Chapter 22 - Wings of Lies

The first half of the day was long and uneventful. The orange trees were pleasant to look at. But my eyes grew heavy after the first couple hours of the same scenery, lack of threats or unpleasant conversation. With thoughts of my mom firmly in my mind, in case my powers returned, I let the soft clip-clop of hooves put me to sleep.

They were always purple, which kind of annoyed me. But I suppose it helped to distinguish between a dream and a dream-walk. This time, I dream-walked into the body of my five-year-old self.

“It hurts, Mommy.”

She crouched in front of me, holding my tiny hands, frowning. “What does, love?”

“The flames,” I whispered, like talking too loudly would make them come back.

She tilted her head to the side. “What flames?”

I rubbed my arm up and down. “The white ones on my skin.”

Her eyes widened. “But you’re only five.”

“Almost six!”

“Yes, almost six in two months.” She gave me a small smile, but a tiny line formed between her eyes. I didn’t know why. She hadn’t found my stolen brownies yet. I checked under my pillow.

“Are you upset, Mommy?”

“Just—” She pushed a strand of my wavy hair behind my ear. “Confused.”

“Why?”

“No reason.” She stood, patting my bed. “Do you want to hear a poem, love? And when you’re older, I’ll tell you the story.”

I really wanted to eat my brownies, but a poem wouldn’t take too long. Nodding, I scurried underneath the covers, making sure not to lay on my pillow.

Mommy grabbed my hands, smiling, looking sad.

“There once was a daughter of seven circles, hidden, protected, avoiding the hurdles. There once was a palace of crystalized ice, awaiting the daughter to sacrifice. Unbalanced and sorrowful. Hopeless without tomorrow. There once was a world concealed from her, vibrant in color, awaiting a shudder. When the ice whispers. Be prepared for the fissures.”

“I don’t think I want to know the story when I’m older,” I said.

“It’ll stay a story, baby. But only if you promise Mommy something?”

I nodded.

“When you feel the little pricks, before they really hurt, I need you to come to me. I’ll take away the pain, so the poem never comes true. Can you do that?” She rubbed my arm.

And I smiled, nodding, until her warm hand tingled.

“Mommy—”

My eyes jerked open. Aspen gripped my arm.

“You were sliding out of your seat,” he said, only half his attention on me, letting go.

I reached up to my neck, rubbing the healed cut, surprised Brock didn’t add more while I let myself dream-walk. Except it wasn’t the memory I was looking for. I ended up with my mom, but not at the right time. How did I jump to the right memory?

Disoriented, I sat straighter, taking in my surroundings. I bobbed out of the way of a patch of dangling moss. The branch it hung on twisted into a dark canopy of entwining limbs, blocking the sun. Without its warmth, the damp air easily breached my jacket, prickling my skin. The aroma of decay filled the air, not like the earthy smell of leaves decaying, but more like the decay of spoiled meat.

“Where are we?”

“Drune Forest,” he answered, scanning the woods.

The forest Hana mentioned.

Spiders crawled up my spine as Aspen, who was most definitely scared of driving, willingly took his eyes off the road. The smell didn’t help. Neither did the shadows of the trees that moved when they should definitely not be moving.

“Are the Drunes out there?”

“Yes,” he whispered, gazing over my head.

Shadows interspersed between the trees flickered as if they heard him. My grogginess completely wore off.

“Will they attack?”

He narrowed his eyes. “They won’t.” But the arrogance that usually graced his words wasn’t there. And for once, I didn’t like that.

“But they could?”

“They won’t. I’ve sent Brock, Cacus, and Bael to talk to their leader for safe passage. They should be back soon.” That didn’t mean we had safe passage now. “Plus, they’re scared of me. Drune’s go for easy kills unless otherwise commanded, or they’re with a group.”

Ahh, there it was.

“And what if you’re an easy kill?” It wasn’t an admittance, but I wasn’t exactly a warrior.

“Weak beings have a difficult time surviving in Elora, Lucille. No matter what side you’re on.” His gentle tone shocked me.

I expected a, then you will die, with a nice glare to hit me where it hurts. Not that.

“Well, I think I’d have a better time surviving in the Ethereal Kingdom than the Tenebrous.”

His gaze drilled into my cheek. “You know the names?”

“I know a few things.”

“Not enough. The Ethereal Kingdom isn’t much better than the Tenebrous. But I suppose we do have the Mother of Demons as our queen.”

His queen was the mother of all demons? That’s who he was taking me to? Now I knew why he scrutinized my cheek. He wanted to know my reaction.

But he wasn’t finished.

“Which is why your cuffs aren’t just cuffs that bind your magic. They’re made from the metal mined in Dark Embers hot pits, where demons are first created, and they’re infused with demon energies. And seeing as crossing into The Tenebrous Kingdom requires demon blood, and we’re not sure what you are besides part angel, you need to wear them, or you’ll die before we reach her.”

I laughed, unsettling the ancient forest, and probably making the Drunes and Aspen wonder if I’d lost my mind. But I couldn’t help realizing how unlucky I was, how every step of the way had been one terrible thing after another.

Did I need any more proof of why I shouldn’t be attracted or moved by his stupid laugh or pain? Like he said, he was the enemy, not a handsome stranger in the forest, not my guardian angel. My enemy.

I closed my mouth, reining in my disbelieving laughter, letting it sink in.

If I crossed that boundary line, I’d never escape. I’d never be able to remove the cuffs without killing myself.

“I told you not to come here.”

My head whipped around, eyes narrowing.

“I told you to stay.”

Stay here. Stay put. Stay safe.

He never meant to stay put at my house. We moved, and he didn’t care. No, he meant stay put on Earth. He never wanted me to come to Elora.

I scoffed. “You told me to stay put. To stay safe. And now look at you, handing me over to your queen to be slaughtered.”

He flinched, and I laughed, feeling a creeping itch. I focused on the sensation and analyzed it. But it wasn’t just an itch. It was a ruthless energy coiling beneath my skin, begging to come out. Soon, I’d let it.

“You’re a liar. Your words mean nothing.”

Aspen jerked on the reins. I flew forward at the sudden stop, catching myself on the wooden ledge.

“I am no liar, Lucille.”

Right.

“I remember those sweet words you’d say right before you ran away. You probably went straight to your queen to give her all the intel she needed. Is that it? Or are you Marcus’s new employer, and that’s why he gave me over to you? Do you have my mom, Aspen?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re creating in that naive mind of yours, but we didn’t take anyone but you. I intercepted Marcus before he took you to wherever he was running away to and reported the traitor to our queen.”

So, the chilling voice was right. Marcus worked for someone else, and if he took my mom, the queen wouldn’t have her.

“That doesn’t change the fact you’re a liar and play twisted games. I’m just calling it how I see it.”

He stood, towering over me while I sat on the edge of the carriage front. “No, you call it how you want to see it. There are reasons I did and said the things that I did.”

I held his searing stare and grasped the coiling energy that itched my skin. I didn’t want to show my power. I only wanted to practice for when I was ready to show my hand. “Says the male, taking me to his queen. I will be another Nalini, won’t I? Murdered and forgotten.”

He shook his head, gripping his sword hilt as the scar on his chin darkened. “Maybe if you’d stop being the ignorant, helpless wimp you are for one second, you’d survive!”

They were his words. I saw his lips move. But the voice that said helpless wimp wasn’t his, even if they were spat in the same way and just as demeaning and arrogant. It wasn’t Aspen. It was— The memory was at my fingertips. But it stayed at the edges of my mind, taunting me. So I was left with the bitter taste of fear and an unending loathing I didn’t quite understand.

But that word. That damned word. My hold on my power slipped as my rage took over.

“Do not”—the itch surged—“ever call me that again.” Pressure pushed behind my eyes. The sense of deja vu overwhelmed me.

He smiled, the red glow making him look vile and wrong. “I call it how I see it.” Throwing my words back in my face, eyes flashing blue.

The call in my blood sprung to my hands as I swung at his face. He dodged deftly, smirking. “Careful Lucille, wouldn’t want to find you naked again…”

Low blow.

I jerked my knee up, going for the source of his arrogance, and was stopped by my chains.

“What would that be… the second—no, the fourth time I’ve seen you naked because of your lack of skill?” he continued, smug.

Every inch of my skin raged with the itchy energy.

Mindless, I pushed off the floor planks with all my strength and tackled his royal ass off the side of the carriage, catching him off guard.

He took the brunt of the fall, letting out a grunt as we landed in a heap on top of a soft patch of moss. Straddling him, hands covered in a deep purple, I placed one around his neck, threatening to squeeze as I bared my teeth, ignoring the tingles.

How dare he?

I wrenched my arm back, ready to wipe the pretty smirk off his stupid, handsome face. Ready to make him feel the overwhelming, itchy, fiery pressure of whatever this was. Because what coiled in my core felt different from all the other times my purple flames erupted. It was hot and lacked the crackling noise of ice.

My chest heaved in and out, purple flames spreading from my hands up to my neck and pushing behind my eyes.

His smirk fell. Now he saw them.

“How—”

I clawed into his hair, ripping his head back with my other hand, hoping to dissolve some of his stupid soft locks.

He flinched, and I thought I saw a purple wisp slowly eat a piece of his hair, but then the coiling in my core changed to burning.

Everything my undulating darkness touched, I felt ten-fold.

No longer was his hair just soft. Instead, it slid between my fingers like a satin caress. His skin went from smooth to a vibrating velvet. It took all my strength not to move my hand against his neck to caress him. And his smell. Heavenly Hell. Sweet apples mixed with my favorite piney scent. I swallowed back a moan but couldn’t stop my body from arching against him.

The heat in my cheeks reached the tops of my temples as Aspen’s frown changed to a look of hunger I didn’t understand. But I didn’t need to. Not when my pelvis rubbed against his. Not when the hard length of him grew beneath me and pressed into a place I only gave thought to earlier today. A place that now throbbed with an urge I never knew I had.

Aspen’s eyes glowed, flames hovering on the edge of his irises. He lifted his hands off the moss and grabbed my hips. The contact was pure ecstasy.

“Lucille, what are you doing to me?” he whispered. His voice strained, fingers digging into my sides.

The heat growing between my legs made me crave for him to press harder.

“Nothing. I’m doing nothing,” I spat, attempting to hold onto anger that wasn’t even there. My unwanted desire for him fueled my purple flames, somehow covering the intact leather of my jacket.

Aspen moved one of his hands up my spine, returning the favor of gripping my hair. But instead of jerking me back, he jerked me toward him—nose to nose. The scent of him wrapped around me, addictive and sweet. I squeezed my eyes shut in pleasure.

“Lucille, wait,” he groaned as his nose trailed along my neck. I felt his unending desire for me swallow his confusion. “Damn it, you always smell like winterberries and sunshine. It kills me. Every. Fucking. Day.”

My eyes snapped open to pure starvation.

He jerked his hips, hitting the ache between my thighs, and I couldn’t help the moan that escaped.

“Damn it, Lucille, do you know what you do to me?” he whispered.

“Enlighten me,” I replied, equally as quiet.

His lips were centimeters away, moist and pink, ready.

Would he taste as sweet as he smelled?

Tempted, I wanted to bring his face up to meet mine. Instead, I gripped his hair tighter, loving the feel of the satin silk, torn between overwhelming temptation and confusion.

He tightened his hand in return, bringing my face lower like he wanted to bridge the gap, but moved out of the way at the last moment. “Lucille, if you do not rein in whatever this is, I am going to strip you naked…” he paused. “And fuck you, like I’ve always wanted, against this soft moss where anyone could see,” he finished, voice low and grating. His hips ground into mine to emphasize his words.

I bit my cheeks hard to keep back my moan, failing terribly. I wanted—but I couldn’t, but I wanted more.

Losing myself, I slid against the hard bulge of him, hating myself for it and for the breathy noises that escaped my mouth. It was—was, I couldn’t think or breathe. I just wanted more. The need hit me hard.

He pressed into me like he heard my thoughts, giving me the friction I desired. My purple flames flared, bringing even more sensation. It was strange and all-consuming—addicting.

“Fuck,” he rasped, flipping me over like I weighed nothing. Somehow, I still managed to grip his neck and arm, his velvet skin too addictive to let go of.

I licked my lips. Aspen gazed at my tongue, little blue flashes flickering in his eyes. The hand that held my side crept up until it touched the side of my breast, rubbing delicious circles.

Heavenly Hell.

“Are you sure you want this to be how our first time goes?” he asked, breathless.

“You want to stop?”

“Fuck no,” Aspen moaned, giving in at last, lips crashing down on mine.

My first kiss and it wasn’t gentle.

Aspen devoured me, tasting sweet and tangy. But there was also another flavor, almost as if fire had a flavor. The electrical tingles from his skin only intensified my desire. When he opened my mouth, I was lost, so utterly lost in the exquisite pleasure of the tip of his tongue.

I never wanted it to stop.

He groaned, sending a pulse of need to my core, making me wet and throb. I needed more. Our leathers were too restrictive. I wanted to feel all of him, all of his tingling skin against mine. I trailed my hand down his chest and palmed his length, needing, craving, wanting that. His rough leather scratched my palm as his hardness throbbed against me, shoving itself against his restraints. Aspen jerked back, eyes flashing.

“Lucille, are you sure? I won’t stop if we start.” I could tell he battled himself. He pressed harder into my hand but kept his lips away from mine even as he gazed at them with such heat.

A smile twisted my swollen lips. Now, it was my turn to be smug. “Why?” I said as I rubbed him over the fabric. Finding the buttons to the tops of his leathers, I released one while staring into his devouring gaze, pleased that I affected him so.

“Because…” He lowered his head. I released another button. “Whatever…” Another button. His gaze hooked onto my lips like they were his saving grace. “You are doing…” He lowered further, and I was two buttons away from unleashing him. “Is disarming me.” His tongue licked the seam of my mouth, tingles making my eyes flutter.

What would that feel like down there?

I opened my mouth, letting him slip in, to taste, to tease, to consume, and when he crushed his mouth into mine, I broke our kiss and slipped past him to his ear. “Prince Aspen rendered powerless by a naïve helpless female,” I said, licking his lobe. He shuddered and grabbed my glowing arms, pinning them above me, smothering any space between us. With his pants half undone, the heat of his tip hit the apex of my thighs.

It undid me and urged me to do the one thing I shouldn’t have. “Please,” I begged, grinding against him. I didn’t want to beg, but at the same time, I’d do anything to feel what comes after the ache.

“If,” he panted. “If you do that, there is no going back.” His forehead met mine as he restrained himself. One hand slipped away from my pinned arms, cupping my breast over my jacket.

I wrenched one of my pinned arms free, wiggling it between our pressed bodies. The rest of his buttons were more challenging to open, but I managed, desire spurring me on. Only a thin layer of his undergarments held in his large length, the fabric moist. I grazed my thumb over it and heard his strangled groan. Smiling, I replaced my thumb with my core, going off basic instinct, rubbing him in slow circles, feeling his body shake, his heartbeat, and the blood pumping under his skin.

Was that normal?

“Lucille,” he moaned, doing things to my insides. I savored the way he moaned my name and reveled in the way I controlled him so thoroughly with my touches.

His hands released me, sliding into my hair, jerking me to his lips, where he devoured me once more.

My hand moved to the clasps of my jacket while the other trailed down his spine. One by one, I plucked them open, my white t-shirt exposing my arousal. He pulled back, zeroing in on my nipples peeking through the fabric. I held back my smile at his ravenous look. Aspen’s restraint was fracturing.

I wanted to fracture it completely.

Slowly, I lifted my shirt, then circled the protruding dark pink tips, giving him a show. The blues of his eyes flared, and he broke. Diving down, he replaced my fingers with his mouth, sucking and circling.

“Aspen,” I breathed. “More,” I moaned, feeling the pulse of his tip, needing the rest of our clothes removed.

Understanding, he sat back, removing himself from me so he could remove his weapons belt that still held his pants in place, watching me as I trailed my fingers down my stomach. His eyes were eager, all heat, looking like he wanted to replace my fingers with his lips. But at the lack of contact, the smoldering heat changed. I watched as the hunger dimmed, blue flames returning to a soft glow. Aspen fell back, then luscelered away.

The distance shocked my system. All the heightened sensations I gained returned to normal as my flames sank back into my skin. The intense desire pounding in my chest extinguished like a weak candle. Yet, I sensed Aspen’s lingering desire and didn’t know what to make of it. To make matters worse, a set of boots crunched against gravel coming around the carriage.

“If you’re going to enjoy yourself, at least wait until we reach our destination,” Brock said.

I yanked down my shirt, grabbed my jacket, and stood.

Aspen stared at me, chest moving up and down, still irregular.

“I felt her emotions a ways out, almost interrupted, even thought about joining.” Brock came around and shot Aspen a wink.

I held back my gag, watching Aspen’s eyes flash to flames for a split second. Whatever desire I felt from him turned to anger.

He removed his eyes from me and gave Brock a grimace. “Don’t bother. She’s not worth it,” Aspen replied.

Ashamed, I stormed off, needing to get away from these feelings. I couldn’t believe what happened. I couldn’t believe how much further I wanted it to go.

But it couldn’t have been me. It couldn’t have. Seduction wasn’t a part of my powers. Fire and ice, that was it. It had to be something else. But he asked what I was doing to him. He sped away from me the moment he stopped touching my purple flames.

Don’t bother. She’s not worth it.

He didn’t want me.

With everything he’d said, everything I’d learned, I shouldn’t want him either. Yet, I had been attracted to him since the beginning. I wanted him to be the handsome prince who stole me from my life. Too bad I never expected this to be the outcome.

“Go get her,” Aspen said, sounding unsteady.

Brock was in front of me before I could get any further. I was starting to hate the fact that all angel-blooded beings could lusceler. He had a malicious smile on his face that I hardly noticed as two shadows moved behind him.