Yew Queen Trilogy, стр. 32

Chapter 22

I walked alongside Lucus down the main corridor, his wings brushing the opposite wall and his horns nearly invisible in the low light. We took a turn and entered a warm chamber that had one large, narrow window near the top of a high ceiling.

The place felt like summer and smelled like Lucus, like pine resin and rain. After draping his cloak on a hook near the door, he lit several candelabras, and the golden light showed a sparkling forest.

Right there in the bedroom.

A stand of silver maples crowded one wall, and three pines spread needled limbs that nearly brushed the ceiling. An oak grew beside a massive bed swathed in ruby velvet, the branches overtaking the curtained canopy with thick clusters of glossy leaves. Gnarled roots spread across the green clay tiles of the floor, then twisted their way up the sides of a fireplace the size of Hekla’s Volvo. Leafed faces carved into the hearth peered through the roots with wide eyes. Paintings of a bright blue, starry sky and angels in shining silver armor showed behind the trees. I tied the ends of my shirt, letting my stomach cool.

“Is this your bedroom?” I could totally see him lounging on that bed, all glorious and magical. Damn. Why did he have to be hot and have a tragedy in his past? I wanted to hate him. I truly did. But I didn’t. I actually liked him.

“In a way.”

“How do you get these trees to live in here, away from the sun?”

“They are a glamour. When I truly rest, I must go to the courtyard and lose myself in the trees there. These are only a reminder of home, a place to think.”

The glamoured oak near the bed felt real enough under my palm, its trunk warm as the air. “How is this going to work?” I glanced at the bed and swallowed.

“I can’t take from your aura and withhold my lure. You will feel…what you have experienced already when I approached you.” He returned my gaze, his eyes serious, giving me a wild case of butterflies.

I licked my lips. The memory of those delicious shivers rolled through me. A bead of sweat rolled down my neck. “Why is it like summer in here?”

Lucus watched that bead of perspiration travel past my collarbone, where it disappeared into my shirt. He looked up quickly, his throat moving in a swallow. “Don’t you enjoy the summer months? I could alter the glamour.”

“No.” I waved a hand. “It’s fine.”

He held out a hand. “May I?”

“It’s nice you’re pretending I have a choice here.”

“You do.”

“Oh, sure.”

“Your facial expressions have made it very clear how you feel about this bond between us, and you know I am not pleased with being fated to mate with the enemy of my kind. But bonded we are, and so I will not force you to do anything.”

“This is a change.”

“It is.”

“So you’re saying you would let me leave here, that you wouldn’t lure me back, if I took off and refused to give you or your brothers any of my energy?” A voice inside my head said I didn’t want his brothers to die. I didn’t want to see Lucus suffer any more than he already had. But I couldn’t let myself think like that. He was a serious danger to humanity, to my hometown, to Hekla. Lucus and his brothers were deadly. Why did I feel such empathy for them? I had to hate them.

But my heart wasn’t listening to reason. And neither was my body.

“I’m afraid that is exactly what I’m saying. I can’t believe it myself. But I feel…protective of you, Coren.” He lifted his extended hand and cupped my chin between his thumb and finger. Pleasure rocketed from the touch and down my spine, warmth gathering in my core. “I don’t know what will happen between us, with my life and yours, but I can’t deny this.” His gaze locked on mine, and emerald fire sparked in his eyes. “I feel a tie to your heart. Do you not feel it? I’m the one with no choice here. I am bonded to you. I am yours to do with as you please.”

It was like I was possessed. I placed a hand over his heart as the bond pulsed inside me. I knew what it was. Somehow, I just knew. Was this magic too? I didn’t want to feel this way, but I did. He was suddenly important to me. His loss. His gain. I wanted to please him. Dammit. It was horrible and wonderful and insane all at once.

“Do all people with power in their blood have a fated mate?”

“Yes, but some are never fortunate enough to find them.”

I wanted to continue questioning him, but in this strange forest with this man I didn’t want to be attracted to but was completely insane for, I was—for once in my life—at a loss for words.

And so I just fell into the feeling. I could come up for air later and figure this all out and save the world. For now, I would help this man who had lost his people, this monster who was gentle and sad, this magical creature who had shown me wonders I’d never dreamed could exist.

Reaching out, I tangled my fingers in his ebony and emerald hair. I gave him a good glare but tilted my head back to expose my throat.

Slowly, Lucus inched my shirt farther from my neck. Every touch scattered shivers along my skin. His lure poured over me, waves of aching and yearning crashing through me, making me tremble. I gripped his hair more tightly, and a quiet growl rumbled in his chest as he poised his mouth just under my ear. My body thrummed with heat at his warm breath, my skin sticky as nectar against his body. I wanted his clothes and mine out of the way. He kissed the