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Chapter Twenty Eight

I traced my forefinger around the dragon Marking Clay's hip. The beast stretched its neck high above his pelvic bone, its tail winding down his thigh - a permanent reminder of the God that gifted him his power.

“I used to wonder what this looked like,” I murmured, watching the subtle twitch of his body under my touch. I circled that spot again, just to the left of his pelvic bone, and his fingers tightened on my back.

With one hand propped under his head, he lifted his gaze to the Mark. “Does it meet your expectations?”

“Everything meets my expectations.”

He grinned and rested his head back once more. “I aim to please, Miss Moore.”

Clay gently guided my head to rest on his chest, his fingers weaving through my hair. Hours had passed in this quiet contentment, lying wrapped together beneath the sheets, lost in each other’s warmth.

But morning would come eventually.

“What happens now?” I whispered.

He sighed heavily. “I suppose we should talk to Camilla. I’ll summon Rankor and Kent in the morning. They should be here for that conversation. ”

“Not Iris?”

The thought of explaining this to Iris - of admitting that I’d freed the woman responsible for Lorelai’s death - churned in my stomach. That conversation was unavoidable, though. Better to face her sooner than later.

“Not Iris.” Clay’s voice was stern, inviting no further argument.

I shifted up, meeting his gaze even as he tried to avoid mine. “We have to tell her.”

Clay reached up, brushing back my hair. “After we talk to Camilla, I’ll go to Iris and speak with her myself.”

“She’s my best friend, Clay. I should be there for that conversation. I’m the one who freed Camilla.”

His expression hardened with frustration as he looked away. “Iris is one of the deadliest people I know - second only to you, princess. I’m not letting her anywhere near you until I know she’ll control herself.”

I frowned. Clay could turn himself into a giant winged beast. Rankor and Kent were deadly war warriors, trained in their own unique abilities. Iris was… just a faerie. What danger was there in shifting your form into that of another?

The memory of our conversation from earlier flitted through my mind briefly. He had said that Rankor and Kent would have allies and that Iris would also have associates who would join our cause.

“What is The Order?” I asked, recalling what he had said.

Clay’s thumb stroked my cheek before he guided me to lay back down again in the space above his heartbeat. Moving his hand from under his head, he entwined my fingers with his own. “They’re an elite group of assassins.”

“I thought she was a spy?”

“They’re often one and the same.” He squeezed my hand gently.

A million questions popped into my mind, demanding immediate attention, but Clay’s dismissal of the topic was clear in his voice.

He wasn’t ready to talk about it, and I supposed there would be time enough for questions and discussions tomorrow.

For now, if this was my only night to simply be here with him, I wanted to savor every second.

“No more secrets,” He said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence. “If we’re going to do this together, I don’t want anymore secrets between us. Next time you go to the Underworld… you tell me.”

I’d held my secrets like armor for so long. Surrendering them felt like stepping into thin air and just trusting Clay to catch me. Trusting him not to abandon me, regardless of what he learned.

“No more secrets,” I agreed, the words as much as vow to him as they were to myself.

“Sleep now,” he murmured, a soft command. “We’ll figure out the rest later.”

I pressed my lips to his chest, moving up to straddle his hips, his length firm between my thighs as I began to rock. His hands gripped my thighs, his eyes blazing gold as he gazed up at me.

“Sleep later,” I reasoned, smiling. “For now, I want to show you how quick of a learner I can be.”

I woke hours later than normal, the sun already hanging high in the sky. Clay kept me up all night, so I wasn’t surprised my body craved extra rest.

Thankfully, my exhaustion led to a peaceful night’s sleep without any unexpected travels to foreign realms.

Clay wasn’t in the bed beside me, though, when I blinked my eyes open. His half of the bed was already cold, which meant he had already gone to the castle.

And so it begins.

I took my time in the washroom, pulling on a robe and rinsing my face. The woman who stared back at me in the looking glass didn’t appear any noticeably different from she had the day before, spare some swollen lips, and yet everything inside me felt new.

I loved. And I was loved.

Finally, admitting it to each other had lifted a weight off my shoulders that I hadn’t even realized had been weighing me down. And what we’d done…

Well, that had been beautiful.

It was the culmination of a magnetic pull between us that had always felt far too strong to be natural.

I hadn’t thought it possible to feel more for Clay than I already did, but somehow, what we’d said and shared last night had elevated everything.

I was practically floating with happiness, despite all the reasons I had to be worried.

By the time I made my way down the staircase, I found Elaina sitting in the sunlit room near the entryway, sipping tea and staring out the window at the ocean.

“It’s a beautiful view,” she commented, noticing me with a soft smile.

“It really is.” I joined her by the window, enjoying the quiet before she motioned toward the tea.

“I made you some tea,” she offered, filling a cup for me before settling back in her seat. “Clay went to the castle early this morning. He said he wanted to let you sleep.”

I felt warmth creep into my cheeks. She had all but given us her blessing last night, but still, she was technically his fiancé. His bracelet remained locked around her wrist.

“So,” she drug out the word, obviously sensing the awkwardness of the situation. “I’d ask how your evening was, but it was obviously very good.”

Oh gods. I sat the tea down and let my face fall in my hands, desperate to hide my furious blush. “Did we… keep you up last night?”

Elaina laughed, a carefree sound. “Not at first, but it is hard to sleep soundly when every so often the entire house starts to shake.”

My power had taken on a life of its own last night. I was really going to have to work on getting that under control if Clay and I were going to do that again.

And I most definitely wanted to do that again.

“I am really sorry,” I sighed, lifting my head to meet her smiling gaze.

Elaina waved her hand at me, brushing off my apology. “Nonsense. You should never apologize for an evening as remarkable as last night must have been.”

My blush was most definitely turning the entirety of my face bright red. Elaina chuckled softly before clearing her throat awkwardly. “So I found many of the herbs for the tea in your garden. I left some extra in the kitchen. I would recommend drinking it once a week moving forward.”

It took a moment for her words, and the meaning under them to settle in, and I glanced down at the mug in my hands as understanding dawned over me.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

Baby dragons were the last thing we needed right now.

Just then, the sound of heavy hoofbeats sounded outside, and we both glanced toward the door before Elaina gave me an encouraging nod. “Go. I’ll check on our patient.”

I didn’t hesitate, rushing outside into the winter air without a second thought about the fact that I wore nothing but a thin silk robe.

Sure enough, Clay was dismounting, with Rankor and Kent following behind.

My eyes found Clay’s instantly, a sense of relief and something deeper washing over me as he strode toward me.

Gods, this man had wrapped his entire hand around my heart.

“How was the ride?” I breathed, barely hiding the real question beneath my words.

Are we still okay in the morning light?

He grinned, his gaze straying towards my lips before answering, “Fast.”

His answer was obvious in his body language. We’re perfect.

Relieved, I turned to greet Rankor and Kent – only to notice Kent’s face twisting into a look of horror. His eyes darted between Clay and me, widening before he muttered something under his breath and made a beeline for the house, looking faintly green.

“Excuse me,” he mumbled, barely making it through the door before disappearing.

Before I could ask, Rankor’s gaze started bouncing between Clay and me, a puzzled frown forming on his face before it split into a knowing, triumphant grin. He threw open his arms in celebration. “So you two finally fucked, huh?”

Oh. My. Gods.

“Go inside, Rankor,” Clay commanded, sounding every bit like the King he was about to become, though his lips twitched in amusement.

Rankor started walking, his smile never fading for a minute. “No, really, I think it’s great. At least I hope it was great. Well, who am I kidding? Look at you two. You’re two attractive people. Of course it was great.”

If a portal to the Underworld opened right there beneath me, I would have gladly jumped right into it and never came back.

“Inside!” Clay barked, giving him a gentle shove towards the manor while I hung my head .

Despite my raging embarrassment, Clay seemed unbothered; he grinned and pressed his hands against my hips to pull me towards him for a tantalizingly slow kiss.

“Will Kent be okay?” I breathed when he pulled away to cradle my face.

“He’s always been that way. He get’s a little awkward when he senses certain things.”

“Like love?”

Clay kissed me again, this time longer and filled with unspeakable motives that made my toes curl inside my boots.

“I think he might have been picking up a slightly different emotion from me.”

I chewed on my bottom lip and he stared at the small motion. “And what were you feeling, Your Grace?”

“Well, I was thinking about how good you looked when you were riding me last night, and imagining bending you over backwards the second I get you alone. So, you can probably imagine.”

My cheeks flamed, but I pressed myself closer to him. “Poor Kent.”

Clay’s mouth started a trail of kisses along my jaw, finding their way to nibble on my earlobe. “Lucky me.”

“Hey lovebirds!” Rankor’s voice shattered the moment. He stood on the porch with his arms crossed over his broad shoulders, his grin replaced by a furrowed brow. “She’s awake.”