Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

"No."

"Quiet," Conri hisses at me over the howling and cheering of the lykin.

I didn't realize I'd uttered the word. I thought it had been kept to my mind. My whole body is numb, I don't know if I could move if I tried, so I'm amazed my lips somehow managed to form a sound.

Conri still continues to hold me with white knuckles as he declares, "Break down your tents; we start our trek to Gualla this afternoon."

Most of the lykin jump to activity at his decree. But many are affixed to their spots. Never before have I had so many focused solely on me. Some bare their teeth as I pass. Others shift into their wolf shapes, hairs on end and muscles tense.

The announcement of our upcoming union is already an unpopular decision. Perhaps I can use the disdain of Conri's people to my advantage. I debate my next steps and best approaches the entire way back to Conri's tent. He releases me only to give me a light push inside.

"Leave us, Evander," Conri commands. The knight has remained diligently at our side. "Help the others ready to move. I don't want any delays."

Evander hovers in the entrance, his eyes darting from me, to Conri, and back again. He wears the same scowl as before. Perhaps this loathing comes from the announcement Conri made. I wonder if the man loves his king or just thinks me unworthy.

"Yes, my king." Evander's nod is jerky and forced. It looks as if he has to expend a great deal of effort to force himself to leave.

"Evander is a good and loyal knight," Conri says with a note of approval. "I have a mind to appoint him as your sworn protector in all instances where I am kept from your side. He knows the world of the humans well, and the ways of witches. I think that would make you comfortable while you acclimate to your new home here in Midscape."

"Married?" I blurt, completely ignoring everything he said. "Mate?"

"Yes." Conri begins packing his things as though everything is perfectly normal. "I realize you must be stunned by the great honor I have bestowed upon you since you think yourself unworthy, no doubt. But I assure you that, with all the power you have to offer me, and Aurora's magic within you, you will be a fitting mate."

"I have no interest in being your mate," I say bluntly so there can be no misunderstanding. He pauses, mid packing. His back is still to me, and his shoulders tense slightly, drawing toward his ears. "Or your wife. Or being with you for any extended period at all in any way."

There's a long pause where the whole world seems to hold its breath, myself included. Then he begins packing again, hands moving before his mouth. When he speaks, his tone is placid, as though I've said nothing more than trivial notions.

"I had hoped you would find joy in the great honor that I am bestowing upon you." He hums. "Though, perhaps it can't be helped; you've still much to learn about our ways."

"I don't…" I can't say I don't want to learn. I'm genuinely curious about the lykin and all of Midscape. What I don't want to do is learn from the man who's kept Aurora hostage and seems to be trying to do the same to me. "I have other priorities."

"You will need to make me your priority now," he says, matter-of-fact.

"Excuse me?"

"Within you is half the magic of the moon spirit." He spins and stares down at me. "In you is the primordial power promised to my people—sworn to the rightful king of the wolves for centuries. Even if your human mind tells you that you do not love me, somewhere within you is Aurora's essence. That will love me, with all its might. And you will learn to follow its lead, in time."

"You honestly expect me to make nice to you so you can lead your pack to wage war on my homeland?" My voice rises slightly and I shake my head. If the wolf king marches through the Fade and into human towns and cities, what was all my effort maintaining the barriers for?

Though…Bardulf and Evander broke my barrier without issue. Perhaps it was all an illusion of safety from the start. Then again, Conri just said Evander has knowledge of witches, and he was the one to try and order the spirits Rhave and Gruvun. Maybe he's the man I really need to be careful of.

Danger lurks behind every silver eye here.

"Faelyn…"

Hearing my name from his lips stills me.

"The lykin are dying. Our lands grow more barren with every generation. Our numbers dwindle with every mating spring. We are a people without hope or future." Conri's eyes widen enough to fill with sorrow. The tension between my shoulders unknots some with unbidden sympathy. He looks…genuinely afraid. "We cannot push west or we will be crushed by the Elf King and his armies for extending beyond our borders. The mountains are well claimed by the vampir and fortified for centuries—it'd be a foolish effort to walk into the land of our mortal enemies. The lands of the Natural World are fertile, still. They were once our home; pack territories extended well beyond the current line of the Fade. We have as much of a claim to them as the humans do."

"The lykin struck a deal with the witches not to come into the lands of the human." A deal that, knowing they lost territory, makes so much more sense now.

"Not quite. The witches gained access to spirits and magic from Midscape by allowing the Fade to be opened from time to time, and the lykin gained a rich hunting ground of the woods nearest the Fade." It strikes me that not once have I ever questioned why the lykin were given the run of the woods when the witches, probably, could have just as easily held them at the Fade. "Can't you see? Your people and mine…we were meant to work together. Opening the Fade to us would help you, too. It would further restore magic to the Natural World, emboldening witches to reclaim their birthright, also."

"Witches work to protect our human brethren. We wouldn't sacrifice them for our own power." I regard him skeptically.

"Who is asking you to?" The corner of his mouth quirks up slightly. Amusement breaks through his kingly composure. "I never said anything of conquest."

"But…" I think back, repeating all he said in my mind. I suppose…he didn't. Not explicitly. I just thought it was so clear…

"I won't lie to you, Faelyn. There will be those who would ask me to raze human settlements. Just as I'm sure there are humans that would seek to hunt us. But we can make our own path—guide them, teach them." His words are soft, nearly tender. They soothe over my worries, easing them into the recesses of my mind. He holds out a hand and, despite myself, I'm compelled to take it. Barely audibly, under his breath, he whispers, "That's it."

Conri takes a step closer still. I'm acutely aware of his lean, muscular form. The heat emanating from him envelopes me, stirring that need deep within me that I tried, desperately, to push away. I am intoxicated by the pull that slips over my shoulders like the weight of my cloak.

"Think of all you could do at my side, as my wife." He brings a hand to my cheek. It pushes around to the back of my neck, pulling at my hair, dragging my face up toward his to whisper his words across my cheeks. "What were your prospects before you came to me? To be a witch at the edge of town for the rest of your life? Think of all you can do now for your people…for yourself. You have the power of the spirit of the moon in you. Immense. Power that could make the very foundations of the world tremble should you dare to harness it."

He's pulled me nearly flush to him, without me entirely realizing when or how. The distance between us is so small that a single shudder that threatens to rip down my spine would have me quivering against him. His right fingers lace against mine, sliding. Gripping. His other hand is at the nape of my neck, tangled with my hair. It closes into a fist as well.

"Be my mate, willingly, Faelyn. Harness your power. Claim this destiny I have placed before you. Perhaps, one day, you and I shall rule as mighty as the Elf King and Human Queen…perhaps even more so."

His eyes drop to my mouth and mine mirror the motion, looking at his. His closely cropped beard accentuates the dusky pink of his full lips. They are inviting. Tempting.

"It's all right, Faelyn," he murmurs, mouth almost touching mine. "Give in to me."

"My liege." Evander bursts into the tent without warning.

My eyes dart over toward the knight. I can't move my head because Conri still grips my hair too tightly. His face hovers close to mine. Expectantly.

Evander's expression darkens as he takes in the scene before him. His chin dips, ever so slightly, and his eyes are shadowed by the veil of his unruly bangs. His focus shifts from Conri's hand, entwined with my hair, to the perilous proximity of our mouths. Evander's smoldering intensity heightens to near ferocity in the silver of his eyes, like a thunderstorm on a distant horizon.

"A moment, Evander," Conri declares. I can't tell if he's oblivious to his knight's brewing rage or not by tone alone. When my attention shifts back to him, I'm once more enthralled by the still calm of his silver eyes, darkened by an almost black ring around the outer edge. "Kiss me, my future queen."

"What?" I breathe. The same squirming need I felt earlier is back in force. I've practically forgotten Evander is there at all.

"Kiss me." Those two words hold a power unlike any I've known before. For the command almost has me moving instantly. He relaxes his grip enough that I could move toward him. But I don't. I tremble with the exertion of not doing so, feeling my body brush against his in delightful and forbidden ways. I'm fighting with all my might not to give in to my basest of needs.

"It's all right," he whispers soothingly. "You can give in here. We lykin revel in our urges, our natural desires. Try it. Taste this life and you might find you like the flavor. Taste me, and you will never want anything else."

His right hand slides across my hip, grabbing right above my rear and pulling me flush against him. I feel his hard length as he presses it into me. There is no shame to his desire. He wants me to know the truth to his words with his deeds.

Something tells me that, were I to ask him to take me, he would strip me bare here and now and do it with Evander watching—with the whole pack watching—and not feel a second of shame.

A distant part of me that's somewhere far beyond my flesh is disgusted by my excitement. That woman who is in control of her thoughts and emotions screams from the corners of my mind for me to get a hold of myself. But is she right? I don't know anymore. The longer I stare into his eyes, the less sure I am of anything but the man in front of me.

"Kiss me," Conri says again, sultry and smooth.

And I do.

Our lips collide and his hips roll against mine. His thumb finds purchase at the hinge of my jaw, gently urging it to part and make way for his tongue. His mouth tastes uniquely of him—like dark fruit, ripe with passion, sour yet sweet.

I yearn for more. It feels as if it's been an eternity since I last felt a body moving against mine. Since I could last put to rest all thoughts and worries with the closing of my eyes. Allowing the strong hands of a man to ease away all of life's heaviness.

Without warning, he pulls away with a smug look of triumph. Conri cocks his head to the side slightly, eyes dragging from my lips—wet with his saliva—to meet my gaze. He does not have heavy lids, or a lusty stare. His expression is sharp.

He looks at me as little more than a conquest and I am instantly sobered by it.

"Excellent, you will be a good girl for me, won't you?" He runs a finger down my cheek as he releases my rear. "No trouble as we make our way to Gualla and the ancient wood beyond?"

"I…" I croak. Unable to find words. Everything is catching up to me with horrible clarity.

"No, no, you will be no trouble. You will be my good girl now, tomorrow, and…" He leans forward to whisper in my ear. "…in weeks from now when we arrive at the old wood and I bend you over in front of all my pack to take you beneath the moon, filling your belly with my heirs."

The words are so shocking that I can't react to them before he leaves—murmuring something to Evander and clasping him on the shoulder. I'm left breathless. Stunned. Horrified.

Utterly disgusted with myself.

Am I that desperate? That pathetic? It doesn't matter how sweet his tongue is, that man is Aurora's captor. And I just willingly handed myself to him.