by Bailey Dark
I run a hand down her back, soothing her. “We’ll figure it out together,” I say gently. “How did you get here, Verity? I saw him take you away.”
“He left me in the ether,” she says, shuddering.
Anger ripples through me. “Alone?” I hiss. “Bastard.”
“I’m alright,” she says, her fingers playing against my back. “I made a friend of sorts.”
“A friend?” I furrow my brows. “What kind of creature of darkness could be a friend to you?”
“I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t seem to want to hurt me. It helped me get here,” she says. She stares up a me through her thick lashes and my mouth runs dry. “I don’t have long though.”
My grip around her tightens. “What do you mean?”
“The energy it takes to keep myself out of the ether is enormous,” she explains, brows twitching together sadly.
I lower my forehead to hers. “Then you’ll have to leave.”
“Yes,” she says softly.
I heave a sigh, every cell in my body pulled towards her like a magnet. Erzur’s words are echoing in my mind but it’s Verity in my arms. I drop a kiss to her lips, soft and gentle but still filled with desperate need. Her lips are warm and pliable. I urge them open with a flick of my tongue and Verity sighs as she complies.
My tongue swirls through her mouth, tasting her. I slip my hands down past the small of her back and clench her tightly. She gasps as I hoist her up off the ground. But then her legs are around my waist and she’s kissing me as if she’s been starved of me for too long. I carry her to the bed, feeling her stiff nipples against my chest.
I growl when I drop her onto the plush mattress. She bounces softly, staring at me with sultry, expectant eyes. My fingers dance over the laces of my tunic and I tear my shirt off over my head. I toss it aside, breathing heavily with desire. Verity’s eyes trail over my chest, to the muscles of my abdomen, before settling on the sharply defined muscles just over the waist of my trousers. Her tongue darts out over her lips and I groan at the sight.
I pounce on her, straddling her waist. She rolls her hips against mine teasingly, thrusting her breasts in the air. I bite my lip, trying to fight back against the urge to rip her thin dress off with my teeth. I haven’t felt this wild since the summer solstice, like a starving mountain lion faced with a sleek gazelle.
Verity’s hands slip over my cheeks and she caresses me gently. “Altair,” she says softly. “I need this. I need one last memory; in case I never make it out of the ether.”
“You’ll get out,” I say fiercely. “I’ll get you out, I promise.”
She smiles sadly. “There’s something else.”
I drop my lips to her neck, kissing her gently. My tongue laps over her pulsing jugular and a moan slips from her lips. “Altair.” She pushes me away gently. “I wear the cloak now.”
“He made you,” I say, eyes flashing.
“He made me do other things,” she says hesitantly. “He swore me to him.”
Her words hit me like a cold wind. “What do you mean?” I murmur, frozen over her.
She closes her eyes and takes a shuddering breath. “After he took me from the castle, he brought me to the Blood Well. I was unconscious or something, I don’t remember any of it. But he made me say the words to that bind me to him.”
“Married,” I breathe. “You married him.”
Tears pool on her lower lashes. “I didn’t want to.”
“This whole time, you’ve been his.” I sit back, the cold settling deep in my chest.
“Altair,” Verity sniffles. “Please, I wouldn’t have chosen it.”
“The curse,” I say under my breath as my mind strays.
“If we kill him, maybe it will be undone,” Verity says, a hint of desperation in her voice.
I turn to her, trying to soften my gaze. This changes everything. I take her hand in mine. It isn’t her fault, I tell myself even though the news has made my stomach roil. “We can try,” I say gently, forcing a smile.
Relief plays across her face and she smiles. “I’ll find a way to fix it,” she says, trying to sound confident and bright. “I can fix it.”
I nod, even though I can’t share in her optimism. Verity bites her lip as silence grows between us. I see her cheeks heat and wonder what she could be thinking; if she can sense my trepidation and defeat. I swallow thickly. Every day, hope seems more impossible.
I close my eyes, fighting against the desperation welling in my chest. Since I found Verity months ago, I never questioned that she was mine. When she broke my curse, I never doubted that eventually we would come together as we were meant to. But now, it’s as if my own world has spun like a gold coin, out of control and wild.
I don’t stop myself from dropping my lips to hers and tasting her lips. She belongs to Sadal until we find a way to part the two of them – if we can find a way. And until then, I belong to my people. And I have to do what I must.
I lean her back, sweeping my tongue through her mouth, feeling like a flood has exploded inside me. All I can taste is her, all I smell is her honeyed breath. Her arms wrap around my bare back, clinging to me, and I relish the drag of her nails over my skin. I move my lips to her neck, to that perfect crook of flesh. My teeth graze over her sensitive skin and she shudders with pleasure. The subtle movement is enough to send me deeper into my keening for this woman.
I unlace the top of her shift, exposing the milky, smooth skin of her collarbone to the soft light of the room. Her breath hitches in her throat but she doesn’t stop me from slipping the dress over her head and tossing it aside. Verity is naked beneath me, draped over her Bloodbane cloak, looking for all the world like she’s lounging in a pool of blood. She stares up at me, eyes hooded with desire. My eyes drift over her, from her perfect lips and down to her silky breasts. I stare at them hungrily and Verity’s nostrils flare at the sight.
Heat washes through me, burning like a wildfire as my fingers play over her bare skin. I groan, biting down on my bottom lip hard enough I’m afraid I’ll draw blood. Logic is screaming at me to hold back – that come tonight, I’ll belong to someone else. But I know what my heart wants. I know what it has wanted for months.
My lips fall on her breast, caressing it gently. Verity cries out as my tongue laps over her stiff nipple. I can feel my muscles trembling with desire. I nip at her softly, experimentally. My thoughts flash to the night I saw her with Sadal, but I force it from my mind. This moment is ours.
We fall into each other with an intense need that tugs our bodies together like two magnets. I’m gentle with her, savoring the moments between us as if they’re my last alive. We take a deep breath in tandem, our eyes locked on each other. I stare into her pale blue orbs as I move inside her slowly. Her lips are parted slightly, and her hands rise to trace the shape of my cheekbones.
I brush my lips over hers as I feel the pleasure escalate like a cascading river after a heavy rain. Verity whimpers softly, eyes fluttering closed. Her back arches and she takes a ragged, long breath. Her body is frozen, suspended as I pleasure her. The silence between us is broken only by our moans or sharp breaths. It’s as if nothing else exists but this room and this bed and this woman.
I drop my head to her chest, holding her closely as I thrust a final time. Pleasure explodes inside of me, so intense I lose all sensation except the reality of Verity in my arms. She wraps her arms around me, holding me close as we breathe together. I sigh, savoring the moment. It may be our last. It likely will be the last. The thought is almost too much to bear and I have to turn my face away so she can’t see the pained twist of my lips.
“Altair,” Verity whispers, brushing my lops of hair to the side. I press into the palm of her hand instinctively. “I don’t know if I should tell you this, but I think I understand now.”
“Understand what?” I ask, finally turning to face her.
“How I feel.” She looks at me through long lashes, a hint of pink in her cheeks.
She lifts a hand, studying its transparency. “The ether,” she says, looking pained. “I have to go.”
“No,” I breathe, before I can stop myself. Just a little longer. Only a little.
“I love you,” she says, her airy fingers stroking my cheek.
I choke with emotion, brows furrowed sorrowfully as I watch her fade into nothing in front of my eyes. The last thing I see are her pale blue eyes, open wide and smiling. When she’s gone, I can feel it. The air that was charged with electricity before is bland now. I sigh, rolling onto my back and dragging a hand over my eyes.
I close my eyes against the afternoon light. I wish I could trade our first moment for another that could have last longer; one that wasn’t marred by what our futures hold. I throw myself into the fresh memory, searing it into my mind. A thousand years from now, I want to remember it as clearly as I do now.
A thousand years from now, my love for her will burn as bright as it does now. No matter what the future bears, this flame could never be extinguished.
Chapter 15
Verity
This is better than any false memory the ether could have manifested for me. Altair, in my arms, covered in a sheen of sweat and staring into my eyes as if to sear them in his memory forever. I sigh contentedly as a whisper of pleasures slips through me. He moves gently, thoughtfully, and lovingly.
It’s nothing like the heated kiss I shared with Sadal, or his forced advances. Altair radiates power, but he handles me like a porcelain doll. I moan, the sound filled with heavy pleasure. He growls under his breath, so softly I almost miss it. But the sound sends my heart racing even faster. I ease my fingers over his slick skin, stroking him as pleasures builds between us.
He thrusts deep and pleasure erupts in my core and I explode like lava melting through the earth’s mantle; slow, deep, and powerful. My back arches and his eyes devour the sight of my breasts in the air. I curl my toes as the pleasure laps down my legs like an ocean. It feels like I’m floating, riding the high of this pleasure and connection we share.
Altair is on me then, clinging to me like a drowned sailor on a piece of debris. I hold him, feeling him as he pours himself into me. He falls still, panting, and I stroke his back gently. It isn’t how I imagined this moment would be, but it’s perfect, nonetheless. I close my eyes, a small smile playing at my lips. We’re bound together now, in every sense of the word but one. My heart is his. My body is his. The only obstacle is Sadal. And it’s one I’ll take care of personally.
Whatever it takes.
I lick my lips nervously, considering telling him my feelings. Altair and I have been hesitant with each other since the start. How could we not? Kidnapped, exposed to a world of magic and fantasy, I had my own walls and doubts. Altair had his. But now, we’re closer than ever and I don’t know that I want to hide from him any longer. I want him to know – to give him confidence in me despite everything trying to tear us apart.
I brush stray hairs away from his face, admiring the curve of his cheeks. “Altair. I don’t know if I should tell you this, but I think I understand now,” I say softly, choosing my words carefully.
He looks at me, a darkness flickering in his eyes. “Understand what?” He asks.
“How I feel,” I murmur, forgetting the shadow behind his hazel eyes.
I feel a surge of pain run the length of my body and my lips part in quiet surprise. Altair’s head is in my belly. In my belly. He stares at me, wild-eyed. “Verity?”
The temporary portal I opened with the help of the creature I met is closing, I can feel the energy draining from me to keep it open. It will be over soon; this moment with Altair. I swallow my fear, looking into his eyes. “The ether,” I stammer. “I have to go.”
There’s a rushing sound in my ears, like my blood pounding too quickly. I see his lips move and I give him a small smile. I want him to know I will be okay. I will find a way out. “I love you,” I say as the ether pulls me deeper into its gravity.
The world goes black for an instant before the portal spits me out into the shadows of the ether. I cough, taking a shaky breath. At least I don’t throw up this time. Portal travel, what I’ve learned Sadal uses to teleport us place to place, is never comfortable. I dress hurriedly in my thin shift and red cloak before the creature melts out of the shadows.
“Is it done?” It asks, husky voice rasping.
“I met him,” I say, eyeing him.
“A new memory was made?” The creature slinks to my side, tail swishing curiously.
I stare into its cat eyes. “Why do you care so much for memories?”
It cocks its head. “They’re what I am. The ether has many faces, many strategies to break or build those who enter the realm. My face is the face of memories.”
I narrow my eyes, considering its words. I wonder what else I could meet in this place of darkness and shadows. Though perhaps they won’t all be as helpful as this creature. “Are there others like you?” I ask.
“None,” it says, a hint of darkness in its voice. “The others are death, famine, war, and flesh.”
“Peachy.” I force a carefree smile even though I dread meeting the other faces.
The cat cocks its head. “Peachy.”
“Sarcasm,” I explain. I pause, studying the inky shadows that writhe around us. “I need to get out of here.”
“You were just out,” it says.
“I need to leave permanently,” I explain, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.
It flicks its tail, a spark of curiosity in its eyes. “No one leaves without the dark god’s permission.”
“I definitely don’t have that,” I mutter. “There has to be some way.”
The cat sighs. “I see much of the realms outside this through the memories of others, but I have never experienced it myself.”
Its words spark an idea. I chew my bottom lip. “You want to see it?”
This creature helped me make the portal to leave this place for a short time. Perhaps it knows how to make a more permanent portal, one we could travel through together. If it needs incentive, I’ll give it to him.
“Some of it.” Its tail swishes.
“I could show you,” I murmur, eyes locked on its glowing cat-eyes.
“A portal like that takes enormous power. I can smell it in you, little Bloodbane, but I do not know if you possess the skill,” it purrs.
“I’ll learn, practice, anything,” I say fiercely. “But I can’t stay here.”
“No,” it says. “If you do, you’ll most certainly go mad.”
I can already feel it pricking at my mind; something about these shadows that sends my mind racing into its darkest depths. “What do I have to do?” I ask, hope surging in my heart.
The creature paces around me and suddenly a knife conjures out of thin air. The blade clatters to the ground in front of me and I stoop to pick it up. I study it in the dim light of the lantern. It’s dark, curved with deadly ripples, and as long as my forearm. A sick feeling twists in my stomach. What is one thing all Bloodbane magic requires?
“How much?” I ask softly.
“Almost all of it,” the creature says, sounding almost excited.
A shiver trails up my spine and I wonder just what kind of creature I’ve joined leagues with. “I’ll die,” I say, desperate for another way. A less painful, less dangerous way.
“You might,” it confirms.
“Peachy,” I laugh breathlessly, nerves frazzled.
“Peachy,” it echoes matter-of-factly.
I lift the blade over my forearm, heart fluttering. I eye the creature. “What’s your name?”
“The little Bloodbane knows the ancient magic,” it hisses.
“Ah.” I nod. “The power of names.”
“You’ll understand if I keep that to myself,” the
creature says, narrowing its eyes at me.
My eyes dart between it and the blade. “What should I call you?”
“Serus,” it says.
“Serus,” I say, nodding. “You can call me Verity. You don’t know my last name, right?”
“No.” It shakes its head.
I force a grin, despite my nerves. “Let’s keep it that way.”
“Remember; almost all of it,” Serus says, prowling impatiently.
“I know,” I hiss.
I take a deep breath, steadying my hand. I’ve done this before, I remind myself. Though not nearly this much blood. I swallow thickly and plunge the blade into my arm.
Chapter 16
Altair
Moritz is waiting on the balcony of the cliffside fortress, an even thicker cloak than usual on his shoulders. I drop down beside him, careful not to knock him off balance with the force and weight of my wings. I ruffle my wings, smoothing them after the long flight. Moritz stares at me morosely, finally he raises a brow.
“Erzur was the only receptive one,” I growl.
Moritz bristles visibly, anger flashing in his usually cold his eyes. His fingers wrap around the hilt of his sword, but he doesn’t draw it. I know if the three kings and queens I visited over the last two days were here, he would have cut them down with the great sword.
“What did they say?” He asks coldly.
“They can’t spare the forces.” My claws dig into the stone railing. “We both know they’re waiting for Sadal’s next move, perhaps even meeting with him.”
“Bastards,” Moritz spits. “And Erzur?”
Stone crumbles under my claws. “Her sun soldiers are on their way here,” I say through gritted teeth.
“And what did she want in return?” Moritz eyes me.
“An alliance.” I turn my gaze away, knowing what I’ll see in his eyes. “Through marriage.”
“You didn’t,” Moritz says, his voice losing its edge.
I stiffen my shoulders. “I agreed to do what I have to, to save my people and kingdom.”
