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Chapter 51 Cirri
He came to me silently, the only hint of his presence carried to me on the breeze in the trees, the faintest whiff of his smoky forest scent.
I remained on the rough stone I’d found, a perfect seat to look out over the pines of the Rift, the twilight mist obscuring the distant walls of the keep and creeping over the ground.
It had felt audacious, even wrong, to freely walk out of Ravenscry’s gate, leaving the walls behind me without a backwards glance. No one had stopped me; no one had warned me of wargs in the mist. I’d wandered around the keep, examining the walls from the outside for the first time, and climbed the stony hills without fear.
My eyes ached from the endless poring over pages and scrolls of faded vellum, the ink so old it was no more than a whisper; the ghosts of words past. Those ghosts had spoken unclearly, but with patience and determination, I’d teased out meanings, held disparate pieces together and found the matching edges.
I no longer felt guilt over taking a break to walk the mountainous hills of the Rift. I had all the time in the world to chase the ghosts of the past.
Nobody would be pleased with what I’d found, but it was the truth, and it held answers for our future. The charm meant to bind Wargyr must never be lost again. If the people of Veladar wished to survive and remain ourselves, we could never allow the wolves to return.
Nor could we afford another slow slide into the next Red Epoch. The vampires would be upset over the truth of their creation, but there needed to be balance. If that meant anger over the knowledge, so be it—the fiends would understand and hold the truth of what they were, that they were only a step removed from their loathed cousins, and only by clinging to what remained of their humanity would they remain in power.
If they ever went too far, if they chose to break the Accords and push human involvement from their tables, we had the means to fight back, the binding charm hidden in several pairs of trusted hands.
All would be in balance, so long as we remembered that. Too much had been lost to forgetfulness already.
I pushed those thoughts aside as I climbed further, and finally came to a hollow in the hill, where a rough, rounded stone protruded from the earth. That was where I chose to sit and wait for him.
Of course he didn’t disappoint me. He never could.
He came from the west, circling me, and only moments after I smelled him, a warm hand descended on my shoulder. He cupped my face, fingers curling under my chin. I leaned into his warmth, pulling my cloak tighter around me.
“The last time we spoke of walking the Rift… to be honest, I never thought it would happen.” His other hand came down, splaying over my chest as he held me to him. My heart raced under the heat of his palm. “I believed I would have to keep you locked inside forever, and give nothing but small tidbits of freedom. I feared that over time, it would give way to resentment.”
I slid my bare arms through the slits in my cloak, a small shiver ru
“Maybe not, but resentment doesn’t need a reason. It just grows over time, little by little, until it's burrowed so deep you can never rip it out by the root.” Bane’s thumb stroked my collar bone, tracing the ridge. “I believe that’s one of the reasons I love you. Your practicality, your understanding. I’ve never worried that you would try to leave the keep in a fit of pique, or ignore the dangers to pursue your own whims. My only worry was that this life would stifle you, and one day extinguish that i
No, I signed. Not so long as you’re with me. But to walk outside now… it feels almost forbidden.
“But does that not give support to my fears?” he asked quietly. “Imagine several more years locked inside those walls… it would have grown into your mind that the outside is forbidden. It would have destroyed you in time.”
And I can destroy your fears with three words: that didn’t happen. I stood up, brushing my cloak straight, and turned to face him. Let go of those worries. You gave me the High Tongue relics, and now we never need to worry about it again.
Bane smiled slightly. “If you had been anyone else…”
But I’m not, I said as I stepped closer. I’m me, your amazing and rather delicious Scrollkeeper. I don’t know how many turns fate had to take to bring me here, but I do know that I will never, ever be ungrateful for it. It was only with the two of us that we could accomplish this. And now you can rest easy and fearless. We’ve done what was thought to be impossible and bound the wargs, and there will never be a resentment in me for more freedom. I’m exactly where I want to be.
“You did it,” he said, closing the gap between us. His arms were warm around me, and he kissed the top of my head. “You bound the wargs.”
You gave me the books, I retorted. Don’t try to make this into a contest. You’ll lose.
He gave a mock-sigh of consternation. “Very well, love, we did this.”
I knew you’d see reason.
I smiled up at him, and Bane touched my cheek. “I didn’t actually come to argue, my lady. I came to see where you’d go with your newfound liberty.” He glanced sideways, shoulders rippling with embarrassment. “Unless you came to be alone.”
I shook my head, plucking at my heavy cloak again. I was about to be very, very cold for a brief time, but I trusted Bane to keep me warm.
I hoped you would follow. There’s something we must do, and… I feel I need to be careful within the keep, for now. I have my own worries. If a single drop of my blood spills in the wrong place, or if I were to cry… you’d be driven out of your home.
Bane’s lips twitched, and flattened, the smile falling away. “I’ve considered that. Although, if I’m doing my job properly, you shouldn’t cry at all.”
But that was a fear of my own that I couldn’t quite displace. A tender word, a bite… I couldn’t always hold back my tears, and I willingly gave him blood. All it took was a drop landing in the wrong place, and the entire Bloodgarden might rise up. The keep would become hostile to his very nature.
So for now, until I adjusted to the new reality, I chose a different setting for what I had in mind.
It’s not tears I’m pla
I unfastened the brooch at my throat, and let the cloak slide from my shoulders. It slithered into the leaves around my feet, and I shivered once as the wind blew, slipping right through my spidersilk wedding gown.
I didn’t do it right the first time. I touched the bodice, where the three drops of blood still gleamed a fresh, bright scarlet. I ran from you then, butI will never run from you again.
Bane inhaled, a sharp sound in the quiet forest.
So let’s do it right this time. Make it the night it should’ve been. Body and blood, I want all of you, and for you to take all of me.
“Even after… what we tried?” he asked quietly.
I smiled at him enigmatically. Things are different now.
It was my hands that had given me the idea. Shattered beyond belief, and now perfectly whole. To a bloodwitch, my flesh was raw material to be shaped and molded, ever so slightly altered into something less… vulnerable.
Sit there. I pointed to the stone I’d chosen.
Bane obeyed, his pupils dilating despite the curiosity wrinkling his brow. He let out a low grumble as I stood before him, claws plucking at my gown, and I reached out to run my fingers over his beautiful, terrible face.
The only face I wanted to see every day for the rest of eternity, the one face I couldn’t live without.
He leaned his cheek into my palm, eyes closed, and I lowered myself into his lap, a mirror of our first real night together. I breathed in the scent that was home to me now, the smoky woods that made my skin tingle with desire.
I love you, I told him. By the Light, you are more than I ever could have asked for. I’m the luckiest woman in the world.
His breath was a rumble, vibrating through my bones. Already his fangs gleamed with the faintest hint of venom, and his tongue flicked out to stroke my throat, tickling the sensitive skin.
“Don’t make this into a contest,” he whispered huskily. “You’ll lose.”
I laughed silently, closed my eyes and leaned in. Kissing him was no longer strange or terrifying. My lips knew the contours of his mouth, the hardness of his teeth under the smoothness of his lips, where the point of every fang ended.
He was as familiar to me as my own hands. He was home.
As my lips moved over his, the kiss became deeper, his tongue snaking over mine, the tips twisting and stroking.
His hands moved over my hips, fingers rising to trace the line of my bared spine, his skin a warm shield against the cool air.
Now, I said, breathless. Paint me red, Bane.
He exhaled, tipping his head, the prongs of his tongue dancing over my cheek and jaw, down to the column of my throat once more. His arms wrapped around me, holding me close and tight as his fangs distended, grazing my flesh.
His tongue laved against the racing pulse in my throat—and then came the sweet-sharp pain of the bite, flesh parting like butter, the hot torrent of my own blood steaming in the cold air.
It flooded over my chest, tracing the contours of my clavicles and breasts, soaking into the glistening white fabric. Still hot, vital with life, staining through the silk in a billowing tide of crimson.
Bane took a deep draught, tongue lashing, his cock throbbing hard and ready against my wet core.
I exhaled at the pain of it, the sensation of blood being forcefully taken from my body, but the venom began to spread in a cloud through my veins, turning the sharpness to a pleasant tickle.
My heart pumped another gush of blood over my chest, the blood soaking further into the bodice, spattering the lap of my skirt and Bane’s white shirt.
As he lapped again, groaning at the taste, I unbuttoned his shirt, stroking the hard muscles of his abdomen, and my fingers moved down to untie his breeches.
Bane paused, making a movement like he meant to stop me—but I shook my head ever so slightly.
Drink, I commanded, and untied the laces with a smooth motion.
“My lady,” he breathed, fastening his lips over the wounds in my throat.
It took creativity and patience to remove his cock from the constricting trousers whilst seated on his lap, with his mouth at my throat, but I managed with eager hands, the stroking movements of my fingers making him growl.
Shifting my skirt, I settled myself against him, arching my hips as he throbbed against my clit.