Page 44

Chapter 44

Karus

My eyes drifted closed again, and I jerked back in response, blinking rapidly.

The books Rev had taken from Viridis lay in haphazard piles on our bed, the one I’d been trying to finish lay open on my lap, held up by my enormous round belly. I added a length of gold ribbon to the page and closed it, setting it on Revich’s side of the bed. I pulled myself up further onto all four of my pillows, ignoring my need to relieve myself for the fifth time in the last hour.

Our fire crackled low in our hearth, and I watched the flames from our bed, rubbing my sides to relieve some of the pressure. I could tell Saelyn slept as she was not twirling around in my womb like a dancer across a ballroom floor.

Giving into my needs, I slid my legs over the bed and shuffled to the washing room. Too tired to bathe, I slipped out of my dress and stepped into a sheer green nightgown.

The Queen had sent clothes as soon as I had written to her of the child growing in my belly. She had outdone herself with two trunks of dresses and nightgowns that I truly did not need. They had arrived along with the cradle Clairannia and I had chosen, carved from dark walnut with bright yellow linens.

I washed my face and cleaned my teeth, stumbling back to our bed, only to find Revich there reading The Guide to a Safe Homestead .

I adjusted my pillows, hitting them into submission and slid under the sheets. He continued reading, flopping his left hand out next to me, palm up for me to take.

I combed my fingers through his without a thought, reaching with my free hand to the plate of lemon slices I had snuck from Jesslyn’s kitchen.

I scooted toward the bottom of the bed and picked up a book from the piles, opening to the marked page, pressing on the spine to keep it flat and popped a quarter of lemon into my mouth.

“ What’s the latest treat you’ve brought into our bed?” he asked, squeezing my hand.

I sputtered, spitting out the sour fruit into my hand and said, “ Close your eyes and stick out your tongue.”

“ I like where this is going,” he murmured, doing just as I asked.

I laughed and pulled some of the flesh from the wedge. I settled myself at his side, facing him as he lay back against our bed frame. Rev coughed and his face puckered when I squeezed the lemon over his tongue.

Laughing , I wiped the bottom of his lip. “ What is it I’ve brought into this bed on this night?”

He smacked his lips, eyes still closed. “ I cannot tell.”

“ Really ?” I huffed in surprise. “ Seems like it would be obvious!”

He hummed a low sound. “ Perhaps I need to taste it in a different way.”

“ How else would you—” I cut myself off, noticing the smirk forming on his mouth. A rumble of laugher came from my chest as I fell into his. He wrapped his arms over my back, holding me to him.

“ Well ?” he questioned, opening his blue eyes and watching me with raised brows.

I laughed on his lips, bringing myself up to his mouth. The tartness on our tongues eased into something sweet and familiar and he lifted himself off the bed, keeping one hand wrapped around my back and sliding his fingers to my neck with the other.

I swept my hands through the rough hair on his face, breaking from his kiss. I crossed the straight line of his brow with my fingertips, down his cheek, ending at the fullness of his lips. “ You really are beautiful, Baron Revich .”

He took my fingers and kissed them. “ And lemon has never tasted so sweet.”

I pulled my lip under my teeth, my hands traveling lower on his torso.

“ Have you read all of this book?” He held The Guide to a Safe Homestead in front of him, stalling my advances.

I unhooked the first button on his vest. “ I’ve read some.”

He ignored my wandering hands and opened to the page I had marked. “ You’ve read through this?” he asked, pointing at the chapter titled, “ The Most Important Part of a Tree is its Bark ”.

I skimmed the first few lines and nodded, remembering how I had read this theory in a half-doze a few hours earlier.

“ What did you learn?” he continued, sliding one hand up my leg, bunching the soft sheer fabric with it.

A thrill of excitement ran through my skin, settling low between my legs in anticipation. I leaned in again, kissing him harder than the last.

His hand reached the heat that pooled at my core and I gasped, breaking our kiss.

He didn’t miss a beat, asking again, “ Tell me what you learned, Karus .”

The smallest moan left my lips and my eyes drifted closed as I began to fall to the strokes of his fingers, winding in tight circles at the center of where I took my pleasure from him.

“ Something about trees and bark,” I answered, gripping his arm in earnest to keep up his pace.

He stopped his movement, and I gave a whine which he returned with a smile. “ What else?”

In an exasperated huff, I squeezed high on his thigh. “ I can’t remember what exactly it was about, but I’m happy to reread it later .”

He shook his head, pulling his hand away from under my nightgown, replying, “ Of all the books here, I believe these few pages hold a deeper secret than one would assume just by reading this terrible chapter title.”

I pursed my lips, adjusting my body and clenching my legs together, longing for more than his fingers to touch me.

“ Let’s practice your shield,” he instructed.

A bit of a smile crossed my mouth as he donned the same tone and language I remembered from being a channeler under his tutelage.

He continued, “ You form your shield around yourself, and I will read this passage to you. I will stop reading when you successfully keep me out. Then I will let this book fall to the floor and mix the lemon on my tongue with more of what your body has to offer.”

I bolted from the bed, my shield up instantly with the ache between my legs painful in the promise of what was to come if I could just prove this one thing to him.

He gave me a smug smile and stood himself, pressing lightly on the shimmer of green that surrounded my body in a bubble.

His hand didn’t press through, but the shield bent at the shape and he began to read, “ Passing through the thicket of trees in Felgren Forest , one might believe that these ancient towers survive mostly due to their dense root systems or the leaves they grow in spring to soak in the warmth of the sun, but I have come to understand their secret.”

I gasped as Revich’s hand fell through my meager attempt to keep him out and he tsked, unbuttoning his vest fully and tossing it to the floor.

I swallowed and tried again, the formation of a green shield circling me once more.

“ Listen carefully,” he said, continuing where he left off. “ The trees in Felgren survive due to their protective layer of bark. Without such a feature, they would succumb to the harsh rains of spring and the frozen bite of a Felgren winter. Not to mention the dry heat of summer, which would shrivel the trees to mere stubs without such a protective layer.”

Rev stepped forward, pausing and pushing again on the shield I wielded. I instinctively stepped back, my body begging me to hold my power so we could move on from such a dry reading about trees.

His first attempt a failure, his chin rose and he pushed harder. I cocked my head in a silent challenge, crossing my arms at my chest. Pulling his white linen shirt from his waistband, he lifted it up over his head, somehow keeping his place in the book, and tossed it behind him on the floor.

I backed up once more, my back hitting the blue chair by the fireplace. He took advantage of my surprise and pressed on my shield again, this time shifting through its weak surface with relative ease. He traced his hand lightly across my collarbone.

I pulled on my power and forced him out again, complaining, “ It’s not fair. I can’t focus while you distract me with all of this. ” I gestured to the definition of muscle across his bare torso.

He shifted the book in his hand. “ At the time when you will need a powerful shield the most, how will you focus if you do not practice first? You will have distractions, you may at times not wish to shield at all, but you cannot let anything through, Karus . Promise me you will try.”

I knew he meant her .

I understood then his real purpose in this exercise. He believed this book held the key to holding my shield for longer and stronger than what I’d been able to produce before. He believed I’d be able to keep the Blightress out.

I nodded, straightening my back against the chair, focusing on my intent to keep him out. The muscle at his chest rippled as he pressed a hand to the back of his neck, the book open in the palm of his other hand and he continued, “ The most fascinating truth about this layer is that it is continually renewed from within.” Rev’s eyes rose from the page and he stared at me for a moment. I nodded, taking a deep breath and focusing on the magic that radiated from within my body.

I could pull power from the forest floor, but there would always be this spark of channeling magic I had been born with. And combined with the power of Baron , it was strong, whole, a charred maple tree in a grove, its verdant leaves swaying in the breeze. I closed my eyes and continued to listen.

“ Layers of these trees, grown from the nutrients of the sun and the earth, eventually become bark, thus dying off to add protection and promising the tree’s survival.”

I peeked an eye open, not much liking that last line, but he kept his head to the page and continued. “ Like the bark of a tree, so must you protect the life you build with a layer of your own in the form of a magic shield. These are easy enough to produce, harder yet to strengthen. No spell has been found to aid in the shield you can form around yourself just by thought alone. Perhaps it is the fact that your power comes from the trees of Felgren themselves that any channeler is able to achieve this feat with nothing more than a simple instruction from their Baron .”

My eyes flicked open at the snap of the book shutting. He tossed it to the bed and closed the gap between him and my power radiating in a thicker haze than it had before. He moved his hands to the top of his waistband, unbuttoning them at the same time he pressed again on my power.

I crossed my legs, clenching them together and attempted to focus. I dwelled in that place inside of me which held my strength in magic, a tall tree of life, marred by the destruction my power could bring. Taking a deep breath, I watched his hand as it pushed on the surface in front of me. It didn’t bend to his will, and the surface didn’t break. I exhaled in relief.

Then , his power flared.

An azure light blazed across the surface like wildfire, closing in on my power, my shield shrinking toward me.

“ This won’t work,” I breathed, pulling what I could to keep the shield from collapsing. “ I want you in here with me too much to keep you out.”

He pressed harder and I heard his soft reply, “ There may be times you want me in there with you, but your shield must hold. You protect yourself and you protect her.”

Glancing down to my belly, I placed a hand over it. “ I don’t like this conversation, Revich .”

“ I told you we’d stop as long as you can keep me out.” Another flare of blue light lit the room, engulfing his hands in a swirling mass of the power of Baron . He leaned forward on his hands, pushing into my shield. It began to bend, sinking inward toward my chest, but I would not allow it to break.

Anger coursed quickly through my veins.

I would protect him. I would protect all of us. There was no choosing to be had. I carried the strength of the most powerful place and beings on this isle, and I would not fail in this task he presented to me.

I reached from within, just as he had instructed, letting fill the well of power inside that charred tree of my mind before it spilled over and over again, green layers forming continuously from me, pushing Revich back.

Pushing even harder, he began to slip, my power growing, engulfing not only me but the chair, the small table beside it, soon flowing over half the bed and pushing Revich against the wall.

He took one last lunge forward, my power giving slightly to his own before I siphoned again from that well, pushing him back up against the black stone.

I let the shield fall, breathing heavily and holding onto the chair for balance.

He was there, taking me into his arms and kissing the top of my head. “ I swear, every day we discover more about your power. You have no limits, my love.”

I pressed my forehead to his neck. The cool skin of his bare chest eased the heat from pulling so much power forward.

He lifted my chin, pressing a kiss to my lips, his hands roaming my shoulders, pulling at the straps of my gown.

“ Wait ,” I breathed.

He stopped, pulling back to hear me.

I swallowed hard, regaining my breath. “ Again ,” I panted, “ I want to try again.”