Page 22 of Lera of Lunos
“No. I tried making noise about it, but my word meant nothing against the prince’s. So I started to compete hurt. And I was bloody good enough to win still. The night before the Realm Championship... I wasn’t home when the attack came. My mother and younger sister were. By the time the bastards were through with them, I’d gotten the message. The following day, I got so drunk to do what had to be done—to throw the competition—that I didn’t even think of betting against myself. I think you know the rest.”
“You missed the tournament, which the prince of Blaze proceeded to win,” Lera said, her mind racing behind her gaze. “And you were in and out of jail cells until the quint call.”
“There was rather little incentive to follow the rules at that point,” Tye said simply. “And smuggling pays well.” He swallowed painfully, unable to look at her for this part, to see in her eyes the moment she realized he’d been right to push her away. “Now do you see why I thought you should go with Shade? If it were up to me, Lilac Girl, I would never let you out of my sight for the rest of my life. But it isn’t up to me, especially now that you know the full truth. You deserve better, Lera. You deserve the world.”
Silence trailed at the heels of Tye’s words, the cave around them a capsule of secrets. Each memory shoving itself insistently from its hiding place in the depths of Tye’s mind drove another needle into his soul. Fingers tightening on the rough stone, Tye inhaled the damp, mossy air and awaited judgment.
Several heartbeats passed before Lera rose to her knees, her cool hands gripping Tye’s face. Tipping it to look so deeply into his eyes that Tye felt his soul bared beneath her intense chocolate gaze. Stars, if the girl could make him feel so vulnerable with one look, what could she do with a word? A step? Fear crackled along his veins, but when he tried to pull back, to escape for a bit of air, Lera would not let him.
“I see you, Tye.” Her words rang gently through the cave, stopping Tye’s heart. “And I want you. Not for play. I want you foryou, forever.”
Tye’s blood stirred, waking him to Lera’s words. She wanted him.
She wantedhim.
The way he’d always longed for her but had been so certain she would never feel in return. He stared into her eyes, hardly daring to believe it.
“And I want forever to start now, Tye,” she said quietly.
Blood roared in Tye’s ears. Stars, he believed her. With every scrap of his soul. And every beat of his throbbing cock.
15
Lera
My heart cracks at Tye’s vulnerable gaze, the slow widening of his eyes as my words finally settle in his mind. My promise of wanting the true him finally melting the wall between us.
“Are you certain, Lilac Girl?” he asks, his voice strained as if he fears chasing off a mirage.
Leaning forward into his pine-and-citrus scent, I brush my lips gently over his. “Quite certain.” A corner of my mouth quirks, my tongue tracing my teeth. “Though perhaps I should sample the merchandise first, given your criminal history and all.”
Tye’s face breaks into a dazzling white smile, his green eyes flashing with that feline mischief I’ve missed so, so much. “Oh, aye. But not here. The light’s poor.” Before I can even gasp, Tye snatches me to him and settles me on his hips as he rises, stepping from the cave into the soft evening light.
Along the shoreline, the river rushes along, its surface equal parts sparkling and treacherous. With the setting sun, the horizon is starting to shimmer with bright orange hues, thekraa-kraaof white birds circling overhead a harmony to the roaring water.
Tye stops mid-step, his attention rapt on the birds. “There’s a memory tickling the back of my mind. Not an image, but a sensation.” A hint of a smile touches his face. “I remember wanting to leap into the sky and catch that bird between my teeth.”
“Your tiger wanted to eat a bird?” I ask. “Or just catch it?”
“Neither. He wanted to bring it to someone very important.” Tye’s ears color. “Did I by chance—”
“A rabbit. A hare. A deer. Don’t get me started. Wait. You said the tiger wasn’t trying to mate with me—why bother with the offerings?”
“I think he’s giving me another chance,” Tye whispers, a tiny, glistening drop beading at the corner of his eye. “He thinks you are worth it.”
“And thatyouare.” I wrap my arms around Tye’s neck, my brows furrowing. “Though I’m not sure what to think about a seven-hundred-pound busy-body tiger playing matchmaker. Where are we going anyway?”
Tye points his chin at the river, where a circle of stones forms a basin several paces from the shore. The water inside the stones lies stiller than its rushing brethren, suggesting some isolation from the main river’s currents—but certainly not from its temperature.
“I think the tiger got the brains of the duo. At least he brought me to a nice dry cave,” I say, waiting for clarification. When Tye strides into the water instead, I shriek, digging my heels into his backside to find purchase higher on his body. “Not. Funny.” My words escape lungs that are already seizing with the cold. I start struggling to get away from the male but then think better of it. If I got down now, the water would only come up higher on me. “I’m going to kill you. Kill, kill, kill.”
Tye chuckles, cringing slightly as a rogue wave soaks him further. The warrior’s wet clothes cling to his muscles, showing off lithe lines that bend and flex with every controlled shift of weight. A tiger made fae. I bury my face in Tye’s neck, inhaling his clean, male scent. Heat from his body roars into mine despite the wetness, as his confident steps brave the waves all the way to the little circle of stones.
I feel Tye’s magic wake the instant we step into the basin, his hand skimming the surface of the water. Power ripples from his core, gradual and controlled, until the first wisps of steam rise into the air, the water slowly giving way to Tye’s touch. Taking a deep, cautious breath, I inhale the warm fumes and taste the hint of seaweed rising with the steam. A moan escapes me as I borrow my face deeper into Tye’s shoulder.
A sudden, delicious hardness presses back against me in answer.
Finding a ledge, Tye lowers me into the exquisitely warm water, the stones dutifully protecting the oasis from the splashing cold beyond. I shimmy to settle lower in the—
