Bound by the Mist (Mists of Eria) (21 page)

“As long as we remain here. You did venture beyond the gates yourself today, though you did have a big, strong elf with you.” Maggie tossed her a small smirk.

“Yes, Relian was with me.” The breeze that came through the balcony doors drew Cal’s attention to the setting sun. Its last blaze painted the garden below in hues of gold.

After a while, Maggie’s scrutiny made Cal twitch. Time for the inquisition. Without moving, she said, “What?”

“What happened out there?”

“As I told you, we went to a lovely waterfall. I took in the landscape as Relian led my horse.”

Maggie gave her an arch look. “It’s a good thing Relian did, given your extreme paranoia of all things equine.”

Cal shot Maggie a glare. “It still wasn’t a comfortable ride for me.”

“Why? Because of Relian or the horse?”

“The hor— Okay, because of both.”

Maggie propped her chin up on her hands and leaned over the table. “He still unsettles you, doesn’t he?”

Cal regarded her with an annoyed gaze. “Well, wouldn’t he you? He’s not human, not anything like the guys we’re used to.”

“He takes you out of your comfort zone. I can’t say how I would react, because his attention has and will never be focused on me.”

“No, maybe not him. But another unnamed elf really gets under your skin.”

Maggie glowered. “Yes, like a fungus, an annoying, arrogant, nit-picking one. My case is totally different than yours. We can’t be around each other without tearing the other apart verbally. You and Relian…well, you’re a different matter entirely.”

She cursed inwardly. Her friend could always hook and reel her in. Maggie would tell it how she saw it, with little to no diplomacy. Did she want that bluntness right now? But Maggie would give it to her anyway. “How so?” She leaned forward, worrying her hands.

Maggie laughed, throwing her a disbelieving look. “You honestly haven’t figured it out yet? Because you’re falling for him and he for you. How can you not see that you’re crazy about him?”

Cal reared back in her seat as if she’d been hit. “Who said anything about love? I can’t love him.” She just hoped she hadn’t been sucker punched by the truth.

“I hate to break this to you, Cal, but you’re already halfway there. And why can’t you love him?” Maggie furrowed her brow, as if she couldn’t figure out all the impossible reasons.

“He’s not human, for one. He’s immortal or close to it, for another. I’m going to die soon in comparison. He’s a prince, for a third—a prince in a land not of our world. Should I keep on going? Why on Earth would you think we’re falling for each other?”

“What? You won’t love him because he’s not human? Isn’t he close enough? Think of it as a different ethnicity. You’ve never had any problem there. For the immortal prince part, you’re on your own. We don’t know much about their “immortality,” and I’m not even going to touch the prince part. As for you both being in love, a look between you two screams it plain and clear to me. You light up when he’s around and vice versa for him.” Maggie shuddered. “It’s kind of cute but a little disturbing to see you together. You two get so focused on each other, I think the sky could fall around your toes, and you wouldn’t notice.”

Maggie paused but hurried on when Cal opened her mouth. “Let’s also not forget you’ve got this whole binding thing going on, too. Not that I’m trying to convince you either way, but you have to consider all the facts, not hide some of them away.”

Cal shook her head, unable to form a coherent word. None of this was true. How could it be? How could other people be aware of their so-called feelings before they were? She did care for him…but love?

She’d been there for a few weeks. It was way too soon. And just because “he was close enough” didn’t mitigate the problems she’d laid out. Would she want to stay when they received the chance to leave? Would she even be able to leave? Nobody had made exact promises on that course, only vague allusions. Nothing promised, nothing lost—at least for the elves.

Arrein came into the chamber carrying a tray laden with fruit, cheese, and water. Their faltering conversation halted.

Chapter 21

Relian took in the smaller form at his side. Cal stood close—so close he could brush his side against hers if he desired. And, oh, how he desired! He fisted his hands to keep from reaching for her. Those stubborn appendages seemed to take on a life of their own if he didn’t.

She’d touched him with increasing frequency since that day by the waterfall, and he’d been happy to return the favor. The fateful events of a week ago broke some reserve in her, anchoring her to his side more fully than anything else ever could have. But they never progressed past innocent caresses on the arm or cheek. He feared pushing her, so he’d go at her pace—for now.

It was strange. Time had never been much of a concern to him before. Why would it? His kind measured the passing of time by years, centuries, and even millennia. Minutes and seconds had rarely seemed important until now. Now snatched moments were all he caught with her. And he wanted to pass each and every one of them caressing her skin. The very tension of it hummed through his veins.

These times with her were both his pleasure and his torment. He gritted his teeth. The need to touch her grated like a wound, yet so did her absence. He could count the days she’d been in his world.

Twenty-one days.

Three weeks.

Was that all? Just three weeks of his life? He took a calming breath and resisted the urge to run his hand through his hair. If he did, he’d probably tear it out. When had he started to count his days as if they were precious things to him, to be numbered and neatly ordered?

This was the mortal way of tracking time, but it had never been his way, until now. But it was never meant for an immortal mind to be confounded by the reality of finite time, at least as it stood by mortal concept. To live so fettered by time’s bonds confused his kind. Yet humanity always seemed determined to ignore its existence. He shook his head.

How could they do so with such temerity? He’d forgotten this aspect of humanity, as he’d been a young adolescent when the separation occurred. Indeed, he’d probably been too young to notice. Young elves were much akin to their human cousins in terms of growth, only it took them centuries to obtain full adulthood and mortals a score of years.

Twenty-one days she’d been here. And how did Cal view these days? Even from her perspective, that couldn’t be long. Was acceptance coming to her? Her capitulation to his presence signaled she was, as did her proximity. But he still desired more from her. He wanted to be with her; he wanted to be
in
her. As many times before, he slammed the steel door shut on his mind and willed his nether regions to behave. He’d no right to want what she wasn’t yet willing to give.

But then again, how did he know what she wanted? Did she not stand close to him, trusting him?

He stopped abruptly and turned to face her. She halted but didn’t move away—a reassuring sign that caused desire to hum through him. Sentries and other prying eyes could happen upon them, but he didn’t care.

His gaze devoured her. Standing before him was the woman he’d dreamed of for years, even before he knew who or what she was, even before he’d met her when she was but a girl. Only in the last few months before her arrival had his dreams given any hint of her outward exterior.

To learn her race had come as quite a blow. He’d never considered the possibility of a female who wasn’t of his kind. Why would he?

But now, he realized, she hadn’t been an elf or a human, she simply had
been
. No more and no less. Just herself, no race. It was an oversimplification but one that resounded true to the depths of his soul.

Now that he knew her, he could see it had been her all along. There could be no denial in that. It had and could never be another.

Her fidgeting alerted him that he’d stared at her for too long. Taking her hands in his, he offered her what comfort he could. The touch of her hands scorched his palms and fingers. The sensation worked its way up his arms in a relentless path. He bit back a groan at the pleasurable pain.

The bond burned through him, waiting to consume all until he wrestled back control. There would come a time when he wouldn’t be able to exert dominance, and he would crumble under it effects. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

The thought he was already too far-gone to recover if she left him wiggled around his brain like the most tenacious of worms. He’d swear the bond between them was almost completed if he didn’t know otherwise. For the pull to be so strong after such a short time was rare. Something had to be magnifying the effects. The veil had already interceded, interfered. Why not again? But what it did was no mere thing. It played a perilous game that could destroy two people, two worlds, if not all dealt out satisfactorily.

He tugged her closer, and the invisible threads of energy that always existed between intensified. The ecstasy of it threatened to tear him apart. She had to see that her place was here by his side. Letting her go wasn’t an option. His hands tightened around hers. Either voluntary or not, it was impossible on so many levels.

***

Relian’s hands spread a warmth through Cal’s arms that wasn’t entirely natural. His eyes pierced her, his regard not wavering. She steeled herself not to break eye contact and kept her gaze glued to his face, determined to match his actions. Match his actions.... She gave a small smile. That had possibilities.

The slightly bold idea took hold. He was so near that she could touch him without exerting much effort. What would he do if she kissed that mouth she’d been hungering for? Relian had instigated their kisses at the waterfall. And since that day, she no longer desired or had the willpower to keep him at arm’s length.

She drew a finger up his jawline. Relian sucked in a breath. As she placed a palm against his cheek and took in his widened eyes and dilated pupils, a thrill shivered down her spine. So she could take him aback. It was nice to know this emotion worked in reverse and that he wasn’t unfazed by her.

Cal let her hand lie there, and he leaned into her touch. Turning his head, he placed his lips against her wrist, right above where the binding nestled. The warmth of his mouth forced a gasp from her. Relian had not only turned the tables on her, he also aroused quivers of pleasure with a mere touch.

He gently slid his fingertips down the arm that cupped his cheek. Even through the material of her sleeve, his touch shot electric currents down to her toes. She drew back, shivering from all the warring thoughts and desires flooding her body. What was he doing to her? This wasn’t normal. No man had ever affected her this way.

Doubt leaked in and eroded the foundation she’d begun to build. She should step away. Relian might look like a twenty-something-year-old, but he was probably ancient enough to be her great, great, great….

Cal shuddered, this time not in pleasure. While she was curious about his actual age, he surely gave new meaning to the phrase “older than dirt
.”
The one time she’d asked him, he hadn’t believed her ready for the truth. She now agreed. The probability of him being super old was one thing but to hear it voiced as the cold, hard truth was another. Though she was making peace with this fact, she’d be the first to admit she wasn’t there yet.

His hand stilled as if he sensed her indecision. A smile touched her lips, and something loosened in her heart. She was here, in the garden…in Eria…with him. That was an unshakable fact. How could she ignore what lie between them when it seemed everything conspired to bring them together? Shouldn’t she at least try to see where this all led? Otherwise, this denied chance would always follow her like a black cloud.

Right now, he’d follow her lead. Her doubt fled. This moment, this finite slice of time happened at her discretion. Wanting to act before she regretted it, or worse, stopped herself, she slid both arms around his neck. A startled expression flashed through his eyes before it disappeared into the deepening gray of his iris. A moment of satisfaction hit her. She could do this.

As she pulled his head down toward hers, her eyes only open halfway, the sensation of skin against skin wrung a sigh from her. At first, the kiss was tentative. Soon it deepened, lips opening and yielding to the other. First hers. Then his. Lost in sensation, she never wanted to wake from it. The rasp of his tongue inside her mouth melted her body into molten honey. He drew her lower lip between his teeth and delivered gentle nibbles before bathing the slight sting away with his mouth.

She pressed her body into his, and his arousal prodded her stomach. He moaned and guided them to a nearby bench. Pulling her down onto him, he settled her in his lap, her legs on either side of his hips and her knees on the stone. Her gown rode up to the back of her calves. Hopefully no one would pass by or they may get an eyeful of leg. Plus, their position wasn’t exactly modest.

His shaft pressed against her sex, and she groaned. Yeah, a very compromising position, one that had the heat flowing in her core. His arm snaked around her waist and anchored her firmly to him. He captured her lips in a demanding kiss, his other hand gripping the back of her head. She responded back to his nips and bites. His moans were the finest music she’d ever heard.

She placed her hands on his shoulders, but that isn’t where they wanted to be. And she couldn’t deny them their fun, so they slipped down farther, over his collarbones down to his nipples. He gasped into her mouth. After tormenting him for a few more seconds, she moved down and explored his ribs. Lean muscle rippled under her fingertips.

She meandered her hands up and pressed one flat, the palm resting over his heart. The beat was fast and strong, just like he was. She rubbed against him, his sex stiff against hers. His hand slid up her leg, and once at the knee, snaked under the skirt of her dress. He drew little fiery paths over her outer thigh before his calloused fingers ghosted over to the inner portion of her thigh. There, his touch sent those electric currents straight to her neither region. When he ventured farther, her breath froze in anticipation. But as his fingers slipped under the edge of her underwear, he froze.