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“Hey, Rath. Now would probably be a good time to tell Mother Iris is back.”
The dark clouds scattered from Rath’s blue eyes as Char’s words pulled him out of his thoughts and back to reality. His lips curled up into a smirk. “Meaning you want some alone time. I get it.”
Iris looked from Rath to Char, a blush rising to her cheeks.
Char slid closer to her and draped his arm around her shoulders. “Glad you understand.”
“Hey, Iris,” Rath said, hopping to his feet, “if you think those burns on his hands look bad, ask him to take off his shirt and show you all the bruises he got from transforming inside that tower.”
Iris’ eyes shot wide open. They flicked to Char’s face, dropped to his chest, and snapped away to a spot somewhere on the floor as the light pink on her cheeks flared bright red. It would have been adorable if Char hadn’t known how worried she was about him.
And if his brother wasn’t standing right there, watching them with a widening grin.
“It isn’t that bad,” Char reassured Iris. “I just got a little banged up. Rath, shouldn’t you get going?”
“‘A little banged up’?” Rath laughed. “Okay, Iris, picture this. I’m circling above that tower, watching a whole lot of nothing and wondering if I need to go down there and see what’s going on, and then it just explodes, and Char’s suddenly right there, in the middle of the tower, and stones are flying everywhere—”
“Rath.”
“Okay, two-thirds of the way up the tower. Whatever. Point is, he used his own body to bust out of it, and a good chunk of it fell on top of him while he was shielding you from it all. It looked and sounded like it hurt.”
Char pinched the bridge of his nose. “Rath.”
“Then he insisted on flying all the way back here without a break—for the fourth time within twenty-four hours. He nearly passed out and killed you both, the idiot.”
Char leaped to his feet.
Rath danced backwards, mirth dancing in his blue eyes. “Okay, okay, I’m going. Iris, you can thank me later for giving him an excuse to take off his shirt.”
That was it.
Rath managed to get the door open before Char caught him, and he bolted down the hallway, cackling. He knew Char wouldn’t give chase. And he spun around before the next bend to stick out his tongue at Char.
“Get out of here,” Char hollered. “And tell Mother Iris needs a new wardrobe, too.”
“Nope. It’s your turn for a shopping trip with Mother. Better get moving if you want to squeeze in a good make-out session before we get back.”
Char hoped Iris hadn’t heard that.
He threw his brother an unkind gesture and returned to their shared living quarters. Iris had hidden her face in her hands, but Char could see the tip of her left ear peeking through her hair, and it was almost as red as Kelnor’s eyes. He was hard pressed to hide his smile when he shoved the door closed.
He wouldn’t say no to a make-out session.
“Sorry about that.” He sat beside her and rested his arm over the back of the sofa, resisting the urge to brush her hair back to see her face. “It isn’t as bad as he made it sound. Yeah, I got a few bruises, and yeah, I wore myself out, but I’ve had plenty of rest, and you would never have known if he’d kept his mouth shut.”
She leaned back against the sofa and sighed, but she kept her hands on her face.
“C’mon, Iris, look at me.” And then, because he couldn’t help it, Char leaned in close enough for his breath to gust over that flushed tip of her ear. “I promise I’m still wearing my shirt.”
She dropped her hands to her lap and glared at him, dark brown eyes narrowed, lips pursed, cheeks as flaming red as he’d guessed. “You—”
He cut her off with a sudden light kiss. Her eyes widened, and those pretty pouting lips parted. He dropped his arm down to her shoulders and kissed her again, a little longer this time. When he pulled back, she licked her lips, her eyes following him.
“Have you forgotten I was raised by a priest?”
Char tucked her hair behind her ear. “A priest who told me he’d send you to the river so I could pick you up.”
“It wasn’t that kind of pickup.”
Char smirked and let the back of his finger brush across her blushing cheek. “Wasn’t it?”
She pressed her lips together and swallowed. Char traced the line of her jaw next, watching her lips part again as his finger neared her chin.
“He wouldn’t have sent me there if he’d known what you were really like.”
Char turned her chin toward him and brought his face closer to hers. “You may be right.”
Her eyelids fluttered closed.
Herbal tea and honey lingered on her silky soft lips. He tasted them both first, and then he shifted his attention to her upper lip, followed by her bottom lip, exploring the way she reacted to the slightest change in movement and pressure.
No flinching, no twitching, no tensing. Just a soft sigh that told him everything he needed to know.
He cupped her far cheek in his hand and touched his tongue to her lips. They parted for him with no further prompting. Her shoulders remained relaxed as he leaned in and deepened the kiss, careful to move himself into her space rather than make her move to accommodate him. He had sensed nothing to indicate she was in pain, but he didn’t want to make a mistake.
Slow and sweet was fine. Hot and heavy could wait until later.
Her hand curled into his shirt. He removed his arm from her shoulders and held her face in both hands, twisting his torso in front of her and pushing her against the backrest with his weight. Her smiles were shy, but her kisses weren’t. She followed his lead, becoming bolder as the minutes passed, her tongue teasing him to madness and testing his restraint.
“Iris,” he breathed, and then he was kissing her again before she could speak. She replied with a moan instead, and that didn’t help. He moved his hands to her waist and slid them around to the small of her back, then up along her spine, resisting the urge to let them wander. But her hand tugged on his shirt while her other hand pressed on the back of his neck, and the outline he wanted to trace was so soft against him and oh so willing.
He stopped for a breath and rested his forehead on hers. Hot air and heated gazes passed between them. His hands slid down her spine to the small of her back, then around to cup her waist again.
“So, Father John wouldn’t have approved of me.”
She dragged her teeth across that shy smile. “Well, you have saved my life a few times now. That works in your favor.”
Char shrugged. “It’s only fair, since I keep messing up with you.”
“How are you messing up with me?”
“Oh, you know. Getting you landed in jail. Handing you off to a psychotic mage. Leaving you when you needed me the most. That kind of thing.”
She sighed. One hand slid down and the other slid up, and then she was grabbing his shirt collar and yanking him in for another kiss. And his hands were moving around to her back again, feeling his bathrobe wrapping around her and wondering what, if anything, lay beneath it, and things were veering into hot and heavy territory.
“Mm, Iris.” He broke the kiss and pulled back. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You aren’t hurting me.”
“And I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“You aren’t doing that, either.”
She wasn’t making things easy for him, as usual. He took a deep breath, recalling the image of her stiff movements, but that had little effect when she wasn’t walking and she wasn’t acting stiff at all right now. The reminder his mother would be here any minute did a better job of keeping him in check.
His lips curved up into a smirk. “Well, what about me? I mean, I’m all beat up from transforming inside that tower—”
Iris shoved his chest. There was little force behind it, but he pretended to fall back and held his hands up in surrender, grinning at the smile she tried to hide and the gold flecks sparkling in her eyes. Then fairies swarmed him and obscured his vision. Iris was laughing, and he was swatting the little golden orbs away, and it was good. Fun. Lighthearted.
And then he was resting his cheek against the sofa’s backrest, catching his breath and staring into eyes as dark and deep as rich soil in an enchanted forest, dotted with the golden lights of dancing fairies. That gorgeous smile looked even better with lips swollen from kissing. He reached out and caught a lock of her chestnut hair between his fingers, twirling it around.
How could anybody want to hurt this girl?
“It doesn’t have to be now, but I want to hear the rest of it later.”
Her smile faltered. She tilted her head to the side, studying him. “What are you—”
“You didn’t tell Kelnor everything.”
The gold dimmed. Her eyes slid away from him.
“Like I said, it doesn’t have to be now. But I’d like to be sufficiently informed when I beat Micah into a pulp.”
She looked at him again. Her lips parted, pressed together, parted. He saw something wavering in the depths of her eyes, but he wasn’t sure what, so he waited for her to speak.
“I wanted to tell you, but…”
“I know.” He leaned in and pressed a light kiss to her lips. “You were just trying to protect me. I get it. But now it’s my turn to protect you, and I promise he’s never touching you again.”
Her eyes skidded away. She shook her head, her voice little more than a whisper. “You can’t promise that.”
She was right, he realized with a pang. He’d promised her the same thing once before and failed.
Never again.
He caught her chin in his fingers and coaxed her to look at him. “Okay, how about this? To the best of my ability, I promise I will do whatever it takes to keep him from touching you again. Better?”
She gave him a shaky smile. “Better.”
Could he kiss a real smile back onto her face? It was worth a try, anyway. And it wouldn’t be long before Rath and his mother arrived. Once they came, he’d be lucky to get a word in edgewise, let alone quality time with Iris.
“Hey, Iris,” he murmured a few kisses into the attempt. She wasn’t smiling yet, but her eyes were getting a satisfying dreamy look, and he’d thought of something he knew would make her smile.
Impulsive? Yeah.
But when she looked up at him through her eyelashes, suddenly, he’d never been more sure of anything in his life.
“Since you were raised by a priest and all that…” He found her left hand and brought it to his lips, placing a kiss on her ring finger. “Guess I’ll have to do this the right way, huh?”
Her eyes widened. Her mouth fell open. No smile yet, but Char was grinning from ear to ear. That reaction wasn’t a no.
“I told you I was bringing you home with me after all this was over, Iris.”
“But—”
“I’m serious about you.”
Stone grated against stone. Iris’ hands flew to her flaming cheeks, and Char chuckled, throwing his arm around her shoulder. Not the ideal moment for an interruption, but she probably needed time to think about it. He should probably think about it, too.
That was long enough. Still a good idea.
“Iris!” Elera burst through the door and raced across the room to the sofa. She wrenched Iris free from Char and pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Mother, she can’t breathe,” Rath said, strolling in after her.
“Let me have a look at you.” Elera pushed Iris back by her shoulders and gave her a once-over, crushing her with another hug before the startled girl could respond. “Oh, you poor thing!”
“Mother,” Char reprimanded her.
“And you.” Elera glared over Iris’ shoulder at Char. “Leaving her alone like that. What were you thinking?”
“He didn’t know—” Iris started, but Elera cut her off by pushing her back again and kissing her cheeks.
“Where are your clothes? Char, did you forget her clothes?”
“I was a little more focused on saving her life, Mother.”
“Well, no matter. We’ll just have to get you some new ones. And you’ll stay with me again while they get this mess figured out.”
Iris bit her lip. “I appreciate that, but I don’t think I can make the trip right now.”
Elera frowned. “Why not?”
“If you’d let her move, you’d see she’s pretty stiff, Mother,” Rath supplied, dropping into a chair across from Char.
“I’ll be okay,” Iris reassured her. “It just takes a few days to recover. The fairies are taking good care of me.”
Elera looked around the room with sharp blue eyes, seeing the little golden orbs settled on the furniture for the first time. “Fairies? What are they doing here?”
“Oh, they’re really very sweet. They were with me in the tower, and they’ve been helping me this whole time.”
Elera gave Iris a reluctant smile. “Well, then they must not be all bad. Iris, you sit down and rest. Char, come with me.”
Rath snickered.
“And you behave,” Elera told him. “The last thing this poor girl needs is you teasing her.”
“Yes, Mother,” Rath said, trying—and failing—to keep a straight face.
Char sighed and stood up, following his mother to the door and smacking his brother on the shoulder as he passed him. Rath would be incorrigible when he found out Char popped the question. Kind of.
As for Elera…
He wasn’t sure what to expect from her.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡav4B3VTzty
