Page 29 of Midnight Kingdom

“Touching you and feeling you… does something to me,” he answers before taking a deep breath. “I feel… alive in a way I have not felt in a very long time.”

I don’t know if he uses his magic or I’m just not paying attention but suddenly my buttons are undone and I feel him pulling my pants down my thighs. And then his fingers are back on me, slipping inside my already wet flesh as he teases my clit. I close my eyes and grind against him, wishing he hadn’t pledged himself to remaining celibate because I need him.

I want him.

I moan as he plunges two fingers inside me and I feel myself gushing around them, taking him even deeper inside me as I sit down on him.

“Your scent is so thick in the air,” he growls.

He pulls his fingers out and maneuvers me so I’m above his face, straddling his head. He pulls down on my back, forcing my pussy above his mouth. When I feel his tongue lapping at me, I arch up and open my eyes, noticing the pronounced bulge in his pants. I immediately free him, wanting to feel his engorged cock in my hands.

He groans as soon as I pull him out and I run my hands up and down his shaft, watching as beads of his desire drip down his head. I feel his fingers pushing into me and I grind down on them as I take as much of him into my mouth as will fit. He lifts his hips and fucks my mouth as I fuck his fingers, wishing I could feel his throbbing length pushing into me.

I feel myself losing control as an orgasm seizes me and my entire body shakes. In response, Pyre loses himself within my mouth, emptying his seed as he breathes out deeply.

“I wish,” he begins but then shakes his head, as if he can’t finish his sentence.

“You wish?” I ask as I return him to his pants and I rest against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

“I wish I could feel you properly, the way nature intended.”

“Me too,” I answer. Then I realize the implications of what we’ve just done and I lean up on my elbows, studying him. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I feel… energized. Better.”

I nod, hoping I haven’t further weakened him. That’s when I take a look around me, allowing my surroundings to sink in. The forest is different here. The trees are less dense. I can see beyond the thick, gnarled branches, toward what appears to be open land. I stand up and walk forward, reaching the edge of the forest. There, I see miles on miles of flat, gray stone. Cracks litter the ground, but there’s nothing else in sight.

A loud screech startles me and I jump behind a tree. I search the stretch of land before looking towards the sky. Winged creatures soar across an ebony sky filled with dark clouds that block the stars. One flies over the moon and I see right through the fleshy membrane that allows them to slice the air with the quick, precise movements of their wings. These aren’t creatures I’ve ever seen before.

Ash begins to fall like snow and I race back to Pyre to tell him what I saw. “What do we do? Can we go around them? Maybe take another path?”

“No. It’ll add another six days to our journey. Remember, time here doesn’t pass the same as it does in the realms.”

“So?”

“Do you really want to wait to see what happens if we give Variant an extra month to plot against us?”

I shake my head. “No.”

Pyre looks up at the sky with his unseeing eyes. “We must move through the harpies, but very carefully.”

“Is there any way we can cloak ourselves?”

“I’m no threat to the Harpies and they are no threat to me. We’ve lived in harmony for millennia. You, however... they’ll sense your soul.”

I hope that sounds more ominous than it really is. But, then again, this is Pyre—he rarely does anything that doesn't involve immense danger. "I just need to know if they'll attack me. I have my dagger, but I counted six of them."

“In a world where death rules, the living are not welcome. Yes, they will attack, and they’ll do so without remorse,” he answers stoically. “We can’t beat them, but if we move fast enough, we can make it to the other side of the Ashland. They can’t cross over.”

I can’t see any other way around it, so I push my shoulder beneath Pyre’s to help him regain his balance. He takes a minute, looking nauseous, and I feel guilty. If I hadn’t insisted on going to rescue the Midnight Queen, Pyre would be safe in his home right now. But what’s done is done. There’s no going back. And Pyre supported our mission anyway.

Pyre steadies himself and we creep along the edge of the forest. He steps out of the tree line first. The Harpies stop. They hover in the air and create a terrifying formation in the sky as if they’re honoring the Guardian of The Veil. Pyre continues to walk for a few more steps before he signals me to follow. For a moment, they just watch me. I take careful, measured movements, hoping they don’t see me as a threat or... a snack. One swoops down, stopping just inches from my face.

When I look at her, I see a beautiful but grim demonic angel. I feel a connection to the Harpy and wonder why. A split second later, she hisses, bearing her fangs at me. Her talons reach for my throat and I drop to the ground before she can touch me. I roll across the stone and then leap into a fighting crouch.

The Harpies swarm, falling from the sky in absolute grace. Their wings expand right before they hit the ground and I take off at a dead run. Pyre is in front of me. His long legs eat up the distance, but I’m right on his heels. Suddenly, I find myself yanked into the air by a pair of claws around my shoulders and I scream.

I’m maybe ten feet in the air when the harpy tosses me to another one flying just beside us. That one grabs me with her talons as her screech interrupts the quiet sky. I scramble to grab my dagger from my waist band and once I have it in hand, I slice through the Harpy’s clawed paw. She instantly releases me, causing me to hit the ground so hard I bounce. The air is knocked out of my lungs and I struggle to take a breath.

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