I rolled my eyes and watched as a screaming eagle captured a struggling eel from the water. “Cadmus is an idiot.”
“But a funny idiot.”
“True.” I had to give him that one. “Maybe you should be having this father-son talk with Aerolus. He’s the one with all the serious issues lately.” I flicked a hand and created a tiny whirlpool to suck my father closer. “I’m fine.”
Father watched me push the water away, settling into calm. He left the river, beads of moisture wicked away by the gentle air he commanded to dry himself.
He sat next to me, dressed in a casual tunic and trousers, suddenly just like the ones appearing over me. My dream, my rules.
“You always seemed the most competent of your brothers,” Father said with a tone warning me to pay attention.
I sat up and turned to fully face him, watching the sun play over his beloved face.
“Yet your mother would constantly remind me to watch out for you, that beyond your arrogance lay a well of insecurity.” His study burned a hole through me.
“Come on, Father,” I tried to joke the matter aside. “I’m the River Prince,” I said haughtily, my conceit eerily mirroring his. “The wells of Tanselm shimmer at my call.”
“You command water. But you cannot command your heart. It commands you.” Father shot me a sly grin. “She won’t let you rule her, Marcus. But she’ll let you rule by her.” Laughing silver eyes hardened into molten steel, and the jovial man who was my father became the stern taskmaster of the Western Kingdom once more. “Until you learn to temper your unfounded need for perfection, you’ll fall short when it comes to guarding that which you hold most dear.”
Inside, I felt a whole-body flinch. Outwardly, I gave my father a slight nod but nothing more.
Father shook his head, obviously frustrated, and I wished I knew what to say to ease his mind.
“Heed my words. The river flows and bends. It does not break. But pride is like ice, stiff in rigid. It shatters when it meets resistance.”
My head ached. “Allegories and riddles, really? You used to speak plainly.” When you were alive. The thought sobered me.
Father laughed. “Don’t I know it. Irritating as hell, eh? Sorry, but that’s the price I pay for crossing the Light to see you. Just make sure to believe in your heart and in yourself, and all will be well.”
The sun brightened, and I had to shield my eyes not to be blinded.
“I guess my time’s up.” Father stood, casting a large shadow on my feet. “Remember, Son, the surest way to a woman’s heart is truth. And the surest way to your truth is a woman’s heart.” He chuckled. “Make sure you tell that to Aerolus when his time comes. He’s become too much of a know-it-all under Arim.”
I tried to see my father’s face but couldn’t look at more than his shadow, which lengthened under the brightness growing above us.
“I’m sorry to say this is the last I’ll be seeing you for a long time, Marcus.” My father, my king, blew a breath over me, a wind carrying the deep love he’d always felt for me.
A love I sometimes doubted I deserved.
“Remember, you are as you believe. Tell Cadmus to look at his dreams and Aerolus to study the spaces between,” Father said quickly. “He’ll know what I mean.” His shadow vanished, then reappeared, a faint smudge upon the grass. “Damn it, see here? I barely said anything, and I’ve said too much. Look, just tell Arim she’s waiting?—”
A light flashed, and the shock of power shook me awake. I blinked and tried to make sense of my odd state of awareness. Something tickled my legs, then between them, massaging my cock into a restless, aroused twitch.
“Wake up, Marcus.” Tessa kissed her way up my body, and my dream vanished under an onslaught of desire. Trying to catch my breath, I groaned her name as she slithered on top of me, my father’s words a distant memory.
Chapter 20
Tessa
While I let the warmth of the shower soothe me, I tried to reconcile my unbelievable actions with the woman I used to be.
I now knew Marcus Storm’s body more intimately than I’d known any man’s. And the things he’d made me feel… I shuddered, glad for some space to deal with all that had happened over the past weekend.
The water sluiced over my body, taking with it my aches and pains from all the sexual acrobatics I’d engaged in throughout the night.
Marcus would be lucky to stay awake through this morning’s meeting.
I frowned, wishing I’d gone with him. But we’d agreed last night that I should stay here, safe from a wraith attack and from the nameless threat at work, at least until Marcus could gauge the temperature of the office today.
