The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Sixteen

Ciaran sat me on a bench in the room and sat beside me. I was reveling as our touching grew more passionate. Ciaran pulled my circlet off my head  and dropped it with a soft thunk onto the floor. His shirt soon followed my circlet. His skin had a faint luminescence like a pearl, and it was softer than I imagined as I slid my hands down from the wiry muscles of his shoulders and along his spine. I heard a sound from him that was a cross between a sigh and a growl as he caged me between his arms. 

The colors of his eyes shifted with a dizzying array as he stared down at me. He lowered his head with a teasing slowness, then captured my bottom lip gently between his teeth. He tugged it softly, then released it only to take advantage of my lips parting in surprise. His kiss tasted of apples, and my hands lifted to his head to keep him there. A building tension of trembling want climbed up my body until I was sure I couldn't stand it any longer. 

"Ciaran..." My voice held both a plea and a question, though I was uncertain what I was asking for now. But finally I pushed on him. "We came here for a reason..." My push became a caress, and I growled at my complete lack of self-control.

He seemed to understand my confusion because an amused smile tilted his lips. "I've distracted us. Shall we continue?"

I nodded, "Continue, yes."

His hand brushed against my stomach then.

I tried to sit up, but Ciaran wasn't getting up. He was staring down at me with a worried expression. I knew that look. He was about to harangue me. The upcoming conflict sent tension into my head, and I felt a headache beginning.

"Are you feeling okay? " His hand hadn't
left my stomach.

"Not really..." The headache had grown, which I blamed on the imbalance.

"You have a headache? Do you feel yourself losing control?" He was fussing now. He checked my forehead for fever and took my pulse.

I hated being fussed over, so I stopped his hands. "No... I'm okay. Nothing an aspirin wouldn't fix." 

"Are you angry?" 

"No... It's not the time for it, but..."

He chuckle-groaned then kissed my neck. I slipped my hand up to cup his chin and felt his pulse jumping there as he struggled to cool his desire. "We can spare one more day, can't we?"

"I can't stay, Ciaran," A smokiness had rasped my voice as I scooted away from him. As much as I wanted to,  I wasn't going to let him derail my decision. "Duir won't stop... and then there's Luis."

He leaned his face against the couch. "I saw Duir's face.  She  has realized. Your leaves tipped our hand that you provide more than just a way to open the portals; you also crack wide open the problem of our loneliness. I doubt she'd let you die, but life would not be pleasant for you."

It took me a while to understand what he meant, but once I did, my whole face wrinkled with disgust. "Ugh! She'd turn me into a breeding mare?"

He tilted his head and smirked at me. "She might try. I had hoped to hide you away to avoid all scrutiny, but that's done now."

"Can't you see? I need to finish these dumb trials even more now!"

"If you win, you become her avatar, and she can do anything she pleases."

"I can't be her avatar. That's for a normal Faerie Queen. Once she saw those roots at the Becoming ceremony, she flipped, remember? Heck, I'm pretty sure she had already suspected, which is why she tried to keep me from competing." 

"I remember..." He looked pensive.

"I think her ability to become an avatar is just a Tree's ability to form roots and connections. She was able to steal a part of each of the Counsul men's souls, right? That sounds like me because I can do that. If Duir is the queen bee of the Trees, and I have a similar ability, what does that make me?"