Calix nods, his smile warm and inviting. So, unlike what I presumed the Lord of Onyx Guild to be. Given the elevation and constant cold, I assumed a bit more of a bite.
The dark-haired Enchantress watches Elora as she draws a ring around the edge of her teacup. Her lip curls when my hand wraps around Elora’s shoulders. “I’m Sera,” the woman finally says. “Now”—she breaks her gaze from Elora and looks to Calix—“I’m afraid Brigid and I don't have much to offer. Most of our magick was harvested and what’s left is unreliable. I managed to get us out of the castle—” Elora scoffs, crossing her arms. “But I’m not sure what use I’ll be to you, Lord.”
Calix holds his hands up, shaking his head. “I would never ask you to use your magick against your will.” His gaze slides to Elora who is unsurprisingly silent by my side, I can practically hear her teeth grinding from here. “What I do ask is for your help mapping out the castle.” Sera relaxes into her chair, a smile dancing on her lips. “Passageways, dungeons. Anything that may make infiltrating smoother.”
“I have also lived in Valebridge, Calix,” Elora says, her voice barely registering in the room. “It was my home, too.”
Sera smiles, bringing her teacup to her lips. “And yet you fled.”
My stomach boils, nails digging into the marble top?—
“There isn’t any need for hostility.” Calix steals my moment to speak. “What has happened to you—” He glances at each of the women at the table, Elora included. “Allof you, is unfathomable. Without working together, we’ll have no chance at rectifying this mess the king has made.” He lets out a sigh, rubbing his palm to his eyes. “Are you all with me?”
Elora pacesthroughout our small room. Back and forth she goes, between the chest of drawers and the black four post bed. She bites at her nails a few times before placing her hands behind her back, biting her lip insead. Her hair, a mess of waves from our earlier bath, is down and unkept. The dark pants that Calix provided fit more snugly than her normal breeches. The dark, long sleeve, wool-lined top is laced up in the front, and she pulls on the strings as she moves back and forth.
“Are you going to do that all day?” I say through a laugh.
She stops to frown at me before turning toward the bathing chamber, her back facing me. Her shoulders stoop and between both of our breaths, she sniffles.
“They were not kind to you.”
“They weren’t wrong about me,” she says. Elora doesn’t turn but her head straightens. “My mother and I fled Valebridge and never looked back. We lived in peace on the mountain while they were tortured and—” She hangs her head again. “I don’t even know why I’m here. Perhaps I should have just stayed in Valebridge.” My stomach twists. “I’m so tired of being in pain, Sorin.”
I step toward her, making sure my boots are heavy against the ground so as to not surprise her. She stiffens when my hands brace her shoulders, but a moment later, her muscles relax.
“Where does it hurt, love?”
She says nothing, keeping her back turned.
“Does it hurt here?” I slide my hands gently over her back. Careful not to touch her bruises too deeply.
Her breath hitches, but still she’s quiet.
“How about here?” I kiss her temple, and she lets out a sigh. “Yes, this must be what ails you.” I kiss her temple again before turning her around so she faces me. Her lips twitch, as if she can’t decide to smile or cry.
I drag her to the bed.
She sits down, and I take my time unlacing her boots then unfastening her cloak and pulling it off of her. I kick off my boots before climbing into bed. She curls onto her side, her back to my chest. There isn’t much solace I can offer her, but maybe a momentary distraction will be enough for tonight.
My fingers trail along her leg, up the curve of her hips, until they skim underneath her tunic. “I know everything feels like shite right now,” I say, “but I can’t hear you say you’d wish to still be in Valebridge because if you were still there, it means you wouldn’t be here and I don’t think I can handle the thought.”
She lets out a deep sigh, her hands propped under her cheek like a pillow.
“Now, does this feel okay?” My lips graze her neck as I whisper against her skin, fingers tracing tentatively across her hip. “I asked you a question, love.”
“Yes,” she whispers. “That feels okay.”
I hold my breath, still unsure she’s ready for any kind of intimacy, but I trust her enough to tell me when I’ve gone too far, so I continue. “What about this?” I glide my fingers under her shirt, tracing soft lines over her ribs, then her breasts. “Does that feel good or bad?”
She arches into me, and my eyes roll shut as I trace her breasts again.
I missed you so badly, I want to say. But this isn’t about me, so I remain quiet. I kiss her neck, letting my lips drag against her skin before nipping slightly just at the bottom of her ear. “Answer my question, Elora.”
“Good,” she says, between heavy breaths. “That feels good.”
“Good.” I slide my hand lower over her bare skin, down her abdomen, until I’m at the laces of her breeches and that’s where I stop. Doubt gnaws at my mind, making my fingers retreat before I can push this further.
As I slide my hand away, Elora grabs it, guiding it back down. Her hair slides away from her neck as she dips her head forward, revealing a glimpse at something dark marked on her skin. But as she moans again, my body heats, distracting me from what I think I saw.
