20. Keira

Chapter 20

Keira

B anging echoes throughout my room, loud enough to make the door rattle in its frame. I take in a sharp breath and sit up abruptly, the blankets falling around my waist. The crashing bounces around inside my head, pain cutting through it. Someone is banging on my door. I take groggy steps across the room and open it.

Aldrin stands there, folding his muscular arms across his broad chest, with bright sunlight beaming into the room behind him. I want to slam the door shut in his face, but he shoves a foot in the doorway so I cannot close it. I am too tired for his games.

“You weren’t sleeping, were you?” A half-smile creeps onto his face. “Because it’s midday.”

I groan in response, not caring that my hair is a mess of curls that half hangs over my face.

“Get changed. We are going to train your magic,” he says, trying so hard to keep his eyes on mine and failing as they flick to my neckline and back up.

I am wearing nothing but a thin nightdress, askew across my chest and with the sharp peaks of my nipples clear beneath the silky fabric.

Gods damn it .

Mortification rises within me, and he takes a step back, allowing me to slam the door in his face, throwing my back against it. His laughter from the other side reverberates through the door, only inciting my rage further.

“Be out in five minutes,” Aldrin calls.

I run my hands down my face as I try to slow my heart rate. I was up half the night with the Lake Maiden last night. And the night before that. Every night since I met her.

The deep urge rises within me to tell Aldrin to come back later. To crawl back under those blankets, but I need training. This knowledge could empower my people.

“Give me ten minutes,” I respond.

“Five,” Aldrin quips back. “I’ll be waiting out here.”

The infuriating man has nowhere else to be. By this time, he has probably had a yelling match with Cyprien at least once.

I pull a tunic over my head, drag on a pale blue skirt that is narrow and divided for riding, the kind that looks more like gathered, flowing pants, and then tie a cotton corset over the top.

The cool splash of water as I wash my face helps to wake me up, then I grab the pastry and cold coffee a servant left on a tray while I slept. There are still flecks of powdered sugar on my face as I open the door and quickly brush them off.

Aldrin leans against a thick pillar, lost in brooding thought. The loose curls of his dark hair are tied back into a knot at the nap of his neck, and strands escape to frame his face. Those thick eyebrows are pinched over amber eyes lost in shadows.

Hints of the black war paint that shimmers into existence on his skin whenever anger or fight takes him are visible across his cheekbones, his forehead and neck. They accentuate the sharp planes of his face and make him look very much the high fae warlord. A king.

I swear I stop breathing at the sight. At his terrifying beauty.

Aldrin turns to me, and shakes his head. “Cyprien is driving me insane.”

“He seems to be good at it.” I fall into step with Aldrin, as he leads me down the long portico. “What are you afraid of?”

“I’m not—” Aldrin turns to me, then exhales. “Cyprien is one of the most stubborn, by the book people I know. To him, hosting my party here, hearing me out, it borders treason. Maybe he justifies it by telling himself that I am technically being held by him for questioning. But traveling with me to the border of our supposed enemy, to witness evidence that I claim will convert him to my cause, it would be viewed as a betrayal by the high chancellor. I am afraid he won’t take that leap of faith, despite what I have already shown him.”

“What did you do that was so terrible?” I ask. “Why were you exiled?”

A bitter laugh rumbles through him. “I had an idea that made people uncomfortable. A solution to a problem they didn’t want to admit existed. Change is so…inconvenient. Especially when the people in power aren’t directly affected by the threat yet.”

We travel across the colonnade that wraps around the upper levels of the apartments.

I frown. “It’s hard to change people, especially when the issue becomes entrenched with emotion, like the mistruths your people seem to cling to. Sometimes, all you can do is chip away at the lies.”

Aldrin grunts and leads me down multiple levels, through alleyways and out to a private, walled courtyard of packed earth we have been using as a training field. A frozen breeze curls through the space, and I regret not wearing that ancient fur coat.

“What am I going to learn today?” I ask.

“I have seen you wield air magic to propel weapons, knives and arrows, but I want you to use it to hinder an opponent’s moves. To create micro shields against the impact of their blows, and to reinforce your own strikes.” He removes a sword from across his back, and places it on the ground. “Tomorrow, base jumping.”

“Base jumping?” My voice pitches high.

“Think of it as running across air, while creating hard discs of it to step on as you go. It takes some skill and strong nerves, but I think you will manage.”

“I will manage?” My eyebrows shoot up. “What if I fall?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll catch you.” He grins at me. It is bait. I know the fact, as his smug smile widens .

“Oh good, as long as there is a big, strong man here to save me.” I poke him in the ribs. “Too bad every time you try to save me, you make matters worse.”

“Hhhmmm,” he replies. “Maybe I need to focus on saving fae from you.” I raise my eyebrows, but he continues anyway. “Does the Lake Maiden need saving, perhaps? Don’t think I haven’t noticed you working your innocent little human girl charms on her. “Odiane, I will help you and your daughters take over the realm. No, I don’t want much in return.” He imitates me in a ridiculous, high-pitched voice.

I throw a shaft of solid air straight at his stomach, hard enough to make him double over protectively and grunt, but not to inflict pain. “Maybe you should focus on protecting yourself.”

He shows me no mercy after that, drilling me hard with our training.

Aldrin demonstrates the weaving of an air net that is so fine it can be thrown up and dissipated in heartbeats, but strong enough to stop a blade.

Then he tests me, striking blows with the sides of his hands that fly for my arms, my chest, my back, as I clumsily throw air between us. When they connect, they are taps that pepper my body, and when I am successful in shielding, they crack audibly on the hard air.

“You see that,” Aldrin says between huffs of breath. “That shield could break a person’s hand if they came at you with full force, but—” he kicks the backs of my legs so my knees buckle forward. “It took too long to form. Occupied too much focus and energy. You couldn’t shield yourself from the next attack.”

We keep dancing, sweat dripping down both of our bodies, as he dips in toward me, so close my head clogs with the sweet scent of him and his breath tickles my neck. His face is inches from mine, and it would be so easy to lean in and press my lips against his. I wonder what he would feel like. Taste like.

His perfect face is all I can see as his hands taps my waist, then slides away, only to hit my arms, my chest, my lower back. It feels like his hands are all over me .

I forget to shield, utterly distracted by his nearness, and he gets a few good blows in.

Aldrin laughs, taunting me. There is golden light swirling in his eyes as he circles me like a predator. I take control of the thinnest layer of air between his feet and the ground and pull it out from under him. His smile falls as he slips for a single heartbeat, then braces himself on a wall of air he throws up.

“Good.” Aldrin grunts. “Use your imagination. Now let’s practice hand-to-hand combat maneuvers with fortified air.”

Weaves of air form around his chest, his arms and thighs, colored in golden light so I can see them. It reminds me of the pads Gwyneth uses when she trains me. I lean forward and poke the one at his chest. It is soft but solid under the gentle impact.

“Start with a sidekick,” he demands.

I ready my stance, then kick the side of his thigh, wrapping my shin in a thin layer of soft air padding and building a hard plate of air over the top. I use the same vein of magic to increase the power of my blow.

Aldrin grunts as our bodies connect. “Again. Harder.”

I kick the same spot multiple times in fast succession. The magic increases both my strength and speed.

“A foot jab to the chest now,” he barks and I oblige, moving my shielding without pausing a beat.

He holds up his hands, the air cushioning there expanding. “Strike with your fists.”

I breathe as I throw myself into the motions. One, two. One, two. My muscles burn from the exertion, the pain rippling up my thighs and through my abdomen. I stop and pant, leaning forward on my knees while the blood rushes from my head. There are a few beads of sweat on Aldrin’s forehead, but he looks otherwise unphased.

“If I didn’t know better.” Aldrin gives me a slow smile. “I’d say you’ve had professional training. Strange for a peasant girl who stumbled into this realm while foraging berries. Tell me, Keira, daughter of the Lord Protector of Appleshield, have you had to forage for anything in your life? ”

“I guess my end of the bargain is fulfilled then, if you have heard my story from my sister, or Cyprien.” I try to joke to lighten the mood.

He raises an eyebrow, suddenly deadly serious. “I’d rather hear it from you. Every. Last. Detail.”

“Can you blame me for lying to you? I was half terrified out of my mind when I first met you.” The breaths leave me in sharp puffs. “I won’t give you any more until the bargain is called in. Otherwise, I’ll have nothing left to leverage with.”

“Keira, the bargain was never necessary. I was always going to free your sister. She might die of boredom in Cyprien’s clutches,” Aldrin says. “But your lies, they are hurtful.”

“Hold on. You withheld information from me, too!” I poke him in the chest. “You never told me you were the king of these lands!”

Aldrin looks down at me, leaning in with amusement. “What was I supposed to say? Hey, human, you know how you are terrified of high fae and believe them to be slavers, well I’m the worst of them, their king. You would have been running in the opposite direction, screaming.”

“Who says I won’t still?” I ask, heart racing, but not from the exercise.

My hand is flat against his chest and the muscles ripple beneath it as he laughs. The warmth of his body envelopes mine as I gravitate into him, now only inches apart. I cannot help it, as though I am being pulled in by some invisible force.

“I don’t know. You seem to enjoy getting pretty close to me.” His eyes search my face, then settle on my parted lips. A single finger tips my chin up toward him.

My arms snake up his chest, gliding across the firm ridges of his pectorals, to settle around his neck, toying with his hair. He holds me low around my waist, pulling me tightly to him.

I want those roaming hands all over me, touching my bare flesh, teasing and pleasuring.

This is a man who understands how to utterly undo a woman. Anticipation coils deep within my stomach, then lower .

I reach upwards on the tips of my toes as Aldrin bends down into me and his lips gently brush against mine in the most tantalizing way. He does it a second time, probing, teasing, testing.

Testing. Just like last time.

I pull back and slap him across the side of the head, then shove his chest hard until our bodies separate. “This better not be another one of your damned tests!” I spit at him. This man makes my head spin. “You can’t keep playing games with me.”

Aldrin holds a hand to the side of his head and I don’t feel the least bit guilty. “Ouch. Yeah. I deserve that.” He gives me a look that is both coy and appraising. It makes my legs go weak.

I glare at him. “That’s not much of an apology!” I am ready to turn on my heel and stalk away, because I can’t handle making myself a fool in front of this man a second time.

He grabs my wrist and pulls me a step closer to him. “I’m sorry for being an arsehole. It was a cruel thing to do. You kept giving me these heated looks and found excuses to be half exposed in front of me.”

“I did not!” I pound at his chest but he doesn’t let me go and I don’t try to pull away.

A huge, teasing smile fills his face. “And I was afraid you were a seductress from the human realm here to take my baby.”

“I am not!” Indignation roars within me.

He cocks his head to the side. “Are you sure you’re not a seductress from the other realm?”

“Do I need to dangle my contraceptive tea in front of you?” I snap.

His eyebrows rise dangerously high, his charm breaking with the shock of my admission. “You’re on contraceptive?”

“That’s none of your business!” Gods, I want to die.

“But you just said—” He shakes his head. “No more games, I promise. And I’m sorry.”

I scowl at him, scrutinizing his expression. “Why should I trust you again?”

He raises an eyebrow at me. “Do you want me to beg? To get on my knees? I will, if you like.” My stomach does summersaults at his implications. He pulls me in so close he hardly has to lean in the whisper in my ear. “Trust me, because I will make it worth your while. I already know you want me.” I groan. Damn, he is good.

Shivers run down my spine and I melt in his arms.

His hands move slowly across my waist, probing and stroking in caressing motions, moving toward my hips. Then his lips work their way down the sensitive skin of my neck.

I gasp, pulling back enough to look into his hooded eyes.

I wrap my arms around his neck as we reach in toward each other, our lips colliding in a hard, brutal kiss. It is hungry, devouring, as our lips move against each other, desperate to taste and touch.

My fingers run across the sharpness of his jaw, down the ropey muscle of his neck and broad shoulders. He only wears a thin tunic, but gods, I want to slip my hands under it and touch his bare flesh. To run my fingernails across the grooves of those washboard abs I have glimpsed.

A deep desire fills me to peel the clothes off him, right here. For my skin to rub against his, my bare breasts to be crushed on that hard chest.

Aldrin bites my lower lip, sucking it between his, then parts them to slip his tongue inside. He is all passion and chaos, and the intensity of it makes my stomach tumble as I try to keep up.

My entire existence reduces down to the taste of him, sweet as ripe berries, as his tongue caresses mine. Those thick arms tighten around me, squeezing me to his chest, and still I want more.

I press my hips against his to feel the hard length of him against my stomach. Thrills shoot through me at the thought of his arousal. It is massive. I grind my body against it just to test his reaction.

Aldrin lets out a ragged groan, pulling his lips away from mine for a heartbeat.

I need more.

I run my hands down his chest, across his ribs and lower, to his hips, as Aldrin peppers kisses on my neck, from my ear to my collarbone. My skin tingles delightfully with each touch of his lips.

My hands reach the line of his pants, and I am met with the difficult choice of ducking them upwards under his tunic and exploring all that flesh, or dipping them inside his trousers. I dare them lower, pulling open the strings of his pants and ducking my hand within.

I close my eyes and heat floods my blood as my fingers glide across the tip of that hardness. Then I follow its length down and down until my hand brushes over the entirety of it. I half smirk as Aldrin shudders and hisses in a breath. It makes me feel powerful.

One of Aldrin’s hands roams up my stomach, to the neckline of my tunic, air tugging apart the laces so his hand seamlessly slips beneath the fabric. His fingers brush over the peaked tip of my nipple, rolling it between and sending hot waves of pleasure shooting out from it.

I run my hand across his cock even harder, then I grasp it in my fist and pump. Again and again, enjoying the hitches in his breath and the little sounds he makes. We both breathe hard, especially as he reveals my other breast and leans down to take it in his mouth.

Then Aldrin’s other hand slips down to the fabric between my legs, but there is no way in. Not with the top band of my skirt sitting around my waist and restrained under my tightly laced corset that reaches my hips. He would have to half undress me to get access.

I shudder as he rubs his fingers across the sensitive apex of my thighs through the fabric, the friction shooting bursts of pleasure through my body. I curse myself for wearing this damn dress. He can’t even lift the hem because the skirts are divided.

If I had been wearing pants, his hands, those fingers, would be plunged deep within me right now.

Aldrin presses his mouth over mine, forcing his tongue within, as the tension builds within me. His fingers swirl over that perfect spot again and again, flooding my core with heat and intense sensual friction. Pleasure sparks through my entire body, flooding my brain until all I register are the many ways we touch each other with desperate urgency.

I could come apart with this alone and my body shivers as I edge toward that precipice. Tension coils tighter and tighter within me and still those expert fingers don’t let up.

The sound of a throat clearing rumbles behind us .

“If the two of you aren’t too busy, I have decided I will inspect the Dividing Cliffs. Today. Right now.” Cyprien bites off each word.

Aldrin stiffens within my embrace, as my face burns with mortification and I swiftly pull my hand out of his pants and adjust my neckline. His body begins to reverberate, and I realize it is with laughter.

“For fuck sake, Cyprien,” Aldrin says into the crook of my neck, then pulls his face away from me. “Can we go in an hour or two?”

I glance over my shoulder. Cyprien stands in the entrance to the courtyard, frowning profusely but otherwise completely unabashed at what he has walked in on.

“We go now, if you are serious about this threat. Otherwise don’t waste my time. Meet me in the main hall.” Cyprien turns and walks briskly away.

Aldrin gazes down into my face with such tenderness, running a finger across my lips, that I think I am going to be undone. My heart flutters wildly in my chest.

“Hold that thought for me,” he murmurs, then lets me go.

Frozen air wraps around me in place of his arms, and I shiver. My body craves the hard press of his. Bitter disappointment crashes down into me as the laces at my neckline are retied by Aldrin’s threads of magic.

His hair is disheveled from my touch and his hardness is still painfully visible through his leather pants. There is a light in the eyes that looks me up and down with an unspoken promise, but then he sighs as he smooths his clothing.

“I’m sorry about Cyprien, but—” Aldrin shakes his head. “I need him to believe me.”

There is such a vulnerability on his face I forgive him immediately. My mind does anyway. My body still screams for his touch and my blood races at the memory of it. I nod, not ready to speak, knowing my voice will waver from unquenched hunger.

I watch his tight, muscled ass as he walks away and regret that I didn't squeeze it when I had the chance.

I should never have touched him, but I can’t help myself.

The last thing I need is to become entwined with another king who might think he has a claim over me. It was different when I thought he was an outlaw. One I could enjoy, then leave behind when I return home. But a king? Nothing is ever simple with a king.

The image of Finan’s face the last time I saw him comes to mind, emotion brimming within those ice-blue eyes as he said goodbye to me. I try to summon a scrap of guilt, but I feel nothing.

Aldrin glances over his shoulder and winks at me. “Are you coming?”

“Not…in the way I wanted to.” The words slip out of my mouth and the look he gives me is utterly devious.