Page 21 of A Kiss of Healing & Honor (Darkstone Academy #4)

Gwydion’s silver eyes glinted in the low light as he studied my face intently. “But you’re tired too,” he murmured, tracing my lips with a feather-light touch of his fingertips. A pleasant shiver raced down my spine. “I can feel it. You shouldn’t be depleting yourself for me.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted. “And I’ll recover after a meal and a good night’s sleep. I only hope Alondra doesn’t snore.”

Because of a shortage of accommodations aboard the ship, Mama and I had offered to share our cabin with Karminn and Ilhan’s sister for the rest of the voyage.

Gwydion chuckled softly.

“Sounds fun,” he said wryly. His fingertips lingered along my jaw, his touch leaving tingles in its wake. “What am I going to do with you, sweet Jacinthe?”

My pulse stuttered at the heat in his gaze, the caressing tone that turned my name into an endearment and a provocation.

“Whatever you like,” I managed, my voice coming out breathier than I intended. “After all, you’re one of the brave heroes who rescued me from the duke’s clutches.”

“Mm. So you’re telling me you want to balance the scales between us?” Gwydion teased. His hand slid under my braided hair and stroked the sensitive nape of my neck. Gently but inexorably, he drew me forward. “That’s an enticing offer.”

I swallowed hard, my body responding instinctively to his nearness, his touch, despite my bone-deep weariness. I knew what he needed. He’d been visiting me at dawn for months to pleasure me and feed on my power. It was an arrangement that benefited both of us, since it allowed me to practice spells without losing control, like I had in the early days after my powers unexpectedly awakened.

“But we have to be quiet. I don’t want anyone interrupting us.”

“That sounds like a challenge,” Gwydion purred. His perfect lips curved in a smile that was pure sin. Then he closed the remaining distance between us and claimed my mouth in a searing kiss.

I gasped at the burning cold of his lips. He took full advantage of the opening, his icy tongue sweeping in to dance with mine. The kiss rapidly turned carnal, hungry, Gwydion’s mouth slanting over mine again and again until I was breathless and dizzy.

He lifted me to straddle his lap and trailed teasing kisses along the column of my throat, his teeth scraping lightly over my racing pulse and sending jolts of pure desire down to the hungry place between my legs.

“I want you,” he breathed against my skin.

My arousal intensified tenfold.

“Touch me, Gwydion,” I begged. “Take what you need.”

He made a rough, hungry sound of assent. Gathering my skirts up around my waist, he stroked up my inner thighs, his fingertips dancing inward until they found the slick heat of my center.

I swallowed my moans of pleasure as he caressed me with his experienced fingers, teasing and testing, stoking my desire and bringing my body to needy life.

“I need you to come for me,” he murmured, sliding two long fingers into me. “I want to feel you clenching around my cock while I fill my mouth with your sweet breasts.”

His thumb stroked my pearl, inflicting exquisite torment as his fingers skated over a place inside me that sent fireworks of pleasure rocketing through my belly.

I shared my pleasure with him through our soul-bond, letting him draw on my rising energies.

I wrapped my legs around his waist as he filled me with what felt like a thick pillar of ice.

When he’d sheathed himself to the hilt inside me, I gasped at the caress of the short, fleshy fingers around the base of his shaft. They rippled, caressing my stretched, swollen tissues and needy pearl in the most satisfying way.

He reached down my bodice and scooped out my breasts. As I rode him, driven by my desperate need, he leaned in and drew each of the tips between his lips. He teased them with his tongue before he gave them the hard suction that drove me mad with pleasure.

Our coupling was swift and intense, a tangle of desperate touches and half-dressed bodies finding completion in the dimness.

When his sharp teeth bit down lightly on my wet, pebbled nipple, my climax broke over me with unexpected intensity. I arched, panting, and shook with ecstasy as he continued to caress me with his mouth, fingers, and manhood.

He groaned low in his throat. The sound vibrated through my breast as he shuddered with his own release and filled me with cool spurts of his seed.

Long moments later, still entwined and gasping for breath, I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my forehead against his. Through our bond, I could feel the renewed strength animating his body… and the love warming his heart.

Afterwards, as we wiped ourselves clean with rags and rearranged our clothing, I turned to Gwydion with a heartfelt smile.

“Thank you again,” I murmured, “for everything you did during the rescue. And for staying with me afterwards.”

Gwydion’s silver eyes shone in the dim light as he returned my smile. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be than at your side, Jacinthe,” he replied softly.

Then his gaze turned wistful. “Though I do hope Toland will take good care of my apothecary garden while I’m gone.”

At his words, a pang of guilt shot through me. I knew how much that walled garden meant to Gwydion. It was more than just a plot of useful herbs and flowers—it had been his sanctuary at Darkstone Academy, a place of peace amidst the suspicion and loathing of his fellow Fae hostages.

There, Gwydion had cultivated rare plants with meticulous care, coaxing beauty and bounty from the earth with his clever hands and Fae magic. It was there that we had broken his terrible Curse of Thorns and first made love.

The apothecary garden had been his respite from a lifetime of rejection. And now, because of me, he’d been forced to leave it behind.

“Gwydion, I’m so sorry,” I began, my throat tight. “I know how much it means to you. And now—”

He cut off my apology with a soft press of his now-warm finger to my lips. “Hush, sweet girl. None of that. My garden will endure, with or without me.” His mouth quirked. “And I pity any weed that dares sprout under Toland’s watch.”

I laughed at that, recalling the earnest enthusiasm of the young gardener’s apprentice. “It’s only… I hate that you’ve lost your sanctuary because of me.”

Gwydion’s expression gentled. He brushed a strand of hair from my face, his touch achingly tender. “Oh, Jacinthe,” he breathed. “Don’t you see? I don’t need the garden anymore. You’re my sanctuary now. My heart’s ease.”

His declaration stole the breath from my lungs. Blinking back sudden tears, I dove forward to capture his lips with my own, pouring my love and gratitude into the kiss.

∞∞∞

When Gwydion and I climbed out of the hold a few minutes later, still flushed and giddy, Mama stood at the top of the ladder.

Her arms were crossed. One eyebrow arched in a look I knew all too well. “There you are, Jacinthe. Mage Armand and I were wondering where you’d disappeared to.”

Heat flooded my cheeks as mortification crashed over me like a frigid wave. She knew. She knew exactly what Gwydion and I had been doing.

I could see it in the purse of her lips, the slight narrowing of her eyes.

Beside me, Gwydion executed a graceful bow, his expression the picture of respectful charm. “Your Highness.”

But through our soul-bond, I could feel his sly amusement in the situation.

Mama’s gaze flicked between us, sharp and assessing. When she spoke again, her tone was clipped. “Jacinthe, may I have a word with you in private?”

My stomach plummeted to my toes. I remembered that tone from my childhood.

Swallowing hard, I nodded. “Of course, Mama.”

As I moved to follow her, Gwydion caught my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Courage, sweet girl, he whispered through our bond.

I squeezed back, drawing strength from his support. Dread coiled like a leaden serpent in my gut. I had no idea how to explain my unique situation to Mama.

I followed her to our cabin with dragging steps.

When she had closed the door and turned to face me, her expression was a mask of carefully controlled neutrality.

“Jacinthe,” she began, her voice soft but unyielding as steel. “Tell me what’s going on with those men—Boreas, Tama, Ilhan, and Gwydion. I know it’s more than mere friendship.”

My heart lurching against my ribs. My throat went dry. I’d guessed this question was coming, but it still caught me off guard.

Lie, a voice whispered in the back of my mind. The truth is too complicated. She’ll never understand.

But even as the thought crossed my mind, I dismissed it.

After all the secrets I’d unearthed in the past months, I was sick to death of them. I would tell my mother the truth and deal with her reaction.

“We’re…” I croaked. I swallowed, trying to moisten my throat. “They’re soul-bonded to me.”

Mama’s eyes widened. “Soul-bonded,” she repeated slowly, as if testing the weight of the words on her tongue. “All four of them?”

I nodded. I braced myself for her shock and disapproval.

Instead, she said, “Soul bonds are complicated magic. They don’t happen by accident. How did this come about?”

“Last summer, a few weeks after I arrived at Darkstone Academy, Lord Roderigo and Lady Erzabetta sent a guard to kill Boreas,” I began. “I was there, and accidentally received the blow meant for him. There was a death curse on the sword…”

I told her the story of what had happened while I lay dying as Gwydion and the others had told it to me.

When I’d finished the story, I raised my skirts and showed Mama the long scar that stretched across my belly, disfiguring the hyacinth tattoo she’d given me.

Her mouth tight with distress, Mama inspected the old injury. When she was done, she sighed, a long, weary sound that seemed to deflate her entire body.

She drew me into her arms.

“Oh, my darling girl,” she murmured, her voice thick with unshed tears. “I’m glad Gwydion saved your life with that Fae ritual, but what a burden to bear!”

I blinked, taken aback by the sorrow in her voice. “You’re not…angry?”

Mama shook her head. “No, dearest. Of course I’m not angry! Just worried about you. Being soul-bound to one person, let alone four, brings immense challenges. But I’m so grateful you’re alive, and that your soul-bonded companions all seem to, ah, care deeply for you.”

A wave of relief crashed over me, so intense it left me lightheaded. I sagged against the bunks. “I was so afraid you’d be angry,” I admitted, my voice cracking. “That you’d think it was wrong, or… or…”

“Shhh,” Mama soothed, drawing me into her arms. I clung to her, burying my face in the crook of her neck like I had as a child. She stroked my hair, her touch a balm to my frayed nerves.

“I could never think that, Jacinthe,” she reassured me. “Things will work out as the Divine Mother intends them, though She may not smooth the path for you.” She hugged me fiercely. “There will be many who won’t understand. They will judge you harshly for it.”

I nodded, swallowing past the lump in my throat. “I know. But my soul-bonded are a part of me now.”

When I finally drew back from Mama’s embrace, I asked the other question that had been troubling me since this morning. “Do you think we’ll be welcome at the imperial palace? What if your mother is still angry and determined to make an example of you?”

Mama’s shoulders sagged, and for a moment, I saw the weariness etched into the lines of her face. “I don’t know, Jacinthe,” she admitted softly. “I wish I had all the answers, but all I know is that I’m tired of running away and hiding. And I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.”

Mama’s previous revelations about my grandmother, the domina-regent, weighed heavily on my mind. All my life, I had believed Domina-Consort Jacinthe to be a kind and just person, beloved by the people. Thousands of girls across the Dominion were named after her, as I was.

But since hearing Mama tell me about her parents’ reaction to her romance with Prince Menelaus, I’d been questioning everything I thought I knew.

Was the domina-regent’s public persona been nothing more than a carefully crafted illusion? A mask she wore to conceal her true nature?

The thought made my stomach churn. “Maybe she’s sorry about what she did,” I ventured with more hope than confidence. “And once she hears about Talisa, Mira, and Juno, maybe she’ll forgive you for… having me.”

“I don’t need forgiveness for you!” Mama retorted. “I only wish I knew how Mother will react when we meet again. But I don’t know what awaits us when we reach Neapolis Capitola.”

She squared her shoulders then, and I saw steel in her eyes. “I’ve realized it’s my duty to inform her she has heirs. Even if we stop the Duke de Norhas, there are other ambitious nobles out there hoping for a chance to inherit a throne with no heirs.”

“You’re right. Everyone’s afraid of a civil war once the domina-regent dies,” I said. “I’ve heard the servants and workers at the castle worrying about what will happen to their families if the other dukes fight each other for power.”

“That’s why I have to do this.” Mama stepped back, but continued to hold my shoulders. “But you, my dearest… you don’t have to come with me to the capital and risk facing your grandmother’s wrath. You have powerful friends and allies who will protect you if you choose to live a quiet life.” She stroked my hair with a gentle hand. “Maybe… maybe it would be better if we parted ways when we reach Baleares. You could go your own way, forge your own path. And be safe.”

My heart clenched at the thought of being separated from her again after a year of believing her dead.

“Think of how difficult it will be to live in the public eye as Princess-Royal and second in line to the imperial throne,” she continued. “You’ll never have true privacy, and neither will your soul-bonded men.”

Then I understood the gift she was offering me. It was the chance to avoid the dangers and machinations of the imperial court. And to choose my own path as the commoner mage-student, Jacinthe of Bernswick, rather than Princess-Royal Jacinthe di Severieri.

It was tempting. But still, I shook my head.

“No,” I said in my firmest tone. “I don’t want to run away or hide. If you’re going to the capital, then I’m going with you.”

Mama’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “Oh, Jacinthe,” she breathed, her voice thick with emotion. “I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become.”

Part Three

Among Dragons