Page 34 of Eclipse of Fate
Chapter thirty
Something is different aboutRaelle. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but in my time away, she’s changed. Sitting on a downed log next to a fire, I eye the male across from me. The flicking fire acts as a veil between us, as he keeps his eyes trained on me too. He hasn’t spared a glance at Raelle, and I think he’s being cautious not to. Considering he is meant to be dead, he shouldn’t be able to have eyes on my mate anyway, much less hands.
I’m pissed just thinking about how my reunion with her has been tainted by him. He sees it in my eyes too. The glower I’ve been pinning him with since we settled here at the edge of Demetrey tells him as much. Raelle threads her arm through mine, pulling me closer and pulling my attention away from the ghost in front of me.
“He’s a good man, Dax.” Her voice is a whisper, but the movement of her lips is enough to draw the attention of Alaric. When she lays her head on my shoulder, his eyes snap back to mine, then he throws his hood over his head, stands, and walks away until he merges with the shadows outside of the firelight. Kait moves to follow him just moments later.
“He’s adeadman,” I mumble, tilting my head and pressing my cheek into the top of her head.
“Stop being so cynical.” She moves away to look up at me, and I press my lips together tightly.
“This isn’t how I imagined being reunited with you,” I grunt.
“Tell me… how did you imagine it?” She bites down on her lip, trying to hide a smile. I narrow my eyes at her attempt to distract me, and the smile breaks across her face, forcing her lip to pop from between her teeth. I turn my gaze back to where Alaric was just sitting. I grind my teeth, thinking back on the last time I saw him and the memories it brought forward of my uncle.
I sit with my back pressed against the rock wall that surrounds the grounds of my family manor. The foundation crumbling in areas where they’ve been unkept, but the stones are warm on my back with the heat they absorbed from the summer sun, even though it’s long since been set. I come here from time to time. I’d say to escape, but I think it’s more a form of self-punishment for what I did. I come here to be close to what causes me the most pain.
This house is nothing but a reminder of the night I killed my parents.
It’s only been months since it happened, but every night it replays in my mind—a never-ending nightmare that haunts me and gives me no rest. Whiskey helps take the edge off on the most difficult nights. Tonight, my birthday, I pop the cork to the bottle I broughtwith me and tip it back until the gold liquid pours into my mouth and burns on its way down my throat.
Relishing the burn, I close my eyes and tilt my head back against the stones, letting it warm my cold soul. I’ve felt this way since that night.
The same night, I vowed to never allow myself to cast my shadows again. Hide them away so that no one knew I ever had them—All that has ever come of my power has brought pain. Pa didn’t know how many times I overheard the arguments he had with Uncle Declan. Sometimes I wonder if my magic is what drove him to go on so many missions and eventually to his death. He didn’t want to be around for the training that Pa put me through.
Not many Fae knew what power I held. Soren talked my father into keeping such a ‘powerful weapon’ concealed. In case I was to be targeted. Uncle Declan didn’t agree and tried to tell Pa one night that he was too hard on me. Tried to get him to pull back on my training.
“He’s only a boy, Travis! You not only need to teach him about his magic, but you need to give him the understanding of life, brother. What child has to spend so many hours learning about magic and how to wield it as a weapon?” Pa only shook his head, pacing the stable as horses chuffed and neighed. I liked spending time with the massive beasts at that age. Sometimes I felt most free when I was on the back of my horse. Sometimes I felt like Alvis was my only friend.
“He’smychild, Declan. Not yours. You gave that up a long time ago. Don’t tell me how to parent mine.” Pa isn’t yelling, but his voice is firm.
“It’s not what I’m trying to do!” Uncle Declan growls, spinning and punching out at the wall of the barn, causing the nearesthorse to startle; it lets out a whinny that makes the others shift nervously. I flinch. I’ve never seen Uncle Declan so mad.
He and Pa still didn’t know I was just on the other side of the hay bales stacked along the far wall. “Just don’t let him lose his innocence too early. Don’t let Soren corrupt my nephew.” He pins Pa with a look. When I was young, I thought it was anger I saw on his face then but looking back… I realize that it wasn’t anger at all. It wasbitter sadness.
Rubbing my hand down my face, I look back at the tent now erected behind us. Raelle notices how my emotions have shifted too, and her teasing falls away as she stands, pulling me up with her.
“Let’s go to sleep. We have an early morning tomorrow.” An understanding enters her eyes, and I can’t find it in me to hold onto the anger. I let out a heavy sigh as I stand with her. Wrapping her in my arms, I brush my thumb across the cheek I worried I would never touch again—only just a night ago.
“There’s times I wonder what I’ve done in this life to deserve being mated to you.” My eyes flick between hers and her lips part on an inhale, just as mine do when the clouds break and the moon shines down on us, coating us in its silver light. A swelling magic grows and emanates from Raelle. Her eyes light from behind for only a moment before she snaps them shut. I saw it, though. I saw her magic swirling alive in her eyes. “How did you do it?” I ask her seriously.
“Do what?” She says without opening her eyes.
“How did you break the barriers?” I caress her cheek with the back of my fingers, and when my hand moves away, and she opens them again, I’m still staring at her. She smiles coyly before pulling me by the hand as she backs up, lifts the canvas flap up, and ducksinside. The tent is warm from the fire nearby and the simmering coals that were placed into a pit dug into the ground at the end of the small shelter.
The shelter that smells of him.
My jaw clenches, but Raelle lifts her hand across the twitching muscle there, pulling my thoughts back to her. It’s dark in the tent, but the glow of the fire lets me see her silhouette. She backs away from me, dropping clothing in her wake. A carnal hunger builds deep in my stomach as she does. Dropping to the fur that’s laid out on the ground, she props herself up on her elbows, looking up at me, the swell of her milky breasts pushed up like an invitation. A growl builds in my throat as I prowl over to her, pulling the little clothing I’m wearing off as well.
The need to worship her, feast on her, and bury myself deep inside of her causes my skin to tingle, and everything else falls away. The sensation intensifies as my skin brushes the warmth of hers. Her lips part on a silent inhale as she closes her eyes and squeezes me with her thighs as I lower myself over her.
“I feel like my skin is on fire.” She whispers as she tips her chin up. Dropping my head, I trail my lips over the increasingly frenzied pulse in her neck. Nipping the sensitive skin, just before her shoulder. She arches her back, pressing more fully against me, causing my cock to pulse with need.
“I feel it too. It’s like our magic is wanting to be merged as much as our bodies.” I say, lifting my head, and I stare at her beautiful features. The slight upturn on her nose, smooth planes of her face, and high cheekbones. Her thick lashes dust her cheek, and when they flutter open, surprise takes me when her irises reflect at me like the moon. As though her raven is calling to mine…I feel a ripple of magic, and my eyes shift, and I know she’s looking into the moltencopper of my raven. Our gazes melt into each other, and my heart thrums inside its cage, threatening to burst free.
“Dax, I can’t take it anymore.” She writhes under me. Slowly, I trail my nose up her neck, inhaling her scent. As I get to her silver hair, my trail stops cold and I bring my hand up fisting it, tilting her head back with my tight hold.
“I smell him on you,” I snarl low in her ear. “Tell me that where my thoughts are going is wrong, Raelle.” The grip I hold on her hair tightens until she sucks in a sharp breath with the bite of pain. My gaze burns into her, and the grip I hold on her makes her chin tilt further up.
