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My thighs squeezed in response to his command, my whole being yearning to do whatever he said. Pleasure built up inside me, and seconds later, I was shuddering against his chest as wave after wave of delicious release pounded through me, with Kalen groaning out my name.
Shuddering, he held my body close, his mouth pressed against my cheek. Mist unfurled around us, and the light strands of it caressed my cheeks. There was something so intimate about feeling his brutal power like this—in a soft touch rather than a deadly storm.
A knock suddenly sounded on the door, bringing a rush of heat to my cheeks. I had not been quiet. He certainly hadn’t been, either. How long had someone been standing out there, waiting for the sounds of our pleasure to subside? If it was Fenella, as I suspected, it might have been all night.
Kalen winked as he climbed from the bed, giving me a full view of his magnificent backside. All corded muscles and rippling strength. As I watched, he tugged on his trousers but didn’t bother with his tunic, and then he went to the door.
Fenella stood just outside with her arms folded across her armored chest and an amused smile on her lips. “Are you two done yet?”
“No.” Kalen laughed and started to shut the door, but Fenella stuck out her boot to stop it.
“The scouts have returned. I thought you’d want to hear what they’ve found.”
“Ah.” The tension in his shoulders suddenly returned. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Just let me get dressed.”
After he closed the door, he returned to the bed to trace his finger along the curve of my chin. “I need to go see what they’ve found. Get bathed and dressed, in trousers instead of a dress. I’ll meet you back here in an hour. There’s something I want to show you.”
* * *
After Kalen left, maidservants brought me soothing water and luxurious scented soaps. Unlike in Albyria, the maidservants were called by their names here. They were Alice and Willa, two young humans who had grown up in the castle, sisters with brilliant brown eyes and auburn hair. They handed me a stack of towels and left me to my own devices, thank the light. I’d never enjoyed bathing with an audience back in Albyria.
When the bathwater cooled, I climbed out of the tub and got dressed in a clean pair of dark trousers and a soft green tunic with long sleeves to ward off the cold. Endir had once been part of the Kingdom of Light, before Kalen had attacked these lands and taken them as his—before his mists had consumed the city. Back then, the days had been long and humid and hot, according to the stories. But there was no sun here now to warm our skin, so long sleeves it was.
As promised, Kalen returned about an hour later, his expression darker than it had been before he’d left. The scouts must not have brought good news.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he led me down the stairs, past the entrance to the Great Hall, and toward another long corridor. Humans and fae mingled throughout this space. Some were staring up at a cluster of portraits. Others wandered together, speaking in quiet voices. Most were smiling, even the few residents of Teine we passed.
“I thought you might want to see more of the city.” He pressed his hand to the small of my back, and there was something so intimate in the feel of his fingers there. A few fae took notice as we passed, their eyes darting to the point of contact. And I understood the judgment in those gazes for what it meant. It was one thing to have humans in the castle. It was quite another for the king to walk me through a public corridor, making it known I was someone important to him.
I’m someone important to him.
My heart beat a little faster.
Kalen led me outside to a courtyard filled with mist. Vague shapes were unmoving shadows all around us, and the ground was sandy beneath our feet. I tipped back my head to gaze up at the sky, but there was nothing to see. Nothing but fog and mist and darkness. It swallowed up the whole world until there was nothing left in it but us.
“Do you ever get tired of it?” I asked.
As if reading my mind, he said, “I’m so sick of it, I’d be happy if I never saw mist again.”
I turned to him, surprised. “But the mist is part of you, isn’t it? Part of your power.”
“I do not love my power, Tessa. I would be far better off without it. So would the world.”
We started off down the path, moving through the vague shapes I could now identify as stone statues. One was in the shape of a tree with drooping branches. Another was a large boulder, a steadying presence amidst the gloom. We passed a few more. Some I still couldn’t see well enough to identify. Others made little sense to me.
“What are these?”
“Statues made by the Druids. They crafted these to represent the forces in nature that have lasted for millennia. The things that will rule these lands when we are all gone.”
I nodded, falling into step beside him. Instead of heading into the city, he took me down a path that wound around the back of the castle, leading toward the forest. When I realized where we were going, I couldn’t help but smile.
“You’re taking me to the Ivory Cliff Falls.”
“And here I was hoping to surprise you.”
“It’s still a surprise. I’ve never seen it before, not even in my dreams. You never showed me this part of the world.”
“I thought it better to leave the falls untouched by your mind. It’s better to experience some things in person, and this is one of them.”
