Page 15 of Six Burning Candles

“I guarantee, Melrose will be here, bemoaning my iron fist and awaiting you patiently upon your return.”

Leonardo grinned widely, clicking his cane against the stone floor. “That’s what I like to hear. Now, let us feast!”

Who worries you, sir? Goddess, I prayed,watch over him.

Chapter Nine:

~Melrose~

“Pleasebesafe,andno falling asleep in the warm pools! Make sure to apply sunscreen, your face still burns around your horns, Papa!” I called out, waving to my father as he clamored into his carriage. He stuck his head out the window, chancing embarrassment with his horns just to stick his tongue out at me.

“I’ll be fine, Rosebud. Please, be good for Keida and don’t get up to any mischief! I know how you young maidens like to plot!” He chortled all the way back into the carriage, careful of his horn tips.

I stood still, clutching my hands to my chest as the carriage rattled away from the front of the cathedral. People stopped to wish the horses a safe passage or wave to Leonardo as he passed. My gaze followed the pod of children who raced after him with their Wintersdark cloaks whipping in the stiff morning wind.

I don’t know why he still lies to me.Papa hated the hot pools, same as me. The steam is too dense, and they always pump the air full of lavender. He used to say the stench made him gag, like they’d poked soap into his mouth mercilessly. Plus, Papanevertook sabbaticals. Maybe a day or two off if thewine was particularly strong or like yesterday, the hoof was sharply cracked.

It's another vision.Our Lady Avaris bestowed a vision on him, and he was bound to his duty, toour goddess.However, since Mother died…he stopped letting me go with him. Granted, most of them were a day or two long quests that didn’t require he leave Keida behind for safe keeping of the church.He’s expecting to be gone a while this time. And it’s not something he can delegate, as he should.

My gaze rose up to the sky, studying its heavy grey clouds. They darkened with each passing moment, threatening the kingdom with its first official snow fall. It was still too hot; the ground would not keep covered for long. But the thought of flurries dancing over my head gave me little joy.

Please, don’t take him too,was the only thing I prayed last night as I laid in bed. Avaris already took my mother, it would be cruel to take him too.

“Your face is grim. What’s on your mind?” Keida’s soft but monotoned words curled up around my ears. She stepped closer to me on the cathedral steps. The air was significantly colder than yesterday, but I couldn’t tell if that was the snow…or the frosty cleric looming over me.

“He’s not going to the pools,” I confessed, not seeing any reason to also lie.

“Caught that,” she hummed with a quick jump of her brows.Was that…were you impressed I could read Papa?I twisted more to squint at her, but her gaze was on the disappearing carriage. She exhaled slowly, “He worries for you.”

“Well, I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself,” I grumbled, twisting back to face the streets of the kingdom.

“Mmm, can you now?” I felt it first before I saw it. She stepped past me and at the same time the pressure from last night returned. Something thick and filling spread through me like she’d injected me with a fast-acting poison. My eyes fluttered for a second as it gave a quick kick to my sweet spot. I choked on my tongue.You cuntwaffle.I caught her fingers twirling beside her, little icy blue tendrils of magic coming off her fingers, and the blessing returned ten-fold to my core. Like she’d stuffed four fingers up into my cunt and pressed them as far as they could go, I saw stars. I stumbled down the last step toward the street and fell into an arm placed specifically to catch me. My hooves scratched against the cobblestone. “Naughty girl.”

“Wha-what!” I gasped, head snapping up to glare at her. I spoke in a low, sharp hiss, “I’m not the one using magic to—”

Keida forced the magic fucking to stop, jilting me up straight. My knees knocked together hard. A gloved palm caught me by the chin, turning my face one way then the other. Despite her marble statue expression, there was a twinkle in her eye that told me everything.She’s playing with me.“That blessing would have been more muffled if you were wearing appropriate clothing, trouble.”

My lips split into a shit-eating grin as she dropped my chin. “Did you truly think that I learned my lesson when you just sweetened the consequence?”

With a single quirked brow, she inspected my face. I breathlessly waited for a response.Please, play with me.Something changed since the ceremony. The liar, the coward who told me none of this mattered in those woods? She was gone. Replaced by an ironfisted woman who made my spine tingle with that one arched brow. She tsked, then brought a cloak out from under her arm and draped it across my shoulders. “I will simply have to teach that lesson to youharder.”

Then she whipped around on her boots and motioned for me to follow. I considered going inside, ignoring her all together to get a rise out of her. Only the first step I made in the wrong direction caused the fucking to begin again. I stumbled backward out of sheer bewilderment. It was so sharp.So sudden and deep.The feeling of her magic, shaped like a tentacle that stretched and filled my core to the very edge, thrusting into me with no mercy. I slapped a palm to my mouth. Eyes darting to her, I found her standing still, watching me expectantly. With a twirl of a singular finger, the fucking ceased.

“This way; we’ve got a day of chores to attend to, plus your studies.”

“My studies?” I blurted out, blinking rapidly. “But it’s the day after Wintersdark?”

Papa never makes me go the day after festivals.I pouted as she beckoned me with a curl of her fingers. I harrumphed, stomping to Keida’s side. Her arms were folded behind her back so I couldn’t see when her fingers activated the ‘blessing’ again.I have a feeling she’ll activate it every time I misbehave.Which was only a class in futility for her but…I also hoped she might activate it and let it run its course as a reward. Instead of teasing me, would she allow her magic to bring me over the brink of ecstasy?

Keida nodded toward the streets that were full of others, weaving in and out of clumps to get about their day. While the frosty cleric was in charge, the clerics didn’t dilly-dally. They respected my father but tended to get away with shenanigans—much like myself—the morning after festivals. He wanted the kingdom to see clerics like neighbors, wanted those inside the castle walls to feel a kinship with the Order.It made it easier when the Order was needed, for the people to trust a mage they felt was their friend with their sickly child than an unfeeling patron of a goddess they didn’t pray too. Keida, however, didn’t allow any excessive drinking or staying out to all hours of the night. Every cleric was in their bunk by midnight, and every paladin was at breakfast in their armor, ready to resume their duties.

“Your father entrusted me with your care while he is away. He might let you off easy, but I will not have such mercy for you. Especially as I know you are not suffering from anything but the consequences to your own actions.” She spoke like it wasn’t her magic stuffed deep in my cunt, or her fingers that put it there. Like she didn’t taste like citrus syrup poured over freshly shaven ice. I went to bed thinking about how much I enjoyed going down on her and prayed she’d let me do it again.

“And if I behave?” I murmured, curling my fingers into a fist at my side to keep them from grabbing her.

Keida smirked, chuckling to herself as she turned away from me. I scoffed but she didn’t say a word. I rushed after her, her smug laughter falling away. Keida didn’t speak about my behavior.She doesn’t think I can? Or maybe she actually wants me to misbehave? Who is this Keida and where did she come from?I studied her from the side as we turned into one of the many courtyards of the castle. A cobblestone circle with a massive well for drawing up water. Long clotheslines with damp linen decorated the opening as people pinned their laundry.

“You are staring?” She whispered