“His lover, yes?” Lord d’Refan asked and my cheeks pinked again at the question while I saw Rohak’s jaw tick.
Interesting.
I nodded my head and Rohak studied the missive in his hand with unwavering intent.
“Yes, I think that can be arranged. Finish translating those two books and you can see him.” My heart simultaneously soared and plummeted with that news. But Lord d’Refan left the room before I could request anything further.
I stood there for a moment before looking at the books in my hands, and my eyes widened at the titles.
“Does Lord d’Refan know what these two books are?” I asked, my breath a whisper.
Rohak looked up from the paper, his eyes searching before dismissing me. “I would imagine he has some idea. Why?”
“Because I’m holding potentially the only copy ofWhen Gods Walked Among UsandThe Bondsmith.” I was unsure why Lord d’Refan gave me a copy of a children’s book, but I’m sure he had his reasons.
Rohak scoffed, “Children’s tales, Faylinn.”
I hummed but didn’t express my disagreement. I absently paged through the first book when Rohak cleared his throat. “Sort the missives, Faylinn. Then you can read.”
I groaned but set my journals and books down on the wingback chair before grabbing a stack of papers and making a home for myself on the floor, resolving to sort these as fast as possible.
Chapter 53
Ellowyn
“Torin!” My feet slapped the hard earth as I sprinted across the open plain toward the blond Southern lord who seemed to simply appear out of thin air. The magical storm above the dreamscape was, as usual, fitful and agitated, a few tendrils of wayward magic sneaking out from the clouds to tentatively touch both of us. The magic was growing more sentient, something Torin and I had discussed in detail the last few times we were here. I expected the touch of magic to burn or at least feel wrong, but it was more of a lover’s caress than anything.
At least that’s what Torin compared it to. I wouldn’t know what that feels like, even though Torin was getting more liberal in his touches while we were here.
“Ell!” he shouted in return, a smile stretching across his handsome face as his honey-hazel eyes warmed. I adored his nickname for me. It made me feel special, wanted, desired.
I launched myself into his outspread arms, and he caught me, squeezing my chest tightly to his. Our chests rose and fell in time with each other’s breaths, our hearts beating as one. I tucked my face into his neck, breathing in his scent, and experimentally pressed a kiss against his pulse point. I felt a vibration from beneath me and pulled my head back enough to see his face. There were lines of tension in his mouth and around his eyes, but his pupils were slightly blown, his lips parted.
“Careful, Ell. That particular spot gets me . . . excited,” he growled. My own pulse fluttered at the sound, and I let out a girlish giggle.
Who am I?
“Well, that’s probably something your future wife should know, isn’t it?” My voice was breathy as I stared unblinkingly into his eyes. He hummed in response before slowly setting me on the ground. My legs instinctively unwound from behind his back so I could stand, and I felt every hard inch of him as he dragged me down his body.
“Yes. That is true, but not what we came here to discuss today, is it?” he admonished, though there was a distinct note of teasing in his voice. I still felt slightly embarrassed over my lack of experience with intimacy and men, and tried to step away to give him space, thinking I may have read him wrong. Torin must have caught whatever look of inadequacy flashed across my face, because he shot a hand out quicker than I could comprehend and laced his fingers with my own.
“There is nothing I would love more than to tell you and show you all the places that drive me wild and discover yours in turn. To be the first one to do that? To find those placeswithyou?”—he gave me a look so heated I felt my cheeks redden—”It’s something I think about often. But we both know that our time here is limited. We should try and call upon Fate again before we’re inevitably kicked out of here.”
He was right, of course, and I nodded my head in agreement, even if my body would much rather do the other things he suggested.
We sat down on the ground, hands still clasped, and tried to summon Fate. We thought about them, tried speaking to them and about them, tried cursing them and calling for them, but nothing ever summoned them to the dreamscape. The whole time we searched, the tendrils of magic fell from the sky to weave around the two of us, eventually encasing us in what looked like a rainbow of magic. It was beautiful. Though the inability to call on Fate dampened the effect.
After what felt like hours, Torin laid on his back and pulled me down beside him, both of us quiet in our failure to call upon Fate. I sighed, a frustrated thing, which prompted Torin to sit up slightly, propping his head on the hand that once held my own. His other hand dangled close to my body, his fingers twitching every so often as if to touch me.
“You can touch me, you know,” I said a bit breathlessly. Torin quirked up a corner of his mouth in a smile before allowing his fingertips to trail a line from my wrist to my shoulder and back again. His touch was light and obscured by thesleeves of my nightdress, but that didn’t stop a trail of goosebumps from appearing on my flesh, the heat of his touch hardening my nipples. My nightdress was thin and almost sheer and, from the way I was lying next to Torin, there was no disguising my body’s reaction.
A slow decadent smile spread across his face, lust and joy sparking in his eyes as his touch grew a bit bolder, tracking across my collar bone and up my neck. My breath came in little pants as I stared into his eyes, my body coming alive under his delicate touch.
“You like that, Ell?” His voice was like gravel, and I nodded my head earnestly, inherently pushing my chest up in an attempt to get his hand to fall lower. He chuckled again before trailing his fingers down between the valley of my breasts. My heart thumped erratically as I turned my head to face him. His face was inches from my own, his breath feathering over my lips, and my gaze shot there as his tongue darted out to wet them.
His hand tracked up my right breast, stopping just short of my nipple, as his lips lowered to mine. He stopped—both his movements and his face—and I wantonly groaned in frustration. Torin chuckled at me.
“Tell me to stop, Ell, and I will,” he said. But I didn’t want him to stop. I shook my head, words failing me, and he dipped his lips to mine on a growl, his fingers finally finding my peaked nipple.
