Rhuul's Flame (16 page)

Spirituality wasn’t his strong suit. He’d evoked the names of the gods, but had no actual faith to speak of. Yet listening to her explanation awakened something in him. Holding her close wasn’t enough. He nuzzled into her neck before licking the shell of her ear. “Lea…” He spoke in a whisper and bit down onto her earlobe.

“Hmm?” She tilted her head, giving him more access.

“
Ha leethin’ai dranaiya
.” She shook in his grasp, making his cock pulse.

“Ava?”

“Not now, Ghena.” He kissed along her jaw, smiling when she tensed against him.

“Dinner is almost ready, Ava.”

“I’m coming, Ghena.” She pulled back and shook her head.

“Again? Aren’t you tired yet?” The sound of his tiny feet bounding down the hall made them both chuckle.

Chapter 10

Avalea awoke to Rhuul’s large wing coving her. It had been more than a week since they’d returned from their ordeal, and she still found the gesture sweet. She sighed and spread her lips into a smile. As much as she enjoyed these quiet moments, nature called.

She slipped from under him and out of the room without notice. After completing her morning routine, she dressed and walked to her parents’ house. Her younger brothers and sisters ran through the rooms, giggling and playing, while her father held his youngest child in his arms.

A knock at the door startled her, and she watched her mother move from the dining room to answer it. Renna turned to look at her with both brows raised, her mouth in an O. “This is a message for Rhuul.”

“From who?” Avalea walked to her mother’s side and eyed the sealed parchment in her hands.

“He said it was from someone named Veen something or other.” Renna shrugged and passed the letter to her.

“I’ll give it to him.” The parchment was made of folded, cream-colored paper, closed with a golden wax seal. It looked expensive and felt heavy, making her wonder about its significance and the plants that were used. She rushed out of the back door. As she approached her house, she spotted Braka. “Already?”

Braka and Rhuul had taken to sparring each day. Somehow, trying to kill each other put them in a better mood.

“I’d like to start early today.” Braka’s gaze moved to the letter in her hands. If he knew anything about it, he didn’t share it.

“Give us a few minutes, okay?” She opened her front door and found Rhuul standing there.

He yawned and scratched his chin before he looked Braka up and down. It took a few moments for him to look back at her, but when he did, he smiled. “Where’d you go?”

“To my parents’. You have a letter.” She looked on as he opened it. As he read, his eyes narrowed. He glared at Braka and pulled his mouth into a sneer. “How does my father know to send a letter to Lea’s village?”

“He asked me to report my location from time to time.” Braka stared at his black claws as if he was bored.

Rhuul crumpled the parchment into a ball, held it to one of his Mohawks, and set it ablaze. “The next time you send my father an update, tell him I don’t give a damn about what he wants.” He summoned his swords and tilted his head toward the area they usually fought in. “Let’s go.”

“What did it say?” Rhuul hadn’t given her any clue, and she was more than a little curious.

“Nothing of any importance.” He and Braka walked to the open area and took up their positions.

“What the hell was that all about?” She didn’t know what the letter said, but she did know one thing. Her
kan’na
wasn’t happy about it.

* * * *

The warmth of the suns shone down on Avalea as she tended her garden. Her flowers were in bloom, plump, ripe fruits and vegetables hung heavy from their stems, and roots and tubers grew thick underground.

She pressed her palms into the dirt, feeling the energy of the life growing around her, fortifying the earth with what it needed to feed her crops.

A
clang
of metal pierced the air, and then there was silence, letting her know Rhuul and Braka had finished their fighting. After a few minutes, Rhuul was behind her, his arms around her waist, his lips kissing a soft trail up her neck.

“Ava, you aren’t going to do this outside, are you?” Ghena bounced up and down in front of her, grinning and rolling his eyes.

She didn’t answer him. Instead, she turned in Rhuul’s arms and faced him. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“Okay.” He took her hand and conjured a length of rope, wrapping it around their wrists.

He bound them like this often. She never bothered to ask him why he did it. She liked the closeness of being tied to him. What was once a symbol of anger had become a show of connectedness. She missed him when he wasn’t nearby, and judging by how many times he bound them each day, he missed being close to her too.

She led him into her family’s fields, walking a path through rows of fruit trees. “Have you thought about where you want to go after we leave Akash?”

His lips curved into a small smile, and he glanced at her for a few moments before staring ahead. “No. I don’t know all the realms. I guess we can travel to the ones I haven’t been to.”

“And then what? Are you surveying them for takeover?” She’d be by his side, but she needed to know what she was signing on for, and what she might have to caution him against.

“I hadn’t thought about it.” He squinted as he looked into the distance, as if he realized for the first time he didn’t have a plan. “We’ll know it when we see it, right?” He squeezed her hand and locked eyes with her, halting their steps.

Ghena ran through the trees in front of them, chasing flutter flies.

“Maybe, maybe not, but I’ll be with you.”

His features softened. He stepped into her, lifting her chin with his free hand. “Why are you so…?” He seemed to be at a loss, opening and closing his lips.

She stared at him, seeing more emotion in his face than she thought possible. He didn’t stand before her as a tyrant or a killer. He was uncertain, and he was her
kan’na
. She’d never met anyone like him, never felt so drawn to anyone. He didn’t need words. His expression alone reached into her heart and made her want to give him everything he ever wanted and more.

She’d killed for him, and even though she regretted it, she’d do it again in the blink of an eye if it would keep him safe.

“As long as you’re with me, I can figure out the rest.” He kissed her as they stood among the trees, filling her with sensation, binding her to him even more as she let the essence of him surround her.

She didn’t have to fully understand his need to rule. She was prepared to do whatever she had to do to help him realize his dream, and gods help the poor soul who intended him harm.

* * * *

Three weeks had passed since the courier had arrived, but he wasn’t the last. Others came bearing messages, and Rhuul refused to even open them, burning them as soon as he got his hands on them.

Despite her intense interest in Veen’s correspondence, she didn’t push the topic, not wanting to upset her
kan’na
. On this day, she sat outside in her backyard with Ghena in her lap. The clash of weapons pierced the air, followed by grunts and curses. Braka and Rhuul were at it again, fighting in the warmth of midafternoon.

“Hit him on his weak side. Force him to toughen up!” She watched the smirk move across Rhuul’s lips, bringing a smile to her own. When Braka snorted, she laughed.

“I have no weak side.”

“Doesn’t look like it from here.” A blur of movement forced her attention to the side of her house.

It was Talloc, in his male Omala form. “Hey there, hot stuff.”

“Hey, Talloc. Haven’t seen you for a good while.” He sat down on the soft grass next to her and let his head fall back.

“Are you enjoying your
woman
, Braka?” Rhuul must have noticed Talloc’s arrival too. A larger, more evil grin curved his lips as he swung his swords in violent strikes.

“No Eidon would be so crude as to speak of such things.” Braka parried Rhuul’s swings and attempted to slash his abdomen.

Talloc leaned in close and spoke in a quiet voice. “He’s an animal!”

“Really? What’s he like? What does he do?” Avalea stroked Ghena’s fur while he munched on berries. She’d spent the majority of her time with Rhuul. The guard captain was still something of an enigma to her.

“He has a thing for biting. He’s almost never sated. I’ve taken the form of plants, furniture, and even rugs to make him search for me so I can leave.”

“When are you going to tell him you’re a Bruna?” Ghena tilted his furry little head and stared up at the shape-shifter.

“Soon. Staying in that form for so long is boring, and I’m tired of how grumpy he gets whenever a message arrives from his ruler.” He sighed and leaned back on his elbows. “He hates Rhuul’s disobedience, so he takes it out on my ass. Literally.”

Avalea nearly choked on her laughter and cleared her throat to regain her composure.

“He might slow down if you told him you were a male.” Ghena smiled wide, showing his teeth.

“You are so limited in your thinking. Bruna don’t have male or female genders, we’re just Bruna. We can be anything.” Talloc rolled his eyes, as if the concept was obvious for all to see.

“How do you have offspring? Can you just decide to be the female?” Ghena sounded intrigued, and he stopped chewing to hear the answer.

“We don’t discuss that with outsiders.”

* * * *

Rhuul looked on from the edge of the fields as Lea picked a few pieces of fruit and handed them to her brother and his friends. The smile on her face was infectious, and he couldn’t help chuckling at the scene.

He drank down the last of his tea and rested his cup on a windowsill. It was a brew Lea made from things in her garden. She drank a different blend, specially formulated to keep her from getting pregnant. He trusted her knowledge in this area, but he still avoided spilling his seed into her depths. The tea might work with Omala, but he wasn’t sure if the brew would be 100 percent effective against his dual nature.

Seeing her with children, her ease in interacting with them, the way she brought smiles and excitement to their faces,it made him think, made him want to imagine a similar future with her. But that would have to wait. Damn that Omala life lover for making him even consider such a thing.

With the last youngster served, Lea strolled over to him. She stared at him, her gaze moving over his wings. She spent a lot of time looking at them, touching them. The feel of her hands over them always turned him on, and he watched her, his body tingling with anticipation.

“I think I know how to get you off the ground without a breeze.”

“What?” This wasn’t the conversation he expected to have. A flash of disappointment moved through him, making his shoulders slump.

“Spread your wings for me. I want to try something.”

He slanted his eyes at her before doing as she asked.

She lifted her hands and tensed the muscles in her jaw. He’d never seen her focus on something with such intense concentration. Especially when he didn’t know what the hell was going on.

He was about to ask about the purpose of the exercise when a burst of warm air bloomed beneath the sensitive skin below his wings. “Lea?”

“Fly, Rhuul. Use the warm air to lift you.”

He flapped against the heat, his feet leaving the ground. He flapped harder, rising higher while she stretched her hands up to him, still sending hot air. When he was above the houses, he felt a strong breeze, allowing him to soar around the village.

His smile was immediate. Gods, she’d managed to do something he never thought he could achieve. How long had she thought about this? Was that why she stared at him so often? She thought enough about him to give him this gift?

He banked a large arc around a group of buildings, his eyes on her. “Hold out your arms.” He clasped her forearms as he passed, lifting her into the air and flying higher, catching the swift air current higher up.

The flames of her hair whipped in the wind, and she held on tight to him. “It worked! It really worked, Rhuul.” There was so much excitement in her voice and not a trace of fear as she looked down at the world around her.

Flying with her was a new experience, one he never thought of. Carrying her through the air had an effect on him. It called to a part of him he’d never noticed before, and it drove him higher in the sky. He scanned the land, looking for the highest peak.

Instinct drove him toward a mountain, the need to reach its summit urging him forward from somewhere deep within.

He circled the zenith, searching for just the right spot. A series of outcroppings jutted out not too far below the mountaintop. He set Lea down there while he flapped in the breeze above her.

“Why are we here?” She was facing the stone wall of the mountain. When she tried to turn around to face him, a guttural screeching reverberated from deep in his throat. The vocalization surprised him, as if it didn’t come from his own body. “Rhuul?” She looked over her shoulder, her voice wary.

He lowered himself to her level before flying to her, pressing her against the cold stone. His blood felt like it had been exchanged with lava. Moving through the air had changed something in him, making him see her in a different way, making him want her in the highest place, needing to claim her in the sky. He was hot for her, his dick aching with need.

He licked a slow trail up the back of her neck before grazing the skin with his teeth. She sucked in a breath, the sound whipping him into a frenzy. He pulled the fabric at her waist, yanking the garment over her head.

“Rhuul, you—” She tried to turn around again, but he wasn’t having any of it. He screeched once more, holding her shoulders to keep her in place.

He dropped down to the slight outcropping just below where she stood. His wings moved in rhythmic beats, keeping him balanced. He was at the perfect height to grip her ass. He swiped her rounded cheeks with his tongue, moving lower and lower, biting and teasing his way between her thighs.

Her breaths were shaky as she widened her stance to let him in. He spread her open in front of him, eyeing the hint of her dew peeking out from her entrance. He lapped at her with greedy strokes of his tongue, filling his lungs with the scent of her essence as he tasted her on top of the world.