A War of Silver and Gold Page 6

  He remained there, behind the table. His eyes twitching, she caught a shade of sadness crossing over his features.

  Maybe his elven maleness needed confirmation after so many years of being a rutting lycan, but she couldn’t yield to him. She stood her ground and defended her territory like a female alpha wolf, no matter if Ael was an alpha too and she had to fight harder and indelicately and coarsely and with a will of pure, unrelenting iron.

  “It’ll do you good to swallow your pride for a moment and accept my assistance.”

  “I’ll feed you to the dogs if you dare move closer.”

  He dared though, and Cassia didn’t make a single effort to stop him. She cursed herself for this, for secretly admitting that she needed help.

  “Did you not listen, puppy?” She growled. “Stay away.”

  He stepped over the glass, the little pieces cracking beneath his boots. Cassia gritted her teeth.

  Who was she kidding? She didn’t need his help, she meant what she said, and she meant it with every piece of miserable soul. She needed no one’s help, she never had. If during the War she had relied on others to help her, then she would have died on the cold desolate lands of a place she could have never called home.

  “Deaf prick.”

  He chuckled as he reached for her back and raised her to his arms.

  The warmth from his skin soothed her cold flesh and she shivered against him as he carried her pressed against him. She didn’t know why she didn’t fight him, nor tried to reach for her belt, even though she knew that the dagger didn’t hang from her waist. She didn’t fight him; she curled in his arms more, maybe. That was wrong. It was supposed to be wrong.

  But not to her.

  Not to a being that had been neglecting voluntarily the joys of the flesh.

  Neglected the warmth of another being’s touch.

  She was marmoreal and cold. But not because she chose to be, but because her life moulded her this way. She should have fought, lunged out of his arms and stepped on the glass. Maybe with this way, she would reclaim her lost dignity. She shook her head against his chest, feeling a low chuckle building in his chest.

  This was beyond wrong.

  He stepped away from the glasses and let her stand on her feet. She pulled the fallen robe back to her shoulders and gazed on the bottles on the table.

  Cassia cursed. She should have stayed in her room; she should have opened the windows and tried to sleep out on the cold balcony. Maybe that way her self-righteousness would have grown bigger and she wouldn’t have shamed herself in front of the lycan.

  “A thank you would suffice.” Arrogant prick. He sighed then and shook his head. “Were you going to drink two bottles of red wine alone?”

  She rolled her eyes and turned away from him. “None of your business. Maybe I have a lover in my chamber. Should I ask your permission for that, Ael?”

  He visibly quailed. He frowned and shook his head. She didn’t know what to make out of that elf.

  She wobbled away from him, her head turned towards the entrance of the kitchen. Despair filled her.

  A pain surged through her, but she didn’t yield, she stood her ground. She pressed her eyes shut and sighed.

  If her pride had not been as pompous, maybe she would have yielded to Ael’s advances like a normal female.

  This place no matter how much she loved it because it was the only place she had to call a home, was changing her. When she had accepted the royal decree to reign over it, she hadn’t expected to find her soul morphing whole again. She hadn’t worn dresses before; she hadn’t liked flowers and jewels.

  She shook her head, she never craved intimacy before. Not with a lycan, at least.

  “You are not here to control me, Ael. No one controls me.”

  There was a long, unnerving pause before he spoke. “That was not my intention.”

  “That’s every male’s intention.” She shook her head and turned her eyes back to him. Cassia grabbed the two bottles of wine that stood on the table and set her jaw.

  “You know, not all males crave dominance.”

  She shook her head. “Even when you find your mate, you would still crave to dominate her. I can’t have this, not me. Maybe some females accept their fate, but I don’t believe in fate. I fight for my grounds and defend them with my blood.”

  He growled and took a step closer, his hands reaching for the table behind her. His arms caging her in, between the table and his taut chest.

  She held the bottles close to her chest. She needed some space between them. Even though she could still feel his breath showering her face like hot water, she raised her chin, defying him and glanced in his eyes.

  “You don’t know me.” He shook his head. “Don’t think for a moment you do.”

  She could listen to his heart pounding inside his chest. The violent, raw warmth of him radiated towards her in hot waves. His anger made his eyes glitter, the blue irises turning gold under the faint light of the moon. His blond hair was ruffled from his pillow.

  Cassia found that a darker, smaller part of her liked him that way. She should have hit her head against a wall. There was no other explanation for that wanton behaviour inside her head.

  “When I find my mate, I’ll treat her fairly; she is her own person and has her own freedom. I won’t pursue her if she wouldn’t want me no matter how hard my pride and instincts would be wounded.”

  He chuckled; the sound wrapped around her gut and forced her to look away, like a reflex of her female nature. She growled deep in her throat and forced her eyes to turn back to his.

  “The Adanei-”

  He shook his head. “You have no idea about the Adanei. You just killed them in the War without stopping to inspect for what ideas you fought for. You killed because you were told to.” His voice had turned sinister, terrifying, but a shiver of lust crept in her spine and urged her to give in. “Between the two of us, the monster is you, Lady Cassia. At least I waited for a moment to think before I raised my sword to kill.”

  “If I had stopped for a moment, I would have been killed by the Light Elves.”

  “Perhaps, but your conscience would have remained intact. I didn’t kill innocent elves, Cassia. You did.”

  He stood away from her, took a moment to inspect her face for some sort of emotion, but she showed him none. She wore her iron mask and remained untouched by his remarks. Her face at least remained unaffected, because her soul battled with against demons. Her pride against his, even though she knew that he was right.

  I knew that he was right.

  In the battlefield, she had raised her blade and had closed her eyes. The King had filled her with ideas that looked right and pure, but she had come to realise after the war councils she had participated in, that the ideas they marched and slaughtered for were not as pure and benevolent.

  Dark Elves fought for blood, they fought for the adrenaline of the battlefield, they fought for grounds and their own glory, and they fought simply because they wanted to be called heroes.

  Light Elves...

  She didn’t know the reason they fought for, she didn’t know their ideas and dreams. How could she have known? She had only killed them, never meditated for a moment about what would become of them after the War.

  “It seems you have become one with the enemy, Ael.” She pressed her teeth together and looked at the two bottles of wine in her hands. She couldn’t simply agree with him and ask for his forgiveness, her pride was already wounded enough for the night, but a little more wouldn’t have hurt.

  “The Adanei are not the enemy, they had never been. It doesn’t matter; you won’t listen to me anyway.” He shook his head and turned away from her. “You are mulish and proud. Maybe Lord Argoth is wrong about you. I don’t see an ounce of dignity around here.”

  “What do you know of dignity?” Cassia’s voice came hoarsely. “When your father fed you to the lycans, you ran to the Adanei for help. You are a traitor.”

  “You don�
�t...” He growled and for a moment she thought she saw claws forming on his hands, long talons and fur. He wobbled back at her; his hands pressed in tight fists. “Every Lord in your lands shunned me away; they spat at me and called me names. No, I am not a traitor, your beloved Nevdori betrayed me. When I took the decision to cross the borders I didn’t look back.” He shook his head and raised his eyes to hers. She looked over his features for any signs of lying, but she found none. “The Light Elves took me in, bandaged my wounds and promised me a life where I would only fight for what’s good and immaculate.”

  She was scared. Scared of the possibility that he might have been right and she would have been wrong. She lowered her head and glanced at her bare feet. She was foolish when she left the room without her shoes.

  Look where it got me into.

  Even if she would have barked and screamed at him, he would not have stepped away from her and let her go, as if nothing had happened.

  He had come to her city with a purpose and he had to fulfil it before he would allow himself to leave.

  “I don’t know why I am telling you this. Maybe I am the one in need of the wine.” He rubbed his temples and grinned, the sad essence of the moment gone in a blink of an eye. “You don’t happen to have something stronger around here?”

  Cassia didn’t know what went on in that strange, peculiar lycan’s head. He was the most unstable being she had come to know. More unstable than she and Ardan put together. She wanted to declare that she was too exhausted and that she needed sleep, but she couldn’t bring herself to deny one moment of happiness, even if that included getting drunk with a lycan.

  Her lips curved upwards. “I have Flamebolts in my room.”

  He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “That’s illegal.”

  She snorted. “You talk about what’s illegal.”

  “Maybe it’s too strong, but Flamebolts will do.”

  “Come along then.” She went to the entrance of the kitchen and waited for him. She twisted on the balls of her feet and looked at him sternly, and she still had in her hands the two bottles of wine. “What?”

  “You invited me to your room.”

  She rolled her eyes at the irony and quirked an eyebrow. “We are both adults, I think. Besides I don’t want to bed you, you stink of wolf.”

  His laughter roared inside his chest.

  She didn’t know why that happened, the sudden change of heart. Maybe it was the sheer need to get drunk and forget, even for a moment, to forget that the world around them was as bad as it seemed, or even worse. They both needed to feel free. She knew she had misjudged Ael, but her pride was gold to her.

  She had let a lycan into her household, but she couldn’t bring herself to think that she had done something wrong.

  They were both cursed children belonging to different sides. They both had different beliefs, but liquor could make them siblings, even for a moment, even for a night. She opened the door of the room with her leg and held it open until he walked into the dark chamber.

  She waved her hand and willed her magic to roar and light up the candles. It was easier done that way instead of lighting up one by one. He turned around and gazed at her, his eyes shining, becoming bluer than before as if her magic had changed their shade. He sighed.

  “Magic?”

  She closed the door and crossed her arms over her chest, even if the task was difficult with the bottles in her hands. “You don’t have magic?”

  He shook his head. “It was either my life or my magic.”

  Cassia debated on whether to pity him or not, but she knew that he didn’t need her to tell him how sorry she was. He was far too strong to even need her compassion.

  She walked away from him and placed the two bottles on the desk on the one side of the room. She leant down and opened the drawer; she pulled the Flamebolts up and grabbed two glasses, filling them up to the middle

  “Have you tried it with wine?” The Lady asked as she placed the bottle on the desk and looked at him.

  He took a look around the bedroom. “No, but I’ve heard it’s pretty much like a narcotic.”

  “One time I did it, three gulps and I was off sleeping on the floor.” She grabbed the bottle and filled the other glass. She held both of the glasses to her hands and gave him the one. “But that much,” she raised her glass and showed him. “Has me doing funny things, maybe I shouldn’t drink it in front of you.”

  He chuckled. “Not if I get as drunk as you. Maybe both of us will do funny things.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Shut up, lycan. It was a really bad idea to share my Flamebolts with you.”

  “Oh!” He brought the glass to his lips and sipped. His eyes widened. “I have years to drink.” His brow frowned, his fingers twitching against the glass. “How did a Lady like you, princess, come to possess a bottle of Flamebolts?”

  She snorted and drank a big gulp from her glass, the liquor burned her throat, but she didn’t care, that was the reason for its name, the reason for drinking it for starters.

  “It’s a long story, involves a goat and lots, lots of salt. It left a mess afterwards.”

  He laughed and turned around, he sat on the bed.

  My bed. A lycan crawled on my bed.

  She suppressed a snarl that was delicately aimed at him. She shook her head and placed one hand on her hips. It was highly unhealthy for her to think of bedding a lycan, getting him drunk with prohibited liquor.

  “What are you doing on my bed?”

  He smiled at her.

  Seductive prick. I should have killed him a few days ago.

  He hummed and lay back. “I am tired.”

  She tightened her fingers’ grip on her waist. “Then go to your bed, leave mine alone.”

  “Come sit down beside me.” He chuckled. “Let’s do funny things.”

  “Arse, get off my bed before I skin you alive.”

  He turned on his side and gazed up at her. “Ease up, female.”

  She was on the brink of easing up and lying on the bed with him, to forget even for a moment what she was –no- what she had become.

  She was tempted, but she stood her ground and remained there, looking at the exquisite elf on the bed. He was handsome, even though she did anything to ignore that fact.

  It had been a long time.

  She shook her head and straightened her back. If there had been another female in her position; she would have climbed onto the bed and had already stripped the lycan from his clothes layer by layer.

  What are you thinking?

  Cassia shook her head. “I can’t ease up. If I ease up then the world will fall apart.”

  “You deserve peace, I think.”

  It was her turn to chuckle. She let a sound breath leave from her lips. Deserved. She had earned anything but peace and silence. Though, inside her, she knew that she needed peace, a small and insignificant part of her needed.

  She moved away from him and went to the desk. She pulled the chair back and sat. She placed the glass on the wooden surface and sighed.

  “Sleep, Ael. I have a lot of paperwork to do.”

  She pulled the papers before her and opened a taxes book.

  She hadn’t lied. There was work to be done and she didn’t trust anyone to put their hands on her finances. She couldn’t let anyone that close to her city.

  Even though visibly her attention was centred to the papers before her, she could still listen to Ael as he stood from the bed and walked beside her. She listened at the fumbling of sheets and the dragging of lazy feet.

  He knelt down beside her chair and leant closer.

  Cassia could feel his breath ghosting over her neck.

  He nuzzled her neck and she stilled, her heart skipped a beat. He was scenting her, again.

  He sighed.

  Shivers ran down her spine and chills rose to her skin. Her breasts tightened underneath the robe and her breath hitched. Maybe it was the liquor that ran hot inside her system and made her thoughts ha
lt.

  His hand snaked down and nestled on her thighs, hot and so familiar.

  A part of her wanted to snarl at him and bark and bite him until there was nothing left, but bones to feed the dogs.

  Another part screamed at her to turn her head and let go. It was the most unlikely to happen though. She needed control, she thrived in control; she had to be in control for the sake of her people, for her sake.

  He nipped softly the skin of her neck. Cassia growled and shook her head as she hauled away from him. This was something that shouldn’t have happened. The sane part of her brain kicked in.

  “Go sleep, Ael.”

  He groaned against her skin and pulled away, at least he respected her enough to pull away. “I thought you enjoyed it.”

  “I didn’t. Don’t think about arguing further with me because I am tired and I have a lot of work to do.”

  “Now, you are sending me away.” His breath smelt of the Flamebolts, he had drunk the whole glass then. Foolish elf.

  Cassia opened her mouth, but no words came out. She shook her head instead and stood from the chair. “I have to be in the Citadel in three weeks and I have a lot in my head. Go to your room.”

  She felt his eyes mustering her as she walked to the door and opened it, hoping that he would get her message and leave with little argument.

  “What about your meeting with Lord Argoth?”

  She looked at her feet, still bare. It was a bad habit she had acquired a few months ago. “I will meet Argoth, but under my conditions, not his. He needs my help not the other way around.”

  She felt him standing beside her, his eyes stubborn upon her face. Maybe a glass of Flamebolts did nothing to him. “At least consider meeting with him.”

  She tilted her head to the side and looked at him. “I will. It takes three days on a horse to get to the Citadel. You are coming with me.”

  He shook his head, his laughter was ironic. “I won’t meet my father, not after what he did to me.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek, bringing the metallic taste of blood onto her tongue. “You won’t meet him.”

  “It seems you have planned out everything.”

  She nodded. “Always, every aspect and idea are already planned out. Now, go to sleep.”