Page 31 of The Bones of the Cursed

He sits up, bringing me with him until I find myself straddling his lap. Everything in me is on fire, my face warm with embarrassment, my heart beating an erratic rhythm in my chest. He grabs the hair at the nape of my neck and pulls my head back so he has access to my throat. He runs kisses along my neck and behind my ear. I wiggle in his lap, his hands flying tomy thighs with a bruising grip.

Halting my movements.

I look to him with wide eyes, wondering what I did wrong.

“You keep moving on me like that, sunshine, and I won’t care who is nearby, I will make sure they hear you scream my name.”

Heat blooms in my face, my cheeks surely turning pink, and my core instantly liquefies. He leans in, giving me a soft kiss before moving us back down to the bedrolls. He wraps me in his arms and kisses the top of my head.

“You’ve been through a lot. Let’s get a little bit more sleep before we have to keep moving.”

I want to argue, but the events of the past couple of days catch up with me as if waiting for someone to point them out to me, and the fatigue hits. I nuzzle my face into his chest, breathing in his scent.

“We need to do that again sometime”

His chest rises and falls with his chuckle. “You can bet on it, sunshine.”

I smile, closing my eyes. His breathing slows and my body relaxes into him.

I’m asleep within seconds, knowing I am safe in his arms.

14

- MALAKAI -

PRIVATE MOMENTS

My plan to head straight to the caves has been diverted by a problem in the small village of Reapwood, just a few hours ride from the village of Vrolstead where a soldier frantically rode into right as I was leaving, his clothes splattered in blood. “We need help!” he shouts, dust still swirling around his horse’s hooves. “Ghouls have overrun the town. Please! I only have a small number of soldiers with me, we need any help we can get.”

His eyes hold the manic gaze of someone who has seen too much and doesn’t know what to do. Standing next to the local butcher, I turn to the few soldiers who were ambling out of the inn just across the street. “Grab your weapons and spread the word. Everyone should stay in their homes until the threat to the area passes.”

It takes longer than I’d like to get there, what should have been two hours tops turned into three so that we could warn any civilian we passed about the threat. When we arrive, all we find is mayhem. The dirt is soaked with blood. The small village only has a handful of shops formed in a semi-circle facing the main road. Houses are sporadically placed here and there.Bodies are scattered throughout the town, laying in the streets, or half inside a shop as if they tried to escape but didn’t make it. A few ghouls remain, gorging on the feast of their making. A woman catches my attention as she tries to crawl to safety, her leg bent at an odd angle. One of the ghouls spots her and begins walking towards her, its movements jerky and disjointed as it crawls on all fours. The creature’s neck tilts so far to the side as he examines his next meal that his head is almost completely sideways.

It reaches for her and her bloodcurdling scream splits the air. Just before it can dig its claws into her leg, I cut clean through its arm with my sword.

It turns its soulless black eyes to me, its mouth turning into a crooked smile, teeth dripping fresh blood. When it lunges at me, I slash it clean through its stomach. The ghoul shrieks as sludge oozes out, the sound so shrill that my teeth ache. In its writhing moment of pain, I cut its head clean off.

One glance around the carnage lets me know that the ghoul problem is not abating. If anything, they are attacking in populated areas more frequently than ever before. I walk to the soldier who came and retrieved me, his body beaten and bruised.

“Send word back to your commander. Have them send a unit to help rebuild the town and lay rest to its people. I’ll send word to the king and queen.”

When he departs, I spare a glance down at myself and grimace at the blood soaking my shirt, the fabric sticking to my skin. I pull it off and toss it into the pile of ghoul bodies that the soldiers are setting fire to.

Looks like I will be making the trip to the caves shirtless.

- ALANIS -

The chirping of birds wakes me. For a brief second, I think I’m back in my cottage in the Outskirts, though that’s a thought quickly lost when I register the hot as hell Fae wrapped around my body. I wiggle around, trying to get comfortable, when I hear him groan.

“Sunshine, I’m going to need you to stop moving.”

Pausing, I immediately feel his hard length against my ass. My cheeks redden and I’m at a loss for what to say.

I feel his smile on the back of my head. “Something wrong, sweet cheeks?”

“No,” I squeak. Damn my stupid voice.

“No?” he asks as he pushes his hips into me.

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