by Jack Whitney
“Come sit,” she asked of her.
Nyssa’s brow raised. “Sit?” she balked. “You want me to just sit after… after… Him?!”
“Would you think me crazy if I said I loved him?” Aydra admitted.
The word slipped from her lips so easily, before she had a chance to stop it. The warmth of her heart spread through to her extremities as a restless ache, and she knew it was true.
“Yes,” Nyssa replied quickly, wavering on the spot. “Yes, I would. I would ask what bewitchment he has placed on you to make you think such.”
Aydra smiled, feeling a blush rise on her cheeks that she was unfamiliar with.
“Wait… You’re serious,” Nyssa realized.
The familiar warmth filled Aydra’s chest as she felt her sister sit down beside her. She swallowed hard and bit back the emotion she felt bubbling to the surface. Nyssa reached out and grasped her hands.
“Drae?”
“I don’t expect you to understand it,” Aydra managed. “I know… after all these years of hate being poured into our cores, the lies of the Chronicles and the feuds like wildfire spreading between our races… I know it is crazy, but…” Her voice trailed and she met her sister’s eyes. “He makes me feel more like myself than I knew I was. I can be free with him, tell him the things on my mind that I haven’t been able to tell anyone—”
“You could have told me,” Nyssa begged.
Aydra squeezed her hands. “No. No, I couldn’t. Nyssa, the things I’ve been made to go through for this kingdom… I dare not see you go through the same. A new war will be upon us by the time you are crowned. I need you to be the fearless woman you will be in facing the new enemy on our shores.”
Nyssa swallowed hard, and she sighed heavily. Aydra watched her bewildered expression as it softened, and then Nyssa gave her a small smile.
“What?” Aydra asked upon seeing her eyes light up.
“He’s the reason you were so happy those few weeks,” Nyssa noted. “I mean, you’ve always been you, but… this was different. You were glowing. And I’ve never seen you blush in my life. I didn’t know your cheeks knew to redden.”
Aydra chuckled under her breath, and she sighed heavily, staring at their entwined hands. “It’s certainly a new sensation,” she admitted.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was him?” Nyssa asked of her.
Aydra’s head tilted with the smile she gave her sister. “I didn’t think you would understand. And because I wasn’t sure there was anything to tell. We’d just fought, he’d left in anger…”
“What about the stories? What the Chronicles say about his kind?” Nyssa asked.
“Lies,” Aydra affirmed. “Draven is different. He is not like the kings of his past.”
The smile on Nyssa’s face grew, and Aydra watched as amusement rose in her eyes. “And the other stories? Are those as much lies as these?” she asked with a coy raised brow.
Aydra’s eyes widened. “Nyssari Eaglefyre!” She laughed and wrapped her arm around Nyssa’s shoulders. “I’m not sure what you’ve done with my little sister, but I like the direction this is going.” She kissed her cheek hard and sighed. “What do you say we raid the kitchens and I’ll tell you the truth of those stories?”
Nyssa grinned. “I’d like that.”
“I take it you made up with her,” Balandria said when Draven joined her on the balcony outside the room he always stayed in.
Draven sighed as he allowed his forearms rest against the stone banister. “I did.”
Balandria’s eyes danced over his figure. “You truly love her, don’t you?”
Draven couldn’t help the small quirk of a smile his lips twisted into at the question. “I do,” he said, meeting her eyes. “I know. It’s… odd.”
Her eyebrows raised and she nodded. “That’s one word to describe it. What about the plan?”
Draven paused and looked out at the ocean waves. “Parkyr’s plans didn’t include my falling in love with the Queen,” he admitted.
“You would abandon his plans for love?”
He sighed and gave her a once over. “Rhaif will still get what’s coming to him, but it won’t be by Parkyr’s plan to take over his kingdom any longer. Things have changed. What matters now is keeping those ships at bay.”
“Those ships have not condemned our people for over a century.”
“And what do I keep saying about our reigns?” he snapped.
Balandria’s weight shifted, and for a moment she looked as though she would argue, but then her fists relaxed and she exhaled a long breath. “That we are to be better.”
“We don’t have to be our predecessors, Bal. We don’t have to continue this cycle of manipulation and revenge on those who have staked us for being who we are. We can choose to be more than what his followers wanted—”
“None of these people see us for the persons you want us to be,” Balandria argued.
His eyes narrowed at her. “Is battle what you want? To start a war with these people while strangers come on our shores?” he asked her. He stalled again, pushing his hair off his face. “Do you remember what I told you about there not being any more Infinari children?”
“About Duarb knowing something is coming?”
He nodded. “Arbina has missed her own traditional cycle,” he informed her. “Something is coming. Something big.”
“What are you saying?” Balandria asked.
His weight shifted, and he took something out from beneath his gambeson. The emerald and black streaked rock of the Venari King, enveloped in thin golden wire, hung on a leather chain. “I have a feeling my time on this land is coming to a close.”
“Why would you say that?” she asked.
“Because as soon as Rhaif finds out about Aydra and I, he’ll think her seduced by me, that this has all been part of my plan to take his crown. Unless she somehow convinces him differently, he’s likely to come up with some bogus charge against me. I am certain I’ll find myself in chains before this year is out.”
Balandria’s hand tightened around her sword. “I’d like to see him try—”
“No,” Draven cut in. “You are much too valuable to this Age to risk your life.”
“If you expect me to sit back and watch my King rot in some cell above this ridiculous castle, you’re—”
“Oh, you won’t have to,” he interjected. “I’m sure my death will be a swift one.”
Balandria glared at him. “Now is not the time to joke, Draven.”
“No jokes,” he told her. “If that day does come, you are not to do anything to prevent it. You will take my place as Alpha, become the Venari King you have long known yourself to be.” His weight shifted, and he reached for her shoulder. “Your word, Balandria. Swear on our giver you will do nothing to save me when that day comes.”
She swallowed hard. “You are my king,” she managed. “You cannot expect me to do nothing and allow him to kill you for something as ludicrous as simply falling in love with his sister. He doesn’t deserve your life.”
“No, he doesn’t,” he agreed. “But I am not the one destined to lead our people to a greater war than even our ancestors could fathom. You are. And as such, I need your word. Swear to me, Balandria.”
Her stern gaze weakened, and he could see the clench in her jaw. “I swear,” she finally said.
He pulled the necklace off his head and started to place it over her neck, but she shook her head and pushed his hands back.
“You are not dead yet,” she told him. “You are still my king. Until this life rips you from me, you will keep the honor of this stone.”
She closed his hand around the stone, and then he pulled her into his chest, hugging her close.
“I couldn’t have asked for better than you,” he whispered in her hair. He pulled back and cupped her face in his hand. “I have no doubts that you’ll be the greatest of us.”
He could see the apprehension in her dark eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but he
shook his head.
“Get some rest,” he told her. “We have a long week ahead of us. You’ll need to learn the in’s and out’s of the meetings, the castle, handling the guards. But, your first job, tomorrow, will be to get to know the Prince and Princess. I have a feeling you’ll need them as allies soon.”
“What will you do?” she asked.
Draven began walking backwards away. “Enjoy my time with her while we have it.”
He’d nearly reached the door when he heard Balandria call out for him again. He paused at the threshold and looked back at him over his shoulder. Her arms were hugged around her chest, a cautious look in her gaze.
“Is she worth it?” she asked.
He swallowed hard as Aydra’s face filled his mind, the warmth, security, and love he felt when he was with her radiated through his core.
“Only her.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
EACH TIME SHE woke in his arms, she settled into it instead of rising. And each time her morning started with his hardened length pressing against her backside, she surrendered to the ravenous moments, relishing the way he held her firmly against him. He would be gone in a few days, and she wanted to savor him.
Draven left Aydra’s bed before the sun rose to go to Balandria. He had plans for her, wanting to show her around, let her get to know the rest of the Council. Aydra offered Lex to him to help her get adjusted to things. She wasn’t sure why Draven had decided to suddenly bring Balandria into the mix of things, but she wasn’t about to argue or push him for reasons.
She trusted him.
Whatever he was thinking, she knew it was for the better of their kingdoms, for both their people.
Rain pelted the windowsill when Aydra finally rose. She smiled at the sight of it and pulled on her riding clothes, along with her cloak.
“Ah, should have known,” Lex mused as she stepped inside Aydra’s bedroom. “Shall I tell your lover where you’re off to?”
Aydra smiled as she opened the grand window in her room and stepped onto the windowsill. “Please do.”
Her eyes closed, and she pulled for the core of the Aenean Orel. And then she fell into the air out of her window.
Great golden feathers flashed in her sightline as the air consumed her. But the Orel was faster, and the immense four-legged golden eagle swooped beneath her falling body mere feet from the ground and rocketed them into the air.
Her falling figure out of her window made Draven’s heart stop.
But he watched as the Orel’s great eagle body sweept beneath her and dove back up into the clouds, and then his breath returned.
Dorian clapped his hand on Draven’s shoulder. “Yeah, she does that.”
Draven felt a smile rise on his lips as he shook his head. “Where do they go?”
“Ah… Cliffs usually. Not sure exactly where though. Lex knows. You’ll have to ask her,” Dorian replied.
“Get out of here,” Nyssa interjected then. She was smiling at him when Draven met her gaze, and she nodded her head towards the door. “Balandria is in better hands learning from us than she is hearing it from you. We will take care of her.” Nyssa wrapped an arm into Balandria’s and she nodded towards the door again. “Go. Be with her.”
Draven’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t think you approved.”
Nyssa tucked her hair behind her ear and her smile widened. “I didn’t. But… I’ve never seen my sister with such a happiness in her core. True happiness. She loves you. I cannot stand in the way of that.”
Draven’s heart skipped at the word, and he swallowed hard. “She what?” he managed in a crack of a voice.
Nyssa’s face paled. “Oh shit,” she managed. “Oh, fucking curses. She hasn’t told you.”
His heart was in his throat, and he felt his breaths shortening. “She hasn’t, no.”
Dorian’s chuckle filled his ears, and he clapped Draven on his shoulder again. “Go get her.”
Draven left them soon after and made his way through the castle looking for Lex. He found her leaving Aydra’s room, her head shaking as she closed the door.
She grinned upon seeing him. “Forest King,” she mused, her arms crossing over her chest. “She’s not here.”
“No, I saw her jump from a window,” he said with raised brows.
Lex laughed fondly. “My Queen has many activities that allow her heart to pump at a greater pace than it ever should. Tempting death by hoping the Orel will catch her is one of them.”
“Where did she go?”
“Follow the shore south for an hour on horse. You’ll find a great hill and trail leading to the top there, and that is where you will find her. At the top. Probably naked. Basking in the pelting rain.”
Draven eyed her. “Tell me something, Hilexi…”
“Ooo…” Her brows narrowed, and she turned to face him fully. “Must be serious. Using my full name,” she mused. “What bothers you, Hunter?”
“Am I completely mental for loving her?”
Lex chuckled under her breath, blonde hair falling over her eyes. “She’s a free spirit who craves danger and blood. Passionate about her people. Fanatical about the relationships she keeps. Itching to feel freedom and poison all at once beneath her skin.” She paused a moment and then grasped the top of his shoulder in her hand. “It’d be hard not to fall for her.”
Thunder clapped loudly overhead.
Aydra closed her eyes and inhaled the cold scent of the rain around her soaking body. The water dripping on her face reminded her that she was capable of feeling more than the numbness of her core. Of serenity and peace clouding out the thoughts that threatened her mind. Her toes gripped to the edge of the rocky cliffside beneath her feet. One wrong move, one little slip, and the five hundred foot drop would take her life hostage into the depths of the ocean.
You’ve company, her raven told her.
She could hear the horse galloping against the wet grass, puddles splashing beneath its great hooves. She didn’t bother opening her eyes. The only person crazy enough to follow her an hour from Magnice in the middle of a rainstorm was the Hunter.
Lightning cracked into the ocean.
The hooves slowed, and she turned just in time to see Draven dismount his horse. His white shirt was soaked to his firm body, and he strode towards her.
Thunder shouted into the air.
“You’re crazy,” he said loudly over the thunder as he paused.
She almost laughed. “Would you love me if I wasn’t?” she called back.
The curl of a smile rose on his lips as he stared down his nose at her, head tilted up just slightly. His eyes flickered up and down her figure, and then he crossed the space between them. His arms pulled her into his wet chest. Her eyes fluttered at the press of his solid chest to hers, the grasp of his fingers digging into her hips. He leaned down, water dripping down his nose as she reached up to his lips—
The screech of a bird sounded overhead.
Aydra grabbed his shirt in her hands.
“Hold tight,” she uttered.
“What?”
—She dove them both off the side of the cliff.
Draven’s arms latched frantically around her waist as the noise of his cursing shouts sounded into the wind suddenly circling their falling bodies. Aydra closed her eyes, a grin on her face, and she felt for the Orel, willing it to catch them.
The Aenean Orel swooped beneath them, and she grasped to its feathers. They were whisked upwards into the air. Draven clasped his arms around her waist, and she looked back over her shoulder at him. His eyes were closed tight, head buried in the crook of her neck. She laughed and squeezed her hands around his, and she felt him breathe a great exhale into her neck. She watched as he opened his eyes a few moments later, and when his gaze met hers, she smiled and kissed him.
No words needed spoken as the great eagle soared through the air. Aydra leaned her back into him, and he pressed his lips to her throat, hugging his arms tighter around her. Her body filled with the w
arming ache she’d felt the Rhamocour look at him with. A love that she sank into as though she were sinking into the water’s abyss. She’d never felt her heart so full, heat streaking up her arms and settling around her neck and cheeks.
This was the crave she’d been searching for her entire life.
For how long they soared, she wasn’t sure. It was only when the rain started to let up, and the sun began to peak through the clouds that the Orel landed on the cliffside, and the pair dismounted the great beast.
Aydra gave it a scratch on the side of its head as her feet hit the ground. The eagle leaned its head into her hand, and then she pressed her forehead against its head and closed her eyes.
I must go, the Orel told her.
Thank you, she told it.
The Orel didn’t say anything, but she felt the sun shining from within it. It shook off the water from its feathers and took flight after. Aydra felt Draven come to stand at her side as they watched it fly off over the ocean, and then it disappeared into the rays of sunlight peeking out.
No matter how many times she’d seen the rays cut through the air and ripple onto the surface of the water, no matter how many times she’d seen the dark grey and blue clouds stand stark against the cerulean of the ocean, the golden light of the sun… her breath still skipped when she viewed it from the high of the cliffs. The water was slowly drying on her skin. Petrichor entered her nostrils, and she closed her eyes for a brief moment.
“It’s beautiful,” Draven said at her side.
Her eyes opened, and she looked at him. His long hair was matted soaking wet to his head, droplets of water resting on his chestnut beard. His white tunic was pressed wet against his skin. Peace rested in his strong features. It was a different peace than she’d seen on him in the forest. This was the mesmerizing facade she craved, as though he’d lost his kingly identity on the way to the cliffs to meet her. This was Draven as he was. Raw. Unfiltered. Beautiful.
She reached out for his hand, and he met her gaze, a small smile rising on his lips.
