Page 34 of Cloak of Night
“Do you want to take a break from practicing?” she asked. “We need to go into the Imperial City anyway.”
Before Sora and Broomstick had left, they’d agreed that Daemon and Fairy would return to the Citadel and bloodstone palace every day to keep looking for clues to Empress Aki’s whereabouts and to try to put a wrench into whatever the Dragon Prince’s plans were. Sora had created several dozen dragonflies made from ryuu particles and enchanted them to be able to find her. That way, Daemon and Fairy would be able to send daily messages to her and Broomstick and vice versa, on top of communicating emotions through their gemina bonds.
“I don’t think we should go into the Imperial City until it’s dark,” Daemon said, wiping sweat from his brow.
“That’s probably wise,” Fairy said. “Keep practicing, then.”
Liga had been studying Daemon. He snapped his fingers, and blue sparks appeared, hovering in the air and forming themselves into a three-dimensional wolf made of stardust. “Perhaps if you envisioned the end state,” Liga said.
Daemon looked at the illusion dubiously. It wasn’t the easiest advice to follow, since being a constellation was so new. Or rather, he supposed, it was old knowledge, but Vespre had hidden it from Daemon when he left the sky and was reincarnated as a newborn baby. The memories were still inside Daemon, but buried deep, as his other powers had been.
“Wait, I have an idea,” Fairy said. She set down the plant she was dissecting and bounded over to Daemon. “This worked last time to give you some confidence.”
Before he knew what she was doing, she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed his neck softly. Then another, her lips like warm silk. He turned to putty.
“Liga, go for a walk, please,” Daemon said, his voice gruff.
His brother chuckled. “I’ll give you ten minutes, but then we have to get back to work.” He turned away and disappeared into the woods.
Daemon’s mouth was on Fairy’s in an instant, his days’-old stubble against her smooth skin. Their bodies smashed together, too, and the force sent them tumbling to the ground, scattering dried leaves and chestnuts everywhere.
Holy heavens, he’d been stupid to wait so many years for something like this.
Fairy lay on top of Daemon and turned her attention to his neck again. He moaned and wove his hands through her hair.
“You’re going to leave a mark,” he said.
“No, I’m not. It’ll disappear as soon as you change into a wolf.”
“What if I can’t shift?”
“Then your neck will be marred forever.” Fairy flashed a wicked grin.
“You’re going to pay for that.”
“Oh, really? How?”
“Like this.” Daemon wrapped his arms around her back and rolled so he was on top. She shrieked in surprise.
He wanted her perfect little mouth again. Their lips parted, and their tongues danced slowly with each other. Daemon pressed his body against Fairy’s, and she arched her back and hips to meet him. The only thing between them was a few layers of clothing. Damn the late-autumn chill for all these clothes!
Fairy reached up to unfasten his cloak but only made it through one button.
“Why are you stopping?” Daemon asked.
“The sky is darkening like a storm’s coming.”
“It didn’t look like rain earlier.”
She smiled regretfully and refastened his cloak. “I don’t think it’s a real storm. I think it’s Liga giving us a warning that our ten minutes are up.”
Daemon sighed heavily. “And here I always thought I’d love having a sibling.” He rolled off Fairy.
She kissed him one last time, then climbed to her feet and offered him a hand up. “Do you feel a little better about yourself now?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “It’d be impossible not to. The way you want me... it makes me feel like a god. Well, a demigod.”
“Good. I’m here for reassurance whenever you need it.” Fairy winked. “Although eventually, it would probably be good if you could shift forms without me having to kiss you. Not that I don’t want to, but it might be difficult if, say, we were in the middle of a battle.”
