“Until we meet again, K’haram.”
“Until we do, Omri.”
His rumbling voice echoes in my head as I’m brought back to the study, all eyes pinned on me in nervous anticipation.
“They’ll be here by morning,” I say, grabbing Killian’s hand and tracing soothing circles with my thumb on his palm, in a futile attempt to smooth out my next statement. “Mael and the human army are already on the way, traveling by sea. K’haram is bringingCeline and Kahlya.”
His shoulders tense visibly at the mere mention of the human High-General, and he pulls me onto his lap in front of everyone, burying his head into my curls.
“If that is all, everybody out,” he commands in a voice that brokers no argument. His fingers find my hips, pressing into my flesh through my training leathers.
“Actually, there is one thing I would like to speak with you about, Vampire King,” Sariah states, making him huff in annoyance against my collarbone.
“Then speak.”
“We’d like to commandeer a space in the castle for the mass production of our vampire tranquilizer concoction.”
Killian turns his head from my neck, where his fangs were already dragging against my pulse point, above his Ouroboros mark.
“Mass production of what?”
“I’ve perfected a sleeping potion that knocks out a vampire instantly. Could be useful against the onpyrs. Our Umbras have been gathering parts of the ingredients, the bloodbane’s root and the dove wings, but we still need a place to prepare the arrows, and we are missing the iron. We need a considerable amount of liquefied iron. Unsurprisingly enough, we couldn’t find a lick of it in all of Drovillan.”
“Consider it done,” Killian says with a nod before turning his gaze on Blaise. “Your girl is quite terrifying.”
“Just the way I like it,” Blaise answers, something akin to pride shining in his baby blues.
A low growl emanates from Soren’s throat, and I’m pretty sure he huffs an “Over my dead body,” as Sariah drags him away.
One by one, they all file out of the chamber, leaving us alone in the welcoming silence.
Killian’s lips are on my throat as soon as the door closes behind Blaise and his warriors, sucking, biting, drawing patterns with his tongue.
Part of me wants to succumb to the tingling feeling washing from my scalp to my toes, but the rational, twat-blocking part of my brain wants to address his irrational jealousy.
“Killian, love,” I say gently, pushing myself away from his sinful mouth.
“I don’t want to talk about it, umbra,” he says, trying to return to his ministrations.
I huff a laugh, pushing him harder.
“I think we’re past the moment of avoiding uncomfortable conversations by using sex, Killian. That would be quite stagnant of us.”
Chapter 29
Killian
Sincethatfatefulnightwhen Blaise wrongfully kidnapped Aimee instead of Aurora, bringing in therightsister without even knowing, her captivating amber eyes have gripped my soul in ways that were beyond my comprehension.
They twinkle when she’s happy. They gleam like liquid gold when she’s in ecstasy. Turn molten lava when she’s furious. And they always have a swirling shade of black calling to me like a dark beacon. A sign of her trauma, surely, but also of her tumultuous depths, of her powers and the soul-binding, death-defying connection we share.
I’m not sure I’ve wrapped my head around the truth yet.
Our story.
Maybe I never will. But therightnessof it is etched deep into my being, woven so tightly into the fabric of my essence, that I don’t need to fully understand it to believe in it.
I was Akaori. She was Aeon.
