by Ivy Sparks
“I thought we were going to die. I thought—” She stopped and looked up at me. “Thank you for coming for us.”
“I always will.” I stroked a lock behind her ear, gently touching the curve of her jaw. She leaned into my touch. “Do you know who it was?”
Ellie shook her head. “No. I didn’t see his face. But he was definitely Adonian.”
An Adonian lord wanted to kill my mate. My arms tightened around her, the animal in me growling. I ground my teeth, stopping myself from baring my fangs and going completely primal. I wondered if I could speak with the heir apparent on this matter. Maybe with his blessing, our… whatever it was… could be sanctioned and the air would be cleared amongst the other lords and ladies.
Although there was a high chance that would do nothing. If an Adonian male was after my mate, then nothing would stop him. He was going to keep sending packages, search her out, hunt her like prey until finally he had her alone and then who knew what he would do to Ellie.
“Do you have any idea who it could be?” Ellie asked.
I shook my head. “No, but I have been looking.”
“Who would want to harm us? Have we done anything wrong?”
“You’ve done nothing wrong.”
I didn’t want to believe it, but I had the feeling this wasn’t some unknown Adonian who might’ve seen us at the ball.
This had to be someone close to me.
Chapter Seventeen
Ellie
My sister, Vorian, and I sat in the dining hall, eating breakfast. All three of us, as if it were the most natural thing to do.
Lyra kept gazing off into space, staring outside at the view of Adonia around us. Her eyes were wide with wonder, her lips powdered with the sweet dust from another pastry she stuffed into her mouth. She reminded me of a chipmunk from a wilderness school book, her cheeks stuffed with food while she still tried to cram more inside.
Lyra spoke with Vorian, speaking in Adonian. It all sounded like English to me with my translator earpiece, but from everyone else’s reactions, I had to assume she spoke with an impressive fluency. I didn’t think Vorian would be able to communicate so easily with her, but he was gentle, smiling every now and then before glancing in my direction. I wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation. I was still so shocked she was here. She was alive and well, stuffing food in her mouth and conversing with aliens as if it were nothing she hadn’t done before.
Zoe filled Lyra’s plate again with pastries. At this rate, Lyra was going to end up fat and spoiled the way everyone doted on her. I couldn’t help but smile. It was absolutely perfect.
“You have a lovely sister,” Vorian said in English, taking a sip of that awful tea that somehow Lyra enjoyed, meeting my gaze over the rim of his cup. “How did you learn Adonian, Lyra, and somehow your sister did not?”
“I’m not one for languages,” I grumbled, smiling regardless. I was too happy to be annoyed. My sister was here, safe and sound and not dead. Whoever wanted to kill us was probably in the Orion’s detention facility. Our attacker couldn’t have bought out the entire Orion guard, could he?
I shook my head. I now had all the time in the world to spend with Lyra before she left for Artemis.
“It’s true.” Lyra shrugged. “I love languages. Ellie is more of an engineering, mechanical, gadget girl. I love the books.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I like books too.”
Lyra scoffed. “You like those fairy tales and romance novels.”
My face heated and I quickly glanced at Vorian, who chuckled, still staring at me. “I like… other things,” I mumbled.
Lyra rolled her eyes. “Sure.” She turned to look at Vorian. “I like reading to learn. History, languages, politics.” Her eyes narrowed on Vorian and she leaned back in her chair. “What about you, Vorian? What do you like?”
Vorian crossed his arms in front of his chest, arms which held me only a few days ago. Part of me wanted those arms wrapped around me again, but I would never admit it to him. I didn’t know what we were now, since I left him even after he told me he loved me, after I laughed off the whole fated mates thing. He did come for us and care for us during this time, but could he forgive the things I said?
“I guess I lean more toward Ellie’s hobbies,” Vorian answered my sister. “I’m an inventor of sorts for the king. I designed my wing for example.” He extended his mechanical wing for my sister to see and she whistled, nodding her approval. “I created the vats, the medicine for atmospheric pressure, the hovering advertisement videos in the towns, the—”
“Do you like my sister?”
I nearly choked on the pastry in my mouth. I shot Lyra a look.
Vorian, on the other hand, seemed to be biting down laughter. “Do I like your sister?” he repeated.
Lyra nodded. “Her name is Ellie.”
“I know.”
Lyra leaned in closer, resting her elbows on the table. “Well? Do you?”
Vorian smiled, exposing his fangs. “Why do you ask?”
“Because why else would you come for us?”
Vorian’s blue eyes met mine and I felt my world tilt. I didn’t want to hear the answer. I pushed myself away from the table and quickly stood. “Well, look at the time,” I said, looking at my wrist. I wasn’t wearing a watch but that didn’t matter. “I must get going. What a busy day I have today.”
I walked as fast as I could without looking like I was running. I didn’t want to know that everything was just a crush. I didn’t need to know the truth. I could live in blissful ignorance for a few days more. The second my sister was alone, though, I was going to give her a stern talking to.
“Ellie.”
I stopped and grimaced, slowly turning around and finding Vorian at the top of the stairs. He was smiling. He looked so relaxed these days. So at ease given we nearly died on the Orion. I hated to admit it, but the look really suited him. It made me feel all these silly butterflies in my belly. My little brain was thinking about his stupidly handsome face during the day when I should have been thinking about how to find the Adonian who wanted us dead.
He stopped in front of me and took my hands into his. “Would you like to go for a flight tonight?”
I blinked. “A flight?”
Vorian nodded. “Yes.” His hands were so warm. “The Crescent Peaks look beautiful at sunset. We could land on one and gaze up at the stars.”
“Stars?” I asked, wincing at how stupid I sounded.
His smile broadened. If I wasn’t so shocked at the idea of being alone with him again, I would have grabbed that face and made it do very naughty things to me. “Maybe eat a little dinner? How does that sound?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
He stroked my jaw and my heart fluttered. “Yes?”
I nodded. “Will my sister be safe here, without us?”
Vorian smiled, as if he had already considered that. “Of course. I’ve turned on the security measures of every door within this castle, so she’s safe to poke around wherever she wants, as long as she’s inside. Nobody else is getting in. Zoe and Dravak will be keeping her company too. She’s beyond safe.”
“Okay,” I said, trusting the technology and security of this castle, unlike the Orion.
“Good. I will have Zoe prepare you.” His hands released mine and he turned away, walking back up the stairs. “You should wear something warm.”
I paced the length of my room while Zoe dug inside my closet, taking dress after dress out to show, only to have me shake my head. Lyra watched me from her seat on the bed, smiling coyly. “Are you nervous?” she asked, kicking her feet back and forth, hitting the frame of the bed in a repetitive thump-thump-thump.
“Can you please stop that?”
Lyra stopped, but her smile only grew.
“What about this one?” Zoe held up a pink dress and I gagged.
“What are you so worried about?” Lyra stood, strolling toward the wardrobe and peering inside.
“Fal
ling.”
“Vorian would never drop you,” Zoe said, holding up a yellow dress.
I sighed. “What did I say about yellow?”
Zoe shook her head, shoving the garment back inside. She whispered something to Lyra which sent them both into a giggle fit. Having Lyra here was getting a little irritating, I was beginning to realize. Not that I minded the irritation, if it was coming from her. “He obviously likes you.”
“I’m not so sure.” I grimaced, thinking of the last time I was alone with him in this room, looking at the bed where I had been when he said those words. “I wasn’t the nicest to him when I left.”
Lyra pulled out a deep blue sheath dress bedazzled in silver stars twinkling off the garment. It reminded me of Vorian, flying in the night sky, the wind blowing in his hair and a smile on his lips. “What about this one?”
I walked toward it, taking the dress and holding it up to my body. “Do you think it will look nice?”
Zoe smiled. “It will be perfect.”
I pulled off my shirt and pants, throwing them on the floor and pulled the dress over my body. “What did you do to him when you left?” I heard Lyra ask as I tugged the skirt down.
I stared at myself in the mirror. “It wasn’t so much what I did, but what I said.” Lyra and Zoe stared back at me through the reflection, an expectant look on their faces, and I groaned. “He told me he loved me and I was very… dismissive about it. I didn’t believe him.”
“He said that?” Zoe asked, clapping her hands in excitement.
I looked between the two, my face contorting into discomfort. “I may have also said that I thought he only said it to get me to stay.” I quickly rushed out the words, trying to look anywhere else but at them.
“Ellie,” Lyra nearly shouted. “That’s terrible.”
“I know. I was upset. I was worried about you and he just said it out of nowhere. And, well, you know.”
“Know what?”
“With Dad up and leaving us, and all my other past conquests, I just didn’t have any faith left anymore in regards to men.”
Lyra smacked her forehead. “Not every man is like Dad. And yes, you do have terrible taste in men, but he’s not like all the others. I approve of him, and you know I never approve of any of your boyfriends.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, tugging on my skirt. “I guess you’re right.”
Zoe placed her hands on my shoulders and faced me back toward the mirror. She leaned in, smiling. “How do you feel toward Vorian?”
I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering who this woman was gazing back at me. Over the course of a few weeks I had put on healthy weight. My face had filled out, my hips were bigger. I looked pretty. But did he see what I saw in the mirror? What did Vorian want? “I missed him,” I said to the woman in the mirror.
Zoe’s smile grew. “You should tell him. I think he missed you too.”
I nodded and caught Lyra’s scowl in the mirror, nearly bursting into laughter. “And for God’s sake,” she said, “be nice to him. He’s feeding us, you know.”
Zoe led me to the balcony followed by Lyra, both girls whispering back and forth, which was beginning to get on my nerves. But at the same time, I was glad to see Lyra getting along so well with an Adonian.
Vorian waited at the top, holding a small basket. He looked handsome, dressed in his usual black attire. Zoe gave me a matching blue scarf for my shoulders. He looked me up and down, smiling and baring his fangs, which made him look carnal. A part of me wanted him to sink those teeth into me. A shiver ran down my spine at the thought.
He held out a hand to me. “Are you ready?”
I took it. I wanted to run back, kiss the ground, beg it to never leave me, but I was curious what a flight meant. The last few times we flew, it was for traveling purposes only. Maybe it wouldn’t be so high or as fast.
“Yes,” I said, allowing him to pull me forward. He wrapped my arm around his neck and lifted me into his arms, his knees crouching down. Instinctively, I closed my eyes.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered in my ear.
I opened my eyes and looked up at him, catching the gentle look he gave me. His wings extended and he flapped them, lifting us slowly into the air. It was different from the other times, where he crouched down low and launched us into the sky, the wind blaring all around us. This time it was slow, gentle, and I was able to adapt to the new height easily. The balcony was a few feet below us before he dipped down, riding the current before flapping upwards once again. The sun was setting over the peaks, highlighting the purples, oranges, and reds. Their tips crusted in dark flowers were blooming under the darkening sky.
We flew long and far until Vorian landed, gasping for breath and shaking his head. He knelt down, allowing me to plant my legs on the ground before standing, rubbing his neck, then extending his mechanical wing and shaking it. “Sorry,” he murmured. “It gets like this sometimes.”
“What do you mean?”
“The muscles flair up from overuse. This wing isn’t as strong as it once was.”
Vorian took the blanket and spread it down on the ground, the flowers perfuming the air. His wing slowly tucked back to his body and he grimaced, sucking in air.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded. “It’ll be fine.” He knelt down beside me and opened the basket, taking out bowls of food.
“How did you injure it?”
His hands paused before continuing their work. “During the war I was captured.” He poured a glass of tal and handed it to me, the dark liquid reminding me of Rachel and the time we got drunk at the royal palace. I had better not do that again, I warned myself, taking only a sip. “During that time I was tortured for information. When I didn’t give in, after some time, the commander decided it would be fun to take a blade to my wing. Nearly cut the whole thing off.”
I set the glass down and moved closer to Vorian. My hand lightly touched his wing. I felt it twitch under my palm, his wing leaning into my touch.
“My father came to rescue me.” Vorian’s voice sounded heady, his eyes hooded as he gazed at me. “But he was killed when we were on our way out.”
“I’m so sorry.” I touched the metal plates around the base of his wing, stroking up until I reached the tip of his flesh. Vorian reached around and grabbed me, his hair falling over his eyes. I leaned into him as his eyes stared at my lips.
“If you continue,” he said, licking his lips, “we won’t be having dinner.”
I touched my forehead to his, breathing in his scent, licking my lips. I inhaled and met his sapphire gaze with mine, my lips so close, just one small move being all it would take to claim him. “I’m okay with that,” I whispered.
Vorian stared at me, his gaze dipping back to my lips. I nuzzled his nose, leaning in closer. His eyes fluttered closed and he growled low before grabbing me, pulling me toward him and crushing his mouth against mine.
Chapter Eighteen
Vorian
Ellie looked so beautiful. I had to make her mine. Her legs straddled me, while her tongue delved inside my mouth and stroked, igniting a fire inside me. I tightened my hold on her ass, nibbling on her lower lip, smiling against her mouth when she moaned.
I caught her tongue in my teeth and sucked it, my hands stroking her back, pulling her closer to my hardened length. My pants felt tight against my cock, yearning for more of her touch. Her hands cupped my face, stroking my hair back away from my eyes. She broke away and leaned back, eyeing me with a hooded gaze. My lips sought hers, but she dodged them, toying with me.
I bucked underneath her, grinding myself against her panties, watching her mouth part in delight. Her hands grasped at the ground beneath us and I caught her, hauling her up toward me, my lips capturing hers. I tugged at her bottom lip and groaned, feeling that animal need within me, urging me to bite her, urging me to make her mine and plant my seed inside her.
Her hands stroked my hair and I concentrated on the comfort it brought me, nuzzlin
g myself into her breasts, kissing a path from her collar down to her nipple. Damn this dress. My hands cupped her breasts, and my thumb flicked over her nipple, making her arch against me.
I tugged her skirts up, my hand stroking her bare leg and massaging her thigh. She grabbed her dress, tugging it up and over her head. I threw it behind her, admiring her pale breasts, my mouth claiming one and sucking lightly at her nipple while I pinched and flicked the other. She held me close, nails digging into my back. She whimpered, grinding her lower half against me.
“I want you,” she whispered, her hand reaching down between us, pressing against my hard length.
I growled my arousal, mouthing her neck as she unbuttoned my pants. She found my hard length and stroked it gently. I sucked the nape of her neck, my teeth grazing against her skin. She shivered as her head tilted to the side.
I needed to be calm. Any moment and I would sink my teeth in and claim her. While she seemed to instinctively know what I was tempted to do to her, with her constantly exposing her neck to me, I wouldn’t do anything without her express permission. Instead, I inhaled deeply and pulled myself away, leaning back to get a good look at her, the moon lighting her hair and making her skin look luminescent, like a sprite.
She was beautiful and she was here, alive and well. Her head was tilted to the side, displaying herself for me, but I didn’t know if she would understand. She was still human. She still didn’t know what it meant to be my mate, what it would mean to me if I asked and she allowed me to sink my teeth in.
Her hands rested on my shoulder and she followed me as I leaned farther back into the thick grass beneath. I couldn’t help but watch her, wondering what she would do next. Her lips twisted into a smirk, her finger stroking delicate, tingling caresses on my cock.