Page 79 of The Rebel Seer

Why was I ever afraid of this? Am I coming to accept my sexual needs? Needs I refused to think about for so very long. Or perhaps I’m being affected by this sacred place meant for sex. Either way, I don’t care. Desire is a drug in my veins and one I fear I can easily get addicted to. I glance up at that third floor. The one with the big bed and what looks like soft, warm quilts. It’s dark up there, but we don’t need much light. “The souls I’ve seen either moved on or chose to stay. I’ve never been in a position where a soul could be destroyed or imprisoned. It was an instinct to save him.”

He moves slowly into my space, his big body looming over mine. “That was power, Shy. Raw, unfiltered power. Everyone felt it. I swear it stopped the fighting briefly because it slammed into all of us. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

And he’s worried. “I can handle it. I know it seems sudden, but I’m not afraid of it. It’s like when I broke free of your vines. I suddenly knew what to do. What questions to ask in that case. I didn’t work my will. Simply asked if the vine wouldn’t mind helping me out.”

“By dying.”

“By turning early.” For the first time in hours I feel insecurity slip in. “I didn’t kill it. It isn’t truly gone.”

He holds a hand up as though he knows what’s going on in my head. “I did not mean dying is bad. It’s natural, but up until now all of your powers have been in talking to the dead. What happened today goes far beyond a medium. Shy, can you feel the dead here? From what I understand the king hasn’t been allowed inside in a long time.”

I close my eyes and send out that part of me that senses the dead things of the world. “There are many creatures buried around the grounds, but they’re at peace. This is not a place for the restless dead. This is a place of life. This is where they come when they are ready for the wheel to turn.”

His lips kick up in a sweet grin. “You’ve spent too much time with the witches. You talk like a witch now. The next thing I know you’ll be doing shadow work and surrounding us with crystals.”

I shake my head. “It feels right. And I know I’m correct about this place. There are no restless dead in the temple or on the grounds right now. But the palace is out of balance. The dead have their place. Even the restless ones. I think I know what Myrddin is doing.”

“I don’t want to think about him tonight, Shy. I know we should go downstairs and join the others and plan,” he begins.

I do not want that. “Or we could bring this temple back to life and show this sithein what they are missing. The temple needs you. Can’t you feel it?”

His eyes darken, the green of the deepest forest. “In my soul. The temple wants an offering. It’s been many years since a high priest brought his magic here. Brought his goddess here and shared their love with it. This temple magnifies our magic.”

I don’t correct him the way I would have a mere day before. It is our magic. Like Ostara said. We are opposites and feed each other, nurture each other in a way we cannot on our own, could not with anyone else in all the planes.

“What exactly does that mean?” My question comes out on a breathy sigh. “Lee said something about wards.”

“I suspect the king has warded against all kinds of magic. You saw even the servants wore talisman and charms. If they weren’t protected, then a ceremony like what we’re about to perform would be felt throughout the sithein. However, I’m grateful for the wards since there’s an evil version of my father out there who I don’t want horny and wild. Lee told me the wards don’t extend to the dungeons since they use magic to torture prisoners.”

I gasp, understanding what he’s trying to tell me. “Your father and Ostara will take in our magic.”

“It will strengthen them, and there will be nothing their captors can do about it. This magic slips in and out and finds who needs it the most. It will bring the palace grounds back to their former glory.”

More than that. “It will bring hope to the ones who need it.”

“Shy, I don’t want you to do this to save someone else.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not doing it for the sake of the sithein. I’m doing it because I want you. I know I’ve been reluctant, and it was all about my fear. I’m done with fear. I worried I couldn’t stand on my own because Harry was with me all those years, but I was wrong. He was good to me, but he wasn’t my power. My power has always been inside me. It isn’t a scary thing. It simply is. I am it and it is me, and we have always been.”

“When you talk like that, I’m the one who is scared because I realize we haven’t begun to find the depths of your power. When you talk like that, I know we’re not even sure what you are yet.”

He’s right, and he should have a choice. “Will you find out with me? Or wait and see?”

His stare goes hard, and his hands tighten on me. “I will allow nothing to separate us, Shahidi. I mean it. I will leave you alone if you do not want me sexually. I will keep my distance if your heart does not want mine, but I will protect you always. You will always be my goddess even if I am not your god.”

I was never afraid of him. I was afraid of loving him so much I would be destroyed if I lost him or hurt him.

But he is worth the risk. I go on my toes, my lips so close to his. “Then explore with me. Fight this fight with me. Be the one thing I never have to compromise on. Make me yours in the eyes of your people.”

I am already his where it truly counts. In my heart. But he is a leader and there are rituals.

His mouth finds mine, lips soft at first, and then I feel his will. It’s there in the way his tongue licks along the seam of my lips, how it invades when I welcome it inside, sliding along mine in a silky glide that somehow has a straight track to my pussy.

Heat pools there, anticipation that suddenly knows it will be fulfilled this time.

He steps back, and for a second I stare at him. Marveling in his beauty. Thick black hair that brushes past his broad shoulders. He pulls his tunic over his head, tossing it away, and there is such lust in his eyes. The god inside is not like his father’s. Bris is a separate entity, but Rhys is a fertility deity all on his own, and yet that part of him has been suppressed for so long, there’s a sweet madness around him now.

He holds out a hand and starts up the stairs toward the bed. “Come with me.”

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