River took a step towards me so our bodies touched. Him near me was comforting. Him being near me made me feel like I was home. His smile widened, as if he'd felt that magical shift, too. And he bent and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
"Let's go," he whispered.
Things were quiet back at the camp. Lex was asleep on the ground, snoring softly and Kael was silently keeping watch.
When we arrived, his dark gaze roamed over me and my face heated. It was like he could see through me and see through what I'd just done. But he betrayed nothing in his stare. He just nodded at me to sit next to him.
"I need to check your wound."
I nodded and handed him the wrappings I hadn't put back on. They were slightly damp. He took them as I sat down next to him and pulled off my jacket and shirt.
I knew I should've been embarrassed, should have flushed red but they'd both already seen me and feeling both of their gazes draw straight to my breasts made me feel powerful, and a little smug.
River sat across from us, his eyes lingering as if I hadn't just satiated him in the lake. And Kael...his dark eyes could have melted me entirely.
I wondered if he'd kiss me again with River watching. The idea sent a thrill down my spine. Warm wetness pooled from between my legs.
I hoped Kael would bend down, take my mouth in his gentle manner. I was disappointed when he seemed to compose himself. "Turn around," he rasped.
I obeyed, turning to bare my back to him. His fingers were soft and fluttering against my back. I relished in the feel of him, of his warm hands against me. I tracked his movements and gasped aloud when his fingers trailed around me, to the undersides of my breasts.
His chest pressed against my backside and his lips were suddenly there, kissing the back of my neck. I shuddered as he cupped my breasts in his big palms.
"Your wound is practically healed, princess." He whispered against my skin. I shivered and found myself turning to look at River. To see if this was entirely too wrong of me, to be enjoying Kael. But River just watched us, his brown eyes flaring to life at the sight of Kael's hands roaming over my body. He almost looked as though he wanted to join.
There was no jealousy in his stare but desire, hot and ready. It had me groaning, biting on my bottom lip. Kael's hands went down my stomach to the waistline of my pants. I wanted him further down. I wanted him inside me.
But mostly, I wanted control.
I turned abruptly, startling Kael slightly. He relaxed when I pulled him to me by the shirt and claimed his mouth for my own. I wasn't gentle on him as my tongue parted his mouth and my teeth took his bottom lip between them. Kael didn't match me in roughness, but remained gentle, though no less passionate.
His hands went between us, to undo the buttons on my pants. I stopped him, catching his wrist with my hand and moving it to the side. I broke the kiss to push him down so he lay flat on the grass, me straddling him. He looked at me questioningly but complied and didn't protest when my hands worked at the strings on his pants. He just gasped and sucked in a breath when I jerked them down and watched with delight as he sprang free.
The tip of him glistened in the light. Curiosity and desire overwhelmed me as I leaned forward, pressing my tongue to him. He groaned, digging his fingers into the grass. I smiled and covered his tip with my entire mouth, suckling on him. Then I went deeper, letting his impressive length fill me. What I couldn't take inside, I covered with my hand. I sucked on him, on the taste of salt and Kael. My tongue swirled on the underside of his shaft as I began moving my mouth up and down against him.
Kael gasped and the sound urged me on. It made me move faster against him, loving the hard velvety feel of him in my mouth.
His hips started to move, to match my own rhythm. He went deeper into my mouth and I took all he was, groaning around him when I suddenly felt hands slide down the length of my spine.
River was behind me, lifting my hips up higher. The position would have been awkward if he hadn't leaned over me then, palm holding my stomach in place so I wouldn't fall. And then his other hand trailed into the waistband of my pants.
I sucked harder and Kael let in a sharp breath.
I could feel River's erection through his jeans pressed against my ass. His fingers pushed aside the material of my panties to run down the center of my folds.
I gasped, arching my back, sucking even harder. And then River's fingers delved in. My head reeled at the contact, at his fingers working expertly against me. He filled me, ground against me. One man behind and one beneath me. It was sinful but it felt so right. My hips jerked against River's fingers. Kael's hips jerked against my mouth. The pressure built painfully. It rose, higher and higher and when River pressed down against the center of my clit, I could take it no longer.
I fell into the abyss, taking Kael's dick deeper into my throat until he cried out his release into my mouth.
I swallowed before slowly pulling away, sitting up to my knees. River was still behind me, hands inside my pants. Reluctantly, he released me and got up to take his former place.
My breathing was ragged as I watched him go, searching his face for any sign of anger or betrayal. There was nothing but the flare ofwanting. I looked back down at Kael. He was already straightening his pants, tying the strings together.
I got up and got ready myself, pulling my shirt and jacket back on and sitting back on the ground. I pulled my bag to me and opened it, pulling out sticks of jerky and bruised apples. I stuck a piece of jerky in mouth, felt my nose go red at the action. When I looked up again to find both men staring at me, I held out my rations.
"Want some?" I offered.
They both laughed.
Chapter Seven
We got going that afternoon. It was a long way to the Ruined City and I wanted to hurry. We'd taken enough time resting, just enough in order for our guide's headache to wear off so we could head off into enemy territory.
I'd slept a few hours myself, after tiring my body out with River and Kael, I needed it desperately. My wound still throbbed, though Kael had said it had healed externally-albeit with nasty looking, fleshy scar-it still had to heal internally.
I tried not thinking about how amazing it had all been, how empowering. I also tried not thinking about what it would actually be like with them inside me.
I'd debated the wrongness of what had happened before settling into sleep. If it could even be considered wrong. Neither River nor Kael seemed to mind what had happened between the three of us. They hadn't minded that my eyes and body craved them both. So why should I?
We walked together with Lex leading the way. There was nothing but open fields for miles and miles. I didn't even need a map to tell me that it would be months before we made it to the Ruined City at this pace. And I didn't have months. Who knew what they'd already done to my mother, if she was okay, if she was even alive. I couldn't afford to think the worst, though and instead focused on the other questions that racked my brain. Like what could they have possibly been doing in our territory? Why had they taken my mother? She had told me that my arranged marriage had been planned for some time. Why would they kidnap the queen they were meant to be allied with? Unless it was the work of renegade Murtaugh's. Unless they hadn't planned an alliance at all.
Maybe it had all been a trick.
Whatever the case, I knew there was only one place we would find answers. And that was in the Ruined City.
If we ever got there.
"At this rate we'll never get there," I complained.
The sun was high in the sky and beating down on our backs. I'd had to take my jacket off and tie it around my waist. Sweat coated my skin, making me unpleasantly annoyed. But I was used to the heat. I was just desperate to find my mother quickly.
"Ye of little faith." Lex called out. He was walking ways ahead of us. The nomad was in a surprisingly happy mood that just put a
damper on mine.
I rolled my eyes and kept walking. My sword bumped against my hip with every step. Kael fell into rhythm beside me, eyeing my weapon. "You know Lex went back for that?" He gestured at the golden and green hilt.
My eyebrows rose. "Really?"
He nodded. "He dropped you off in my tent then went out and came back with your sword."
Interesting. I looked at Lex's skinny back, the happy way in which he walked. "I'm surprised he didn't get caught in a trap on the way there."
Kael sighed. "There are just some things in him that we'll never change, I'm afraid. One day, he's going to end up getting himself killed."
My hand went to my weapon at those words defensively. "Not if I can help it," I hissed.
Kael eyed me and smiled. I relaxed instantaneously "You don't have to feel guilty, princess. About what happened…"
"I don't."
He blinked then broke into a wide smile. "Good. We are all free people. We can choose our own paths. Whether that be to follow you, die for you or want to be with you…" He paused and shrugged a shoulder. "We all make choices of our own free will."
As a princess, I had no free will. I didn't think Kael, or anyone understood that. No matter how free I thought I was, even that was just an illusion. My every movement was always controlled, always planned. It had always been hard for me to accept that fact. It was why I found myself in this mess in the first place. I'd rebelled and this is where it had gotten me.
"Don't overthink it, princess." Kael gave me a small pat against my shoulder before he fell behind to walk with River. They both began easy conversation as if nothing had happened. I vaguely paid attention to what was being said. Something about herbs and hunting.
Their voices were drowned out by the sounds of something else, of something foreign. I stopped and listened.
There was a rumbling as the ground shook below us. My heart shot up to my throat and I pulled my sword from my sheath, brandishing it.
"Put that away." Lex laughed. "And get ready, little red."
"Ready for what?" River asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. He looked as perturbed by the sound as I was.
The noise only got louder and louder. An unfamiliar whistle pierced through the sky, nearly deafening me. There was a rumble and I quickly put my sword back into place when Lex started walking faster uphill.
I followed him on a run, River and Kael did as well. Lex held his hands out, stopping us just as the rumbling became a deafening roar and a machine straight out of legend and myth came hurtling towards us.
Chapter Eight
I'd never seen one before. I'd only heard whisperings of the things. Even the few books we owned in the village never mentioned what it would be like to stand on the edge of tracks as a train rushed towards us.
I wanted to scream and run away but I kept my feet planted firmly on the ground. Lex laughed, high off the adrenaline of being so close to this death trap.
"Get ready to run." Lex said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "We're going to jump into a cart."
"We're going to what?" I shrieked.
Lex didn't answer. He was staring at the massive cars on the rusty old train as they zipped by quickly. How were we supposed to jump onthat? Lex smiled and then yelled, "Now!" And he ran beside the train, following it through the valley.
A second too late, we followed him. I ran, faster than I'd ever run my entire life. My arms and legs pumped painfully. River and Kael gained on me, passed me as they followed Lex.
I watched with awe and blurry wind-kissed eyes as Lex gave a sudden heart dropping jump…
Towards the train.
I wanted to scream but held back the urge when he slammed painfully against it, hands gripping tightly to a rail. He whooped for joy and then rattled at the thing, opening a side door of the freight car. He looked down. "Hurry!" He shouted.
Kael picked up speed and was next to jump. Lex pulled him in and they both looked out, holding out their hands for River, who let out a fierce cry as he hurtled towards them. They caught him, pulling him in.
I was the last one left.
"Jump, red!" Lex cried out. "It's now or never!"
My legs were beginning to tire, my wound screaming agony on my back, my chest heaving from the fire ignited inside. The train seemed to pick up pace. Or was I slowing down? No! I had to catch up! I couldn't be left behind.
"Hurry, red!" Lex screamed. But he wasn't looking at me. He was looking towards the front of the train. I made the mistaking of looking and sucked in a painful breath.
Further away, there was an enormous metal bridge the train could disappear into. Below it, a drop. If I didn't jump now, I'd miss my opportunity. I could fall into the chasm below or smack into the bridge.
I had to jump.
Now.
They were screaming at me, but their voices sounded further away as if the train was speeding up. Letting out a cry, I ran harder. The drop was approaching as was the bridge.
I couldn't wait any longer.
I jumped with all of my might, blindly reaching for the rail, for their outstretched arms. The impact hit me first at full force, knocking the breath from my body, rattling my every bone. I don't know what I'd grabbed, what I'd held onto but it was cold metal. My hands were locked around it, my legs dangling over the side of the train. If I fell, if I let go, I'd be caught under the wheels.
And then I felt their arms, pulling me to the side and into the car. I fell to the floor on top of someone. I didn't know who. My eyes were sealed shut, my heart pounding a terrible beat. I just held onto him and buried my face in his chest.
"Damn, little red." Lex's voice sounded in my ear. His gloved hand pushed back my hair and the other rubbed circles on my back. "That was a close one."
I expelled a breath, tightened my fists into his shirt. "You'll be the death of me, Lex." I muttered breathlessly. "I just know it."
A laugh rumbled in his chest. "Not if you kill me first."
The train rattled and shook me from side to side. I sat on the side of the car, watching the scenery pass by. Nothing but valleys and fields of flowers. This was the farthest I'd ever been from home and it filled me with nostalgia but at the same time with a certain excitement. If only they could have been under better circumstances.
This train would take us straight to the Ruined City, according to Lex. The Ruined City still had most of the technology that had been destroyed and operated using cars, electricity and even this train for trading.
I didn't ask Lex how he knew that. He was a nomad, after all, and had probably stolen rides on trains many times.
We'd gotten into a car without cargo. A lucky break, since it would be tough enough sneaking off the thing in the heart of the city.
Kael and River had already settled in for the journey, as they hadn't gotten much rest hours before. They were lying on their sleeping bags, River snoring softly. Lex and I were the only ones awake. He came up beside me and took a seat, letting his legs dangle off the side.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" He whispered.
I turned to answer only to find that he wasn't even looking at the scenery. His eyes were fixated entirely on me.
My face heated. "I've never seen anything beyond the forest at home." I confessed. "But of course, you already knew that."
"I didn't." He smiled. It was a ray of light all in itself. Lex, so complicated, so irritating...so necessary. I couldn't imagine this journey without him.
I broke his gaze to look at the scenery. I didn't want to miss a second of it. Already, the sky was bleeding in bright colors of orange and red. Somehow, it made everything all the more beautiful.
"Sunset," Lex whispered.
"What?"
"Sunset," Lex repeated. "Your hair is the color of the sunset." He reached over and took a few strands between his fingers, observing them as if they were a m
ystery he had yet to solve. All too soon, he released them and looked out at the passing world. "I've traveled for as long as I can remember."
"Why do you travel? Why not just settle down in a home?"
He shrugged a shoulder, smiling. "Settling isn't really my style. The worldis my home."
I nudged his shoulder with my own. "And when you've traveled everywhere there is to travel?"
"Then I'll just start the journey again." His voice was so serious, so passionate that I held my breath from the intensity of it. Just like that, it shattered when he chuckled. "If I don't fall into a trap I can't get out of before then."
I laughed alongside him. "I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet."
"It will. Never you fear, little red." He reached over and fluffed out my curls before stretching his arms over his head. "I'm going to lie down. You should get some rest before we arrive."
I nodded. "I will. I just want to look a little while longer."
He nodded in understanding and stood up, holding himself steady on the railing. He looked down at me a moment longer, I wondered briefly if he was going to say something else to me but then he turned and went inside.
And I was left alone to stare at the darkening sky, feeling, perhaps, a strange shift between me and Lex as well.
We arrived the next day, mid-afternoon. The train had started to slow and rattle. Only an hour before, Lex had closed the car door and ordered us to be quiet.
Apparently, officials checked the cars as they unloaded them, looking for strays, nomads or ambushes. The thought of them finding us made me nervous. Lex tried reassuring me by squeezing my hand before ushering us all to the backs of the empty crates. They would hide us but if an official chose to go further back into the car and look…
I pulled my sword out just in case and kept it battle ready. River did the same, handing Kael one of his beloved daggers. Lex held up a light bomb he'd salvaged from his ruined bag.
Braving the Beasts Page 6