Page 26 of Nightingale (The Broken Kingdoms #1)
S he returned an hour and a half later, just as the sun yawned with emboldened rays of pastel pink and burnt orange, swapping out places with the luminary moon of silver and ivory. Even stars began to appear in the lavender skies, winking down at her as she trekked back through the trees. Vrea loved the night, perhaps more than she loved the day. There was an indescribable beauty within the midnight that called to her, one that the sun and clouds could never replicate.
Others might have been afraid of the dark, but not her. She thrived in darkness.
There hadn’t been much in terms of usable herbs that could soothe the ache of a stab wound, which would find him within that night thanks to the quick feel of it that she’d gotten before convincing him to stop for the evening. She’d acted quick enough that hopefully no fever would set from infection but Vrea wasn’t the sort to take unnecessary risks so she’d grabbed the large yellow plant known as the Carylim Canna. The petals could be mashed into a thick paste and applied or swallowed to avoid the hot rash that followed illness.
She paid no heed to the shrubs with no berries, or the acorn trees that would spread come summer and the breeze. She found a few handfuls of wild mint which could help staunch any infection or swelling, as well as headache. Which if she was stuck with Rian and his incessant rambling and randomised flirtations, she might require eventually.
Castil had often brought her books in her time stuck inside the room, ones that she eventually read after enough time had passed for it to be of her own volition to read them, and not because he insisted. A few of them had been on tactics and warfare, a couple on the history of the lost Kingdoms before the war began and a handful had been about flora and fauna. Healing ones and hurting ones, with thousands of poisons and several concoctions that could be made from both sides of the spectrum.
Vrea had knowledge about plants from her studies back in Niroula, but the books she poured over helped expand it. They were never too big, always readable within a day and easy to understand. Even if she hadn’t been able to put the knowledge to the test in her confinement, there were still bits and pieces that jumbled around in her brain that she used now.
Such as the medicinal properties of elderflower.
Vrea found the creamy flower by its bushy appearance, the prickly petals that were actually soft. The powdery texture that the plant left behind was commonly used for healing remedies which made her take a handful before she could think too long on it. Worst case, she could always pack it for another time if they didn’t require it for his wound.
Past those three items, there was nothing.
Castil might have been the one to show her to novels, but there was no way in any of the seven hells that she would thank him for the help. Even if he wasn’t here to hear it, it was the principle of the matter.
Vrea wandered back until the opening was a couple feet ahead of her and she could spot the bright pulse of a fire from within the forest. When she emerged, Rian had taken off his shirt and used a spare linen cloth to dab away the bloody flakes that had dried. He’d almost removed it all, save for a small section around the cut itself that he winced as he touched.
“Here,” She offered the mint to him. “Crush it on that flat rock until it melds together and then add some water to help make it applicable.”
He took it with a bob of his head in appreciation and followed her instructions, word for word. “I’m assuming that learning herbology and the medicinal properties was also part of your training?”
“Are you surprised by that?”
The flames left a soft glow on his russet skin, one that she couldn’t help but admire as he smashed the leaves in his hands, crumpling them around to break the juice out in the full extent before laying it on the stone and selecting another from the ground. He poured some water from the leather skein over it first and then lowered it to the rock and began to roll it back and forth over the wild mint.
“No,” Rian surmised as he applied more pressure to the rock, grinding the flora and fauna. “I figured you learned the poisonous aspect of it all.”
When the mess became hardly recognizable, Vrea started plucking the leaves off the canna and adding them to his mix, one by one. He mashed them all together and when she was out of the amber leaves, she switched over to the elderflower and the dust it left behind.
“You aren’t wrong, but it was helpful in situations just like this to learn the healing side of it all as well. Our mother not only taught us how to kill the others, but how to heal ourselves if an incident happened and we wanted to change the outcome.” It was almost impossible to gather enough specks of the floral to drop them to the stone, but she tried her damned best by rubbing her fingers together over the stone surface as he paused. “There were certain things that I learned from the books that Castil brought me over the years as well, but I’ll kill you if you even think of telling him that.”
“I would never put you in that sort of situation.” He laughed, groaned and continued to grind. “At least yours had the decency to teach you that side to it all. I swear ours just handed us weapons from day one and shoved us towards the other with the firm expectation of bloodshed.”
Vrea added more elderflower.
Rian grimaced as he doubled over. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think you were right to stop. I don’t think there was any sort of toxin on the metal, but it feels like a bitch.”
She allowed a small smile to rise to her mouth. “The paste should be good now. Clean the infected area one more time and I’ll apply the paste.”
He did, aiming the lip of the skein against the filthy cloth and wiping away any remainder of battle. When it was as clean as it could get in their current circumstances, she swiped a good portion of the mush from the stone and scooted closer to him.
The air shifted.
Suddenly the fire felt too hot as he was close enough to wrap his arm around her, their legs brushing together as she tried to find the best way to apply the medicinal paste.
Vrea didn’t dare to look up, to see his eyes that she could feel on her as she tenderly lowered her fingers to his bare skin. He was warm, warmer than she expected him to feel as she slid the mixture back and forth as it hardened, making sure to cover the entire area.
“Thank you,” He murmured in a soft voice that sent chills spiking down her rich skin. Not the bad sort either, but the ones that two lovers in the night shared.
Which was bad for different reasons.
“It’s nothing.” Shame coated her tongue, causing her to mumble.
His fingers reached for her cloak, unclasping it and draping it behind him with a whisper of a touch. Her heart picked up, madly thrumming like a violin mid song. It was all she could feel as it raked through her entire being.
“No,” Rian corrected and she felt his hand on her chin a moment later, gently pushing her face up until she had no choice but to meet his gaze. “It’s not. Two weeks ago you wouldn’t have thrown that knife, let alone scoured the woods for me. You most definitely wouldn’t have applied the paste or even gotten this close in proximity.”
“That’s all true.” Her head was a cloud, floating on an airspace of emptiness. There wasn’t anything left on her hands to add to his stomach and yet she couldn’t stop touching it.
Touching him.
“So why then, Vre, are you taking such good care of me? I don’t buy the Blacklegs excuse, not completely.” The Prince whispered as he tilted his head down until they were barely a hair’s width away and she could smell his spicy mango, pepper and smoke scent. “Are you planning on killing me come the morning, and this is all one giant ruse to let me sleep with a fond last memory?”
Vre , the nickname felt familiar but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. It vanished within an instant as he stroked her cheek, all thoughts emptying from her head.
Vrea’s face heated until she knew she must have been red all over. “No, not at all.”
“I need a reason, because I don’t buy this nice act. Not from you, of all people.” He said as the side of his lip quirked up into a mischievous grin. “Not after the aftermath of my poor actions in the hallway.”
She honed in on his mouth, and only his mouth.
On how much she wanted to kiss him again, on how alive her body felt, at how shirtless he was. It was all doing unholy things to her and her common sense seemed to have vanished without a single part of it to be found. As if even her inner workings were telling her to do this, to do him.
She tuned into it.
Three years.
One night of passion couldn’t hurt.
“Because I’m a selfish person.” Vrea answered at last, knowing that she’d paused to stare at his sensual mouth and that he’d been fully aware of it.
That he allowed it.
It seemed that Rian wanted this as much as she did, otherwise he’d be halfway across the path by now to avoid the very hungry way that she was looking at him. She saw the same look reflected in his startling eyes, in the way the brilliant colour darkened to a midnight blue.
“Selfish?” He asked, drawing back an inch.
She lost some of the warmth, her hand still resting on his torso. It was firm and corded with muscle under her touch, and she wanted to see if the rest of him felt like that.
“Selfish because we are rivals, enemies in warring Kingdoms. Selfish because I’m supposed to hate you.” Vrea explained, trying to keep the pleading for him out of her tone. “Right now though, I hate you a little less than I should.”
“Right now,” Rian started, “Because why?”
“Because I want you to kiss me again- more than anything else.” It came out breathy, lustful and fast. “Because I want you to finish what you started in the hallway on Castil’s night of the celebration and I don’t want you to stop this time.”
His answering dip of his head was all of those things and more. He surged to close the distance between them and she almost melted against him. He was just as she remembered from nearly a month ago, demanding and ravenous and she wanted it all.
Rian took a fistful of her short hair in his hands, stroking up and down as he kissed her again. She dragged her hands up his torso, feeling the years of hard work under her palm and admiring it all. He was a ridiculously attractive man in the rough hewn way of a warrior. Bulk and strength and power all rolled into one figure.
He leaned even further and she moved with him until her spine met the bedroll but no complaint came from her as his lips nudged hers. She nipped at his bottom one and he groaned. It vibrated against her mouth and stirred a honeyed want in between her thighs.
Rian shuddered as she wrapped her legs around him and the hardness pressed into the place where she wanted him most.
A soft whimper left her throat and that caused some sort of surge to occur in him. He was feral, wanting, demanding as he broke away from the kiss only to pepper her neck in them instead. Her flesh felt charged, electric as he licked the spot where her shoulders started and he traced her collarbones with his tongue.
“I think I promised you something before we were so rudely interrupted.” Rian growled into her chest as he found the clasp on her belt and set it aside, aiming for the buttons on her coat next. He slipped them out with ease, urging her out of it with one arm at a time.
She let him undress her, massaging his forearms as he moved to her trousers, pulling at the lace that kept them closed. And when that first finger sank below the band of her simple under things, he swore at the wetness that she’d been sensing.
“Rian,” Vrea panted, flicking her hips in a circle against his palm as he teased her. Her body called for friction and she could focus on nothing but his hand as one finger plunged inside of her. Her pants were half on, half off but she didn’t care.
“I think I’m too injured at the moment to take you fully, so my fingers will have to do, for now. ” His voice sent a deep rumble through her as he slowly pumped in and out, circling the nub at the very back of her wall that she felt all the way into her very soul. “But rest assured, Vre, that I plan to fuck you as soon as I can.”
She gasped as he entered her with another, stretching her and cursing at how tight she was. There were no words in her mouth, no sentence in her head, nothing but the sensation alone as he moved in and out. Rian hastened the pace after a good minute, an increased pressure building with each slam he sent into her.
Her own hand tensed on his toned shoulder, gripping him for dear life as he brought his mouth back down to hers. Vrea met him, kiss for kiss and stroke for stroke as soon as his tongue pushed past the border of her lips.
Rian moved in tandem with his wicked fingers, and she knew she wasn’t far off from the pure, undiluted bliss that occasionally came if her partner knew the right technique.
It seemed as though Rian did.
Burst by burst, wave by wave, she was tight and loose at the same time, ready to explode and urging him on by adding to their fast kisses. He was there for it all, swallowing her moans as he continued to quicken, as if he sensed that she was close to a finish.
It had been so long.
“I want you to cry out my name,” The male uttered between the presses of his lips. “I want you to say it so that you know whose fingers are inside of you when you come.”
Not if, but when.
The astounding confidence in his bedroom skills gave her a stroke of pleasure, of something divine that sped everything up. She whimpered, biting her bottom lip as he licked it, slamming in harder than before. Her body bowed off the ground and his name fell from her tongue as she exploded.
His answering chuckle brought sparks dancing about her sensitive skin as she rode the pleasure out for as long as she possibly could, mouth agape. Rian stopped his fingers as he felt her clamp down on him, stilling for the entirety of her release.
With each pulse that came, the intensity lowered.
Until the point where her chest heaved and her head met the earth as she exhaled loudly.
Rian found her gaze and pinned her to the ground with it. “I like hearing my name, and only my name in your mouth. I think I might have you cry it out again when I take you for real.”
Vrea swallowed, nodding shallowly.
She still couldn’t form words.
“Suddenly,” The Prince untucked his hand from inside of her, finding the linen and wiping his fingers on it, “I can’t wait till we get to the war camp.”