Page 93

Chapter

Sixty-Four

Liv

M aev had dropped me off at the castle, saying my suite should have buckets of empty crystals to soothe me.

She had gotten them from her professor, who had saved them after their alchemy labs.

Over a dozen buckets sat near the door, filled with empty stones of all shapes and sizes, and I wondered how long it would take to fill them.

Maev was supposed to go out with Hanold tonight—their first official date. So I had to kill time and hopefully relax enough to get a good sleep before we left on our journey.

We were finally going to find the gods.

I brought the buckets of crystals to my bed and spread some around the room, then lit candles so everything glowed a warm yellow. The fire made the room pleasant and inviting.

I changed into a lightweight, green nightgown that showed enough skin to send me to prison back home and sat on the edge of my bed.

For the first time in a very long time, I felt safe.

Sure, so much could go wrong when Maev and I left the city to search for the forgotten shrines, but tonight, I could enjoy this.

I left the bedroom to explore the rest of the floor.

Other rooms had been closed up and left dirty, but I inspected those, too.

I found an office with empty bookshelves and a desk cleaned of any personal items, and a sitting room with chairs covered in linen cloth.

There was a room with piles of furniture and belongings.

I picked through a dirty pile of paintings stacked against a wall until I came to a portrait, buried under several frames and covered with a sheet.

It was difficult to see in the candlelight, but there was no mistaking the image of the queen and her three sons.

I stared at the queen of Avenmae. She was beautiful with a severe face.

She looked powerful. She looked like a mother …

and she had been until she lost her three sons.

Three men sat at her side—tall, proud, dark-haired princes.

They reminded me of the Avenmae citizens.

They were not warriors like the Guardians and wouldn’t have stood a chance against an invasion of their city.

My heart pounded while I held the painting, lost to time. Did anyone remember the royals or what they looked like? Or was the Queen a forgotten ghost?

A pull in my chest startled me, and I dropped the sheet back over the portrait, determined to come and examine the other portraits at another time.

But right now, I wanted to be at the end of the cord tugging on my chest. I closed the doors to the room of forgotten treasures and hurried back to my bedroom.

And there, before the fire, next to the large, cushioned chairs, was Brekt.

From the doorway, I could see out the window to the balcony—a starry sky shone above Avenmae.

Brekt was picking up crystals, holding them to the fire, testing their weight and dropping them. He found my swords by my bedside and slid one out of its leather case and inspected those glowing crystals, too.

He was beautiful.

He was cleaned up in fresh clothing. There were no holes in his shirt from wounds caused on the burning field, and he’d cut his hair too. It sat on his shoulders, worn down in dark waves and parted slightly off-centre.

I leaned against my doorframe, watching him.

The black shirt he wore was loose, unbuttoned at the top. His dark pants were for comfort, not for battle. He was more exotic tonight, less like a hardened warrior. And with the candlelight warming his skin, it gave him a sensual glow.

He set a crystal down, lifting his gaze to me. The corner of his mouth tilted up. “I would normally say it’s rude to stare, but I enjoy hearing you sigh like that.”

I jerked away from the doorframe. “I wasn’t sighing.”

“Panting?”

“I was just breathing.”

Brekt’s grin set my veins on fire, warming my face, and so did the temperature of the room. “You sound like an animal in heat, love. Get in here.”

I tiptoed into the bedroom.

“You look like a dream,” he purred. “Who’s finding you these clothes? I must thank them. It will be a pleasure sleeping next to you tonight.”

Shivers travelled over my body. “You’re staying the night?”

He flopped down into one of the chairs by the fire. “If I’m welcome.”

I held back my squeal of delight. However, I couldn’t contain the smile, hearing he was mine to sleep next to. “And you are going to sit in that chair? That’s your plan?”

Brekt leaned back, his legs spread, arms resting on the sides, head tilted. “I am just enjoying the view.”

He was so different now, and I enjoyed the fact that he wasn’t so reserved. Coming back from the dead looked good on him.

“Likewise.” I padded across the room, stopping at the end of my bed, leaned against the frame and folded my arms to take him in. His attention snagged on my chest, where my nightgown sat low, and it lit up my confidence.

Brekt’s gaze darkened when they landed on the scar on my shoulder. “You should be afraid of me. Look what I’ve done.”

I rubbed the skin there, covering the scar. “This isn’t over. It may get worse. And I scarred you first.”

He traced a finger over his brow, where the scar began, and ran it down over his eye. “It’s not a competition.”

“Oh? Not a competitive man?” I bit my lip, holding onto the edge of my bed frame for support.

“Look at those bold words. Being evil becomes you.”

I ignored the jab. “Being a beast becomes you. You used to hold back from me, hide from me. I hated it.”

“Believe me, I hated it too. I was stupid to believe I could control what happened. I didn’t want you to suffer as you did in my dreams.”

“You never saw me use magic in those dreams?”

“No. Likely because when you do, I am the beast. I never dreamt of being the Aspis, either. Just knew it was there. I dreamt of myself fading away and then darkness.”

“And you dreamt … of us.”

The darkness in his eyes changed, deepening until it was a sensual caress.

“Many times. Often the same dream over and again. Eventually, I came to know you so well that I would dream of you on instinct and not as a glimpse of what would come. I would dream of you only because my heart wished you were real. Those dreams will never come to be, but what will come true will make you blush, just like you are now.”

My thighs squeezed from the knowledge that what he dreamt of hadn’t happened yet.

He played with the fabric on the chair. “What’s with the buckets of crystals? You going to leave this city armed to the teeth? A little unfair for your old friends, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know what will happen to the crystals once I fill them. I just needed a lot. You can take some, as many as you like, when they are filled.”

Brekt took in the number of buckets I had. “Why do you need so many? Is the magic hurting you that much?” He sat forward, leaning closer to inspect me.

Several feet separated us. It was too much.

“It doesn’t hurt. More like it drains my energy when I don’t use it—it makes my body feel tight. I become so wound up that it’s difficult to breathe, so I need to release the magic into the crystals.”

“Do it now. I know a thing or two about being wound up with no release.” His eyes danced with mischief, and I couldn’t stop my blood from roaring. But then concern etched the corners of his mouth. “I don’t like hearing you have to go through that.”

“I don’t want to use the magic. You’ll turn. I want you to stay. The crystals will eventually take what seeps out of me. The leaking of magic I can’t control.”

Brekt sat back but didn’t relax as before. “Why haven’t the gods replaced the magic in the crystals if they put it there in the first place.”

“That’s a question we have all been asking. I think because they don’t have magic like they used to.” I pointed to myself to explain why.

“It’s not your duty to fill them for other people, Liv. Don’t do that to yourself. When we return the magic to the gods, we will correct it for everyone.”

“You are very quick to take my side after years of being taught to hate me.”

He held my stare, looking into me, seeing me, and it was the most intimate appraisal anyone had ever fixed me with. “You know why I do.”

My heart skipped.

“I wanted all these crystals in case you visited me.”

Confusion flickered across his face.

“My plan wasn’t as sweet as you sleeping over.”

It was difficult to breathe around my pounding heart. I was back in his suite in the Guardian City—shy, unsure, inexperienced.

Understanding shone in the way his smile grew, and he put his hands behind his head, crossing his feet at the ankles. “You want me to kiss you again?”

I waited.

His brows went in the air. “You want more?”

I nodded, feeling unsure about it all.

Brekt scanned the room and surprised me when he laughed.

My face went red, embarrassed I had been so forward. Was it a ridiculous thought?

“That explains all the crystals. There’s a lot.” He rested his elbows on his knees. “As much as I love seeing the pink on your cheeks, wipe that look from your face. You didn’t need to gather so many crystals to suck up your magic.”

“And why is that?”

“All the magic in the world won’t stop me from fucking you tonight.”

Hearing those words in Brekt’s timbre stopped my heart completely. I moved toward him with no thought, and he rose from the chair. We were two worlds colliding with enough force to rattle the stars.

He lifted me, and my legs went around his waist. When our lips met, everything disappeared but the fire building in me. It ravaged my body, sending heat to every place he touched. His tongue found mine and stroked deliciously, tasting. I moaned and dug my fingers into the back of his head.

The Ikhor and the Aspis were finally at war to see whose hands were faster. Whose lips were more brutal. Whose desperation leaked further into the other.