Page 23 of Claimed By Stone
"I don't know. I just feel so unsettled. Then I heard you with another woman, and I was filled with a deep rage I had never known. The magic feels like it is crackling inside of me."
A small smile tried to curl his mouth before he flattened it back into a straight line. "That woman was my sister, my little flame. You have nothing to worry about," he said in a warm, rich voice as his thumb stroked my cheek. The small movement was calming me. I was beginning to crave this gentle orc. And there was a part of me hoping that there might be a time when he wouldn't be so gentle.
“Little flame?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
“The way the candlelight makes your skin glow. It’s like you are the light itself. You are captivating.”
“Oh,” I bit my lip and looked away. The feelings this orc was stirring in me were undeniable.
"Now,” he said as he lightly gripped my knee. “Can you tell me how I can help you?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know," I said with a crease forming between my brows. "But having you near helps."
"Good," he said before pressing a kiss to my forehead. This strong, massive man just kissed me like I was something precious, and it filled me with the feeling of safety. My shoulders loosened a bit more.
While his nearness and tenderness had always been something I craved, tonight it was different. Tonight, I felt awarmth in my belly. I remembered this feeling. This feeling was desire. And I felt it stronger than ever before.
His eyebrows creased as his nostrils flared.
"Really, I'm feeling much better. Should we get to work?" I said, trying to disguise the desire I still felt, but I could tell he was not fooled.
"Yes, let's get to work."
He pulled the big book out and opened it to where we'd left off. We had managed to translate about a quarter of the Godling in the book, and with the sheer size of it, that was no small feat, yet I feared we weren't any closer than we were when we began.
We passed the time as I read him the Godling text, and he wrote it down. Then he would look into the other books. On our other nights together, I would have joined him, but tonight I just couldn't. While the panic was gone, I was still restless. I walked over to the window overlooking the town outside the mountain. Usually, it was all quiet by now, but not tonight. No, tonight it was still a buzz with the final preparations for tomorrow's feast.
“I wish we knew where I came from. This book is teaching us nothing.”
“We have learned something. We have learned that transmutation magic can trap a soul in an object until a later date,” Thavros said with an encouraging smile.
“Yes, and we also learned that only a pure Fae or God would have the power to do that. I don’t know of any still in the realm.”
Thavros took his glasses off and rubbed his hand over his face. “Yes, that is what we have learned. Perhaps we need a new angle.”
I badly wanted to be a part of it, yet I was stuck here in this war room, living half a life.
Thavros joined me by the window and slipped in behind me, and wrapped his arms around me. I leaned back into him.My head barely hit his chest, but the thump of his heart was comforting.
"I don’t like seeing you like this. You seem to be a million miles away," he said before he lowered his head and sniffed my hair.
I'm not sure why my heart squeezed at this giant orc sniffing me, but it did. I melted into him, wanting the world to fall away and for it only to be me and him and nothing else.
“What do I smell like?” I asked.
He took another sniff, and I couldn’t help the grin that tugged at my lips. “Old books and wildflowers.”
I turned in his arms and sniffed him right back. His smell was addicting. “You smell of old books, leather, and something else, something earthy.”
“I hope it is pleasing to you.”
I nodded as I stood there in his arms with my head lying on his broad, warm chest. I yearned for something. Something I didn’t know how to have.
"I just want to feel real."
As the words came out of my mouth, I knew what would make me feel real. I needed him.
"Please, Thavros," I said as I looked up into his deep brown eyes. "Please make me feel real."
