Page 64

Chapter

Sixty-One

“ D inner is served!”

Steiner’s voice had them both sigh as they reluctantly pulled away.

When she looked up at Loche, her stomach fluttered at the softness in his hard features, and she almost wished he had picked somewhere else.

Somewhere far, far away from any people.

Another small piece of the wall around her heart broke down when Steiner called out again and Loche’s gaze drifted toward the opening, a hint of a smile touching his lips.

He’d wanted her to see this place because it and the people within it were important to him.

From their first real conversations, she’d felt that he read her better than anyone she’d met before.

She’d thought it was because he was so perceptive.

But perhaps it was because he wasn’t so different from her.

Lessia touched her aching lips, and a small part of her was also relieved that Steiner had interrupted .

If he hadn’t, she would have had to.

She cast a quick glance at the large bed.

She couldn’t let herself get carried away.

But when she briefly met Loche’s eyes, her mind muddled with the promise that flared there, and she cursed herself silently as she turned toward the opening.

As she started toward the staircase, limbs weak from the fever Loche ignited inside her and heart thumping in her chest, he caught her hand. “Ignore him.”

Lessia snorted. “You were the one who wanted me to meet your friends. I won’t be rude when they’ve apparently been cooking all day for us.”

Throwing his head back, Loche groaned, but when she started to walk again, he followed her.

The scents that rose from the communal area made Lessia’s mouth water, and she realized she hadn’t really eaten since last night. The hunger clawing at her gut drove her forward, even as twenty or so pairs of eyes tracked them as they descended.

Warmth crawled across her skin when Loche wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and curious whispers reached her ears. Fixing her gaze somewhere above the faces staring at them, she drew a steadying breath.

There were people of all ages spread out across the stone floor.

A few younger ones, perhaps in their early twenties, but also older—like Geyia and Steiner.

When they reached the bottom, the people swarmed them, pulling Loche into their arms and offering loud and excited greetings.

A few embraced Lessia as well, and while some stayed back, the smiles on their faces were genuine, and she didn’t catch even a glimpse of fear or distrust in their eyes as they took in her pointed ears .

Geyia ushered them to a table in the middle of the room, next to the largest fire, and as Lessia began to pile food onto her plate—steaming vegetables, newly baked bread, and lots of fish—the heat from the fire and from the warm welcome settled in her chest.

Loche was seated next to her, and he seemed to be unable to stop himself from touching her.

Even as he shuffled food into his mouth, his other hand rested on her leg, stroked her back, and played with her hair, and wide-eyed stares were thrown their way when he lifted her hand to kiss it.

Her skin buzzed, and the air around them crackled with electricity and unspoken wishes whenever Loche’s eyes found hers.

Struggling to focus on anything other than his playful fingers whispering over every bit of bare skin he could find, Lessia mostly listened as Loche caught up with his friends, leaning into his chest when he snaked an arm around her waist.

After making sure everyone had gotten at least a second serving, Geyia slipped into the spot on the wooden bench beside her, and Lessia eyed the woman curiously.

“Ask away.” Geyia grinned at her.

“Is this your real form?” Lessia tried to soften her voice, but something stirred within her upon not knowing if the warm older woman she saw was only a facade.

Geyia clasped her hands over the table. “It is. It’s exhausting for us to keep a shifted form. We can only do it for so long.”

Nodding, Lessia tried for a smile. “I must apologize for how I reacted earlier.”

Loche’s hand traced small circles on her back.

When she peeked at him, he was deep in conversation with two young men, but he shot her a small smile, and a thrill ran through her at the tenderness of it.

The shifter grinned as she glanced at Loche. “Don’t be. You accepted me much quicker than others have.”

“Still… I’m sorry. I… I know how it is.” Lessia’s eyes dipped as a twinge of guilt joined the warmth in her chest.

She knew exactly what it was like to be judged based on what you were.

Geyia placed a wrinkled hand on her shoulder. “I know. I can see it in you. But you haven’t let it fill you with hate.” She sighed. “Many of my kind have, and I’ve met a few half-Fae who have as well.”

Lessia smiled at her again. An easier smile, as there was no contempt in the shifter’s blue eyes.

When they’d eaten everything on the large plates and Lessia had said no twice to more food, wine was served, and a few of the humans took out drums and other instruments.

While Lessia didn’t usually drink, when Steiner pushed a goblet of wine into her hands, she took it and sipped as music filled the arched cave.

Loche clinked his goblet against hers, and she wasn’t sure whether the wine immediately went to her head or if it was his presence that made her mind hum in tune with the music.

People started to get up to dance, and she laughed when Geyia dragged Loche with her, making him perform some sort of intricate step.

His usually hard face was free of lines as he concentrated on following Geyia’s fast movements, and his eyes twinkled when they met hers over the crowd forming before the table.

When he kept her gaze over the crowd, the warmth inside her seeped into every muscle and limb, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away when his gray ones flared, an ache starting deep inside her.

One of the younger men bowed before her, asking her to dance, and she smiled at him as she took the hand he offered.

Thankfully, he didn’t make her try to follow Geyia. Instead, he spun her around in a clumsy version of a waltz, dipping and lifting her until her stomach hurt from laughter.

When the music slowed, a strong arm wrapped around her waist, and the man before her grinned and backed away.

As she whirled around, her breath caught in her throat at the look in Loche’s eyes.

Pure adoration shone there, the heat in them making the flames within her burn hotter.

He pulled her flush against him, his fingers whispering over her back, teasing, grazing her neck as he swept her hair over one shoulder. As he bent down, Loche’s lips softly trailed across her sensitive skin, up to her ear, and he whispered, “I want to show you something.”

Unable to form words, she nodded, and he led her away from the crowd to a narrow passage beneath the staircase. Lessia told herself to breathe as the air charged, and she didn’t dare look up at Loche when his breathing became ragged.

They walked in silence for a few moments until a sharp turn finally led them into a dimly lit chamber.

“What is this place?” Lessia gasped as her eyes flew around the circular cave.

The chamber was filled with large formations of ice shaped like trees, a forest of sparkling sculptures, with black glittering flowers growing straight out of the ice around them.

Above them, an oval opening let the nearly full moon in. Thick dark clouds danced around the moon, but they didn’t cover it .

As if this place wouldn’t allow the darkness that would follow.

“They call it the Lune.” Loche gently tugged on her hand until she stepped onto the hard ice. “These flowers only grow under moonlight and only in the winter. I know Ellow doesn’t hold magic the way Vastala does, but there is something magical about it, anyway.”

She couldn’t even nod.

The magic in her veins thrummed in here, not as if it would burst out of her but as if it were saying hello to an old friend.

It was peaceful and energetic at the same time, a tingling sensation brushing her skin.

Lessia bent down to touch one of the flowers, and a shudder ran through her when the buzzing inside her intensified.

Straightening, she turned to Loche, unable to stop her hands from shaking.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” she whispered. “Not just to this place, but to meet your friends.”

His eyes burned into hers, and when he stepped closer, another quiver racked her body.

They reached for each other at the same time, the urgency in their kiss making her mind go blank.

Loche shifted her so her back was against the cold wall, but it did nothing to soothe the wildfire in her core. His warm tongue slid across her bottom lip, and she let her own play with it until he groaned into her mouth.

Locking her arms around his neck, she jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around his waist, desperate to get closer.

Her fingers sought any soft skin they could, and when his neck wasn’t enough, she pulled at his tunic, forgetting her strength and tearing a wide gash that left his entire chest bare.

Her eyes widened, and she made to pull back when he growled, “Rip them all to threads if you like. Just don’t stop.”

Her ears buzzed when his eyes bored into hers, the desire coursing through her veins mirrored in his steely ones.

She hesitated for a moment, but when he burrowed his face in her neck, nipping at her skin, she gave in.

Lessia moaned as she let her hands explore his sculpted chest, and she kissed the goose bumps that rose across his skin from the soft wind that blew through the chamber.

Setting her down, Loche trailed his hands down her body, his eyes following them as they slowly moved across her shoulders, down to her chest, and farther, until a finger hooked in her breeches.

“I want to see all of you, but it’s too cold in here,” Loche rasped. “These need to go, though.”

A small ember of worry whirled in her gut, breaking through the cloud of desire.

She could never be bare for him.

Not without him seeing her tattoo.

The brand that would destroy whatever it was they were doing.

But as he slipped one of her daggers out from her waistband, letting it fall with a soft thud to the ground, and then the other, the worry was replaced with a consuming need.

Loche took his time to lower her breeches to the ground, kissing and caressing every bit of skin he exposed.

When only her silky underwear remained, he lifted his gaze to hers.

She dragged him to her, crashing her mouth against his while ripping his own breeches to shreds in her urgency to get them off. Loche growled into her mouth as he lifted her again, one of his hands slipping between them, dipping into her silky underwear.

She let out a cry when his finger slid between her folds, biting down on his shoulder to quench it.

“Fuck,” Loche breathed, pulling back to look at her. “Is this all for me?”

He lifted a glistening finger, and she could only nod, so close already to seeing the stars the clouds above them were hiding.

“I want to take my time,” he growled. “But it’s freezing here, and I need you.”

“I need you,” she whimpered when he pressed against her, his hardness crushing against her hip.

“Fuck,” he rasped again, his chest heaving against hers as he freed himself.

Eyes locked on hers, he pulled her underwear aside, and her breath choked when he nudged at her entrance.

“Loche, please,” she moaned when he teased her with the tip, his fingers digging into her back.

His mouth found hers as he slammed into her with his full length, both crying out as he filled her, pushing her up against the cold wall.

“So warm,” Loche growled. “So perfect.”

She held on to his shoulders as he slowly—deliberately—pulled out, then plowed into her again.

Lessia’s head fell back to the wall as Loche increased the pace, urgently slamming into her, filling her completely. Light flickered behind her closed eyelids as her back scraped against the ice while Loche’s warm, hard body pushed against her.

A deep need built inside her, fueled by Loche’s heavy breath fanning over her chest, his hard, assured strokes, and she leaned forward, biting down on his shoulder as she screamed his name.

He called out hers as well as he drove into her one final time, and their bodies shook in rhythm as they reached release together.

Loche’s head fell forward against the cold wall as they caught their breaths, and as her muscles softened, he tightened his grip, not allowing any space between them.

When she could finally think clearly again, she lifted her head, and Loche straightened as well.

A satisfied smirk lifted his mouth as he lazily kissed her.

“I thought I was clever sneaking off in here, but since I’ll have to walk back half-naked, I’m pretty sure no one will buy that we only looked at the Lune.”

Lessia giggled as Loche set her down, swatting at him when he winked at her.

They got dressed in whatever clothing was not ripped to shreds, and she pulled at his hand to make their way to the fire when goose bumps continued to rise across his bare torso.

But as she was about to drag him into the passage, Loche stopped her, pulling her into his arms again.

“I’ve wanted you for a long time, Lessia,” he whispered. “Longer than you can imagine.”

She nodded into his chest, a wave of emotions washing over her at the tenderness of his voice.

Holding him tight, she winced at the guilt that surged within her.

She’d wanted this as well.

But she’d known it was selfish when he didn’t know everything about her.

When he didn’t know she was deceiving him, deceiving everything he stood for.

Swallowing, she pulled out of his embrace and walked quietly beside him as they tried to sneak up to the chambers without anyone noticing.

Lessia couldn’t muster a smile even as people shouted playful quips at them as they ascended the stairs, even as Loche gently pulled her with him into the bed and wrapped his strong arms around her, even as he whispered the sweetest words in her ear as they fell asleep.