Page 51

Chapter Fifty-One

R eign

Aelia’s radiant healing light warmed the salty air whipping over the cliff. After explaining to Ruhl all that Aidan and the dragons had revealed, she’d spent the past hour bent over Mordrin pouring rais across the enormous beast. Solanthus hadn’t been pleased, but Aelia’s ministrations had little to do with concern over the dragon but rather his rider. The blood had stopped flowing so freely, and the worst gashes across his silvery scales were beginning to mend. The sheer magnitude of Aelia’s power was impressive. Ruhl stood behind her, the arm wrapped across her shoulders keeping her steady.

It took all my restraint to allow it, but my brother’s actions had proven surprisingly noble in the past few weeks, and I supposed I owed him the same courtesy.

Aelia’s shoulders sagged, her entire body weakened by the intense expenditure of energy. Healing a dragon was no easy feat, especially not one with such extensive wounds. Despite my warnings that she’d overexert herself, she refused to give up until Mordrin was stable.

Not that I wanted Ruhl to remain here any longer than possible, but I also didn’t want to see Aelia pushed to her limit. My brother canted his head over his shoulder to where I stood a few yards back. It was my best effort at giving them a hint of privacy.

As much as I hated the idea of Aelia spending time with Ruhl, perhaps she could find some closure in it. I still didn’t understand the extent of Helroth’s false memories in her mind. For a few days there, I was certain she was finding her way back to me, but after today, I wasn’t so sure. The pain in her eyes at the idea of losing my brother had been palpable.

She clearly still felt something for him.

The faint flapping of wings turned my head across the horizon toward Light territory. From this distance, I could just make out our dragons’ forms. Solanthus had left with Phantom, his former mate urging him into a leisurely flight to cool his temper. I couldn’t blame Aelia’s dragon really. If the roles had been reversed and someone had killed me in a previous life, I would’ve been eager for revenge as well.

A gasp jerked my attention from the sky to Aelia hunched over Mordrin. Ruhl’s arm wrapped tight around her waist now, the only thing keeping her from buckling over.

“That’s it,” I hissed and stalked toward the pair. Lifting Aelia up, I dragged her to my side. It was like standing too close to the sun, heat emanated off her in waves. “No more. You need to rest.”

Dark smudges darkened the fine skin beneath her eyes and her flesh was much too warm. “I just need to finish?—”

“No,” I growled. “You’re done.”

“I’ve been trying to tell her,” Ruhl cut in.

“Well, you failed, clearly. You never should have let her push herself like this. Can’t you see how drained she is?”

Ruhl glared up at me, his fists clenching at his sides and coils of shadows leeching from his form. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten how stubborn your cuoré is?”

“ I haven’t forgotten anything,” I snapped. “I remember every tiny, seemingly insignificant detail about her.”

Aelia’s gaze cast down to the ground, her body finally leaning into me.

Her exhaustion seeped through our bond, heavy and overpowering. “That’s enough, I’m taking you to bed, princess.” I bent down and scooped her into my arms. Her head immediately dropped against my chest.

Ruhl opened his mouth, undoubtedly, to make a snarky comment, but I silenced him with a glare. I was in no mood to deal with my brother right now. Marching past him, I headed toward the stone staircase that led up to the manor. The heat of her body leeched into my own as I traversed the steps. Gods, she was burning up. My shadows whirled around her body, cooling her heated skin before my wings unfurled, flying us up the cliff, avoiding the multiple sets of stairs leading to the manor.

Aidan met us at the entryway, his light brows furrowed in concern. “Is she alright?”

“Just burnt out from using too much rais trying to heal that damned dragon,” I muttered as I shot past him.

Seconds later, we were back in her bedroom. Striding past the bed, I brought her straight into the bathing chamber. I held her with one arm as I bent to fill the basin with cool water. Her unfocused gaze lifted to mine, and the hint of a smile tipped up her lips.

“You’ve always taken such good care of me, Reign. Even when I was just your acquisition.”

“You were never just my anything.” I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, my lips scalding from the faint contact, and I silently urged the tub to fill faster. “But I am glad you remembered that.”

As the basin filled, I propped her on the stone vanity and dropped to my knees to remove her boots. Memories surged across my mind to the last time I’d found myself in a similar position, undressing her when she was unable to do it herself. The healing pond.

A swirl of heat that had nothing to do with the energy radiating from her body kindled low in my belly. Images of her bare skin pressed against mine as I held her in the murky water blazed to the forefront of my mind. Shaking my head of the heated memories, I focused on the task at hand. Removing her clothes while pretending to be unaffected by each yard of perfect, porcelain skin I exposed.

Aelia’s breath hitched when my fingers latched onto the laces of her breeches. She squirmed as I pulled the suede down her thighs. Kneeling between her legs, my nostrils flared at her familiar, tantalizing scent, and my pants grew tighter than was comfortable. Curses, this female would be my ruin.

“Almost done, princess,” I whispered, the husky edge to my tone growing more pronounced with each layer of clothing I peeled off.

She lifted her arms as I stood, a mischievous smile stretched across her face.

“You can’t take off your own nightshirt?” I countered.

“No,” she whined. “My arms feel like dead weight.”

I smirked and moved closer, wrapping my fingers around the hem of her nightgown, then tugging it over her head. Towering over her in nothing but her scant underclothes, that burgeoning heat threatened to overpower me.

As if she could sense my desire, Aelia’s head tipped back, eyes latching onto mine. Her hands found their way beneath my tunic to my bare chest, palm pressing against my hammering heart. “I realized something today,” she whispered, her lips mere seconds from my own.

A trickle of apprehension raced through me. “What’s that?”

“I’m starting to learn how to decipher between real memories and those planted by the Night King.”

Excitement blazed through the dark recesses of my heart. “How?”

“The false ones have a certain shiny quality about them. They’re a little too bright, too perfect.” She paused and drew her bottom lip between her teeth before finally releasing it and continuing. “A moment ago, when you were taking off my boots, I remembered something. And it felt real .”

“What was it?” I barely breathed as I forced out the question.

“The time at the pond by Arcanum. When you saved my life…”

Gods, what were the chances we’d both been thinking about the same moment in time?

“That was real, right?”

I nodded slowly.

“Some of the details are fuzzy, but I remember how I felt in your arms. Like I was safe. Safer than I’d ever been.” Her hand lifted to my face, her soft thumb sweeping across my cheek. “I also realized something earlier today, in the chaos of the warring dragons.”

“Go on…”

“For a moment, I considered the very real possibility of losing Ruhl forever.” She paused, and my heart sank.

Noxus, she was going to tell me she still loved him. Steeling my jaw, awaiting the fatal blow, I kept my gaze fixed to hers, refusing to lower it as she delivered my fate.

“It hurt. A lot. I care about Ruhl in a way I can’t quite explain. I’m not certain if it’s the false memories, or the real ones we shared, or simply the fact that he’s your brother.” She paused, worrying her lip between her teeth again. “But when I considered the roles reversed, and for a split second, imagined it was you on Mordrin instead of Ruhl, the pain was suffocating. The idea of losing you was so agonizing I couldn’t draw in a steadying breath. My entire body recoiled at the thought, a visceral, unbearable ache blooming in my chest. I would have razed the skies, torn through the very fabric of existence itself to reach you. Just to save you. The thought of a world without you in it is a future I could never bear.”

Now, I was the one suffocating, the one gasping in the wake of her confession. Shadows coiled around my arms, restless and frantic, feeding off the raw emotion pouring from my Aelia. “Gods, you have no idea how long I’ve yearned for you to say that.” It wasn’t the declaration of love I’d been eagerly awaiting to hear, but it was a start. And right now, I would take it. I preferred a tiny sliver of Aelia than none at all. I captured her mouth, reveling in her familiar taste, but the elevated heat of her skin reminded me of the cool bath I’d drawn.

She groaned her disapproval as I pulled away, wrenching my lips free of hers only to drag my own tunic over my head. The growing heat in the bathing chamber had grown insufferable.

“Perhaps, we should continue this in the bath before your rais sets me ablaze.”

A devious smile flashed across her perfect mouth as sparkling irises danced over my bare chest. “I thought I already did that anyway.”

A deep chuckle squeezed through my lips. “Oh, princess, you have no idea.”