His features smoothed, and I grasped his thoughts just a fraction before he spoke them aloud. “If I compromise on this, will you promise to remain by my side?”
“Like conjoined twins?” I asked glibly.
“No, just within the vicinity,” he said, throwing his hands in the air. “I want to be able to get to you quickly if someone tries to hurt you. That’s what I mean. If you’re days away, I can’t protect you.”
His words hung heavy in the air. I frowned, struggling to separate my wants from his. A part of me desperately wanted to never be without him, but swearing to always being that close was a big issue. Always left no room for freedom. “Are we starting that again? After what we shared last night?”
“No, my mate,” he said, kissing away my frown. “I would not have that.”
But the sad ache of his forlornness at my answer echoed through me, battling against my resolve. This bond might take some getting used to.
“Tyrrik?” I said, reaching up to loop my hands around the back of his neck as I let the sheet go.
“Yes, my Ryn?”
I took a deep, happy breath. “I love you. So very much.”
A rumble, almost akin to a purr, filled the space between us, and his joy swelled within me.
I stared at him, my heart full, and realized I’d never said the words before. I’d mated with him, mentally and physically, and yet never acknowledged what that meant out loud.
His eyes shined as he lowered his head to place a tender kiss on my forehead. “I love you more than life itself, my mate. I hope you enjoyed last night.”
I nodded, smoothing my face though I couldn’t conceal the way my heart leaped. “It was pretty good.” I pulled him closer and whispered in his ear, “I think we should play cards again tonight.”
“Play cards?” He laughed when I blushed, his body shaking me and the space around us. But he shook his head. “No, you’ll be sore from last night.”
Ha! “That might be true if I were human or just Drae. But us Phaetyn? We’ve got all the skills.” I tightened my embrace and grinned impishly before licking his ear. “Come on,” I whispered, my heart pounding. “Play cards with me.”
“What have I started?” he replied.
Honestly, I was wondering that too.
A slow smile spread across his face, and I let out a squeal of delight as he knelt upright and ripped away the blankets between us. His handsome face and boyish grin was all I could see as my Drae reached for me.
15
Hunger drove us out of the lapis chamber, and my stomach growled as we walked through the empty corridor. I was going to eat an entire boulder-sized potato. Mmm. Roasted with rosemary and salt. Maybe Tyrrik can breathe fire on one. I snickered.
Tyrrik and I held hands as we wound up through the kingdom, and by the time we reached the level of our old rooms, I pulled him to a stop as the silence settled in. I grimaced up at Tyrrik and asked, “Where is everyone?”
“My thoughts exactly,” he murmured.
That had been his thought? Had I mistaken it for my own? I blinked several times, trying to untangle him from me.
It was your own.
I narrowed my eyes at the amusement in his mind voice. “Yes, I know,” I huffed, even though I knew he’d know I was lying. “But when I start thinking about it all, my mind gets weird and twisty.”
Your human notions are getting in the way.
I snorted and tugged him forward. “Whatever, Ryrik.”
He growled, and I smirked. Definitely needed to remember that quip.
Two golden-guards clattered down the gem-encrusted passage toward us.
They bowed, and the smaller one said, “Lord Tyrrik, Lady Tyrryn.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Why were they calling me Tyrryn? My eyes rounded. Drak, they knew we’d mated? My cheeks flushed. How did they know?
“Where is everyone?” Tyrrik asked, ignoring my imagination of rocks crashing and Drae roaring.
Please tell me that didn’t really happen.
At the same time, the guard rotated his attention to Tyrrik. “The army left five hours ago, my lord. King Zakai instructed you to be left alone until . . .”
I fixed the man with a cool glare. He better not go there.
He never even glanced my way but still blanched and wisely didn’t finish the sentence. Maybe Tyrrik had shown some fang.
“They expected you’d be able to catch up,” the second guard said.
Right, we had wings. Pretty safe assumption.
“Indeed. Thank you,” Tyrrik said. Grabbing my hand, he led me around the guards.
Do you think everyone knows we were playing cards? I asked.
He didn’t even glance my way, but a blind man could’ve seen Tyrrik’s huge grin. In one word? Yes. What we did is nothing to be ashamed of, my love. I’d imagine everyone else wishes they were doing the same.
I wrinkled my nose then tried to un-judge my judgment of everyone judging us. Sex was a pretty natural thing; every person, human, Phaetyn, and Drae was the result of playing cards. “Well, I’m not confirming any rumors, regardless of how natural spawning is.”
His grip tightened on my hand. “I plan to become intimately familiar with you.” And no one will see you like that but me.
An image flashed in my mind. Walls? “Wait,” I said, stopping outside the doorway to the kitchen. “Did you just find a human thing you liked?”
“Perhaps walls have their uses.”
Trust him to pick the most possessive human thing he could.
He pushed the door open and the scents of yeast, potatoes, and roasted meat wafted in the air. My stomach rumbled, and I grinned in anticipation. We were in the kitchen. Food.
I inhaled, trying to eat the smells, and all-but ran to a flat tray of steaming potato wedges just out of the oven. My mouth watered, and I hovered on the verge of tipping the whole tray in my mouth before recalling those left behind would be waiting for food.
I took four and stood back as Tyrrik took four also. He totally needed more, and so I reached forward and grabbed a handful for him. “I’ll grow a few more potatoes on my way out, but you better get enough to eat.”
He raised his eyebrows and grabbed another handful then held them out for me. “You too.”
Our hunger abated; we left the rest of the food for the others, knowing we could hunt on the way.
“Excuse me.” I addressed the closest cook, a rail-thin man who didn’t sample enough of his creations. “Would you know where I could find some seed stores? I need carrots, beans, squash, tomatoes. Small seeds for vegetables and fruits, nothing that grows on a tree or needs more than one season to grow, preferably.”
“I will send someone to collect some for you.” He waved at one of the kitchen maids.
I stared at his scrawny arm. The woman who joined him was just as thin. “Thank you. A bag the size of my fist should do. And some potato and beetroots too. Could you ask them to meet us at the northern exit?”
The cook nodded and told the woman where to go to get the seeds, and then she hurried over to a teenage girl, hushing instructions in her ear.
We walked through the mountain halls, winding to the back entrance where we’d arrived early yesterday morning. Had only one day seriously passed? I felt changed, grown, at peace. Sliding my gaze to Tyrrik, I didn’t have to puzzle over the reason.
My mate completed me. His contentment was my contentment. After everything we’d gone through, separate and together, I’d do it all over again, knowing this was the end result.
Potato wedges long gone, I planted the other potatoes and beets, throwing some vibrant Phaetyn-mojo at them, and told the young girl to wait a quarter of an hour and then get some help digging up the root vegetables.
Tyrrik shifted just outside the Gemond Kingdom, and I joined him after stretching my moss-green veil over my Drae form to keep my presence cloaked from Draedyn. We wanted to keep our plans from him for as long as possible. I rose into the air just above the treetops to join my mate in his onyx Drae form and then extended my veil until it covered us both. The air was now clean of smoke and ash, and I grinned as we started northward to join our friends.
So, Tyrrik said casually, drawing my attention from the ground. Spawning.
My wings froze for half a second before they resumed their rhythmic beating. Yes?