need to be my power. My ruthlessness.
My resilience. My defiance. Rian was so powerful that he was practically a god.
Even among fey. And if I wanted to be anything more to him than another passing curiosity, I would need to become the goddess of death that I had Seen at his side.
That meant challenging him and caring for him in ways that no one else could.
That meant demanding his respect and never settling for anything less than his complete devotion.
And it meant expecting more than the meager scraps he was willing to offer of himself.
Rian pulled his hand away from my hair, and I opened my eyes in time to see him reaching for the side of my torso instead.
I looked down and inhaled through my nose when his finger brushed the exposed curve of my breast just beneath my armpit.
Then I looked up at him again to watch as his appreciation of me hardened possessively.
“I do not want anyone else looking at you.”
“I am yours alone,” I reassured him and then reached up to fasten several of the buttons on his vest to cover the utter perfection that was mine. “But I feel the same.”
Rian snorted a laugh, but I could see uncertainty in his eyes as he watched me button his shirt.
“Then you meant what you said last night?”
“I will kill anyone who touches you,” I confirmed with an unapologetic nod.
Rian stared down at me as if he was contemplating the seriousness of my promise. And when his eyes dipped to my mouth, I knew his mind had gone to the kiss that I had been goaded into giving up the night before.
“There is something I want to know,” he murmured as he tenderly cupped my face. He held me still as he leaned over me to brush the softest of kisses across my mouth. “Who taught you to kiss like that?”
I frowned in confusion at such an unexpected question. And in spite of my determination to make him wait for any more of me, I could not help but respond to his every gentle nip at my lips. Especially when one of his hands slipped slowly down from my jaw to grip my throat.
“Who was it? Who has kissed this mouth before me?” Rian demanded in a growl. His hand tightened enough on my neck to nearly coax out the more submissive side of me that just wanted to be his to do with as he pleased.
“No one. I never kissed anyone before you.”
My monsters had never had any interest in kissing me. And although it was the only thing that had never been forced upon me, it was still something I had managed to keep precious and mine to give.
“That is impossible,” he muttered against my mouth as I reached up to clasp my hands over both of his wrists. “That kiss was not inexperienced.”
“Rian, there is only you,” I insisted.
He lingered, seemingly uncertain how to respond, and I thought he might succumb to the urge to kiss me again.
“Can we leave now?” Ciaran demanded impatiently, interrupting us before Rian could decide.
“No need to rush, Ciaran. You will undoubtedly have better luck if the females are drunk enough to overlook your complete lack of personality,” Ornella quipped.
“Gods alive,” Rian muttered and released my throat to thread our fingers together. He led me over to the others who looked about ready to throttle one another.
“Is the dress to your taste?” Rian asked the dryad in an obvious attempt to disrupt the scowling contest she had entered into with their fellow rider.
“Yes, thank you,” she assured him and tore her glare away from Ciaran to give Rian a beaming smile. It was in such a stark contrast to her previous expression that the switch was almost jarring.
“Ornella can hardly be expected to accept Ciaran as an escort tonight. May I?” Rian asked as he lifted his arm out toward Ornella in a clear offering.
But he had held back just out of her reach, and I realized it was not because he was waiting for her agreement.
He was looking down at me for my permission before he let her touch him.
The satisfaction that stormed through me was so heady it made me lightheaded. Especially when Ciaran’s mouth dropped and Ornella’s brows shot up.
“I value her life,” Rian explained to me as if this was only reasonable.
I could not stop the wicked smile from curling my lips, even though it was clear that catering to my demand was something of a game to him.
But I still inclined my head to give him my consent, and he extended his arm fully to Ornella who took it rather hesitantly.
She seemed unsure about having any part in our power struggle.
“Remember, we are going to Mionlach tonight to root out possible spies and traitors in the city. Not to indulge. Keep your guard up and your eyes wide open for threats,” Rian cautioned us sternly.
“And you don’t leave my side,” he added to me more quietly as he leaned near enough to brush his lips over my ear.
Ciaran gave a reluctant sigh as he nodded and lifted a hand to form a portal.
Then I watched in awe as he began to wreathe himself in shadows, which he seemed to pull from under furniture in the yurt.
They would have hidden him from sight completely if not for the proximity of the lanterns that made the unnatural darkness gleam like oil.
Once he finished concealing himself, the Shadow Walker stepped into the portal to secure the area wherever we were going before we followed shortly afterward.
I shivered, turning into Rian’s deliciously warm body as the cold of the portal seeped into me.
When we came to a stop on the other side, I looked up again to see we had emerged into an enormous and dimly lit room.
It was also unnervingly quiet considering it was filled with fey.
But every one of them seemed to have stopped what they were doing and were now staring at us.
The cathedral ceiling was consumed in darkness high above us.
The distant walls were a deep burgundy colour with black accents and dark wooden beams that separated them into panels, some of which had arched doorways.
Lanterns hung from gold brackets on each vertical beam and candles flickered in the chandeliers.
The floor was a dark marble and streaked in gold veins, which glimmered eerily in the dim firelight.
The black couches that looked much like the one in Rian’s tent were positioned around the room with fey lounging in varying states of undress.
Some of them even seemed like they might have been in the midst of something very intimate.
“Damn,” muttered Ornella, sounding impressed by our surroundings while I tried to watch multiple arched exits for anyone trying to flee the room.
I knew there were people here who were waiting to see if Rian would make an appearance.
They wanted to confirm that he survived the fight with the Sylvan, and I would not allow them to carry such news back to King Riordan in the Vale.
“Ciaran has all the exits covered,” Rian reassured me, effortlessly reading the tension in my body, and I eased.
“Your Highness!” someone cried, and the crowd began to part for a tall woman.
“Please continue!” she shouted at the band of scantily clad fey clenching their instruments.
They shook themselves free from their shock and began to play a sensual tune that seemed to encourage the fey closest to them to continue their… activities.
My cheeks flushed as I looked away, focusing on the fey who was striding quickly toward us.
She had a similar appearance to Geera with skin that was a warmer tone than I had seen before and fair eyes lined with charcoal.
Her dense curls were short and cropped very close on one side of her head, which exposed a pale tattoo on the right side of her neck and jaw.
Her ears were longer and more pointed than Rian’s slightly tipped ones.
She wore a blue wrap that was similar to what Geera wore the day before, and she was barefoot like everyone else.
I was the only one who ever seemed to wear shoes in the faerie realm.
“How kind of you to join us! We were beginning to worry you were not coming,” she called out ecstatically, but her claims tasted of soured milk to me.
Lies. Lies. Lies.
My hand tightened slightly on Rian’s bicep, and then my long nails dragged over his muscled arm in a seamless caress. We had not discussed a signal, but I felt him tilt his head toward me in acknowledgment of my warning.
I did not take my eyes off the fey female whose smile appeared bright even as I watched another visage flicker beneath her mask. One of loathing and disappointment.
“Please accept my apologies, Chancellor Aujaara, but I had pressing matters to attend to first,” said Rian with the same saccharine charm she used. Like they pretended to be friendly when violence could break out any moment.
And it would before the night was through.