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Chapter Thirty-Six

R eign

Through the skylight, the stars twinkled across the pure onyx night as I attempted—and failed—again and again to quiet my mind. I stretched across the immense four-poster bed, the oversized mattress much too large for only one. I wished Aelia lay by my side instead of in the adjoining chamber.

I glanced across the room toward the open door and strained to listen to the soft sound of Aelia’s breaths. After being banished from the room so that she could speak to my brother in private, I’d gone on a lengthy walk around the property to cool my temper. I’d traversed the cliffside, then descended along the black sand shore. The cool night had suppressed the building rage, and once it had returned to a more manageable level, I trudged back to the manor.

I’d been beyond surprised to not only find my brother gone, but also the door to Aelia’s room left open. Gods, I needed to know what happened between them. A surge of jealousy scorched through my veins at the mere thought of his hands on her. If he dared to take advantage of her now, with her memories tainted, I’d wring his damned neck. A powerful storm of nox rose to the surface, shadows creeping across every inch of the chamber until it was entirely consumed in murky night.

I sought to force it back, but something else lingered beneath the familiar shadows. Another more potent energy seethed to the surface, distending my chest and crowding my lungs until it was difficult to breathe. Zar … I jolted upright, shoved the coverlet back and raced toward the adjoining room.

Peering through the doorway, I found Aelia sleeping peacefully, raven hair splayed across her pillow like a dark halo. How odd. I’d assumed it was a conscious effort to push the zar through the bond, a way to diminish the uncontrollable power. But now, it was happening in her sleep.

Shaking my head, I trudged across the room, past the hearth to the door leading to the hallway. Sleeping was futile, but perhaps I could find a calming tea to lull my frazzled mind. The walk across the winding corridors passed in a blur as I battled the uncomfortable surge of energy twisting in my core. Maybe Gideon was right, and I’d be forced to ask Kaelith for some guidance in wrangling this zar . With Aelia’s powers so volatile, the last thing we needed was for me to lose control too.

I turned the corner into the kitchen and found Mera, the young Kin female who cared for the manor, rifling through the cabinets. She whirled around, eyes wide. “Oh, Noxus, you startled me, my lord.”

I waved a dismissive hand and leaned against the small circular table in the center. “That was certainly not my intention.”

“Can I help you with anything?” Waves of auburn hair flowed across her bare shoulders. Her sleeping gown was a gauzy material that hinted at deep mocha skin beneath.

Averting my gaze, I turned toward the cabinets. “I’d hoped to find a calming tea.”

“Yes, of course.” She darted in front of me and rising on her tiptoes reached for a glass container on the top shelf. I couldn’t help but think of Aelia as I snuck a peek at the female’s rounded ears.

“Let me get that.”

She moved aside, and I retrieved the vessel, placing it atop the stone counter.

“Cheers.” Her lips spread into a shy smile before she placed the kettle on the stove.

Returning to my spot beside the table, I crossed my arms, waiting for the water to boil. Mera’s gaze remained pinned to mine, the curiosity in her dark eyes suddenly morphing into something else.

The sharp tang of zar filled my nostrils, and I spun around, fully expecting to find Aelia lurking nearby. Only the hallway was empty. When I turned back to the stove, Mera stood less than a heartbeat away. I staggered back a step and hit the table, the squeal of the wood across the stone floor escalating my quickening pulse.

Heat unfurled across the female’s dark irises, obsidian pupils blown out. Her tongue darted between her lips, and a tempting smile danced across her face.

“Mera,” I warned as she inched closer, and her hand dropped to my chest. “What are you doing?”

My heart thrummed against her palm, and the cuorem pulsed to life, eager and insistent. What in all the realms? Inexplicable need flooded my body, drowning out all rational thoughts. She dragged her tongue across her bottom lip and leaned closer so that her mouth was mere centimeters from my own.

I urged my mouth to form words of disapproval, for my body to move, for anything to stop this insanity, but when Mera’s mouth fused to mine, nothing but a pleasure-filled moan burst free. Her lips were insistent, her tongue forceful as she claimed my mouth and, gods’ help me, I reveled in every second of it.

The cuorem beat out a rapid rhythm, demanding and maddening. Heat raced from that ravenous tongue tangling with my own all the way down to my breeches. I could feel myself hardening, straining against the suede.

Cuoré. Cuoré . The odd drumbeat echoed across my skull.

No, this couldn’t be…

Aelia?

With my eyes closed, my hands moved of their own accord, tangling at the base of her neck and driving her mouth closer and her body flush against my own. Noxus, she felt so good in my arms, so familiar. I needed to erase every shred of air between us. I moved on autopilot as if I knew every curve of this female’s body as well as my own.

Aelia, finally .

Her hands slipped down my chest and found the laces, near bursting with the proof of my desire. Deft fingers began to untie them, and I could do nothing but lean into her touch, anticipation coiling deep in my core.

A soft breathy sigh escaped her lips, and my eyes snapped open at the foreign timbre. Somehow, it was off, the pitch too high. My eyes wide now, I met a pair of smoldering silver-blue ones. “Aelia?” I rasped.

Only, it was Mera who stood in front of me.

But those eyes…

I staggered back, knocking down a chair. The clatter snapped me from the lust-filled haze. I glanced down at the unraveled leather twine of my breeches and shame, sharp and potent, burned my cheeks. Realms, what had I done?

With one final glance at Mera, at those molten silvery-blue eyes staring back at me, I raced out of the kitchen. Good gods, how could I have let that happen? And why was my traitorous body so convinced that female was my cuoré?

My manic footfalls quickened with every step closer to Aelia’s bedchamber. I had to see her; I had to know if what I felt was real or some twisted trick of the mind. Noxus, I was ready to claim that female, whoever she was, right there on the kitchen floor.

I darted around another corner, my breaths ragged, and not from the exertion of the mad dash through the corridors, but rather the lingering desire still coursing through my veins. When I finally reached the door to Aelia’s chamber, I braced myself against the frame and drew in a steadying breath. There must be some logical explanation to this. There absolutely had to be.

My hand closed around the doorknob, gently twisting, as I held my breath. Slowly, the door opened, revealing the dark chamber and Aelia fast asleep in her bed. It couldn’t be… I crept inside, a sliver of moonlight from the window illuminating her face. Her dark brows were furrowed, a twist to her pink lips. I inched closer, and I could just make out the erratic rise and fall of her chest.

“No,” she murmured. Her hands clamped around the sheets as she wrestled some invisible enemy. “No, I need him.” Pain contorted her features, puckering her brows and curving her mouth into a furious scowl.

“Aelia,” I whispered, dropping down onto the mattress to sit beside her. “It’s only a dream. You’re safe.”

Her eyes snapped open, that silver-blue filling my vision, and my heart tripped on a beat. How could those exact eyes, the ones that had starred in my dreams for months while she was gone, have resided in another only moments ago?

“You came for me.” Her lids were heavy, gaze unfocused as she curled her arms around the back of my neck.

“Of course, I came for you, princess. I will always come for you.”

Her mouth crashed into mine, the surge of emotion igniting between us like a wildfire, consuming every last shred of restraint I had left. She drew me down on top of her, so that our bodies were flush. Her lips claimed mine, hungry and unrelenting, as her fingers delved into the hair at my nape. My brain was too frazzled to stop her, to question the unexpected reaction. Only need mattered, the overpowering desire to be as close to this female as the gods would allow.

My hand slipped beneath her nightgown, desperate for the contact, and a groan pursed her lips. My fingers crawled up her stomach, reveling in every breathy inhale before my knuckles grazed her breast. It was as if the insanity of only minutes ago were repeating, only this time with the real thing. It was Aelia beneath me, Aelia’s mouth tasting mine, her hands exploring every inch of me.

“Oh, gods, princess, I missed this,” I whispered against her lips.

“I did too.” Her eyes met mine, the unfocused glimmer startling me enough to still my frantic movements. “I missed you so much, R—Ruhl.”

My heart plummeted to the soles of my boots before fracturing into a thousand pieces. “ Ruhl ?” I growled. “I’m not Ruhl!” The furious snarl tore out as I pushed myself up so I knelt between her legs. “For fuck’s sake, Aelia, how could you not recognize me?” Shadows streamed from every pore, twirling into a tornado of fury around us.

As if the influx of power awoke something, Aelia’s eyes grew impossibly wide as they lingered over every detail of my face. “…Reign?” She shook her head, the unfocused glaze sharpening as she sat up. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” I shouted.

“Yes, what are you doing in my bed?” She yanked the coverlet up to conceal her nightgown, her cheeks burning an enticing crimson.

“You kissed me.” My eyes seared to hers, daring her to deny it.

“I did not.”

Of course she did.

And, gods, I nearly did so much more downstairs with Mera… A nauseating thought streaked across my addled mind. “Were you dreaming that you were with my brother?”

Aelia blinked quickly, as if trying to chase away whatever images flashed by. “I—I can’t remember.” She raked her hands across her face and released a frustrated sigh.

Even if she had been, that wouldn’t explain how I could have sworn she’d been downstairs with me a moment ago. In the body of another. Dread unfurled, uncoiling in the depths of my bowels. Night Fae powers… No, it couldn’t be.

Astral possession, the ability to temporarily possess the bodies of others, was a high-level Demon skill. There was no way Aelia should have been able to master it already. That dread morphed into something more potent, and much more terrifying.

Her eyes lifted to mine, the dread suffocating. “What is happening to me, Reign?”

“I have no idea, princess, but whatever it is, I believe it’s happening to me, too.”