When a Moth loved a Bee, page 52
“Not yet, I’m not. And never will be if I can find a way free. It was you who held me down, not Kivva. You who threw that spear into Darro, not Kivva. Kivva is dead and—”
“Dead thanks to your savage’s wolves.” His eyes blazed with loathing.
“Dead because he let hate into his heart instead of kindness.”
“Dead because a wolf tore out his throat right in front of me.” His hands fisted by his sides. “Just as you can’t forgive me, I can’t ever forgive the foreigner for that.”
“His name is Darro. And I don’t care if you’ll never forgive him. You have no power to say he isn’t welcome here. He has the word of the chief and the Fire Reader. He can stay—”
“Until I become chief,” he snapped. “If he decides to stay. If he thinks he’s keeping you safe by lurking over our matehood, one day, he will learn that his existence here is unstable. The day I become chief, he will be banished. It’s as inevitable as us becoming mates.”
“Nothing is set in stone,” I hissed. “The future is nothing more than hopes and worries.”
“The fire has read the future. It gave you to me so I can be the one to protect you from suffering and death. It gave you to me, Runa, not him. Think on that for a while, and perhaps you’ll finally see that I am the better male for you. The only male.”
Holding up his hand, he bared the ash mark that mirrored mine on his left palm. The mark of Quelis leadership with its sun, fire, and bison horns. “I carry the chief seal, same as you carry the Spirit Master brand over your heart.” His gaze went to the swell of my breasts beneath my deerskin as if he could see through my pelt and the triangle with its trapped fire within, burned into my flesh and still freshly sore. “You aren’t just bound by our blood bind, Runa, but by every bind there is. By fire, by clan, and by succession. There’s no way free, and because of that, I will wait. I will wait until the day you realise that you belong to us, to me, to the fire’s decree, and maybe then you will do your duty as my mate.”
Stepping into me with a slight shuffle and wince from his wounded leg, he reached for my cheek.
I went to parry backward, but he was too fast. His large, strong hand slid around my nape, pulling me into him. I crashed against his chest, my palms slapping against his bare skin, my fingers right over his ash-snake’s fangs.
I shoved him, but it made no difference.
His other hand came up and captured my jaw.
His mouth closed over mine.
I froze.
Memories of his unwanted touch and terror as he held me down at blade point crested through me. My stomach roiled; icy sweat broke out over my skin.
I fought.
His lips parted.
I fought harder.
The tip of his tongue tried to breach the sanctity of my mouth.
I went to bite—
“Darro, don’t! Don’t go in there—” Solin’s command ripped through the day, just before the sides of the lupic exploded wide, and Darro appeared etched in sunlight. He stood tall and imposing, bare feet spread, wolf pelt baring his body, his muscular stomach pulsing with power and rage.
His gaze swept the shadowy world of Solin’s home, landing on me in Aktor’s arms.
Our eyes locked.
His jaw clenched into stone.
For a moment, the world paused.
The sunshine brightened.
The tension heightened.
And then, a detonation of jet-black shadows tore through the lupic, wrapped a hundred tendrils over every inch of Aktor from his throat, wrists, waist, and ankles, and snatched him violently away from me.
Aktor cried out as he soared through the air and landed against the bison hide protecting Solin’s home, stretching the skin and making the sapling framework groan beneath structural suffering.
I gasped as I felt the crush of my arm against the hide, even though it wasn’t my arm that felt it. I felt the burn as Aktor slid down the wall and collapsed into a pile of body parts, destroying a shelf full of wooden bowls, woven boxes, and stoppered jars.
I tried to prepare myself for the echoes of Aktor’s pain.
To brace against the agony that he would feel, but I wasn’t ready.
I bent forward, slapping a hand on my hip and knee as pain flared. My elbow screamed with yet another bruise, and I struggled to suck in a breath, winded from the fall.
Darro didn’t look at me.
Too full of rage and struggling with the urge to kill, he glowered at Aktor on the ground.
Grunting, Aktor shifted where he’d fallen. Solin’s prized possessions went scattering as he scrambled and cursed something in fierce Firenese, glaring at Darro.
I sucked in a breath as my lungs remembered how to work, wrenching Darro’s attention to me.
I stiffened as my tear-filled eyes met his. Just like last night in the grasslands when he’d kissed me, his eyes were molten silver. No black. No smoke. Just a sterling silvery gleam.
“You did it again, you savage!” Aktor growled from the other side of the lupic as he tried to right himself while protecting his bandaged leg. “How does it feel to keep hurting the very female you’re trying to protect?” He laughed. “You still don’t get it, you ignorant beast—”
Aktor choked as a shadow wrapped around his mouth, shutting him up mid-threat. Another coil of shades lashed out, binding around his wrists and yanking his hands together as if they were a rope strapping him tight.
But that was all the shadows did.
They didn’t deliver pain.
They merely restrained and gagged.
Aktor fought against them.
I felt the pressure of his imprisonment, the icy teeth of blackened shadows refusing to let him go. I shivered beneath the unyielding mastery of the one wielding them.
Dismissing Aktor with a curt snarl, Darro marched to me and cupped my cheek. His cool hand replaced Aktor’s touch with his own. And, unlike when Aktor had touched me and my flesh crawled with repulsion, now my body purred. My blood instantly warmed as if the sun shone directly onto my bones, gracing my mortal colouring with light.
Stepping into me, Darro’s forehead kissed mine. My golden gleam dappled his wolf pelt and bare chest, etching his muscles, stress, and pain. “I’m so, so sorry, Runa. I’m sorry for hurting you. For leaving. For not running away with you when we had the chance.”
In his hold, I no longer felt the discomfort Aktor did. All my other wounds and maladies faded beneath the homecoming and righteousness of being with him again.
I trembled as he gathered me close, enveloping me in his arms with such a tender, possessive embrace. Tears trickled down my cheeks as I buried my face into his chest and inhaled the night sky and starshine that always seemed to infuse his scent.
I was home.
Life made sense again.
I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Solin suddenly tripped into the lupic, his eyes wide and braid swinging. “Darro…let her go.”
Darro didn’t turn to look at the Fire Reader.
Whispering in our shared forbidden language, his voice sounded as dark as his shadows. “I’m so sorry…for everything.”
“You have nothing to apologise for,” I whispered back.
“Darro…I really must insist.” Solin cleared his throat. “Release her.”
With the quietest, menacing growl, Darro loosened his arms and slowly pulled away. His palms landed on my hips as his mouth captured mine, delivering the sweetest kiss, eradicating Aktor’s lips, reclaiming me as his own.
I moaned and opened for him.
Solin made a disapproving noise.
Aktor grunted behind his shadow-gag.
But I didn’t care.
I wanted to turn the innocent kiss into something far more salacious.
Right there.
With Solin and Aktor watching, I wanted Darro to prove to them that nothing but true love could bind me.
Adding a burst of worshipping pressure to my lips, Darro ended the kiss and dropped his hands from my hips. Capturing my fingers, he held me carefully, so attentive and aware of the still-healing bee scribed into my palm.
Turning to face Solin, he bowed his head. Smoke-dark strands of hair danced over his forehead. “We’re leaving. With or without your permission.”
Solin sighed heavily, his eyes weighted with worry. “I told you last night, and you saw for yourself…Runa can’t leave. She’ll—”
“I’m aware of what will happen,” Darro bit out. “I won’t take her far, and I won’t keep her long. I accept the blood bind cannot be undone.”
Solin frowned. “If you accept it, then why—”
“Runa will always be mine. Regardless that you’ve taken her away from me.” His fingers clenched around mine, causing a quick wash of pain. “You destroyed any chance of happiness we might have found together, Fire Reader. The least you can do is give us the chance to say goodbye.”
My stomach flipped.
My heart squeezed.
“We’re not saying goodbye,” I breathed. “Never. I don’t care what’s happened. I choose you, Darro—”
“Not here,” he muttered, not looking at me but squeezing my fingers again in warning.
I pressed my lips together, studying Solin as he watched us warily.
My skin no longer glowed, and Darro’s eyes had returned to their usual smoky depths, but his power crackled in the small space. His effortless strength stoked the darkness until it sculked in the corners and hovered in the sunlight, just waiting for his command to manifest, gather, and strike.
Solin clasped his hands together, throwing a look at Aktor. “Release him.”
“I’m not hurting him,” Darro murmured coolly. “Am I, Runa?”
I shook my head. “Aktor isn’t in pain, Solin. Or at least…no new pain.”
Solin groaned and shook his head. “Runa, you know you can’t do this. I told you why—”
“And I told you I won’t obey such laws and restrictions.”
“If you go with him. If you share pleasures—”
Darro bared his teeth. “Is that how low you think of me? That I’m taking her away to bed her?”
“Aren’t you?” Solin crossed his arms, raising his chin. “You’re doing a pretty blatant job of staking your claim on her. Kissing her in front of her betrothed. Binding him while you hold her.”
“He isn’t her betrothed by choice.”
“No, he isn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that she isn’t yours to touch.”
“She isn’t mine to love either, yet that won’t stop me.” Stepping into Solin, Darro pulled me beside him. “We’re leaving. We need to talk. You will not try to stop us, Spirit Master. I don’t want to hurt you or any of your clan, but I will.”
Zetas stalked into the lupic as if she sensed Darro was near. Shaking her silvery bulk and yipping with relief at finding him, she slotted to his side and raised her horned head with pride.
Solin eyed the wolf warily.
Aktor squirmed in his shadow shackles.
And Darro just waited.
Patient and powerful, serene and silent. Whatever he felt or suffered was unhidden beneath a mask of unreadability.
Finally, Solin’s shoulders sagged, and he stepped to the side, leaving the path to outside free. “Don’t go far.”
Darro didn’t reply.
With shadowy stealth, he pulled me forward. Zetas padded on his other side, and the sunshine welcomed us just as Aktor’s shout chased us as the shade-ropes and gag dissolved from around him.
Solin’s snapped command to let us go leashed Aktor from following us, leaving us to walk unmolested through the Nhil camp.
Tral and Tiptu watched us, Niya and Hyath looked up from playing with Syn and Natim, and so many different coloured eyes from so many clan members tracked our progress as Darro led me to the outskirts of the grasslands.
Our blatant hand holding shouted to anyone who bothered to understand that we belonged to each other. Aktor might hold a curse over my heart, but Darro had earned that heart in a different lifetime—a lifetime that superseded this one.
Turning my back on the Nhil, I didn’t look back as Darro pulled me into the tall summer-ripe grass, and the stalks swayed closed behind us.
Chapter Forty
. Darro .
I TOOK HER TO THE river where she’d rinsed out my arm from Syn’s infected bite. Where I’d grown hard for the first time around her and fallen into feelings that’d only magnified and consumed me ever since.
It wasn’t far enough, and the top of the embankment held history where Aktor had hurt her. Rust-crimson stains still marked the dusty ground from where my blood had spilled as I’d tried to save her. A giant pool had congealed and soaked into the soil, painting the crushed grass stalks with dull red, hinting that whoever had lost so much lifeforce ought to have died that night.
The river babbled and danced in the sunlight as we skidded down the small hill and crunched over dried willow leaves on the ground. Her footsteps seemed strong. Her breathing even and normal.
Whatever curse bound her to Aktor was accepting of this distance from the camp. She didn’t suffer. At least…not yet. I kept careful watch for signs of discomfort, noticing the healthy colour of her skin and brightness of her eyes. If her heart started failing, I wouldn’t have to run far with her to ensure the dreadful bind left her alone.
Rage filtered through me; an anger I could barely control.
I let Runa go, afraid of myself, afraid of what I was capable of after last night.
She gave me a fleeting smile before drifting ahead and dipping her toes into the water’s flowing edge. We were alone. No other clan members had come to the river. And no blue glow appeared.
No liquid song filled my head either, but that didn’t mean the water element, Vetak, wasn’t watching.
After the air’s insidious whispers and its obedience in helping me travel in my shadows, I’d become highly aware of the energies that always surrounded us. Quelis had turned its back on me, but Rivoza had become a strange kind of…friend.
If an element that didn’t care if you lived or died could become a friend, of course.
Zetas padded toward a grassy spot beneath a weeping willow. Keeping her yellow eyes locked on me as if worried I would vanish and leave her like I had last night, she lay down and rested her muzzle on her legs. She yawned but didn’t relax, ready to leap after me if I made any signs of disappearing.
I smiled at the she-wolf.
I was grateful she hadn’t been there with me in that forest-ringed lake last night. If she had, would my power have stopped her heart like it stopped so many other creatures? Would her spirit have passed through mine to sink into the afterlife?
I shuddered as I balled my hands.
What I’d done last night?
The death I’d so easily delivered…
It petrified me.
Horrified me.
I feared myself.
I guarded my mind against hidden memories and more unfurling power. I didn’t want the power to snuff out a life without a single thought. I didn’t want the tragedy of making a mistake and killing those I loved.
Zetas yawned again, her eyes burrowing into mine.
Ever since I’d found myself in the grasslands this morning with the scent of smoke from the Nhil’s ever-burning fire and the tips of lupics spearing into the gold-gilded horizon, I’d tried to remember how I got here.
The last thing I recalled was sinking into darkness and treading silently and weightlessly over a delicate, vast tapestry. A web that promised all the secrets of the universe, glittering with droplets of every life currently in existence.
“Darro?” Runa’s soft voice interrupted my headache and raging thoughts.
I blinked and brought her into focus.
“Where…where did you go? Last night? Solin told me you disappeared in your shadows.”
Swallowing hard and preparing myself for honesty, I stepped toward her. Just like when we first met and my heart forced me to tell her nothing but the truth, I would do the same now…even though I had so many things I wanted to hide.
“I went…home.”
“Home?” Her eyebrows rose.
I shrugged. “To a place I’ve seen in my memories. A place of silver webs and all-seeing stars.”
“Was it far away?” She backed deeper into the river, shivering as water swirled around her knees.
Leaving the shore for the shallows, I sucked in a breath as the coolness of the water ran over my bare toes. Liquid licked at my ankles as I took another step toward her, teasing me to swim. I wanted to be cleansed. Rinsed clean. To wash away my monstrosities.
“It was far away.” I did my best to keep my voice calm and not turn gravelly with despair.
I studied her.
Outwardly, she held no marks or signs of the pain I’d given her thanks to the link she now shared with Aktor, but she moved stiffly, gingerly.
“Are you hurt?” I asked through clenched teeth, bracing arms that wanted to embrace her and locking legs that wanted to run to her.
Her fingers went to her throat before she shook her head. “Olish gave me a tonic. It’s taken away most of the aches.” Her amber eyes met mine. “I’m okay, Darro. Truly.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to keep saying that. It wasn’t your fault.”
I scoffed as my heart twisted in my chest. “It was entirely my fault. Not just for hurting Aktor when Solin told me what would happen if I did, but for all of it. The fact that the air hid me and stopped me from snatching you away before the fire could bind you. The fact that I didn’t try harder to make you choose me instead of them when it was just us with the wolves.”
