Chapter 16

Béke Day Four

The way Izidora looked at Ruslan after she won her division at the swordfighting competition nearly unleashed the sinister beast that lived inside my chest, wrapped around my moonlight magic like a parasite. It whispered sweet nothings in my heart, promising revenge and my mate, yet every time I gave into its siren call, I ended up worse off than I was before.

Should I have provoked Drazen? Perhaps not, but that beast was out for blood, and I was pissed that I had let the male best me in a competition I should have won handily. The Iron Fae mongrels were no match for me, not with this dark magic, but I couldn't show my hand – not yet. The sweet secret held in my chest might have cost me the battle, but I would win the war.

Izidora and Ruslan slipped away after the competition, and amid all the chaos of the crowd, I called on that darkness, mixing it with the moonlight in my chest and rendering myself invisible. My footsteps were muffled as I followed them through the halls of Ryza Citadel, up the spiraling steps of a tower, and down a hallway to a terrace that overlooked Radence. It was large enough to hold fifty Fae, and in the center, flickering candles surrounded a pile of furs. I pressed myself against a wall on the back of the terrace as Izidora's aquamarine eyes scanned the expanse, though I knew without a doubt she could not see me.

Ruslan's hand was on Izidora's lower back as he led her to the wine glasses and bottle of deep purple liquid that waited for them, along with some sort of chocolate dessert. "I know we have to stay here for the feast, but I still wanted to have special moments alone with you." Ruslan spun her to face him, and she melted into his body.

"You are so thoughtful, Ruslan." She stroked the spot between his brows, smoothing the crease lining it. "You have nothing to fear. I love you."

Her words were like a stab to the gut.

"You are my light, sprite, my path out of the darkness. I love you more than life itself." Ruslan tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, smoothing the flyaways down with the palm of his hand. "Did you hear what Kazimir said to Drazen?"

She nodded. "Kazimir called him a mongrel."

Ruslan growled, and I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about my words. I was, however, curious as to how Ruslan would respond. The male cracked his neck, and Izidora grasped his hands, running her thumbs over the back of them until he blew out a breath, his shoulders dropping. "Thank you," he muttered, pulling her into his chest and dropping a kiss on her pink lips.

Bile rose in my throat, and my nails dug into my palms so hard that the metallic tang of blood filled my senses.

Ruslan's nostrils flared, and he jerked his head away from Izidora, scanning the terrace like she had moments before. But Izidora drew his attention again when she moaned, reminiscent of the ones she made while I was between her thighs, as she bit into the chocolate. "Cedomir has outdone himself yet again." Ruslan huffed a laugh into her hair as he kissed the top of her head. Then he tasted the dessert himself, mimicking her moan with his own.

The smile she flashed him made my heart ache with an acute intensity I hadn't felt since the day Ruslan ripped her from my arms. This moment between them was so intimate, so easy, and everything I wanted with Izidora.

Why couldn't she see that I was the better choice?

I had to show her, but she hadn't let me close enough to ask since our second day here. At dinner, I would force her into a conversation, and this time I would not lose my temper. She was mine, and if I could only hold it together long enough to get her to accept the bond, we could forget this shitshow and leave everything behind.

Ruslan seated himself behind Izidora and pulled her into his lap, cradling her in his arms as they looked upon the jagged peaks in the distance. He said something in her ear, eliciting a breathy gasp, and my cock hardened at the sound. Memories of all the times Izidora fell apart around me, how her walls milked me as she came, flooded my mind, begging me to snatch her from his arms and take her to my bed.

But I had to watch as Ruslan trailed his fingers along the seams of her armor, stripping off piece after piece and exposing her wool tunic and leather leggings to the cold air that blew through the Iron Realm like a bane. She snuggled into his chest, stealing warmth from him, and I ground my teeth together as she said, "You take such good care of me."

I took better care of her. I was the one who brought her back from the brink.

After everything I did for her, she dared reject me for this male who didn't have to pick up the broken pieces like I did. Izidora was where she was because of me, and if I hadn't spent so much time teaching her magic, ensuring she was learning about the world, learning how to fight, she'd be nothing.

She. Was. Mine.

That black magic surged in my veins, and if I hadn't already been clenching my teeth so hard, I would have growled as the darkness took over. With every ounce of self-control I had left, I called my wings to me and shot into the air, away from my mate and toward a place where I could let the beast within me loose, if only to vent the boiling steam it created with its desires.

Béke Day Five

Ruslan had been showeringIzidora with gifts and affection, and two could play that game. The morning before the strength competition, I convinced Izidora to go with me to a place I'd spotted as I flew to the mountains the previous night to blow off some steam.

Izidora and I were better when we were doing something together, and I would show her just how great we worked as a team. The dance studio was on the outskirts of Radence, though I hadn't told her where we were going when we met in the stables, only that it was a surprise. Astride Mistik, she seemed less tense, as if the horse's familiarity lulled her into the ease we had as we rode through the Night Realm. I congratulated her on her victory at the swords competition, though I left out my distaste that she had chosen neither the Night nor Iron Realms to represent at Béke.

At least she hadn't picked a side.

There was still hope for me.

Pulling on Fek's reins, I slowed him to a leisurely walk in front of the stone building with large windows that let in the soft morning light. Mistik stopped alongside us, and Izidora dismounted with the ease of a female who had been riding for her entire life. "What is this place?" she asked, eyes roaming over the small building.

"I have arranged for us to have dance lessons. With the masquerade coming up in a few days, I thought it might be fun to learn some of the Iron Realm's traditional dances," I said, taking Mistik's reins from her and hitching our horses to a post alongside the building.

When I glanced up from my work toward Izidora, her lips were pinched, and her eyes held a level of wariness I hadn't seen since the first days we had together. The sight of that ripped me to shreds, and I couldn't lie to myself and say that it wasn't entirely unwarranted. She had asked me to be gentler with her when we last danced, but I was so caught up in seeing her that I did not listen.

The binding magic slumbered in my chest after I'd beat it into submission the previous night, sending dark tendrils flying in every direction among the snow-packed trees in the mountain closest to Radence until my body trembled from exertion and the wicked magic no longer begged to be unleashed.

I took a slow step toward her, hoping she wouldn't bolt around me and clamber up Mistik to escape the date I had planned for us. "I promise I won't hurt you, Izidora. You know I'm not like that."

She blew out a breath, but her aquamarine eyes did not melt for me like they once had. "If you do, I will cut your balls off." Her normally bright voice was serious and carried no hint of teasing.

"Understood. Shall we?" I hovered a hand out toward the door, directing her to enter first. She threw a look over her shoulder, then pushed through the wooden entrance, unveiling an open space with wall-sized mirrors and polished wood floors.

A pretty dark-haired female, the same one I'd spoken with the previous night, greeted us. "High Lord Kazimir, so good to see you again. And this must be Princess Izidora." She dipped into a quick curtsey. "I am Iskra."

"So nice to meet you, Iskra. Are you Fae or Félvér?" Izidora smiled at the female with all the warmth she'd kept from me.

"Félvér. How did you know?" Iskra blushed, and I ground my teeth. Of course, she was Félvér.

Were there no pure-blooded Iron Fae left in this Goddess-forsaken place?

"You look like you might carry a hint of Shifter. Some sort of bird if I had to guess?"

"You are correct. My father is part Eagle Shifter. Must be why I love ballet," Iskra grinned. "But enough about me. High Lord Kazimir said you wanted to learn some steps to traditional Iron Realm dances." She glanced at both of us, dressed in casual yet warm clothes. "I'll take your cloaks, and then we'll meet in the center of the space."

I shrugged out of my furs, handing them to the female and following behind Izidora as she blazed a trail to the middle. That tug begged me to close the physical and mental distance between us, but I bided my time, knowing we'd be forced together during the steps of the dance soon enough.

"Great, here's how we will learn. I'll demonstrate the first few steps, and then you will try until you've got them down. Then we will add on, repeating the process until you can twirl about the room on your own. I'll hum the tune as we go along." Iskra proceeded to teach us the steps, a simple series where Izidora and I walked side by side, hands clasped at shoulder height. Her hand was tense in mine, and the stiffness ran all the way through her body as she held me at arm"s length. We mastered the first part in minutes, and Iskra walked us through the next steps, which involved a tug and a twirl with Izidora landing against my chest.

Heat surged through me at the thought of our bodies being flush, though it was obvious from the coolness in Izidora's countenance that she was less than enthused about the steps. After our third failed attempt, Iskra cut in. "The Iron Realm is a sensual place, Your Highness. Relax your body and let it glide through the air."

"Thanks," Izidora said, her voice clipped. She drew a breath, then blew it out slowly, dropping some of the tension that held her straighter than a freshly forged sword. "Let's try again."

When we grasped hands at the top of the dance floor, I gave her small hand a reassuring squeeze. "You are doing so well, Izidora. We'll get the steps."

She ignored me as Iskra hummed the tune, and our first few steps were flawless. When the tune switched, signaling the first tug, I pulled Izidora toward me, throwing her across my body as she spun on her toes, her body light and loose. Once she'd unspiraled completely, I reversed her direction, sending her twirling into my chest. Her untethered palm landed just above my heart, and it gave a heavy beat as if it knew she touched there. That tug tightened us together, seemingly of its own accord, and for a moment that icy exterior Izidora had tried so hard to maintain melted and I saw the depth of her pain.

The moment was broken by Iskra's claps echoing through the empty space. "Well done! Let's practice the next steps." Iskra replaced Izidora, demonstrating the hand placement for the rest of the dance, as well as the next ten steps that sent us diagonally across the space. "Now, from the top!"

Izidora and I clasped hands at shoulder height, walked forward, executed the tug and twirl, and the moment Izidora landed against my chest again, that bond we shared became insistent. My hand found her hip while the other held her tiny hand, and her free hand pressed against my chest, searing into my skin beneath my tunic.

The tune changed, and I guided her along, making sure my resting hand was not hurting her like it had last time. The steps that took us across the open space were slow and sensual, legs and torsos brushing as the space between us became nonexistent.

"You're so beautiful, Izidora," I whispered as we reached the end of our first diagonal, cutting back in the direction we came.

A blush spread across her cheeks, and she looked up at me through dark lashes as we crossed the space, though she said nothing. Before our next switchback, I spun her again, this time directing her back to land against my chest, and I splayed my fingers across her belly as we blazed a slow path across the room.

Pebbles broke out across the skin that was visible around her tunic, and my heart pounded into her back as we continued our dance. We switched directions, and her breath hitched as my large palm dipped lower on her opposite hip. "You fit in my arms perfectly, like you were carved from stone just for me," I murmured, dipping my head so the words brushed over her ear.

The shiver that went down her spine stopped at my groin, heating it in the best way, and by the way she pressed back into me, I knew she felt my desire for her. I wanted more, so I kept going. "The first day I saw you, I knew you and I were meant to be together. The way I raged for you when I saw you in chains, the anger I felt when I learned you were not given your name, the grief that I felt when you backed away from me in fear. I promised myself that I would show you how to live."

The air froze in her lungs as I spun her again, and her head tipped up to look at me. Iskra's humming melted into the background as it became only Izidora and I dancing. "I'd fight the Fates with nothing but my fists to save you, Izidora. I promised you that I would protect you, that I would never see you chained again. I fell into darkness to get to you, and now that I'm here with you again, I'm starting to see the light."

She lifted a single brow over her gem-like eyes. "Are you?"

"It helps when you are near, like this. When we are apart, I am crazed for you, dying for even a taste of you." I dropped my head so my lips hovered a breath from hers. "Mate bonds are a powerful, ancient magic that defy all logic, all reason, all sense. They surpass any other type of magic one may possess, and mates often die of broken hearts when their other half dies before them."

We reached the opposite side of the dance floor, and I spun her again, my erection digging into her back as we glided across the polished wood. "I'm so sorry I hurt you before, my love. I have been out of my mind with worry for so long, I overreacted to your presence. How could I not? You are not only my mate, but also the most incredible female I've ever met."

"Kazimir…" Izidora whispered, melting into my embrace. My fingers dipped lower on her belly, nearly brushing the apex of her thighs, and our bond turned into an inferno.

"You are like the stars that shine over the Night Realm, glittering and enticing in their otherworldly beauty, and I could spend hours gazing upon you and never tire of the view." My nose brushed behind her ear, and I inhaled her rosy scent. Brushing my lips against the sensitive underside of her jaw, I said, "You smell like a garden of roses, but not just any rose. Roses of the purest white, so light that you think you are in the Goddess's garden."

My words seemed to be working, and I prayed that Iskra did not stop humming as we switched to face each other once again. My hand that was splayed across her belly had moved to her hip bone, but as we glided away from our instructor, I slipped it between us, cupping her center and devouring the flush that rose to Izidora's smooth skin. "And your taste – it is like honeyed wine, so sweet and intoxicating."

Her dark lashes fluttered, and she did not move away from me or tell me to stop. I rubbed a circle over her clit, and her legs widened in our dance, allowing me more room to rub her the way I knew she liked. I traced her seam through her leather pants with my fingers, wishing there was less fabric between us. "You are my beautiful rose, my shining star, my beacon home. I love you, Izidora."

And with that, I took the most painful step back of my entire life.

"Splendid!" Iskra clapped her hands together, applauding our dance.

Izidora's cheeks were pink, and her lips were parted as if she were trying to catch the breath that had been stolen by her arousal. Hints of buds appeared on her chest, and I knew I'd gotten under her skin.

"Our next dance is even more sensual, and after the way the two of you finished the last dance, I know that you'll fly through this one."

With arms and legs intertwined, wrapping around one another only to break apart and be pulled back together, we undulated against each other, ratcheting up the tension between us. Each brush of her soft frame against my muscled one only made my dick harder, while each sensual caress across her torso sent pebbles across her skin, blowing out her eyes until they were nearly black.

Fucking fates, this was what I'd needed with her from the start.

Izidora did not need to return my affection with words of her own; she showed me with every willing brush of her body against mine that Ruslan did not have her heart secured in the palm of his hands.

How would he feel when she rode up smelling of me?

The image of him scenting me on her pleased me more than I should have allowed. Our bond tugged at me for more, and after the next dip of Izidora over my arm, I captured her mouth in mine, tasting those perfect pink lips as she sighed and arched into me. My tongue pressed against them, begging for entrance, and she relented, her own tongue weaving with mine as I deepened our kiss. Heart galloping, I clutched her to me, ignoring the tune and the steps to the dance as we stoked the embers of our love into an inferno.

The chasm that had opened between us during our time apart disappeared as she melted into me, her hands clutching onto me like I was her hero, her savior, once more. "I want all of you, Izidora," I breathed, breaking our kiss.

Izidora's lashes fluttered against my cheeks. "We have an audience."

"I don't care. I only want you." My lips fell to the place where her neck met her shoulder, and I grazed my teeth over the sensitive spot.

She gasped, head falling back and spilling her chestnut locks along with it. My eyes flicked up to see Iskra disappearing into a room in the back, and I silently thanked her before returning my attention to my mate.

Snaking my arms around Izidora's waist, I lowered us both to the floor so my muscled body pressed her into it. The cage I created for her with my arms was intentional, because I had her where I wanted her, and I was not letting her go. She was mine.

I rolled my hips against hers, letting her feel every inch of me that wanted her. The sound she made was breathy and wanton and sent a wave of heat to my groin, causing me to grind into her again. My lips captured hers in a bruising, demanding kiss, and she fell into it, arching off the floor to close the distance between us.

With one hand, I unfastened my pants, gripping my shaft and pumping a few times to relieve the ache there. "You are mine, Izidora." I found the laces of her pants, pulling them apart until I had room to slip a finger against her skin, then worked my hand down to cup her core. The wetness there soaked my hand immediately, and I growled my approval. "So fucking wet for me already."

But then the door to the studio banged open, and I tore my gaze away from Izidora to see who dared intrude on our moment together.