by Shania Tyler
“Gods, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.
She smiled. She wasn’t wearing any clothes and with Theo invisible, she almost felt alone. A naughty though came to her mind of her touching herself as though no one was there while Theo watched. She made a mental note to do just that later.
But right now, she wanted to feel him. A part of her brain lit up, and she reached to her side and grabbed Theo’s hand just as he started to pass her. He became visible again and was grinning at her. The firelight was cold compared to the warmth that glowed in his eyes.
“I see your pava abilities are getting better as well.”
“But I think I could always sense you,” she told him. “After our moment in the banquet hall, I always knew when you were around the corner. Hiding from me.”
He touched her cheek and said, “I thought the urges I felt for you would bring you harm.”
“How?”
“I thought it was bloodthirst driving my need for you, that if you got too close I would drain you, but all it took was a touch to know differently.”
“I don’t think I was ever afraid of you hurting me. Not physically.” Though she’d been sure her heart would break. She’d never let herself get too close to a man, but she’d barely had any control over her emotions for Theo. The pull was too strong. She wasn’t even sure if moving to another galaxy would keep them apart.
“Do you fear me at all?” he asked, still caressing her cheek. “Do you think I’ll hurt you now?”
“No, though I did think you were a jerk for ignoring me.”
He smiled, then leaned over and kissed her.
A knock sounded at the door, and they pulled apart.
Piper turned to look at the door and then back to find Theo gone. She smiled.
The knock came again.
“Coming.”
She grabbed the robe she’d worn whenever food was brought to the room and went to answer the door. She was surprised to see Maurice on the other side. “Hey.”
“Hey, Theo around?” He looked a little agitated, but she knew it couldn’t be with her, so she left it alone.
Piper didn’t know how to respond and then she felt a hand grab her butt, and her eyes went wide. Theo was there. “He’s around, but busy right now. What did you want to tell him? I could give him the message.” She was rambling, talking quickly in an effort to get rid of Maurice before Theo—
Her nipples were grazed.
Her breath quickened.
“We’re ready to leave,” Maurice said with narrowed eyes.
Theo’s hands slid down Piper’s sides.
“Leave?” Piper asked.
“Yeah.” Maurice nodded. “To Ucrary.”
“Oh!” Theo’s hand grabbed her ankle and inched up the back of her calf. “Okay, Maurice, I’ll let him know.” The hand traveled past her knee and then higher. She started to close the door.
Maurice’s hand stopped it from closing. “Do you know when I could actually speak to him?”
Theo’s hand crept up her inner thigh.
“No,” Piper shouted. She started to close the door again.
Maurice wouldn’t budge. His blue eyes studied her. “Are you all right?”
Theo touched her there, his hand settling on her mound.
Piper let out a shaky breath. “Yes.” She gripped the door for support.
Maurice lifted a brow, but then he sniffed the air and frowned. “I would tell you to get a room, but it seems you two already have one.”
“Go away, Maurice.” This time, it was Theo who’d spoken. His hand traveled back down her leg.
Maurice didn’t even try looking for him. “We leave in one hour.”
Piper closed the door and said, “We should get ready to leave.”
Theo’s invisible hands settled over hers and he pressed them onto the door as he pressed his body against her back. His stiff member rested against her lower cheeks.
Piper fought the urge to push against him. “You heard him; we don’t have time for this.”
Air touched the back of her legs as her robe was raised. “We always have time for this.”
And then he entered her from behind.
A mewling sound left Piper’s lips and she gasped as Theo pushed forward inch by inch until he was fully inside.
A hand squeezed her breast and his breath brushed the back of her ear. “We will always have time for this.” And then he pulled out and shot forward.
Piper shouted with pleasure and agreed that they would always make time for this.
* * *
Theo kissed Piper before closing the carriage door on her, Meg, Kelly, and Fedora. Then he turned and mounted his horse.
“We thought we might have to leave you,” Mason said, bringing his own animal around to stand by Theo. He wore a wide grin on his face.
Theo’s was sure his face matched. “We were only half an hour late.” Though had it been up to him, they’d have been at least another hour late. He just couldn’t get enough of Piper. Her bedroom play matched her spirit. She was giving and received in a way that only made Theo want to gift her more. He’d give her the world if he could. For now, she’d have to be content with just a small portion of it.
Or more if he accepted the Evaness’ proposal.
Around them, with only torches and stars for light, men loaded wagons, servants loaded into others, and soldiers who would be traveling with him mounted their own horse. They would take at least twenty men with them. The rest would stay behind. Theo had wanted to stay behind as well, locking him and Piper in the room for the rest of their lives, but unfortunately, he had duties.
“It never goes away,” Mason told him.
“What doesn’t?”
There was a gleam in Mason’s eyes. “The wanting. You’ll never stop wanting her. Even when she upsets you or does the unexpected.”
“I think I like her more when she does something unexpected,” Theo admitted. He forced himself to not think of all the things Piper had done in their bed and concentrated on the moment when Piper had found him in his office and called him ‘hot’. She’d been just as attracted to him as he’d been to her.
Theo knew he had to change the subject before he grabbed his wife and went back into the house. “What is the plan for Ucrary?”
“We’ll talk with the Mum,” Mason said. “Though Noel warns that they may remain neutral and not wish to join the fighting. We’re only hoping that the birds mean really good news. He’s not even sure he should be going. He did betray them when he went to fight for the Evaness and then again when he decided to fight for us.”
“Well,” Theo said. “If we can’t get the Mum, perhaps we can get Noel to get us Battle Cry.”
Mason chuckled. “Army of the dead? You know Noel’s persuasions only work on living women.”
“One could always hope,” Theo said. He’d take anything right about now, including an army of living women. “At least the women will be safe in Ucrary,” he said, changing the subject.
Mason nodded in agreement. “Attack is imminent. The Evaness knows we will never join them and with both of us holding great power, they will have to finish us off.”
They’d be leaving soldiers to deal with the Evaness should they show up at Morwen.
The caravan was soon underway, and it would take them approximately a month to get to Ucrary. They would have to pass through Ember’s Woods in order to get there, and Theo was not looking forward to going there.
Ember’s Woods had been destroyed by the Evaness when they’d thought to attack Morwen and, from all reports, the wooded area was a sad thing to behold.
He felt a warmth fill his chest just then and knew that Piper must have felt his worry or apprehension and sought to comfort him. He sent her his own little message back.
* * *
Piper bit her lips to stop herself from grinning, but she could tell that her friends could see her grin.
Kelly’s blue eyes glittered in happiness. “He just sai
d something to you, didn’t he?”
Piper pressed her lips together more and then her and Kelly both squealed.
Kelly bounced and looked ready to jump into Piper’s arms when she said, “I know exactly what it’s like. Isn’t it magical? The way you can communicate like that.”
Piper nodded and thought it was good to have someone else who understood exactly what she was feeling.
“What’s it like? To have someone whisper to your mind?” Fedora asked, leaning back in her own cushion. A small light swung between them, illuminating the cabin just enough for Piper to see the smiles on her and Meg’s face.
Piper tried to think of a way to explain mental communication with Theo. “It’s like… hearing your own conscious sometimes.”
“Really?” Meg asked in disbelief. Her body shook with the rocking of the carriage. They were on a downward slope, so Meg and Fedora were slightly higher in the carriage when Piper and Kelly on the opposite bench. “But you and Theo are two different people. A conscious is more like your own thoughts.”
Piper nodded. “And I know it sounds crazy, and I won’t say that it’s that way all the time, but there are moments when…”
Kelly finished, “You know exactly what your partner is thinking, because you know how they feel, and you know how they feel about you.”
“Exactly,” Piper said. “So, there are moments when I think I know what Theo will say before he says it… But he does surprise me at times.”
“Like he did just a moment ago?” Fedora asked.
Piper nodded and then covered her face as her cheeks stung from embarrassment. The other women in the carriage laughed and made sounds of elation and encouragement.
Fedora said, “I have not known Piper long, but I can tell she is not one to blush often.”
“No,” Kelly agreed. “She’s not at all.”
Meg said, “Kelly is the blusher. She usually shows all her emotions.”
Fedora asked, “Does that mean you usually hide yours?”
Piper lifted her head just in time to see Meg’s eyes go wide and it made Piper realize that she and Meg were not much different. “She does,” Piper said to Fedora. “But unlike me, she doesn’t do it for others.”
Kelly smiled and said, “Yeah, Meg doesn’t like offending people or letting them down.”
Meg gave a soft smile before looking away.
“And you?” Fedora asked. “What about you?”
“I don’t know,” Piper admitted.
Kelly touched her shoulder and said, “You hide your feelings to protect yourself.”
Piper thought about Kelly’s words and then agreed. “You’re right. It is what I do.”
Fedora tilted her head and said, “But you’ve let Theo in, haven’t you?”
Piper grinned. “Yeah.”
“Do you think…” Meg’s words trailed off.
“What?”
Meg shrugged and then looked between Piper and Kelly before asking, “Well, do you think the whole fated thing sort of forced you together?”
Piper shook her head immediately. “No. Had I wanted to, I could have left. I could have gone back to Earth and back to America and never looked back. But I wanted Theo.”
Kelly grabbed her hand and said, “And I wanted Mason… though, I will admit I didn’t put up much of a fight.”
Piper hadn’t either, at least, not completely. She’d wanted Theo physically. She’d never denied that. Even when she’d thought him a jerk, she’d wanted him, but having him completely seemed so much better than just having the piece of him she’d thought she’d have been content with. Now she knew that she would never have been content with just a piece of Theo. She wanted all of him. She had all of him and he had her in a way that tied them together tighter than any legal document could.
Fedora sighed and said, “Well, I don’t know what it feels like to have a pavo, but I couldn’t imagine my life without Lanzo. He is everything to me, and I’m sure I wouldn’t leave him even if fate intervened.” The confident look in her dark eyes left no question.
Piper glanced over at Meg to find her friend holding a soft sort of smile that she usually wore to hide her true feelings. Meg could be extremely passive at times, which had always driven Piper crazy when they’d been younger. She could remember the endless kids she’d had to scare away from teasing Meg for one reason or another. Meg, for the longest time, had let everyone run all over her, which had been a thing that Piper had not done well with.
It had been the most frustrating thing to watch, her friend being abused and doing nothing but taking it. By high school, Piper had sat Meg down and told her friend to grow a backbone. Meg had listened, thought about what Piper had said, and then told her she would evaluate future situations and try to stand up for herself. Eventually, over a long stretch of time, Meg had finally gotten the hang of telling people no. But Meg still wasn’t as vocal about her anger as Piper was, but Piper supposed all their personalities kept their friendship balanced. When presented with a problem, Piper fixed it, Meg analyzed it to death, and Kelly was less likely to see problems, only challenges to overcome.
Looking at Meg, she wondered what was going through her friend’s head. No doubt she was thinking about Ethan. Did she love him? Would she give up fate for him?
Kelly asked, “Would you deny Ethan fate if he found it or would you fight for him?”
Piper’s heart stilled as she looked between her two friends and wondered if there would finally be the fight that Piper had always expected to happen but didn’t. Ethan had been Kelly’s boyfriend first. They’d been together since freshman year of high school. They’d dated for eight years before Kelly broke up with him. She’d sensed something wrong with the relationship when she realized that Ethan wouldn’t touch her the way a boyfriend would. He’d never made a move on her and would never kiss her for longer than a peck. What they’d found out later was that Ethan had been assigned to Kelly as her protector a long time ago by the gods. Ethan had known Kelly would be special and had done everything he could to stay at her side at all times, including pretending to be her boyfriend, but eventually the truth had come out and Kelly had been hurt. But, she’d never seemed hurt by the knowledge that Ethan liked Meg and had been in love with her for years. Kelly had actually felt bad for him, because Ethan had given up who he truly wanted for the greater good. Kelly was such a good person.
As if Meg had read her mind, she said, “I love Ethan with my every breath, but Ethan and I are both people who feel duty bound to destiny. It was the reason he protected you for so long. It is the reason we are here in Asea. Destiny cannot be denied.” Meg sat back as if weighted down by her words. Piper had no clue what that felt like and wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She wouldn’t give up Theo for anything, so she supposed it was a good thing she’d fallen for the man she’d been fated for anyway.
Kelly smiled and said, “I hope you never have to make that sacrifice. Ethan deserves happiness and so do you.”
Meg leaned forward and grabbed Kelly’s hand with a smile.
Piper smiled. She loved her friends.
* * *
18
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
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The conversation in the carriage moved on to other things, like life in Salani, which was Fedora’s home city. It was located in a desert land on the other side of the world and sounded dangerous and exciting at the same time. Then, when everyone grew tired, they slept in the carriage as it rocked them to sleep.
Theo woke Piper. Actually, it was his scent. She buried her face where the scent was coming from, only to realize she was in his arms. He was carrying her and the sound of flapping made her open her eyes. They’d entered a large tent and taking up most of the ground was a bed made of heavy quilts.
Piper grinned. “I hadn’t expected to sleep in a bed during this trip.”
“Onl
y the best for my wife,” he said as he knelt before laying her gently on the quilts. A single lantern illuminated the room, but most of the space was dark. Piper took off her jeans and shirt and watched as Theo removed his clothes before joining her in bed.
He kissed her gently and then fell back, taking her with him. He rested her head on his shoulder and pulled the top blanket over their bodies.
Piper flipped over and asked, “Where are we?”
“Still in Morwen.”
She was amazed. “But we’ve traveled all day.” She hadn’t known Morwen was so big. She supposed everything looked smaller on a map.
His hands trailed up and down her arm. “Morwen has many hills, which will slow us down a bit, but we should be down from the mountains in a matter of days.”
“How many people do you oversee?”
“Not many. While I hold one of the bigger land masses in Asea, there are fewer people to oversee. A million or so, some scattered on different hills away from the rest while others live in the heart of Morwen as a community. But with the freeing of more slaves, our numbers grow.” The mentioning of the slaves made her think of other questions she wanted to ask him.
“You said your parents were part of the Evaness. Why did you leave?”
His dark eyes held hers and he said, “For revenge.”
Her eyes widened. She hadn’t expected that reply. She could only imagine that a boy who grew up accustomed to slaves would think the practice of having them all right So, she’d thought he’d have said he worked for the Rebels, because slavery was wrong, or tell her some moving story about an elf who changed his mind. Instead, he simply said revenge.
“For what?” she asked.
He sighed and Piper noticed just how tired his eyes looked. He’d been on horseback all day.
“You’re tired. We’ll discuss it later.” She fell into the crook of his arm and curled up.
He turned out the light, curled his arm around her, and then released another breath as he settled against her. Piper told herself to go to sleep. He was warm. She was safe. There was no reason to not sleep.
