Page 36

A series of unfamiliar knocks on the door stirred me from sleep. I turned my head to look out of the window and noticed that it was barely past dawn.

I stifled a groan.

It’d been two days since the rest of the Valwain and I got back to The Haven.

We arrived at nearly dawn, as we had traveled through the night to make it back in a timely manner, straight through the heart of Yarpeck Woods.

The moment the officials saw Byn had returned, they practically ambushed him, wanting him and various members of the Valwain to jump into meetings right away.

To my surprise, Byn made them wait even longer.

He asked them to give him two days to settle in before he attended any meetings.

He said he had something of the utmost importance to take care of right away, but that in two days’ time he was all theirs for any and all meetings.

Giles, his head advisor and assistant in pretty much all things, from what I understood, was not happy with him, but begrudgingly agreed to push all his meetings off until he was ready.

When I asked him what he needed to handle so urgently, he looked dumbfounded that I had asked. “ You,” he had said. Then went on to explain how he needed to teach me fire wielding before Quinn got ahold of me again and decided to teach me herself.

I couldn’t really argue with that reasoning.

Today, we had to deal with all of the meetings. But for the past couple of days, Byn had been teaching me how to control and use my fire zirilium. We went far outside the city limits, close to a nearby river, so if anything went wrong we had a backup option.

We also weren’t ready at the time for anybody outside of the Valwain to know about my abilities.

In my training with Byn, I realized fire zirilium acted a lot like air zirilium.

They both had a desire to run free, and they were difficult to give shape to.

They practically had a mind of their own.

Other zirilium, such as crystal and ice, were easily moldable, but fire just wanted to spread and take over everything in its path.

I realized quickly that the hardest part of learning to control it was trying to only set fire to certain things, or only parts of an object.

It took a good amount of concentration, but I was successfully able to burn our props appropriately, after some practice.

Byn had brought multiple objects from around The Haven that nobody would miss—a random stool that didn’t have a place, an unused comb, an empty leather notebook, and a very unpleasant looking hat.

I was able to set fire to them according to Byn’s instructions almost completely successfully.

Though, when he asked me to set fire to only the rim of the hat, I ended up burning the entire thing to ashes.

But his way of instructing was calm, patient, and thorough—since he could feel what I was feeling, he was able to help talk me through guiding my energy past my emotions.

The next three objects, thanks to his help, I set fire to perfectly.

Beyond learning to control the fire, he showed me how to bend the flames into different shapes and arcs, and how to create dagger and sword like shapes. He showed me how to make fireballs, and how to control how large they were.

I figured that already knowing how to wield air helped a lot in my ability to pick up so easily on fire, and I’d never been more grateful for all the times I snuck out of Gatlyn Castle as a child to practice my abilities.

Byn was still stunned that my fire burned so hot it was almost completely blue, but I could feel that he was proud, too.

The knocks came against the bedroom door again, and this time Byn rolled out of bed, stumbling blurry eyed to the door.

I hadn’t slept in my own room since we got back. I’d grown too accustomed to falling asleep in my husband’s arms.

“Giles. It’s barely dawn,” Byn said, his shirtless form filling the crack in the door, not opening it all the way.

I couldn’t hear the stuttering reply Giles gave, but I could tell by the set in Byn’s shoulders that he was already annoyed.

And today’s meetings hadn’t even started yet.

“Alright, alright, I understand,” he said in reply to something else Giles said, then shut the door and rested against it before he leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling.

“It’s going to be an extremely long day, isn’t it?” he asked, not breaking eye contact with the ceiling.

I climbed out of bed and padded across the room toward him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my chin on his chest, staring up at him as I replied.

“I fear so. But at least we’ll be together, no?” I asked.

His lips lifted into a small smile as he looked down at me, wrapping me up in his arms and holding me tightly as he placed a kiss on the top of my head.

“Yes, at least there’s that. You remember the plan?” he questioned, and I nodded.

Supposedly, there had been a lot of talk about me being crowned as queen. A lot of the nobles and advisors weren’t fond of having a purebred Northerner as queen, so Byn and I came up with a plan, just in case things got out of hand.

We wouldn’t show our hand unless forced, though.

“I won’t have them disrespecting what’s mine,” he said lowly, placing his chin atop my head, and I could feel his anger and possessiveness beginning to bubble up in my chest. When he heard what the people were saying about me, he went completely silent.

It was odd, seeing somebody so upset that they went silent.

Father always lashed out—you always knew when he was angry.

But Byn had masked all emotion from his face, and if I weren't able to feel his emotions, I never would’ve known the fact had made him so upset and frustrated.

That was when we hatched our idea as backup, just in case things got out of hand today.

In all honesty, part of me wanted things to get out of hand during the meetings, just so I could show off and put an end to all the talk.

“Come,” I said softly, “let’s go get ready.”

I pulled away and turned toward the washroom, but before I could take more than two steps, Byn’s hand was lightly collaring my throat.

I forgot how to breathe in that moment.

With him lightly pulling, I stepped backward until I was flush with Byn’s chest. Then his other hand was there, shifting my hair to expose the side of my neck.

“I did say another time , and that was days ago…” he trailed off as his head dipped, his lips barely grazing my skin as he spoke. The contact felt like lightning sizzling along my skin.

I inhaled sharply as he lightly scraped his teeth against the soft spot just under my ear, and my hand flew up to tangle in his sleep-mussed hair.

Seemingly encouraged, his kisses became more purposeful as he placed a trail of them down the column of my neck.

My zirilium felt like miniature explosions inside my veins as a small, breathy sound escaped my lips.

Byn’s grip on my throat tightened before it was gone all together, replaced with his hand at my waist. He swiftly turned me around to face him, tangling his hand in my hair and tugging, forcing me to look up at him.

The sudden switch up caused me to gasp, but before the sound could even completely leave my mouth, Byn’s lips crashed into mine, as if he could devour the sounds I was making.

This kiss was hungry, possessive. He nipped at my bottom lip, and I granted him the access he was seeking. Our tongues fought for dominance, but he eventually won, sweeping in and claiming what was his.

We broke apart a moment later, both panting lightly. My chest felt warm from all of the love and desire we were both feeling.

Staring into my eyes, he asked, “I want to test something. Do you trust me?”

“Always,” I responded, no hesitation to be found in my voice.

A mischievous smirk overcame his handsome face, flexing his dimple. I watched curiously as he reached a hand out towards my left wing, which was flared slightly, and lightly ran his fingers over one of the most sensitive parts.

I couldn’t stop the soft, pleased sound that escaped my lips.

My hand flew up, covering my mouth, and I could tell by the heat in my ears and face that I was bright pink.

“I thought so,” Byn said quietly. I tilted my head up to meet his eyes, and couldn’t help but notice how proud of himself he looked.

As if he had just uncovered a great mystery.

I shuddered as he reached out and repeated the movement, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from embarrassing myself again.

Just that simple movement had my blood singing for him, my heart pounding. But before he could reach for me once again, I forced myself to take a step backwards.

“We have meetings to attend today,” I said, shaking my head, as though I could clear the fog looming there anytime Byn came too close.

“I could attend to you today, instead,” Byn suggested, though with the look in his eyes, I knew he was aware I was right. I raised an eyebrow at him, almost in a challenge.

“Let’s go get ready,” he said after he took a few deep breaths, holding his hand out towards me. I gladly slid my hand into his, and together we headed for the washroom.

The sun had fully risen and was blessing Cairnyl with its light by the time we were ready to make our appearance.

We coordinated our outfits for today—silver and gold, black and white, moon and sun. Opposites in almost every way, yet working together in perfect harmony.

I picked out a long, frilly, black dress with silver lace accents on the sleeves, chest, and hem.

There was a long slit down the side that showed my leg as I walked, and I was wearing a pair of black heels.

I thought wearing black would wash out my features, but surprisingly, it brought them out more—the white of my hair, my pale skin, my blue eye.

The whole outfit was thanks to Teagan, who would be joining us for the meetings today. Apparently, a minimum of two members of the Valwain had to be present.