When a moth loved a bee, p.47
When a Moth loved a Bee, page 47
I’d fought against it.
I’d embraced Darro’s touch.
I’d fought to go to him.
But the fire had turned demonic.
It’d singed me.
Blinded me with its wrathful light.
And when I’d opened my eyes…Darro was gone.
That pain.
That loneliness.
That agony.
It all crested and added to the loneliness of before. Of walking a miserable existence. Of fighting to keep going when I had nothing to keep going for.
It was too much.
All of this was too much.
For all his promises that we knew each other. For all his belief of a future where we remained side by side, nothing could change the truth.
I was no longer his.
I was no longer my own.
Everything I’d hoped for had been stolen and…
I can’t do this anymore.
Spinning around, I broke into another run, my bare feet crushing grass, waking a few bees who’d chosen pink and purple wildflowers as their beds for the night.
The bees buzzed after me, humming around my head as I forced all my remaining strength into my legs and ran as fast as I could. My hair whipped around me. Bees swarmed like a cape behind me. And paws ran swiftly through the tall grass, shadowing my every step.
I looked at Syn, at her sweet golden spots and tiny velvet antlers.
She’d been the only one to sense something was wrong.
She’d growled and tried to come to me while the fire wrapped its arms tight to trap me. She’d snapped at the heat ribbons feeding from the flames, invisible but oh-so powerful.
I’d fought with everything I had to get free as Solin promised me to Aktor.
I’d cursed and shouted as my bloody ash-tattoo had been pressed against Aktor’s identical, just as fresh mark, smearing our lifeforce together, leaving me to the mercy of the searing, slicing blood bind.
I gasped on another sob.
I felt the bind, even now.
Felt the way the excruciating promise closed its hot, savage claws around my heart. How it sank white-hot teeth into the pathetically pumping thing—a pitiful thing that’d been falling for another—forcing it to now sync to the beat of my enemy.
I hadn’t been able to breathe then, either.
I hadn’t drawn a proper breath since Darro’s shadows touched my blistering light. My power had spat and sizzled over my skin, turning me into an earth-bound sun. His shades had extinguished my glow so quickly, so potently, that I’d fallen backward into a memory.
My first real memory—a memory that was so vivid and so true, I could still taste yesterday’s tears.
Shadows chased his heels as we walked, skimming along the ground. His dark, endless eyes ringed with brightest silver as if a full moon hid behind them. An eclipse in his spirit just waiting to break free and shine.
His fingers linked with mine; clouds churned with warning.
He dragged me close for the swiftest kiss; thunder boomed with threats.
We looked at the sky, united against the constant hostilities forcing us to keep apart, both too besotted and brave to care.
We were different.
We knew that.
Our bare flesh spoke that truth with our dissimilar parts, but it was our beginnings that made us falter. We might be one half of a whole and the balance to this sudden existence, but we weren’t the same.
We were opposites.
We dropped our touch.
We stopped our kiss.
Darro fell back into walking.
I didn’t want to walk anymore.
I wanted to know.
To live.
To be.
I spread my hands at the emptiness around us. The silence that stalked us. The hollowness around every bend. “This place is devoid of anything.”
He sighed. “It is forsaken.”
I didn’t know how much longer we would survive.
I was hungry, afraid, and excruciatingly thirsty…
I wanted rain.
I wanted lakes and streams and rivers.
I wanted things I’d never known.
The preposterousness of our existence suddenly crushed me, and I kneeled in the dirt.
Grief and heartbreak and misery.
It welled within me. It bubbled and toiled, crested and waved.
And when that first tear welled from my desperate, starving form, I was frightened.
“Runa…” Darro kneeled beside me. His hands cradled my cheeks with all the forbidden love he had for me. “You’re crying.”
Another tear breached my eyelashes, rolling slowly down my cheek.
This one he didn’t try to catch, and I licked at the salt as it flowed past my lips.
The taste exploded on my tongue, breaking up the dreariness and drudgery of this tedious world.
Another clap of thunder, demanding we move apart as a third droplet clung to my chin, reluctant to part from me.
Darro pressed his forehead to mine.
His love and devotion bled through every unspoken whisper and prohibited touch.
And I loved him back.
Defiantly, dangerously, endlessly.
The sky turned black with final warning.
We both stiffened for familiar punishment.
But then, my tear fell.
It glittered with sunbeams and daybreaks, splashing onto the dry dirt.
He stared at the small pock-mock. He shifted to touch it. His lips parted, and the silver tones of his skin shimmered beneath the cloud-curdled storm.
He never had time to touch that single salty droplet.
In a fleeting heartbeat, my sacrificed tear became the first liquid on this desiccated planet. A stream sprouted from that very spot, bubbling with freshness.
The damp scent of it was sublime.
The feel of it as it cascaded over my hands was cool and comforting.
Water.
Life.
Hope.
I cried harder.
My tears joined the gushing, frolicking stream, and it became a river. A torrential river, washing away the earth, revealing wetted stones and giant boulders, all twinkling in the suddenly-returned sunshine—
“Runa! Wait.” A strong hand latched around my wrist, yanking me to a stop.
A hand that felt so familiar, too familiar.
And out of sheer habit from before, my eyes snapped to the sky, so sure that the clouds would churn and thunder would boom and lightning would crack in furious warning.
Darro exhaled loudly, his own gaze going to the heavens.
I shuddered as he let me go—from prior conditioning or present confusion, I wasn’t sure.
But then he lowered his jaw and pinned me with his smoky stare. “Before…when we touched. The sky would punish us.” He wiped his mouth with a dirt-smudged hand as Zetas sat on her haunches beside him. His voice was nothing more than a gravelly whisper. “Lightning would strike us if we disobeyed. That’s why we still carry the habit of looking up.” He shook his head. “I-I can still feel the pain of it, punishing us for loving—”
A soft cry escaped me.
A cry of absolute agony.
He dared speak that word when we’d been forbidden love in the past and were now forbidden love all over again?
I would happily take the lightning.
I would hold out my arms and let it crack right through me if it meant I was no longer betrothed to Aktor.
I bit my lip, doing my best to stop my grief. The bees that’d chased me sank back down into the flowers, their buzzing sorrowful and sorry.
My heart couldn’t take any more pain.
I couldn’t stand in shared memories that we finally, finally remembered. Broken memories that brought a thousand more questions. Memories that proved just how much our love had been doomed, right from the very beginning.
I didn’t have the strength.
Not tonight.
Possibly not ever.
Back then, when I cried, a river had sprung.
Now, only my cheeks grew wet.
With a hitched inhale, I sucked back the rest of my tears and rubbed the heel of my hand over my tripping, tormenting heart. “I-I remembered something. When you helped douse the light I couldn’t put out.”
He stayed silent, sensing I didn’t want him to speak.
“I remembered the sky threatened us. I remembered thirst clawing at my throat. I remembered my tears turning into a river, a lake…an ocean.”
He scowled, raking a hand through his hair. “I don’t have that memory. Not yet at least.” He paced away a little before turning to face me and dropping his hand. “Do you know what you are, Runa? Do you finally remember?”
I shook my head. “It was just a glimpse. I don’t understand it, nor trust that it was even true. How could a single tear turn into a river?”
He came toward me.
I flinched back.
He stopped with a grimace. “I don’t know. But I won’t stop until we do.” Reaching out, he grabbed my hand, making the fresh bee tattoo sting from the salt in his skin. “We’re leaving. Right now. You’re not going back. We’re starting to remember. Eventually we’ll know everything and—”
“Still have everything and everyone trying to keep us apart.”
“We won’t let them,” he snapped. Glaring at Zetas and Syn, who sat comfortably side by side, lynx to wolf, antler to horn, he added a bit calmer, “We’re touching, and they’re not biting us for a change.” His dark eyes flashed with defiance. “I’m going to kiss you, and they can’t do a single thing about it.” He yanked me into his chest.
I crashed against him, my lips parting in shock, just as his head came down and his mouth smashed to mine.
I stiffened, but only for a moment.
I worried.
I blamed.
And then, I melted.
His lips moved with delicious pressure, coaxing me, imploring me, begging me to kiss him back.
The tip of his tongue licked the seam of my mouth, and I opened for him.
He groaned.
It echoed like a decadent purr, feeding directly into my ash-carved palms.
I shuddered as he kept my hands trapped on his chest with his arms locked tight around me. His scent of twilight and shadows surrounded me, and when our tongues touched, our kiss exploded with violent desperation.
His lips parted wide as he held nothing back.
His arms banded around my back, hauling me onto my toes as he crushed my entire length against his.
He kissed me so, so deep.
Deep enough to soothe some of the splinters in my heart.
He gathered me as close as he possibly could, pouring every unspoken affection down my throat. He groaned again as I licked his tongue with mine.
Our skin flushed with scalding heat.
Our lips pressed hard enough to bruise, wanting this kind of pain, this exquisitely right kind of pain.
His hands landed in my hair, tugging my head back to nip and kiss his way down my neck. He left a trail of moondust in his wake, adding another layer of shivering intensity as he returned to my mouth and kissed me even harder.
I moaned as he claimed me.
He lay ownership to my body, my lips, my tongue, my heart, and tears cascaded down my cheeks because I wanted so, so desperately to give them to him.
I’d wanted it by the river when I first remembered his name.
I’d wanted it back when we walked alone before we forgot each other.
I’d wanted him since the dawn of time.
Since the beginning of everything.
We were the beginning…
The thought came and went, hunted by his tongue and stolen by his kiss.
Each lick and taste echoed with decisions and destinies. Our skin became feverish as his hands roamed and his lips grew more and more demanding. The deerskin and wolf pelt between us couldn’t hide his obvious want, and my core clenched with dangerous desire.
I threw myself at him.
Ripping my arms free from his fierce embrace, I looped them over his shoulders and sank my fingers into his hair.
I forgave him.
I never truly blamed him.
Fear had made me angry.
Heartbreak had made me run.
But Darro…?
He’d saved me, cured me, and reminded me I wasn’t so alone.
He kissed me harder, worshipping me, gifting me the truth that he’d fought for me from the very first moment he’d found me. He would never stop fighting for me…no matter how many things conspired to keep us apart.
“Darro…” I panted into his mouth.
He paused, breathing hard.
Our eyes met.
I jolted.
His stare wasn’t just smoke or silver-ringed, they were molten pools of moonlight. Luminosity cast shadows over his cheekbones and nose.
I gasped.
But then he blinked, and the moonglow was gone.
Running his knuckles over my jaw, he pressed his lips to mine. “Your eyes.” He shivered. “They’re glowing as intensely as the sun.”
“Yours shone like the moon,” I murmured against his mouth.
He pulled back. “They did?”
I nodded, my chest rising and falling, my skin burning for his touch. “You’re beautiful.”
Something shifted in his stare, power rippled down his back. “You’re the beautiful one.” Anger tightened his eyes. “Fuck, Runa.” His forehead crashed against mine. “When I saw him touch you tonight, I wanted to fucking kill him.” He pressed another heated kiss to my lips, sending a rush of violent need through me. “I wanted to rip out his entrails and snatch you away from all of them.” He sucked in a hitched breath, nipping my bottom lip with sharp teeth. “Fuck, I couldn’t stand it.”
My knees turned to water; my mind struck dumb with the aggressive but passionate word he’d used. It wasn’t Firenese. It wasn’t the dead language we shared. It was something else. Something with a magic all of its own.
“I want you. I want you so badly.” His nose trailed down my neck, inhaling me, imprinting me. “I want to tear off your wrap, push you onto your hands and knees, and prove to everyone that you are mine.” His voice thickened with heat. “I want you with everything that I am.”
I shivered. “Take me then.”
He choked on a snarl. “I need to get you away from here. We’re too close to the Nhil. I have no idea where we’ll go, but I will not let him have you.” He brushed back my hair, his fingers cool but somehow hot. “You said you were imprisoned by the fire. That it made you agree to the succession and betrothal.” His voice slipped into sharper shadows. “I was imprisoned by air. I heard it in my mind, just like I heard the fire when you aided me by the river. It wrapped me in unseen ropes and hid me in plain sight. It tampered with my scent and made Zetas lose me even with her keen senses. It said it was only doing what I asked. What we asked.”
Shaking his head, he murmured, “We need to remember, Runa. Now, not tomorrow. We need to know because…I-I saw something while waiting for you to step out of the fire and it terrified me.”
“What did you see?” I asked softly, grateful his arms remained around me.
“Bones. A bed of bones.”
“W-What does that mean?”
“I…” He scowled. “I don’t know. But I do know I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe. I’d never hurt you, Runa. Never. You know that, don’t you? No matter what omen or creature says otherwise, I would never fucking hurt you. It would be physically impossible for me.” His teeth flashed in the moonlight. “I’d rather rip out my own heart than ever—”
“I know.”
“Just…remember that. Okay?” His nostrils flared, appeased but only slightly. We need to run.” His gaze dropped to my mouth again, as if he couldn’t control himself. His fingers tightened in my hair as he pulled me forward. “We really, really need to run…”
My skin tingled as his head dipped and his lips landed on mine again, hot and dominating.
He groaned as I kissed him back.
“Tell me to stop,” he groaned. “Tell me to take you somewhere safe.”
My tongue had far more interesting things to do than speak.
I wanted him to strip me, bed me, and do whatever it took to revoke the blood bind that cursed me. We could run…after. We could disappear…after. Right now, I needed him to prove to lightning strikes and biting lynxes that nothing could keep us—
Wait.
Pushing him away, I glanced at Zetas and Syn.
Two predators with very sharp teeth.
Sharp teeth that weren’t embedded in our flesh, doing their best to stop us.
“How…?” I asked softly as Zetas glowered at me with petulant eyes. Syn huffed beside her, her two tails whipping with annoyance. They sat exactly where they had before, obedient and quiet.
But not by choice.
Darro shrugged with a black chuckle. “I did say there wasn’t a single thing they could do to stop me from kissing you.”
My mouth hung open at his control.
At the ease of mastery over shadows and night.
Both the wolf and the lynx were muzzled, collared, and leashed by the thinnest wisp of darkness. The leash tethered them to the ground where dirt had been clawed and pawed.
They’d tried to launch at us. To bite. And they’d failed because Darro was remembering his powers so much quicker than me.
A string of hazy shadow appeared from his hands, twisting and twining around me. I swayed backward as the shade kissed my cheek, licked up my brow, then slid with a delicious caress through my hair.
I trembled.
He groaned.
And with a flick of his wrist, a sensual shadow-string looped around my neck with dark possession. I swallowed a moan at the delicious petting, but Darro quaked as if I was the one touching him. Another ribbon appeared from his fingers, swooping down my body, feathering around my knee, before slipping silently beneath my deerskin.
My eyes shot to his as the cool-sting and hot-stroke glided up, up, up…
