AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s the whole story. The rest of it was about travel and it’s pretty boring. It’s—”
“Here.”
Something cold was pressed into his palm. He examined the vial with shimmering blue and silver liquid.
“What is it?”
“It’s one of my trusty potions. It takes about a month to make, but it’s worth it. Normally it’s a slow-healing balm, but I added the crystal powder into the mix and am hopeful it will accelerate the healing speed.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Klaus, I swear to heavens if you keep arguing with me about this, I’m going to slap that liquid myself to your wounds—and I won’t be gentle about it.”
The idea of her hands on him held an appeal, but his beast didn’t agree. It growled at the threat, then shrank back inside him. Sapphire was unfazed, waiting for him to move.
“Five minutes ago, you were accusing me of the most horrendous things,” he pointed out.
“Because I jumped to conclusions and didn’t know the truth. Now I do.”
Sincerity rang in her tone. There was guilt there, too, and he understood that this was her peace offering. He uncapped the vial.
“What now?”
“Palm to wings. Gentle strokes.”
He did as she instructed and gritted his teeth when even the gentlest strokes made him want to lie down. But he braced his feet, refusing to give in and waste the balm. He paused when she wandered to his other wing and knelt. Wordlessly, she took the vial from him, shaking some of the balms out and spreading it over her palm too.
“Sapphire—”
He closed his eyes when her palm pressed against the slash. The expected shot of pain came, but with it were tingles that wracked his body up and made him shudder. When she started stroking, her fingers lighting up with some magic, it took every ounce of effort to still his muscles and keep every mortifying reaction inside—including the desire that had no place in a moment like this.
“Saph,” she corrected after a while. “I asked your people to call me that, so you might as well call me that too.”
How could he respond when he was fighting between pain and pleasure?
Klaus clenched his jaw until it was straining, then nodded shortly. His voice was short, and just on the verge of biting.
“Thank you. For barging in here and offering your potion.”
Sapphire shot him a puzzled look, unaware of the turmoil roaring inside him. When she was done applying the balm, she stepped back with a small smile.
“You make it sound like an insult, Klaus. But I’m starting to understand that it’s just how you are.”
Oh, if only she understood just how difficult it was not to throw her down the platform and ravish her right then and there, wounds and pain and all. Klaus fisted his hands when she started walking away, adamant not to give in to his more possessive nature.
“Goodnight,” she called out at the entrance, voice faint. “Get some rest. I’ll see you soon.”
When she was gone, he collapsed on the platform on his back, wounds, pain and all.
True to her word, the potion did wonders to accelerate his healing process, something that his shifter nature wouldn’t have been able to accomplish considering how much poison had gotten in his system. When he finally ventured out of the cave, he found that Oslo was as normal as it could be, with his people safe from an unbroken pact and blissfully going about their lives. That included Sapphire, who spent most of her time outside the castle, where he had a perfect view of her general whereabouts and activities.
She mostly stuck to Bernard, no doubt asking him a lot of questions and getting acquainted with the people introduced to her—non-working residents, so he deduced that she already figured out this little secret. Sometimes she was with Belly, helping the younger woman hike some hilly areas and pick out fruits that Lydia had probably requested. On rare occasions, she tagged along to Gerard, Olga, and Miko, observing their more intense activities of perimeter checks and practice skirmishes.
When she started hanging out with Miko and venturing into the ocean, he watched her uncertainty turn to delight upon discovering that she had a knack for staying underwater at long intervals. Miko coached her through it while Klaus tried not to be a jealous monster over their closeness. It was only when they switched to solid ground and Miko started helping her with fighting positions that Klaus finally gave in to his more primitive side.
He flew out of his cave and landed behind them, where he caught her laughing over something that Miko had said. At the sight of him, Miko paled a bit, but he held up his hands good-naturedly.
“Your grace,” he greeted. “Your mate needed some help with magical defense.”
