Page 126 of Fall of Ruin and Wrath

Recalling the rumors, my lip curled. “I’d heard that the Wychwoods bled, but I . . .”

“You didn’t believe it?”

“I figured it was just red sap people saw, but I guess I now understand why the Wychwoods are so sacred.” I gave a shaky laugh. “You know, the night in the gardens when you said you were a part of everything around us, I didn’t think you meant literally.”

“Most would not.” His fingers glided along the curve of my waist.

I thought about what he’d shared with me about the past world. “Did those who lived before the Great War know about the Wychwoods?”

“If they did, it was forgotten, but there would’ve been signs upon entering the woods that they treaded on sacred ground. Warnings that had to have been ignored. It was the destruction of the Wychwoods that woke the firsts.”

In a way, it was hard not to be angry with our ancestors when it seemed like they’d dug their own graves almost willingly. “There are Hyhborn that are born, right?” I asked. “I’m not talking about thecaelestias.”

“The children of Deminyens are born and they age just as acaelestiaor mortal, but perhaps slower.”

“That’s what I thought.” I paused. “Do you have children?”

“No.”

I didn’t know why I was relieved to hear that, but I was. “I’d heard that Deminyens can actually choose when to have a child. Like both parties have to want that for a child to be created. Is that true?”

“It is.”

“Must be nice,” I murmured.

“And you?” His hands slipped up my back again. “Have you had children?”

“Gods, no.”

Prince Thorne laughed. “I take it you aren’t fond of children?”

“It’s not that. It’s just what kind of . . .” I stopped myself. Grady’s words resurfaced. Why would I want to bring a child into this world? That was a damn good question for most, but for me? Even more so. How could I even touch my child?

“I understand,” he said quietly.

I opened my mouth, but closed it, thinking that maybe he did understand that I wouldn’t be able to give a child the life they deserved. That I feared that I would end up repeating history. I didn’t want to do that to a child. I couldn’t. But there was no way he could know how truly difficult it would be for me.

I cleared my throat. “Anyway, you said that things can go wrong during the creation?”

“If the process is disturbed, the creation is interrupted.” He slid his hands down my arms, catching the sleeves of my gown. The breath I took snagged as the silky material slipped from my arms and from my hips, pooling at my feet. “What is unearthed is even less mortal than a Deminyen.”

A chill hit my exposed flesh. “You’re talking about the ones who don’t look like us? Like thenix?”

“In a way,” he said, his palms grazing my ribs once more, chasing away the coldness. “Thenixare awakened early on purpose.”

My mind went back to the last time I was in this chamber. “Is that what you meant when you talked about not trusting those who created thenix?”

His breath touched the nape of my neck, and then I felt his lips there. “Yes.”

I wanted to ask him why one would attempt to disturb the process, but his hands made their way to my hips. His fingers slipped beneath the thin lace and he began to lower it.

My pulse sped up as I looked over my shoulder, seeing only the top of his bowed head as he drew the cloth down my legs, and then that too joined the gown on the floor. His mouth brushed against the curve of my ass, scattering my thoughts. Then his lips glanced off the dip of my lower back, the center of my spine, and then the nape of my neck as he rose once more.

“Tell me something,na’laa,” he said, turning me in his arms. “Is that how you survive now?”

I looked up, my gaze immediately locking with his. The blue had deepened to a color like the sky at dusk, seeping into the other hues. “What do you mean?”

He gathered my hair, dragging it back over my shoulder. “Do you still survive by doing whatever is necessary?”