28

TWENTY-NINE

Willow

I’ve been screaming down the bond for minutes now. I can’t reach Ember or feel her through our connection. My mind is racing with terrible thoughts over the loss of my mate. I don’t feel a sever of our bond yet, so that’s one good thing. And the bond isn’t fully complete yet, so maybe this is just a result of that?

I’m trying to remain calm after Amara came running into my library minutes ago, screaming “She’s gone! She just vanished!” frantically with tears streaming down her face.

Something similar happened the night she was taken by the goddess. Maybe this is something similar to that?

I’ve been running through the halls of my quarters ever since. Artie jogs behind me and Amara stays back in the library, where she’s being heavily guarded in case there is a threat nearby and it’s not the goddess, Naistrelle.

We searched the entirety of my wing and come up empty.

Ember! I shout down the bond. My chest is heaving with heavy breaths and my head is swirling with burning rage at this point. I will rip off anyone’s head, including the goddess, if she took my mate somewhere unsafe.

We haven’t completed our bond yet and she can’t be taken from me this early. We’re only getting started. We’ve barely gotten started.

There’s still no sensation flowing through our bond. It’s as if Ember built a wall around herself and shut off all connection from me. My heart aches at the thought.

I’ve searched the entire palace at this point besides my fathers wing. I finally round a corner with Arite on my tail and can hear the sounds of people eating and drinking with joy.

What the fuck is going on?

That’s when I realized I’m near our formal dining room. I stomp my way past the guards and shove the doors wide open, confused at the sight that lays before me.

“Mother?” I ask as I take in my siblings and her boisterously sharing a meal together. They’re laughing and conversing. I noticed my father’s seat was empty. “Where’s father?”

The room falls completely silent. Aspen stands, reaching for more berries and Roserra drops her fork abruptly. Everyone turns to face me standing in the doorway.

“Oh, darling! Welcome!” My mother cheers. She’s acting so free, so unrestricted, so fearless. What the fuck happened here?

“Where. Is. Father.” I grind out through my teeth. “Did he take my mate?”

“What? Oh gods, no dear. Your father went on a trip!” She exclaims and all my siblings hoorah in unison.

“Where is my mate, then?” I stare into her eyes with determination. I would normally never treat my mother this way, but the loss of my mate is driving me fucking wild. “She’s been reported missing.”

My mother looks at me utterly confused and then raises her hand to point at me. “She’s right behind you, dear.” She looks sympathetic, seeming to understand the inner battle I face with the rage of my bond simmering deep below my skin.

I startled at her accusation and quickly turned to find Ember sauntering towards me. “Hello, everyone. I’m sorry to cause all this fuss. It seems I got lost in one of the many gardens here.” She raises her hand to show us a stream of blood trailing down her finger. “I also came face to face with one of your rose bushes.” Ember softly smiles and laughs to herself.

I leave the dining hall without another word, slamming the doors behind me and sealing Ember and I into a silencing bubble. “What happened? Where did you really go? Are you okay?” I start battering her with questions while I take in her appearance. Aside from the cut on her finger, she stands before me completely unharmed. She actually looks utterly delicious in the pink leather bodysuit I had made for her. She’s strapped several daggers to her thighs and moons help me they look so hot. I’m almost always aroused when I’m around her.

“I’m okay, I’m sorry. Naistrelle took me without warning to a library. I have this feeling that what we’re searching for is there. Come, I have to show you.”

She tries to turn and walk away but I latch onto her wrist. Guiding her hand to my mouth, I slide her bleeding finger through my lips and lick the blood off of it. Tasting her essence fills my body, I watch as her lips part and let out a soft growl. “Never, ever, allow anyone to take you from me again.” I demand of her.

She stares at me for several seconds with shock and something akin to sympathy. “Never.”

I lick her finger clean and watch as her wound is healed by my kiss. “Did you really fall in a rose bush?” I ask and chuckle under my breath.

“Of course not! You really think I’m that clumsy? I had to make a sacrifice in order to access my fathers journal.” she smiles but then her smile falters. “Where’s Amara?”

"We weren’t sure what happened to you, so I have her heavily guarded in my private study. I’ll have her sent to meet us right away.” With that, I release the silencing bubble and nod to Artie, who flashes into his faerie form and takes off flying towards my wing.

“Okay, let’s go. I have so much to tell you, but it has to wait till we reach our destination. Can we dismiss the current guards stationed around the palace?”

That’s an interesting request but I don’t try to argue. I trust my mate’s intentions completely. “Yes, I will have them sent to training. With the king gone, I act as his ward and control the palace until his return.”

Together, we walk towards The king’s wing and I’m curious why she was on this side of the castle to begin with. I open my communications orb and announce for all royal guild members to report to the south lawn for training and magic practice. I watch as the guards stationed along each wall quickly depart and follow my command. My family is probably curious why they’re only left with personal guards, but I could care less right now since I finally found my mate.

The halls are empty as we approach the first rooms of my father’s wing. We stop in front of a large, empty wall and I stare in awe as Ember bites her wrist and drags her fingers through her blood, spreading it along the stark white walls. For a short moment, nothing happens. But then, a doorframe slowly unravels from a strong glimmer I had never known was here. The large doors are adorned in silver and gold fleur-de-lis and scrolls. It’s truly stunning and unlike the rest of the palace.

She slowly pushes the heavy doors open and reveals the most elaborate library I’ve ever seen. It’s almost equal in size to the grand ballroom.

I stare at my mate in wonder as she shows me something I’ve never seen before. She’s truly amazing.

“Welcome to king Morak’s Library. It’s been hidden for decades from your father, and this is where the goddess summoned me today.” she explains as we enter the room. There’s several hidden alcoves full of cozy blankets, plush cushions, and large pillows. In the center of the room are several tables with golden and silver carved chairs. There’s three different chandeliers that hang from the ceiling, each one representing one of our three moons.

I follow Ember to a small alcove tucked behind what she says are the primal texts, and watch her as she plucks different books off of the shelves and creates a pile in the center of our cushions. “We need to learn everything we can about primal magic, the ancients and the past wars. The goddess left me again without explaining herself further, so we’ll have to dig into everything in order to make sense of her instructions.”

I lean back into the pillows and cushions. “You’re so fucking hot when you talk scholarly to me.” I smirk at her and she swats me with a book. “Hey!” I laugh and grab her wrist, pulling her body down on top of me. She cradles my waist with her thighs and my mind instantly goes somewhere scandalous as I wish for her to rub her clit against me, causing friction and taking the release she deserves.

As if sensing that thought through our connection, she slowly rocks her hips back and forth, staring down into my eyes. “I’m sorry if I worried you. I can’t control when they take me. I’m just glad it wasn’t in the presence of the king.” she softly whispers to me.

I nod in agreement, placing my hands on either side of her hips and feeling the way she moves against my body. “Fuck,” I exhale. “I’m just glad to be with you now.”

She giggles and pries herself out of my hands, moving to the side of my body and folds her legs under herself as she starts to open several texts. I don’t know how she resists the pull of our bond as easily as she does because I’m barely resisting locking those doors and tearing that fucking pink bodysuit right off of her.

She laughs again and whispers down the bond. If you promise to be good now, I’ll reward you later, my Prince.

Yep. That’s enough for me to kick it into study mode. I sit up and cage her body in with mine as we start to scan the pages of some ancient texts. “You said you found your fathers journal?” I ask while nuzzling her ear and neck, smelling her hair and taking in everything that I love about my mate. The way she smells of roses and honey drives me absolutely crazy.

She hums her appreciation of my ministrations and begins telling me more about her encounter with the goddess.

“Yes, once the goddess left me here, I heard a song that sounded strangely familiar. When I followed the voice, I found this–” she unzips the front of her bodysuit and reaches in for a leather bound book, handing it to me and readjusting her leathers. “When I opened it, I found that there were no writings. I don’t know why, but I just knew I had to make a blood offering to unlock the truth of those pages. I confirmed that only my bloodline can uncover the words.”

When I opened the journal and started skimming through the empty pages, I realized she was right. It’s completely empty but she tells me she’s able to see everything now.

“The goddess also told me something I still haven’t processed yet.”

I reach my hand to slowly rub a comforting circle onto her back, running my fingers through her hair and kissing a trail down her neck. “What’s that, my flame?”

She let out a soft breath. “She said that I am one of the last primals, and my soul has been imprinted with an Anciets. That I will have access to all four elements.”

My hands freeze and my mouth hovers above her skin. I lean back and she peers over her shoulder to face me. “She said you’re a Primal and an Ancient? With all four elements?”

She nods.

“Yes, that’s what she said. Although, I can only feel the essence of Earth and Water magic flowing through my veins currently. I don’t know how I’m supposed to access this well of power.”

“Maybe we can find the answers to your Ancient and Primal abilities in this library.”

She looks out among the books and says, “I hope so.”

Artie and Amara step through the doors next.

“Ember!” Amara shouts and rushes towards our tucked away alcove. “Ember, what happened!?”

Amara crashes into Ember, nearly toppling over onto me as they collide in a crazed hug of limbs. Amara has tears rushing down her face and Artie just stands outside the Alcove, arms crossed and softly laughing to himself. “Thank you.” I said to him.

“Anytime, except this one drives me madder than a shadow beast.” he points towards Amara.

“You’re the one that wouldn’t explain where Ember was! Why did we have to walk in silence?!” She shouts at Artie.

“Because it’s far less annoying.” He stares at her with boredom. Directing his attention to the room around us, he asks no one in particular. “What is this place?”

Ember fills them both in on what she just told me. We watch as they feel surprise, amazement, and confusion as she breaks the news about her having access to primal powers. And then we gather ourselves and Ember assigns us each a section of the library to search.

“We’re looking for anything related to primal and ancient powers, and  information regarding my parent’s deaths and what really happened that night.”

I love when she takes charge like this. Fuck, she’s so hot.

Over the next several hours, we all have our own tables full of books and ancient scrolls. We haven’t found anything of much substance, but Ember is spending most of her time absorbing the information from her fathers journal. Before I can ask her abo ut it, my thoughts are interrupted by Amara shouting. “Aha! I found something!”

We all rush over to her table and gather around her books. She’s searching for information on primal powers. “It says here,” she points to the center of a large, torn scroll. “That primals have access to all four elements. Where as Ancients have access to six elements, including the original four as well as shadow and light powers.”

“Okay, but how do I access those powers? I’ve never felt them in my well of power. I didn’t even know they were there.” Ember asks.

“I’m not sure. I think that’s what we need to continue searching for answers for.” I state while running a hand up and down her back in comforting waves.

Artie lets out a loud yawn. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but we’ve been here all day.” We all turn to peer at the windows and that’s when I finally notice its night outside. “Can we have these texts moved to Willow’s library? I don’t know when the king will be returning and the guards will be finishing their training session shortly and back to their posts.”

Ember shakes her head. “We can’t move them. These texts are bound by my parents’ primal magic and have to remain protected within these wells. I am the only one that can take them, but because I don’t have full access to my primal magic yet, I’m limited to what I can physically carry.”

“Okay, so let’s select the most promising texts and have you carry them back to the library. We can continue our search in the morning and try to return here if we need to.” Amara recommends and begins skimming through the pages to determine what’s most valuable.

We quickly select some books and scrolls. Together, we departed the library. Once we make it back to my wing of the castle, I kiss Ember goodbye and grab a handful of her ass before Artie escorts Amara and Ember back to their room.

The second she leaves, I feel a huge wave of need in her wake.

Little dragon, I can’t stay away for much longer. I whisper through our bond as my lust and cravings for her grow rapidly in her absence.

I know, I feel it too. I just can’t leave Amara alone right now. We’re both hanging on by a thread with everything that’s happened these past few days.

My lust softens as I realize my mate is right. I can completely understand why they would be so overwhelmed and drained. My mind is a mess with the pull of our bond and the events of late. I didn’t stop to think about how they’re handling the loss of Brooks.

I decided to have food delivered to her room and send an extra set of towels for them to take relaxing baths tonight.

As I enter my quarters, I look at the empty space of my room. Walking over to the large windows on the opposite side of my room, I peer out over the capital city. The night markets are pulsating with life, chaos, and magic. Looking over the night sky, I wonder what the next few weeks will look like for us.

Heading to the bathroom, I pour myself a bath and undress. Stepping into the bathing pool, I prop myself against the edge with one arm and stare out amongst the stars. Just like Ember’s beauty, the moons are glowing exponentially brighter tonight.

Thinking of Ember gets me instantly hard and I can’t handle the level of arousal I’m feeling right now. It’s so intense under the moon’s light that streams through the glass windows, that I wrap my hand around my cock and begin stroking myself. Thinking of my little dragon, I imagine her sitting in this bath with me and thrusting my hard cock through her wet sex. “Fuck,” I let out a raged breath.

I cum so fast and hard, but it doesn’t satisfy my need to be inside of Ember.