We knew we’d eventually have to portal everyone to both Lux and Tennebris. It would take too long to travel by foot. We just had no idea when things would happen.
I was surprised at how much I was improving, although it took a lot out of my reserves to widen her portals. I was constantly sweating and developed tremors four days in. Now, three weeks later, it was only getting worse. Tezya told me I wouldn’t be able to fight with my enhancement because of it. I’d have to rely on my combat skills only. But it was working. Every day we were able to portal more and more people.
It also led to more complaints. The more people we portaled, the more who started to question why we didn’t move back to the original Brighta. It was larger and more comfortable, but half the camp was too badly injured to transfer. We were waiting for the Advenians to fully recover from the dungeons before we planned our next move, and once everyone was healed—providing we could figure out the prophecy, and Kallon and Icould successfully portal everyone for it to work—we wanted to attack right away.We couldn’t afford the days it would take to move everything. We were stuck where we were, for now. But it gave us the privacy we needed. After Kallon returned everyone who had volunteered to help us that day, Tezya and I always stayed behind to train.
I knew he was working with Wells nearly every day. After the mayhem of the first week, Tezya told me about the ring they found at the bottom of theEx Cinere Renasciwhen I was caught. We couldn’t officially attack Lux until Tezya learned how to use it, so figuring out the ring and working on Kallon’s portals became our focus while we waited for everyone to recover.
We stopped going to the communal training rings—or at least I did. I knew Tezya still went to spar Sie in the mornings while I was with Kallon. But by the afternoon, he’d always meet up with me, and his training was relentless. Ten times worse than when he was forced to discover my powers back in Lux.
Week two was also when Dravenburg started mandating meetings to discuss our goals for after the war. We’d talk for hours trying to sort through what we’d want at the end of this.
Even though we all wanted the same thing, we couldn’t agree on the small details. We knew we wanted to ban the ranking system and eliminate the Luxian law of having to marry within your own rank, but other than that, nothing was unanimous.
Dovelyn was the hardest to please. She fought us at every corner, which left most of our discussions unresolved. It was horrendous.
Then, after endless hours of bickering, Tezya and I would walk back to his tent together, and I’d pass out from exhaustion.
It was how I liked it. On the nights I didn’t train hard enough or the meetings ended too early, I’d stay awake, crying in his arms. I hadn’t seen Vallie since she came back, and I tried to keep myself busy so I wouldn’t think about her or Miles. Butwhen I was alone with Tezya, it seemed like everything would hit me, and the guilt of that was even worse. Who was I to cry when I wasn’t the one who lost so much? Sie lost his parents and his friend. Vallie lost her twin. Many Advenians from the King’s dungeons had been separated from their loved ones for decades, centuries even, and most of their families were still in Lux… And here I was crying in Tezya’s arms every night while I was fine. All I had were more scars and friends who resented me.
I jolted awake,unable to catch my breath. My throat ran dry as images played in my head.
I was thrown face first onto the bed, my head slamming into a pillow. Rough hands pulled my ass up by my hips.
“What do you want, Rumor?” Tezya asked, his voice husky.
I whimpered, feeling him press against me. “I want… I want…” I was breathless, unable to properly form words.
His hands left my backside and ran up my spine until he fisted a handful of my hair, pulling my head back and turning it to the side. I could feel his breath against my cheek. His chest rumbled against me as he purred into my ear, “Say it, Rumor.”
“I want—” I didn’t know how to articulate what I wanted. I didn’t know what word to use. Cock. Dick. Penis. It all felt wrong on my tongue. “You,” I finally settled on.
That seemed to satisfy him because the next second he plunged inside of me. His one hand still fisted my hair as his other gripped my hip, manipulating my body to allow him in deeper.
The image shifted.
I was on my knees before him, trailing featherlight kisses down his abdomen. My tongue lingering over the small bit of hair that led downward. His eyes were feral as he looked down at me. A brief smile twisted my lips before I took him into my mouth…
I couldn’t stop the ragged pants leaving me. My mind was hazy as I tried to make sense of everything. I shook my head, forcing myself to see what was in front of me. The tent. I squinted. It was still dark, only lit by glimpses of moonlight coming through the cracks of the fabric. Last night came back to me in a blur. That wasn’t real, was it? I felt emotions from whatever I just watched… But I was certain it didn’t actually happen.
I looked down at Tezya. He was stretched out on the bed beside me. His legs were too long for the cot that his ankles and feet were hanging off the low mattress, almost touching the furs laid out on the grass. Our shared blanket had fallen to his hips. He was shirtless, sleeping in just his boxers like he did every night since I’d been staying with him.I sleep naked, Rumor—his words from the first time we went to the mortal territory crashed into me. He hadn’t completely undressed in the weeks we’d been back together, but he always got close.
I usually fell asleep in the clothes I was wearing from the day, too emotional and drained to change out of them. We’d wake up in a tangle of arms and limbs before we’d start our day again. Over and over on repeat. Our simple routine to stay busy while everyone was still healing.
Tezya twitched, and I watched his muscles pull taut. He was still asleep, one hand clutching mine while the other was bunched into the sheets, his veins bulging. I stared blankly down at our joined hands, blinking a few times, before I pieced it together.
He was dreaming. He was dreaming of doing that with me…
I swallowed, hard. Then gently pulled my hand out of his, not wanting to wake him.
My conversation with Sie at the lake came flooding back to me… How everyone in Tennebris believed we went on a sex spree after our wedding. They believed it because it was rumored that a bonded couple couldn’t keep their hands off each other…
I kept staring at my palm. At the two scars there. Was Tezya feeling that way? Had he been fighting the urge to have sex with me? I’d been such a mess since I got back that I hadn’t thought about it. We only had one day together before everything went horribly wrong. It wasn’t even a whole day, just hours before Sie told us Dovelyn was awake, and besides cuddling every night, we hadn’t done anything. Just stolen kisses he’d place on my forehead or cheek.
I looked down at him again, staring at his muscles bunching beneath him as he slept. This time it was my own brain that kept playing images of us together. I saw him pinning me down against the war maps. Then pulling me onto his lap as I straddled him on one of the chairs.
I tried to steady my breathing, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of how he felt as he pressed inside me, filling me completely. Butterflies dropped in my stomach, leading deeper as a need for him was starting to wash over me. My heart accelerated, and I felt flushed all of a sudden. I pushed the little bit of blanket that was still covering me off.
Tezya stirred gently. He turned on his side, his hand reaching out and grabbing onto my thigh. His eyes snapped open, glancing up at me, realizing I was rigid in bed.
