Page 70 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

We reachedthe river a few minutes later, and the klynna plopped down beside it as Aev slipped into the water. It was flowing much faster than it had been the last time I’d seen it, and he frowned at it for a moment before grabbing a long, thick vine off a nearby tree, and dragging it over to the bank with us.

The very end of the vine dangled into the river while he slid into the water, and I clung to him when the cold of it soaked through the mud on my skin and made me shiver.

My flames burst to life as Aev maneuvered me around, tying the end of the vine to my waist loosely before he began scrubbing my skin lightly. The fire had already burned the mud off my arm and legs, leaving my torso to the sabertooth in front of me. He didn’t pay any mind to my flames, focused entirely on cleaning my abdomen carefully. He had to roll my tank top up to the middle of my breasts to do so, but they didn’t distract him for more than a few seconds.

“Can I burn you?” I asked him, slightly worried.

“If you tried hard, yes. But all fae are fire-resistant, so you’d have to want me burned,” he said absent-mindedly, since he was focused on cleaning me.

When my bare skin was in front of him, pale and whole, he let out a long, relieved breath.

“I’m okay, right?” I checked.

“You’re perfect.” He smoothed a hand slowly over my belly, and my body clenched. “You feel better?”

“I do.”

“Good.” He leaned his lips to my stomach, and then brushed a kiss to the new skin there. “You scared the hell out of me, Thorns.” His arms landed on my hips as he straightened to his full height. The man was so massive, he towered over me.

With my ex, that would’ve scared me.

With him, it was just… right.

“After we’ve dealt with the beasts, and you’re satisfied that my emotions are genuinely my own, I plan on locking us in our house,” he told me, voice low.

“Ourhouse?” I lifted an eyebrow.

His tired eyes gleamed. “Yes, Thorns.Ourhouse. You told me you want me bossy—so you’re getting the king.”

My lower belly warmed. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” I said, mostly teasing him.

He lowered his lips to my throat, and I went still as he slowly dragged the tip of his tongue in a circle around a tiny strip of sensitive skin. A shudder rolled through me, and he stepped impossibly closer. His erection met my stomach, and I found my head tilting to the side, giving him better access.

My eyes closed on their own volition as he sucked lightly on the skin, making my heartbeat pick up. The thought that he could feel that heartbeat on histonguewas enough to make me hotter.

My body was throbbing with need when he finally released my throat, lifting his lips to my ear and murmuring, “You’ll see it, Sunshine.”

When he nipped at my throat and stepped back, I let out a soft groan that made him chuckle. I forced my eyes open, and looked at the klynna that was bonded to me. Its emotions collided with mine, and I felt…

Amusement.

Apparently, Aev’s teasing had been funny to the creature, or at least interesting.

The ex-king’s arms wrapped around my waist, tugging me back to his chest. “We should get back to the others, so you can show them that you’re whole,” he told me, stroking the wet, tangled length of my hair like it was golden silk rather than a light brown rat’s nest. I didn’t complain, though. I actually loved it.

“Alright.” I closed my eyes and focused on the flames within me, dragging them outward until I felt them burning away the rest of the mud on my skin, in my hair, and on my clothes. When we stepped out of the river, we were both clean—and I was ready to figure out what was coming next.

Nineteen

Aev ranus back to the group of fae waiting solemnly for the next fight, and my klynna-friend followed in the forest behind us. I asked him to wait when we approached the others, and he remained where he was as we went back and explained to everyone what had happened between me and the creature.

Some people were alarmed by the bond between me and him. Others were fascinated, or excited.

We spoke with everyone for a few minutes before the klynna stomped into our group, shaking the forest with every footstep. Everyone watched silently as he approached. Not as a monster, this time, but as a tentative friend.

I watched the creature move. Despite its size, and the weapon its whole body was, there was a grace to it that reminded me of the fae. Humans moved clumsily, sometimes jerkily. But fae? They justflowed. And the klynnas did too, I realized.

None of the fae or ex-humans tried to touch the creature. That was probably wise; the klynnas seemed far too intelligent, and far too dangerous, to treat them like pets. For all we knew, they could be our equals in every way except size.

---