Page 27 of Lera of Lunos
Coal, as expected, is here still, brushing down Czar’s already shining coat. I watch the male, the muscles bunching beneath his leather vest as he moves the coarse brush. Beside Coal, Czar looks like a normal-sized horse, though no sane being would think such of the stallion. I cringe at the memory of thinking I could ride the beast. And then at another memory, the time I shared Coal’s saddle, his warm, strong body supporting mine. His cock growing stiff against my backside.
Where didthatmale go?
River’s stallion gives a neigh of displeasure at being kept waiting.
Coal turns, his blue eyes heart-stoppingly bright. “Mortal?” The cautious note in his voice is intoxicating. Frowning at River’s now dancing stallion, the male strides up and takes the reins from me, staring down the heady horse before walking him to a stall. When the warrior returns for Tye’s mount, his leathery male musk makes my thighs clench together. Letting the horse into a corner pen, Coal pauses, his back still to me. “Is there a reason you are here?”
“No.” Suddenly unable to hold still, I let Sprite into a stall, leaving on her halter but unclipping the lead rope from the headstall. “Yes.”
Coal turns, cocking an annoyed brow.
Striding across the barn, I reach around the male’s neck, my heart pattering as I pull his mouth down toward mine. The taste of him fills me before we even touch, metallic and powerful and very male. I brace for the feel of his hard lips and—
Nothing.
Coal pulls back before we can connect, one strong hand sliding across my arm to unhook it from behind his head.
No matter how I’ve braced myself for it, the sting of rejection hurts enough to close my throat outright. “Bastard.” I hurl the word with all my might, jerking my hand away altogether. “Was it just a game to you? Or a bloody tool to share magic? Plainly not something worth fighting for after a single mistake.”
Coal catches my wrist again, his grip tight. “Not asinglemistake, mortal. When it comes to allowing you to echo my magic, not even my decisions are sound. As for indulging in lust—when I think with my cock instead of my head—in case you’ve forgotten, the last time I let that happen, you had broken ribs and worse to show for it. I bloodykissedyou as we left the Citadel and even that cost more than it gave. Some things are not meant to be. We wager enough going against Griorgi and his hordes of Mors nightmares without your risking a punctured lung just to satisfy my cock.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“If you are looking for a fair life, stars’ blessings to you,” Coal growls, the edges of his stunning face shadowed in the filtered light. “Damn it, Lera. When I work you in the sparring ring, I know exactly where each of my blows will land, how deep each bruise will go. You might exit a sparring ring hurting all over, but you’ll never walk out truly injured. I can’t make the same promise with my magic. Not even when I’m in full control. If I don’t keep myself in check, you can see my damn nightmares, feel them as your own—let alone do damage to your body. I don’t know what is safe.” He enunciates the last words as if speaking to a child. “I don’t know what is right. I. Don’t. Know.”
“You don’t know?” My chest heaves, the blood rushing through my head so loud I can barely hear my own thoughts. How dare the bastard make this his decision alone? Decide for us both what my body needs. Wants. Deserves. “Is that it?” I ask coolly. “You don’t know all the cosmic truths of the universe, and your fear of injuring me is the only reason you’ve turned into a bloody monk?”
“I think it’s enough of one, don’t you?”
I twist my hand to pit all my strength against Coal’s thumb and, slipping free, cross my arms over my chest. “Fine.” I raise my chin, meeting Coal’s piercing blue gaze. “Then I have a better idea. How about you not injure me?”
Coal slams the heel of his hand into a wooden post mere inches from my head. “You think it’s that simple? My body—”
“I don’t intend to give your body a choice in the matter,” I snap into his face, my pulse racing. Lifting up the lead rope I hold in my hand, I let the thick restraint dangle in the space between us. “Since you are of the opinion that denying a body what it wants for some higher moral purpose is a good idea, then let’s go with it. Except I think I prefer that we deny the choice to your body, not mine.”
Coal’s gaze seizes on the rope, every muscle in him going rigid. In the intimate light of the setting sun and carefully hung lanterns, the male’s shadow spreads like a pair of wings over the floor. His powerful chest rises and falls in such an even rhythm that I know he’s working to control it. “Whatexactlydo you mean?”
Rising on my toes, I run a finger over Coal’s lips. “You fear injuring me. So I will make certain you can’t.”
Coal’s face pales. “You want to restrain me.”
“Yes. And yes, it will scare the stars out of you. Out of me too. But I’m asking you to trust me, and I don’tknowwhether I’m pushing you more than you can bear. There is no text in Autumn’s library that spells out how our two bodies and magics and souls work together. So we figure it out, and we make mistakes if we have to. And it might not happen in one night. Or one week. Or one tumble in the sheets.” I put my hand on his chest, his heart pounding against my palm. “You fear losing control so I’m removing that option until you are ready to risk it. And when you are, I will trust you to try. As I’m asking you to trust me now.” A corner of my mouth quirks. “You might actually enjoy what I have in mind.”
“I highly doubt it,” Coal mutters, a note of surrender in his voice.
19
Lera
Isqueeze Coal’s shoulder and step away to lock the latches on both entrances. When I return, he’s standing right where I left him. I hold out my hand. Palm up. “Give me your wrist.”
The muscles of Coal’s jaw tighten, rippling the skin along his face, but he doesn’t step away this time. Under his fear, his wild eyes, I can see it—the very beginnings of curiosity. Arousal.
“I won’t hurt you,” I say quietly, my hand opening and closing in agive megesture. “And I won’t let you hurt me. But you have to trust that.”
With strained slowness, Coal’s heavy wrist settles into my palm, his pulse bounding so hard that I can feel it thumping beneath his skin. Before the male can change his mind, I guide him to the very post he struck earlier and loop the rope through one of the metal rings anchored high up into it. Moving slowly enough to keep from startling him, I secure Coal’s wrists to the hanging rope ends, letting him test the restraints when I finish my knots.
“Can you get out?” I ask.
