AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was staring down at me, and I noticed his cousins had stopped their conversations and were watching us carefully from near the doorway. Lex had a look of haughty defiance on his face, but his eyes were wary, even apprehensive. He was breathing a little harder too, and I knew he was just a little bit afraid of my reaction. I decided not to leave him in suspense.
Taking his hand in mine, I stepped closer to him and looked up into his eyes. “Thank the gods,” I said softly, and pressed my lips to his knuckles.
****
The next few months were the best of my life. My heat came in with a vengeance after only a few days at Lex’s lodge. The days mostly passed in a haze for me after that, and I didn’t register much of what was going on around me for well over a week or more. My world revolved around Lex’s bedroom, the only place he would allow me to stay for the duration of my heat. He stayed with me all through those first days and then after that he came and went, locking me in each morning. No one except the female servants were allowed to come in, and then only when they were bringing me food or cleaning up the room or bringing me hot bath water to soothe my soreness.
Lex’s bed became a nest of furs and blankets where I slept a lot and made love to Lex as often as he’d allow it. Honestly, I would have spent the entire week or so of my heat with his big knot stuffed inside me if he had let me, but he insisted I get hot baths every morning where I had to soak my sore bottom and afterward, he’d take me out and “inspect” me carefully for any tears or injuries.
Those close inspections led inevitably to more sex, of course. And then more after that. I think Lex was almost as insatiable as I was. The pheromones in that room were out of control. But he made sure I ate well, even if he had to handfeed me at times when all I wanted to do was sleep or fuck. When it was finally over, Lex let me go back downstairs to eat my meals with the other Alphas.
I’d missed them and they even seemed to have missed me a little too. At our first evening meal, Asher told Lex off-handedly that he had found a horse for me the way they had discussed. Choking a little on a piece of bread, I recovered a bit as Lex beat on my back and made me drink some water.
“Slow down, princeling. No one is going to take your food away from you.”
“I-I know, but did I hear Asher correctly? You discussed a horse? And he found me one?”
Lex nodded. “You need a horse, Rory. We may have to travel back to Igella one day, possibly in the near future or my brother could summon us to court soon.”
“But I can’t ride.”
“I’ll teach you,” he said, giving me one of his smoldering looks. “Besides, the weather is getting much warmer every day, and you need some exercise. We can take a long ride into the countryside each day, and I’ll have the servants pack us some refreshments.”
“Better bring along a blanket and some oil too, Lex,” Wyatt said, laughing at the blush that I could feel starting at my throat and slowly rising up to my cheeks. “Just in case Rory decides he needs to take a little ‘nap’ along the way. You’ll need to be prepared.”
All the Alphas seemed to think that was hilarious, but I glared at all of them and made a huffing sound. Lex leaned over to kiss me. “Pay them no mind, princeling. They’re just jealous. Now Asher, tell me about this horse you found.”
“He’s a Morgan horse and very gentle—a gelding and he’s used to having inexperienced riders. I bought him from Lord Marlow, who used him to teach his own young son and daughter.”
“What’s a Morgan horse?” I asked.
“Just a breed, princeling,” Lex answered. “Known for being kind and courageous. Very patient and eager to please and will work hard to figure out what his rider is asking of him.”
“What’s his name?”
Asher smiled at me. “Marlow’s children named him Sunshine, but you can probably change that if you like.”
“Oh no, I love that,” I said, clapping my hands together, and they all smiled at me, with Asher shaking his head fondly.
“He’s a chestnut. Marlow’s grooms will be bringing him in the morning.”
“I can’t wait to meet him.”
“Well, in the meantime, you need to begin your religion lessons. We’ll start those tonight. But first, Asher and I need to spend some time with you after supper.”
I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want to start another argument, but I had no interest in these “lessons” Lex wanted me to start, so I dreaded what was coming. He’d told me I had to begin learning about the Morovian religion, and I even had to learn some verses from their holy books so that I could recite them by heart. When I’d protested, Lex had explained that eventually, his brother, the king, would have him bring me to his court so he could meet me. There I would also meet with his court magicians, who would no doubt quiz me on my religious instruction, among other topics. They would be checking to make sure what Lex called “my magic” was properly bound as well. That was the reason for me spending some time with Lex and Asher after supper. They were planning on working together to bind this so-called magic they said I had, since the last time Lex tried to do it alone, it hadn’t seemed to work too well.
According to Lex and his cousins, anyway—for my part, I still felt like I didn’t have any real magic, or not much anyway. So maybe that was why he couldn’t tell any difference. There was nothing there. I hadn’t seen any sign of it since I’d tried to heal Lex from the poisoned arrow. I hadn’t even been able to tell I was doing any kind of healing at the time.
Yes, I’d felt some tingling in my hands, but I had been too scared when he’d fallen down and his eyes had rolled to the back of his head. I wasn’t aware I’d been doing anything really, but all of them said I had healed Lex, and Lex himself said he’d seen little flames coming out of my hands and going over his shoulder and up onto his head. Whatever—I still wondered if he’d been hallucinating more than a little bit. He’d beenpoisonedafter all. I’d been stalling and putting these lessons and such off, saying I wasn’t feeling well, but Lex knew I was feeling much better, and my heat was over for now.
At any rate, my time was up, so after we ate, Brandon and Wyatt went to another room and Asher and Lex took me to Lex’s private study. Lex gestured toward a chair in front of his desk, and he leaned his hips against it to stare down at me. Asher stood in front of me too, on my other side.
“Just relax, Rory,” Lex said. “No one is going to hurt you. But my brother ordered me to bind your powers. I tried once while we were traveling, but it obviously didn’t work, and that concerns me. It should have.”
“What makes you even think I have these powers you talk about?”
“Rory…”
