Page 51 of Great Falls Protector
Now, with the return of his memories—and the monumental understanding of what Leralynn had accomplished to keep the quint and the Academy safe while the males remained under the amulets’ spell—River’s first instinct had been to fall to his knees beside her. To tell the female who’d given up everything of herself to protect the quint just how much he valued what she’d done. How much he loved her.
He’d forced her to her knees instead.
Yes, he’d done it to protect her. To control the narrative and separate Lera’s accidental fire from the Night Guard’s deliberate assault. To keep the mortals from trying to take their hatred for Owalin out on River’s mate. But he’d had to hurt her to do it, as he would have had to hurt any member of the quint. She’d set fire to an arena full of people—there wasn’t exactly a way to gloss over that.
Yet as much as River’s head knew all that, all his soul could see now was the single tear spilling onto Lera’s cheek, though her whole body trembled with the effort to keep herself together. Feigning strength that had been exhausted long ago as she’d single-handedly held the quint together, staying the course of their mission when River himself did not.
Pushing away from the table with a soft groan, he stepped toward where Lera still stood by the window. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her soft body against his chest even as she struggled, her muscles tense with the anguish he’d inflicted. The girl’s soft lilac scent mixed with the salty brush of tears and the light tang of wet earth that still clung to the hem of her dress.
“Let go of me,” she snapped, pushing away with all the power in her small, tired body. “I hate you, River.”
“I know you do.” That made two of them. River held tighter, pressing Lera’s face into the groove of his shoulder as he lowered himself into a chair. His healing wound twitched once as he lifted the struggling girl onto his lap, holding her tight. The other males were still hiding in some back aisle until whatever this was blew over—which River thought was a mite unwise, given how the tightening of Leralynn’s muscles all but promised that he would need Shade’s help again shortly.
As if hearing his thoughts, Leralynn drew her hand back and shoved him with all her might, her position on his lap draining the power—if not intent—from the blow. Well, he deserved that and more. He was well aware that there was no amount of comfort he could offer to undo the pain he’d caused, but he offered it anyway. Spreading one hand along Lera’s ribs, he used the other to stroke her back and silky hair while the tears she’d held at bay finally spilled from her eyes, soaking his bare chest. A heartbeat later, sobs racked her small body—sobs she could no more control than she could have stanched the humiliation River inflicted in the courtyard.
“I had to make it real,” he said quietly as her breaths finally slowed to strangled hiccups. “People got hurt in that arena. I would have killed them all before letting them lay a finger on you, but short of that, the error had to be acknowledged and paid for. Both to prove that, unlike the Night Guard, we hold ourselves to account—and for the sake of healing everyone’s soul. Yours too.”
“And you thought you were the right person to dole out punishment?” She turned her face up to him, her large brown eyes brimming with hurt and fury. “That this was how our first meeting with your memories returned should go? You could have found another way, River. Could have found someone else to do it. You chose to be the one wielding the lash. Do you know how much that hurt? “
River felt his face blanch, his chest tightening around his ribs. “No. Leralynn. Of course not. Why would you think…” Taking Leralynn’s face in both hands, River traced her cheekbones, strong and beautiful beneath delicate skin. Just like the rest of her. She’d done so much these months, fighting for the mortal world when he himself could not—and was yet so soft and vulnerable around the steel-hard core. “I was trying to hurt you the least I could, not add to it. And I hated every moment of it.”
He swallowed, the realization of how Lera had taken his actions burning his own eyes. She was still so young, so new to the fae world. And he was a bastard idiot for not thinking of that. “I’m the quint’s commander,” he whispered, “Never in three hundred years have I allowed anyone but me to punish one of ours. And when I saw you… When I realized what had to happen… Leralynn, I couldn’t step aside, because had it been someone else bringing you to your knees, I’d have ripped out their tongue. Tell me you understand. Please.”
Leralynn shifted, her tense body easing just a hair. “You could have given me some…signal.”
“I had to make it real, or we risked losing everything—you included.” River’s voice was soft as he dried a stray tear sliding along Lera’s creamy skin. “Plus, you are so bad a liar that even Tye has given up teaching you to cheat at cards.”
She snorted. “And you needed to show the mortals that you could control the rabid dog under your command.”
River’s hands stopped, tightening on her shoulders. “Not a rabid dog, Leralynn,” he said, his voice harsher than he intended. “An immortal warrior with more power at her fingertips than any creature the mortal kingdom has laid eyes on. You set an arena ablaze byaccident, without a moment’s thought. A power that would have left most any fae on the ground, too drained to move for days—and yet was little more than a trip hazard to you. Stars, Lera—don’t you understand how powerful you are? Because I do. And it scares me spitless.”
6
Lera
River’s words grip my chest.Powerful.Of all the words for River, the king of an entire kingdom, to use to describe me, that was not one I expected. Slipping off the male’s lap, I stand between his open thighs, River’s face tilting up a bit to keep our gazes locked. “You think I’m powerful?”
River snorts softly, shaking his head. “Stars, Leralynn. How can you not know it by now?”
“But—”
“I could feel your power even when I thought you a cadet,” he whispers. “Even when I didn’t know who you were, when I could feel nothing of the mating bond, I knew you could eclipse the sun itself if you put your mind to it… Or, well, your emotions.” He smiles ruefully. “Just you wait untilyouare responsible for someone who just might destroy the universe by accident.”
I wait for River’s gaze to slip to my midsection, and when it never does, I realize the reference was for me, not the twins. In fact… My eyes widen, the antics of the courtyard suddenly a distant past. River was unconscious when the rest of us felt the heartbeats. Which means, in addition to waking to discover the mortal world on the verge of war, the male has yet to learn that he’s about to be a father.
Lovely.
Drawing myself together, I pull in a long, steadying breath, filling my lungs with the scent of woods and power that comes from the male.Right. Here goes.I raise my chin. “River—”
The male puts a callused finger to my lips. “I fell in love with you when I didn’t know who you were, Lera,” he whispers, his gray eyes flashing with soul-shredding desperation. “With my memories gone, with everything around me screaming that I needed to stay away, I couldn’t help myself. You own my soul. Always will.”
I catch his wrist, feeling the speeding pulse tapping against the skin. Looking down from above, I can see the tension coiling each of River’s muscles, from his impossibly broad, bare shoulders to the hard squares of his abdomen and the rock-hard cords along his thighs. When he swallows, I see the agony lining his eyes, an unbridled terror that what he did in the courtyard—what he had to do in the courtyard—would make me walk away.
“River,” I say, my voice gentle. “River, I’m not mad at you. I was, but I’m not anymore. There is something I need to tell you.”
He tenses, bracing for a blow. “Please don’t,” he whispers. “Please don’t leave me, Lera.”
“No.” I catch myself as River flinches. “I mean, no, I’m not going anywhere. In any way. It’s something else. And I need to you to stay calm. And not—”Not faint or go feral or lose all your better sense.
