Page 94 of Faeling
“It scares me, too,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t do this. I should run as far away from you as I can get.”
His purr stuttered into a growl at the thought, but then again, he didn’t hate the idea of a chase. There was no question he’d catch her. She wouldn’t escape him.
She traced his face with her fingertips. “But I can’t. I can’t leave you. No matter that I know I should.”
The need to ask, to push was a living thing inside him. Yet he slayed it, wrestling it back into the depths of his heart. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, and he knew with a conviction that should have worried him that her tears could easily slay the rest of him. He was no match against them.
“One day, you will tell me,skala. When that day comes, know that I will love you then as much as I do now.”
Her lips parted on a shuddering breath, more tears gathering. He was about to start panicking when she closed the breath of distance between them, capturing his mouth in a wet, fierce kiss.
He wanted to devour her, press her into the bed and soothe the lingering terror of almost losing her. His body ached to claim her, to strengthen the bond blooming between them. Yet he held back, dreading the thought of disturbing her bandages or bringing more tears.
When he finally sank inside her for the first time, it would be in his bed in Balmirra. She would be healed and healthy and ready for him, dripping with her need.
Vallek purred against her lips, heart full of hopes and aches. Gods, she made happiness painful and sorrow bittersweet. She shifted the axis of his world, and he knew then, as clearly as he did his name and his mission, that he would do anything for her. Remake the world. Bend the other realms to his will. If he had to conquer the faelands themselves to make her safe, he would do it. Gladly.
She didn’t give him the words back, but that was all right. When he earned them, it would be all the sweeter for the challenge.
Still, she sent a thrill of vicious pleasure careening through him with a little growl against his tusks. “There’s no one for you but me,” she said, her ferocity pleasing him to the most primal depths of his soul.
Chuckling, he nuzzled his nose against hers. “It’d be more romantic to say, ‘there’s no one for me but you.’”
“I’m not being romantic. I’m making a threat.”
“Ah. My mistake.”
Gods, how was it that her threats kept making him painfully hard. Perhaps he really was mad. If so, this was the sweetest madness, and he embraced it.
For Vallek was lost to his faeling mate. There was no hope for him now.
Their course was set, their path laid. Now all that was left was to walk it. And he would, with Ravenna beside him.
They would leave the world remade in their wake.
22
They parted ways with Oberon and his charges on the eastern shores of Lake Lovath. Ravenna bid them farewell with promises to visit soon and tell Callistix all about her adventures, as well as bring Vallek to formally meet her and the herd.
Ravenna tried not to snicker at the look of concern on Vallek’s face when she informed him.
“Aren’t mares known for being even more vicious?”
“Yes, and for good reason. Callistix has led the herd for centuries. You two will get along royally.”
She chuckled at her own joke despite his pout. Ravenna took his hand and squeezed in recompense.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let them bully you. Much.”
“This is revenge for my sisters, isn’t it?”
“Maybe a little.”
They shared a laugh this time, and Ravenna found herself looking forward to being with Eydis and Asta again. She’dactually missed them—just a little—on this journey, and they weren’t a small part of why, when the spires of the city rose from the horizon, a few of the knots in her stomach loosened.
The remaining march back to Balmirra had been far less eventful—and far more pleasant with her getting to ride Oberon most days. Her magic did its work, healing her battered body so that only the most stubborn bruises and cuts were still visible. Her ribs and wing still ached, but she could at least fold her wings against her back again for longer and longer periods.
Twitch the onager didn’t seem to miss her, while Oberon enjoyed making a show of whenever she mounted or dismounted. He’d also come to relish racing Vallek. On straightaways and in mountain meadows, her mate and Oberon raced the wind—and each other. An odd sort of friendship bloomed within the competition, one which she would’ve found endearing had she not had to serve as an intermediary between them, with herself as a common topic.
