Page 49

CHAPTER 49

BOWEN

I f Vulcan was concerned, that meant things were far past bad. So bad that he’d barely had the patience to let us get dressed while he gave us a moment of privacy. He couldn’t care less about seeing us with no clothing, but for Auria’s sake, he was polite for once.

We’d left the horse in the meadow, knowing he’d find his way back on his own. Horses were smart, always returning to where they knew food was. I had no concerns he’d find his way.

On our flight back to Deadwood, Auria seemed reluctant to lean into me, keeping an inch of space between her back and my chest at all times, despite my arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

“Something wrong, Princess?” I murmured in her ear, the wind sweeping her hair back and over my shoulder. My chest felt warm where it made contact with her, much like it had in the spring. The sensation had come out of nowhere, almost too hot to endure at first, but then it had evened out, staying constant beneath my skin. I ignored the fact that I shouldn’t have been able to scent her arousal in that spring. Fae couldn’t smell others’ pleasure, not unless they were?—

I’d deal with that another time.

“No.”

Her stubbornness lifted one corner of my mouth as my thumb ran along her ribs, right under the swell of her breast. “The erratic beating of your heart says otherwise.”

She kept quiet as Vulcan pumped his wings harder over the trees below.

“Do I need to convince you to tell me?” My lips coasted over the crook in her neck as I spoke, making it impossible to miss the goosebumps that freckled her skin in their wake.

“You didn’t want to go further,” she said quickly, her words rushing over one another, like she didn’t want to voice them to begin with.

My mouth froze on her neck, my thumb following in its pause. “I did.”

Subtly, she shook her head, but not in answer. In disbelief. “Was it too much? Was I bad or?—”

“Auria.” I brought my other hand up to grab her chin, making her turn sideways so she could see me. “You are perfect. Please believe me when I say it had nothing to do with you, and rather a particular interruption from a certain pain in the ass.” The last bit of my sentence was louder with the intent for Vulcan to hear.

A low growl rumbled beneath us in response.

Auria’s eyes searched mine, like she wanted to believe me, but her mind was planting seeds of doubt and willing them to grow stronger than the effect of my words.

“Stop getting lost in your head. If I could, I’d take you on the forest floor right now, tasting every inch of your body.” My thumb stroked her jawline. “Hearing every little moan pass your lips.” Her mouth parted. “And feeling you come apart beneath me.” I searched her eyes, tempted to say, Fuck it and demand Vulcan land so I could make good on my promise. “I would like nothing more than to do all of that right this instant. Forget the world and get lost between your legs. But we have other matters to attend to.”

I hated the way I sounded like a king at the end rather than a man with feelings. As if ruling came first.

I wouldn’t let my leadership role come between us, but if King Tenere was on his way, we needed to be in Deadwood when he arrived, lest he decimate the town trying to find his daughter.

“We will have our time,” I promised her, trying to convince her as much as myself that our moment in the spring would not be the last opportunity we got to explore each other and what this could be.

She gave the barest nod, a sliver of doubt leaving her eyes before she faced forward again. The silence, save for the wind rushing past us, barely lasted as she asked in a quieter tone, “How did you do it?”

Do this? I questioned privately.

From the side of her face, I saw her lashes flutter, like my voice wrapped around every sense in her mind, twirling through her core like a meaningful embrace.

“Yes,” she confirmed, releasing a breath. “That.”

The truth was…I shouldn’t be able to. It’d surprised me as much as it had her, and in her moment of pure bliss, she’d been able to respond. It seemed she didn’t know how without such emotions driving her.

Our kiss was just that good, Princess.

She shot me a glare over her shoulder. “Don’t play with me, Bowen.”

It means dragons aren’t the only ones with this ability.

I didn’t mention how my smoke could communicate with me if it so pleased.

“Can you talk to anyone else like that?” she asked.

Right now didn’t seem like the best time to explain what this meant. With her father on his way and what had transpired in the spring, I didn’t want to confuse Auria with more questions weighing down on her shoulders. She wasn’t fragile, not in my eyes anymore, but one could only take so much in a day. Even I knew that.

Like what? Like how when you released around my fingers, gripping them beyond comprehension, I wanted them to break inside of you so they would never have to leave your body?

I didn’t miss the heat that crawled up her neck into her cheeks at my words. It had the desired effect, both igniting her and making her questions cease.

I’d tell her everything once I knew we were safe and without threat of her father burning Deadwood to the ground.

It was time.

No, Princess. It’s just you and me in this bubble, and I intend to use it— my lips ghosted over her shoulder— to my advantage.

Within minutes, we were landing in the town square of Deadwood. Dust kicked up around us in a cloud as we descended Vulcan’s leg. As soon as Auria was steady on her feet, he took off, his shadow coasting over the crowd of irate people.

“He’ll try to kill us!” a man shouted as a few individuals closed in on us.

“The girl! The girl is the reason for his visit!”

“Send her to the desert, he can grab her there!”

“If we’re lucky, the sandwalkers will get to her first!”

Slight panic flooded Auria’s features, and smoke licked at my veins, begging to be unleashed.

Let me out , my magic purred. I will end them all where they stand.

I shoved its voice to the black depths of my mind as Raiden shoved his way through the crowd, coming to stand on Auria’s other side. “They’re not happy.”

“I couldn’t have guessed,” I muttered.

“Once word got out, they went feral,” Raiden informed me, eyes scanning the crowd for any advancing threat.

“They forget they’re fae.”

“You forget he has dark magic.”

At the mention of dark magic, my smoke banged against the steel wall I had forced it behind, demanding to be released.

“I can leave,” Auria spoke up, and both our gazes shot down to her. She was staring out at the roaring crowd, now kept a decent distance away by Flynt and Siara waving them backwards after they had showed up shortly behind Raiden.

“Auria—”

“They’re right.” A sheen coated her eyes as she looked up at me. “I’m the reason he’s coming. If I leave, he won’t storm Deadwood.”

“We don’t even know what his intentions are.” Aside from taking Auria back to that prison. Away from here. From me.

“We know enough. My father is not a peaceful man. It’s no secret, and they’re all aware of that.”

Raiden’s attention turned back to the roaring crowd, giving us a moment to speak.

My fists clenched at my sides, fingers threatening to break. “You’re not leaving, and that’s final. He can march into Deadwood all he wants. Burn the damn town down if he so wishes.” That earned a worried glance from Raiden. “We didn’t survive all these years just to cower in his presence. Neither did you.”

Auria stared up at me, a thousand words shining in those green depths.

“You two need to get out of here,” Raiden said, interrupting our silent promise to each other. We wouldn’t let anything happen to either of us or this town. “The crowd will calm down eventually, but I don’t think it’s wise to keep Auria in their sights at the moment.”

I gave him a nod of understanding. She wasn’t the problem, but the townspeople didn’t know that, and they surely hadn’t been convinced during her stay, which meant they most likely wouldn’t be swayed in the next few minutes.

A flash of lightning split the air right above our heads, but not one of natural occurrence. My smoke shot out, wrapping around the electrified thread before it got the bright idea to do any damage. Hazy ribbons snuffed the bolt out, the air instantly smelling burnt. A guard aimed for the attacker, though if they’d wanted it to strike, it would have landed true. They were sending a warning shot, demanding answers.

My fingers laced through Auria’s, pulling her close to my side as a wall of smoke fanned out on either side of us, causing the outraged citizens to part as I tugged her through the crowd, back toward the forest behind town. They wouldn’t follow—not if they wanted to keep their lives.

“Will they kill me?” Auria asked, causing my steps to falter.

I glanced down at her, doing a double take before stopping. My hands gripped her shoulders, turning her to face me. “No. I wouldn’t let them, even if they wanted to.”

“They’re angry, Bowen. You can’t be so sure of that.” Her eyes held a sheen, one I wanted gone.

“My p— The citizens of Deadwood don’t want violence. That, I’m sure of.”

She tilted her head in question. The only light illuminating the two of us was from the rings glowing silver in the sky. “A town full of criminals doesn’t want violence?”

“We have always strived for peace. That’s been our goal since the beginning. It’s—” My words cut off at the sudden change in her face, like realization was hitting her.

“What?” she asked.

I shook my head, dropping the subject. “Nothing.”

“You think I’m too fragile to tell me,” she surmised, deflation coating her voice.

My brows pulled together. “What? No. That’s not it, Auria.”

“Then what?”

“If I don’t protect you, then it’s your father—his kingdom—who’s after me.” If anything happened to her here, he’d have my head on a spear for the harm that came to her, even if it wasn’t my doing.

Her body went stiff before she stepped out of my hold. “Then why let us— me —stay here until the bridge is rebuilt if you’re so scared of the consequences when something happens to me?”

The way she said it made it sound as if she was so sure harm would always come to her. “Nothing will happen to you.”

But fuck , she’d already been attacked here. Injured by both people and animal.

She shook her head, knowing this, too. “You don’t know that. My father would have killed you had any of those times ended in my death. He’d flatten Deadwood to nothing but dirt and dust.” Her head fell like it was just now hitting her that the dangers of being here might be too much to bear.

“I do know that, Auria, because I’m the one making sure no one puts their hands on you. Not again.”

Again, her head swung back and forth. She was in denial. “I was a fool to kiss you,” she whispered. The way her words hit felt like she meant it more for herself than me.

I opened my mouth to reply, but my words were cut off as a twig snapped somewhere deeper in the woods. Without hesitation, I grabbed Auria’s arm, pulling her to the nearest tree to pin her between my body and the trunk.

Don’t say that, I spoke quietly to her.

Her forehead creased, eyes boring up at me as her chest heaved in frightened breaths.

I will never regret what we did, Auria. Not even if you begged me to.

“Please, do tell why you have my brother’s fiancée pinned to a tree.” Paxon’s voice grated every nerve in my body like a knife against wood.

Smoke coiled in my veins, desperate to strike, but I kept the tendrils concealed.

My jaw ached as my teeth ground together. Reluctantly, I stepped back, leaving only a foot between my body and Auria’s.

Take the reins, Auria, or I’ll kill him.

Yes , my smoke chanted, its voice echoing through my mind. Let us kill him.

I shoved it away best I could, along with the urge to decimate Paxon where he stood.

She blinked, processing my words drifting through her mind, then pinned a glare on Paxon, who was watching from mere feet to the side of us. “This is none of your business.”

I kept my back to Paxon, for I feared if I saw his face, my smoke would unravel. It wanted to take control, and I wanted to let it.

“Oh, there’s a this now.” Paxon tsked. “It very much does concern Lander if you’re showing public displays of affection with another man.”

A deep, condescending laugh rumbled through me as I shook my head.

“He’s just looking out for me,” Auria defended, sensing the rising tension and shoving off the tree. “We agreed to call the marriage off,” she added.

I could almost feel Paxon’s brow raise at my back. “So you’ve made a decision, then.”

That froze me to the spot, magic pausing its surge through my veins to stand at attention. My gaze found Auria’s. Her eyes quickly grew panicked.

“What decision?” I asked, a growl behind my words.

“Interesting,” Paxon practically purred behind me, but I paid him no mind. My smoke, on the other hand, returned to its frantic state, coiling and spinning inside me with the urge to suck the oxygen from his lungs. I felt my control over it slipping like a thin thread.

“Nothing that concerns you,” Auria said quickly, alarm in her tone. Her words landed like a hit to my stomach.

Shoes crunched over leaves behind me, indicating Paxon was retreating—to where, I wasn’t sure, but as long as he wasn’t here, I didn’t give a shit.

“Is that how you want to be now?” After everything. I’d been as open with her as I could.

Hurt flashed in her eyes, but I could see the war she waged within herself. Her mind was likely a storm, clouds swirling with the push and pull of her desire to tell me and her usual impulse to keep things bottled up inside.

I’d give her the ability to decide, but time was quickly running out.

“Do what you must,” I said, taking another step away. I told myself she didn’t mean it. She was confused, too much happening at once. She’d come around.

“Bowen—”

Unlike everyone else in your life, I won’t force it out of you.

Something akin to gratefulness shone in her gaze now, but it did little to mask the storm brewing behind her eyes.

“Go back to the house. I have matters to attend to.” More hurt shone in her gaze. I fucking hated it. “I will come to you once I’m done,” I assured her.

Though her reluctance to open up to me stung, I understood it.

Things didn’t change overnight.

Before I could second-guess my decision, I turned around, heading away from Auria and into the chaos.