A Court of Bones & Sorrow (Lunaria Realms #2)

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Kieran

In general, I prided myself on having nothing but good ideas. Convincing Alaric to stop working for a few hours so we could spar instead? Good idea. Telling Leora she should practice her new pastry ideas and I would sample each one? Great idea. That time I convinced Samara to sneak some honey from the kitchen so I could drizzle it all over her body and lick it off?

Fucking. Fantastic . Idea.

Telling the others I could distract Draven for a few hours by taking him out for a ride? Bad idea. Like, epically terrible idea.

The look of surprise on Draven’s face when he’d walked out of Yolanthe’s study and I’d immediately asked him to come for a ride with me had almost made it worth it. But now we were alone in the woods surrounding House Harker, and the reality of my situation came crashing down on me.

I blamed Samara and Alaric for not doing a better job of talking me out of this. They were the smart ones, and it was their responsibility to point out the stupidity of my ideas. Both of them would be getting an earful when I got back.

“Something the matter?” Draven slowed his enormous black stallion until it was riding next to Zosa. I barely managed to rein her in when the grey mare snaked her head out and tried to take a chunk out of the other horse’s neck. She snorted and danced angrily beneath me. I don’t know what had possessed me to take Sam’s horse out. The stable boy had paled when I’d led her from the stall, but when I’d told him I had Samara’s permission, he just jerked his head in a nod and practically ran away, muttering something about me having to saddle the ornery mare myself.

“Everything’s fine,” I said tightly, steering Zosa a little further away from Draven. Distance. That was what I needed. Just a little space between the two of us.

Once I had Zosa under control—or at least out of biting range—I glanced back at Draven. He was staring at the grey mare with a strange expression I couldn’t read. “If you’re thinking about saying something nasty about my mount, you should know this is Samara’s mare and she doesn’t take kindly to anyone talking shit about her horse.”

Draven smiled faintly. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Just surprised you’re riding such a magnificently vicious creature instead of a flashy, even-tempered mount.” His smile grew wider. “Maybe something with a chestnut coat that glistens like polished copper in sunlight.”

Damn it. My normal mount—Aelix— was a chestnut mare.

The fact that he knew me so well was frustrating. She loved to prance around with her flaxen-colored tail raised as if she knew perfectly well how glorious she was.

Zosa was a storm cloud who absolutely loved Samara and barely tolerated anyone else, but today, I’d needed her strength over Aelix’s beauty, so I’d bribed her with an extra ration of grain in hopes she wouldn’t throw me.

I felt Draven’s heavy stare on me when I didn’t answer. In my head, I’d convinced myself this would be easier. Just a nice little ride around the woods full of monsters. No big deal. I gripped the reins tighter, and Zosa tossed her head in annoyance.

“Come on,” Draven said suddenly and spurred his horse forward before I could argue. Zosa didn’t need any encouragement from me and immediately raced after them, nearly unseating me in the process. Gods, no wonder Samara loved her. This mare was lightning made flesh.

When we pulled even with Draven, I had to tug Zosa back so she didn’t take the lead, since I didn’t know where Draven wanted to go. I didn’t even know why I was following him in the first place. This ride had been my idea—I was the one who was supposed to be leading him around. Plus, I was far more familiar with the area than he was, but this always happened when I was with him. It had felt nice to let someone else take charge, and I’d trusted Draven back then. I didn’t trust him now.

Then why are you following him so blindly? The irritating thought surfaced in my mind, and I gritted my teeth, determined not to think about the answer.

After ten minutes, Draven gradually slowed his mount to a walk, and I did the same. It took me a second to recognize where we were, and I’d never felt so much excitement and dread at the same moment. How the fuck did he even know about this place?

We ducked under some branches, and I noted some bright sapphire gems dangling from the trees. Faint magic pulsed from them, a little dimmer than the last time I had been here. They’d need to be replaced within the next two months. This type of ward wasn’t as powerful as the ones we used to protect the outposts, but most of the monsters crawling around this area of the forest were harmless to us because the rangers kept all the serious threats away. Once in a while, a pack of howlers would wander this way, but the sapphire-powered ward was enough to keep them out .

A twisted, green vine with bloodred leaves wound around a tree, trembling as we passed it, and I eyed it warily. In a few months, it would grow delicate, white blossoms that had some beneficial medicinal uses. Unfortunately, the leaves were coated in a fine powder that would not only make one break out in a rash, but they’d make one’s skin itch for weeks. Not just a minor itch either. It was a deep, burning feeling, like something was crawling beneath one’s skin. Anyone who was afflicted had to be tied down to keep them from tearing their own flesh off.

Lunaria, a land of nightmarish monsters, where even the plants wanted to kill you.

What in the fuck had the Fae done to be banished here? Or had they come here voluntarily? And why had they brought humans with them? Most of the time, I left the wondering of our history to people like Roth and Samara. Like Alaric, I was more of a forward-thinking person, and knowing those answers was unlikely to help with our immediate concerns of surviving, but sometimes, even I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened five hundred years ago to set all this in motion.

The underbrush started to thin out and the tree line abruptly ended, revealing the reason for the ward, a crystal-clear pool of water in the middle of the clearing. Draven dismounted and loosely tied his mount’s reins around a tree. I did the same, although I put a healthy amount of space between them since Zosa didn’t look like she would tolerate any of the stallion’s bullshit.

“How’d you even know about this place?” I didn’t bother keeping the suspicion out of my voice. This little oasis was a hidden gem of House Harker that we didn’t tell outsiders about. The water wasn’t hot like the springs I’d taken Samara to in that outpost, but it wasn’t exactly cold either. An underground stream fed the pool, and wherever that water came from, it was hot. Warm currents lazily circled around the pool, which helped with the overall temperature. On top of that, the bottom was made of black stones that soaked up the heat of the sun. There weren’t any stones like that around here naturally, so it was assumed that some enterprising humans or Fae had taken advantage of the fairly shallow and crystal clear water to help increase the temperature a little bit.

“Samara mentioned it years ago.” Draven shrugged. “We passed the markers for it a while back, and I wanted to see it for myself.”

I frowned. Samara had never come here with me when we’d been growing up and had given me the impression she didn’t like this place. I never understood why, because Sam loved water. If there was an inch of it, especially if it was warm water, she would crawl into it. She knew this place existed, but I didn’t know why she would have talked to Draven about it.

Seeing my confusion, Draven smiled faintly. “Samara and I used to confide all sorts of things to each other. This place was in one of her confessions. You used to bring a lot of girls here when the two of you were growing up before she left for Drudonia. It hurt her greatly.”

“Oh.” I squeezed my eyes shut as regret at unintentionally causing Samara pain curled in my gut. “We couldn’t be together back then—she was promised to Demetri, and even then, despite our young age, we knew nothing between us would ever be casual. I brought any dalliances I had here because I didn’t want to rub Samara’s face in them.”

“She knew you were trying to protect her feelings,” Draven assured me. “That's why she never mentioned it to you and told me instead.”

Before I could ask him what his confession in return had been, Draven pulled his shirt over his head, and any words I’d been about to speak died in my throat. Fuck, I’d forgotten he was built like that. He might look like a spoiled prince with his well-tailored clothes and easygoing smile, but his body told a different story. I hadn’t even known it was possible to have abs that well-defined.

“You’re drooling, Kier.”

My eyes darted up to his, and I snapped my mouth shut. “Am not.”

He laughed and unlatched the coiled whip with bloodred, serrated edges from his belt before setting it next to the edge of the pool. I’d asked him once why he didn’t carry a sword, as that seemed like a more practical and effective weapon. He’d simply said he didn’t like them, but I hadn’t missed the flash of pain and fear across his face when he’d answered.

The only other time I’d seen something close to fear on his face was when he’d pleaded with me to leave the Moroi realm days ago. Samara was convinced there was something else to Draven we weren’t seeing. That he wasn’t the villain all the evidence suggested he was. I wanted to believe her, but Sam’s past with Draven was different than mine. She hadn’t had her heart ripped out by him.

The heated desire that had been winding through my body at seeing Draven strip instantly cooled at the reminder. He hadn’t just ended things between us. I was an adult, and while it would have hurt, I would have dealt with it, but he’d humiliated me and used his knowledge of my past and my private thoughts I’d shared with him to hurt me. I so rarely trusted people, and he’d known that.

His words had been calculated and cruel.

“ It’s been fun, but I’m bored now. Also, watch how you speak to me in the future, courtier.”

Rationally, I knew this lended more support to Samara’s idea that Draven was being controlled somehow by his mother, or at least wasn’t the complete villain she’d initially thought. He’d even claimed that he’d said those things to protect me. None of that erased the pain though.

I glanced at Zosa, wanting to jump onto her and ride out of here, but I’d promised Samara I’d keep Draven occupied for a few hours. She’d understand if I bailed, but Roth wouldn’t have called a meeting if it hadn’t been important. They needed time to talk and plan, and I would give them that time.

Angrily, I tore off my clothing, not even bothering to fold it, just dumping it all in a pile before stomping over to the pool and striding in. Pleasantly cool water greeted me as I swam out to the center where it was deepest and I couldn’t reach the bottom. I treaded water while facing away from Draven, only turning around when I heard him enter the pool. The last thing I needed was to see him fully naked.

Every inch of that man was perfection, and I still remembered what it felt like to have his cock moving inside me. My resolve at keeping my hands to myself and maintaining distance would likely crumble if I saw all of him. I’d never really understood the appeal of hate fucking before, but that glimpse of his muscled chest earlier had definitely made me reevaluate my stance on that.

“You’re thinking about hate fucking me, aren’t you?” Draven drifted in front of me, a smirk stamped on his lips and his striking black-and-silver hair floating around him in the water.

“No,” I said lightly. “I was thinking about drowning you, but then your ugly corpse would mess up my favorite swimming hole.”

“Please.” He smiled. “We both know my corpse would be gorgeous.”

I laughed before I could stop myself, and his smile widened.

Then something flickered across his face faster than I could catch it before his smile faded and he swallowed. “I know you have every reason to distrust me. To hate me.”

“I do.” I watched him warily as we treaded water around each other .

“You need to know that—” He cut off his words as he winced sharply, as if he’d been struck by something.

“Drav?” Concerned filled me as I swam closer to him, sweeping some of his hair away from where it had been plastered to his face.

Bottomless blue eyes watched me with such sadness that I wanted to shake the truth out of him. The anger, the hurt, the fear, all of it fell away in an instant as I stared at him in this moment.

“Everything about me is a lie, Kier,” he said desperately. “Half the words out of my mouth are lies. My past, present, and future are all lies crafted by her , but this”—he placed his hand over my heart—“this was always real.”

Then he yanked me to him, and our mouths crashed against each other. I didn’t even try to fight it; I just tangled my fingers in his hair and clutched him to me, our legs kicking in the water to keep us afloat. Draven parted his lips, and my tongue delved in. Fuck, I’d missed the way he tasted.

There’d always been something wild about Draven, different from other Moroi. He reminded me of the woods on a dark night. Dark and powerful and a little terrifying.

He groaned into my mouth when I pulled his hair a little rougher, then I felt his hard cock against my stomach, and when his hand slipped under the water to grip mine, my legs faltered and I almost slipped under. He chuckled and directed me over to the edge of the pool where several flat rocks rested in the water.

I intended to flip us so Draven was sitting on the stairs because I wanted to feel him come apart on my tongue, but just as my fingers gripped his hard length, stroking it once, he growled, “I want you first.”

“You don’t get everything you want, princeling.” I snorted and tried to shove him up onto the stones, but the bastard twisted out of my grip and lifted me out of the water. Before I could slide back down, he jerked my legs apart and slid my cock into his mouth.

No teasing. No playful licking. He just swallowed me whole.

“FUCK!” I screamed as my dick hit the back of his throat and his fingers dug into my thighs. How had I forgotten Drav had zero gag reflex? I raised my head so I could watch him draw back. This time, he did swirl his tongue around my head before licking off the bit of precum that’d already formed.

His wet hair hung around him, the silver more of a dark grey now, looking every inch the wicked prince that he was, and it made my cock twitch in his grip.

“I love it when you look at me like that,” he purred.

“Like what?” I said in a strained tone as he sucked the tip of my cock back into his mouth and released it with a pop .

“Like you see me.” Thin red lines raced through his deep blue eyes. “And want me anyway.”

He didn’t wait for me to respond, and I moaned as he took me all the way into his mouth again. My fingers twisted around that gorgeous hair, and I bucked my hips as I shoved his head down. His grip tightened on my thighs as he spurred me on, loving the brutal pace I was setting for him.

I watched his head bob up and down on my cock, and when his teeth lightly grazed my skin, I saw stars for a moment as my balls started to tighten.

“Fuck, Drav,” I ground out. “I’m close.”

My words only encouraged him as he hollowed out his cheeks until it felt like I was halfway down his throat. Then one of his hands left my thigh and cupped my balls a second later, fingers rubbing against them exactly the way I liked.

I threw my head back as I thrust up into Draven’s perfect mouth and came down his throat. He sucked down every last drop before sliding up and down my cock a few more times as I continued to tremble in his grasp.

“Moonsdamn it all.” I panted and let my head fall back as he finally released me. “This was not what I’d planned when I asked you to come for a ride.”

“Oh?” I could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he climbed up my body until he was above me and staring into my eyes. “And what type of ride were you hoping for?”

I raised my head and kissed him, enjoying tasting myself on his lips. “I don’t regret this . . . but it doesn’t change anything either, does it?”

Sadness crept back into Draven’s face. For whatever reason, he wouldn’t or couldn’t tell us what was going on and why he was working with the wraiths and helping them attack Moroi outposts. Regardless, he was working with our enemy, which made him our enemy.

“No,” he said in defeat. “It doesn’t change anything. You and Samara might have my heart, but the Sovereign owns my soul.”