His hand went to the top of her bare thigh, his head following it down, resting on the back of his hand. His breathing was hard.
Charlotte’s hand went into the thick of his dark hair. “Tri, what? Are you hurt and didn’t tell me?”
He didn’t pull his head up, but he did shake it as he mumbled into her thigh. “No…Sorry...god, Char — it just hit me again.”
“What did?”
He looked up at her. His eyes were burning moist. “How close I was to losing you...”
“No. You can’t think like that. I’m right here.” Both of her hands clasped his face.
“I’m just having a hard time reconciling this, living with this constant dread that you’re going to disappear.” His fingers were digging into Charlotte’s thigh. “I faulted Aiden for wanting to protect Skye from, well, everything. But no more. I need you safe, Char. And it kills me that you are in danger so often.”
Charlotte leaned forward so her forehead touched Triaten’s. Her hands still enveloped his head. “Tri, you’re not six, and I’m not Sarah. We are not powerless. No one can take me away from you. I won’t let it happen, and you won’t let happen.”
His eyes closed. “I know. I just wasn’t ready for that sudden…overwhelming.”
He cleared his throat with another shake of his head and went back to unwrapping. He didn’t look up at her with his next words.“But Char, you have to do something for me.”
“Anything.”
“Stop and think.” He looked up at her, dark eyes intense. “You’re a doer. You’ve always been like that — a doer, and I don't want that to change about you. But please — please — before you ever again put yourself in front of bodily harm — take one millisecond, for me, and think.”
Charlotte’s head cocked to the side. “I'm not wired like you, Tri. I do. I can't just turn that off.”
“So don't turn off the doing, just add a layer of thinking in there. A layer of consequence. That's all I ask.” His hands slipped to her waist. “No, not just ask, this is me begging for that. Begging you to think.”
Pain shot through his eyes, and Charlotte was useless against it. Her fingers went along his jaw again, and she brought her head down to his. Her words choked out. “I will. I promise.”
With a grunt of gratefulness, Triaten finished unwrapping her shin. Leg free, Charlotte rubbed her hands up and down her lower leg. As haphazard as Triaten’s splint was, it had done its business well. She walked gingerly to the shower, and stepped into the steam.
Ten minutes into the scrubbing, wet muscles pressed into her frothy backside. Triaten’s mouth brushed her ear.
“I thought I could wait, Char, but I just need you. These moments — our moments — keep slipping away.”
His lips slid down her wet neck, as his hands skimmed around her waist. “I couldn’t wait outside — I thought I could, but I need to feel you, Char. Me, deep inside of you. Live. Vibrant. You. I know your leg isn’t healed yet. And you need to sleep. But lord help me, I just need to be with you. This moment.”
The washcloth slipped from Charlotte’s fingers and she spun around in Triaten’s arms. “You have it. You have me. This moment. It’s ours.”
Triaten’s hand moved up her slick back to her neck, as he leaned down on her. His lips hit hers hard, the urgency proving she was alive and fine in his arms. Her hips leaned into him as the kiss deepened, his mouth opening to hers, asking for the essence of her.
Their skin slipped, hands and limbs moving, exploring, with neither grabbing traction until Triaten’s hands slid under Charlotte, and he lifted her up.
She gripped his shoulders, nails clinging the hard muscles as he eased her down onto him. Her legs clamped around his waist, struggling through the slick soap to lock. Her head tilted back in the waterfall, and she gasped against the liquid as Triaten accosted her neck, leaving not an inch of flesh untouched. He pulsated inside of her, but his hips remained motionless as he enjoyed the taste of her.
Charlotte reveled in his touch, until it became agony waiting for him to move within her. Hips swiveling, she bent her head down to him, and buried her fingers into the back of his wet hair. She pulled his head up from her body. Descending on him, she demanded with her lips that the burning deep within be sated.
Triaten needed little encouragement, and he devoured from below, both in mouth and body. They slammed into the wall of the shower, and he took her to the edge, screaming for release.
But her demands did nothing to hinder her own body from pulling and teasing Triaten to his own edge. And at the last second, before they both went over the precipice, she pulled up from his mouth, eyes deep into his.
He plunged one last time, extracting for the both of them, every ounce of pleasure from the moment. Water pounded their bodies, but neither noticed, so consuming was deepness of each other.
{ Chapter 22 }
The wind whipped tiny balls of ice at the windshield in front of Triaten and Charlotte. Drops that were a precursor to what was to be the first real snowfall of the season.
Grey and cold. Storm brewing.
The exact sentiment Triaten and Charlotte could both see in the slump of Skye’s shoulders as she got out of Aiden’s jeep and trudged across the tarmac to the plane.
Skye had decided earlier in the day that Shiv’s body should be buried by their parents in their hometown. Shiv’s body was already on board, just awaiting Skye’s accompaniment.
Charlotte looked over at Triaten. “Are you ready?”
He cut the engine. “No. But this isn’t about me.”
They both got out, stopping to get their duffel bags from the back of the vehicle before they walked over to the plane. Aiden and Skye saw them right away, and they paused at the foot of the plane’s ladder.
Charlotte dropped her bag when they reached the pair, going straight to Skye and embracing her. “I am so sorry, Skye,” she whispered to her friend. “I tried and tried to save her, but I failed her and you. I am so sorry.”
Skye pulled back so she could look at Charlotte directly. Her face remained mottled with tear-induced red blotches, and her eyes were bloodshot. “No, I saw — I couldn’t move, but I could see — you did all you could — I couldn’t have asked for more. How you even got to us, I don’t know. And that you would even put yourself in danger like that…” Skye’s hand went to Charlotte’s cheek. “Thank you. It means the world to me, it truly does.”
With an understanding frown, Charlotte nodded. “Anything you need, my dear, you let me know. Anything.”
“Thank you. I’m okay right now. I just want to get back to Cloquet.”
With a nod, Charlotte moved to Skye’s side, but kept her arm about her shoulder. They took several steps onto the stairs, while Triaten and Aiden picked up the bags and followed them.
Suddenly, Skye spun around on the stairs. Shifting out of Charlotte’s arm, she looked down past Aiden, directly at Triaten. Fury in her face. “No. You do not get to mourn her.” She pointed a shaking finger at Triaten.
“Skye, Triaten –” Aiden’s voice was reasoning.
Her icy glare shifted to Aiden. “No — he does not get to mourn her. He is not coming with.”
Aiden looked helplessly over his shoulder at Triaten.
Triaten stared back at the three faces staring down at him. “It’s okay. I’ll stay. Take care, Skye.” He nodded at Aiden and then backed down off the stairs.
Charlotte put her hand on Skye’s shoulders, gently turning her around and guiding her up the rest of the stairs. They disappeared into the cabin of the plane.
Aiden stepped back down off the stairs to face Triaten. “I can see you don’t want to let this one go, but she’s destroyed right now, Triaten. I know it’s hard, I know how much Shiv meant to you, but I need you to leave this one alone.”
Triaten rubbed his jaw in annoyance, then relented. “Fine.”
“Before we leave. Do you have any word on where those fireballs came from?”
“No. A
nd there is one possibility I don’t want to entertain, but anything could be true at the moment.”
“Which is?”
“Edmund. He’s the only one on the mountain that controls fire — no one else that’s currently here has the ability. Unless someone came into town.” Triaten shrugged. “Obviously, it could have been a Malefic from across the valley, but it was so well-placed. Those fireballs were spot on — and then how the fire spread, trapping them. Edmund couldn’t have done that alone. He would have needed wind helping him.”
“Helen?”
“Maybe, but she was helping Horace with the rain and getting us through the fire.”
“Playing both sides?”
“Could be, or it actually could have been Malefics. God help us if it was. Hell — god help us if it really was Edmund and Helen.”
Aiden sighed. “It’s a lot of shit that needs to get figured out.”
Triaten nodded and tilted his head at the plane’s windows. “Yea, and all I really want to do is get on the plane.”
“It’s better that you stay anyway. Horace was already demanding your presence at the Hotel. And one of us needs to show after what we promised.”
“Promised?” Charlotte stood, paused at the aircraft’s entrance. She quickly made her way down the plane’s stairs. She stopped at the bottom step, and confusion was in her voice. “Who promised Horace what?”
Aiden looked over his shoulder at Charlotte, then back to Triaten. You didn’t tell her? He mouthed, eyebrows raised.
Triaten’s head tilted downward, but he kept his eyes up, his jaw smoldering as he looked from Aiden to Charlotte. He gave Aiden a barely perceptible shake of his head.
Aiden winced. “I imagine we’ll be back within a few days. We have to take care of Shiv’s affairs as well, aside from the burial.” He turned and walked past Charlotte, still stuck on the bottom step. He paused to kiss her cheek, and then disappeared up into the plane.
Charlotte’s eyes lasered on Triaten while she waited until Aiden was gone. The cold wind was whipping blond strands of hair from her low ponytail. Once they were alone, the accusation was quick to manifest. “Tell me, Tri, am I staying or going? Because you have a lot of explaining to do if I’m staying.”
Triaten’s eyes shifted to the body of the plane, and then back to Charlotte. His voice was low, hesitant, when he finally answered her. “Stay. Please.”
With a deep breath, Charlotte stepped down and walked past him over to the jeep. She stopped at the front bumper. Triaten followed her. They both turned, and in silence, watched the plane take off.
As the plane disappeared out of sight around the mountaintop, Triaten whispered. “I loved her, Charlotte.”
Putting aside her swelling anger, Charlotte put her hand between Triaten’s shoulder blades. Through the soft-shell jacket he wore, it was obvious how tense he was. “I know, Tri. You loved her. Skye loved her. That’s enough for me to know how special she was.”
They stared at the treetops of the pines where they plane had cleared land. The sleet was slowly turning into snowflakes, and the wind was picking up, blowing the white flecks near horizontal.
Charlotte’s hand dropped from Triaten’s back, and she crossed her arms across her chest. She looked up at Triaten. “What did you promise Horace, Tri?”
“Nothing…” The pause was dooming. “Everything.”
Charlotte’s mouth fell open as her eyes widened at Triaten. He avoided her look. “God, no, Tri. Tell me you didn’t.”
“He wants us on his side, now and whenever he deems it, we’re his force, no matter what.”
“Why would you do it? Why would you promise him anything?”
Triaten’s eyes swung down to Charlotte. “I had too.”
Charlotte’s eyes closed in a wince. She leaned back against the front of the jeep. Her eyes implored when she opened them again. “Why?”
“He was the only one that could get us through the fire. He was the one that created the downpour of rain, and Helen used her wind power to narrow it above us. It was the only way.”
Her eyes to the heavens, Charlotte swallowed hard and shook her head in denial. “What’s the one rule that we’ve always lived by, Tri? Owe the elders nothing — we’ve seen them destroy too many Panthenites — and we always vowed, you, Aiden, me — to never, ever let them have control over us. How could you do this?”
“Char, you have to understand –”
“Yes, please, make me understand.”
“There was Africa, and I almost lost you there, but it was nothing compared to watching you disappear from that helicopter. You were finally, actually, mine. I love you on such a different level — and I was sure I was about to lose you — I almost jumped out after you right then. If the pilot hadn’t pulled up when he did, I would have been down there, burning up with you.”
“You would have figured out a way to get to us without Horace’s help. You lost faith, Tri. You lost faith in yourself.”
Triaten moved in front of Charlotte, positioning himself between her outstretched legs. “Char, are you not listening? I was desperate. Desperate to get to you as fast as possible, and he presented himself. I wasn’t — couldn’t — take the chance and come up with another solution. I didn’t care how I did it, just that I got to you.”
She watched him, silent for a moment. A tear of frustration welled in her eye. “You still shouldn’t have done it, Tri.”
Triaten’s hands went to either side of her face, and his eyes were more serious than she’d ever seen them. “It was you, Char.”
She bit her lip as she uncrossed her arms and her hands slid along his hips. “But it’s your future you promised away, Tri. For me. I can’t accept that. You have to go. You need to get in a plane — in your jeep — right now, and go. Disappear. If this is the result of us being together, than you have to be free of me. You can't let Horace and the elders use me against you — that’s what he's doing, and it’s not going to stop here. You thought about it once, disappearing, and now you need to do it.”
She wiped away a tear. “I refuse to be the reason you are stuck in a life you don’t want. I love you too much for that, and I need you to be living life on your terms. Not the elders’. Not Horace’s.”
Triaten looked around, buying time as he scanned the hangars, and forest, and tarmac. Streaks of snow swirled on the pavement. He was calm, undaunted clarity when his eyes settled on Charlotte once more. “You realize this is the same spot you left me. And now you’re asking me to leave you?”
Charlotte looked around, startled.
“I’m not going to let you do it, Char. Or let me do it.”
“Do what?” She wrinkled her nose, trying to shake a large snowflake off it.
“I’m not going to let us make this complicated.” He wiped the white fleck off with his thumb. “We always do this. You do it, I do it. The only damn thing that’s ever stopped us from being together is us. Our crazy-ass over-thinking minds. But it’s simple. Do we want to be together?”
Charlotte blinked, taken aback. Her head was nodding before she choked out a whole-hearted, “Yes.”
Triaten heaved a sigh of relief. His hands tightened behind her neck. “Then let’s be together. Let’s make it simple.”
“Just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy, Tri.”
“When have our lives ever been easy? What’s one more complication?”
“But Horace –”
“No. The choice I made with Horace was mine. The fate of that choice is also mine. You don’t want me to lose faith in myself, but Char, I need you to not lose faith in me as well. No matter the promises made, Horace will not rule my — our lives. I will honor the promise with my own integrity. I won’t run from it. But I’m most definitely, not going to leave you.”
Her hands re-tightened on his hips and she pulled herself upright, shuffling her feet closer to him.
“Char, it has become shamefully obvious that my life was a pittance of an existence b
efore we were together. And I don’t plan on ever going back to that pittance again.”
His knuckles brushed her cheek. “Nothing is going to take me away from you. You’ve always been my home, Char, now I need to be yours.” His fingers slipped along the back of her neck, tracing her scar. “Let me be your home. Let me give you children. Let me give you a life worth waking up for.”
The smile she unleashed at Triaten was breathtaking. Blue eyes shining, the light in them burning brighter than ever, she slid her hands up his back, pulling his body into hers. “You’re right, Tri. This is the simple part. And my faith in you, I haven’t lost it, nor will I. The same is true for my love.” Unwavering certainty was in voice. “I choose you. Always. We are best like this.”
He bent down, lips brushing hers. “Together?”
“Together. Come what may.”
{ Epilogue }
Through the crust on her lashes, her eyes pulled, wedging themselves open. In the miniscule light, she could see a dingy white plaster ceiling and a large metal fixture with a broken light bulb hanging above her.
A face leaned over into her eyesight. Wrinkled skin. Grey hair.
“Do you remember what happened to you?”
She had no answer. She couldn’t move a muscle.
“Doesn’t matter.” He continued. “What matters is the choice you have to make in the next thirty seconds.”
She blinked, still trying to comprehend.
“Your life…Abandoned by everyone you ever loved. Used. Beaten. Disregarded time and again. A life of apologies. A life that you never really owned. A life spent hoping others would love you. But that love never came. And then you were given a death sentence.”
His eyes bore into her from above. “But now you are being granted another choice. So here is the question. Are you ready to live life without apologizing for yourself? Ready to live a life where you are in control and have the power?”
He paused. “Choice one: to live that life. Or choice two: you can close your eyes, and return to the darkness you were just in. Which will it be?”
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