"That's it," Liana murmurs, the light growing brighter as my sickness dissipates. "Teo, you need to breathe and stay still."
"He's looking better," Estela says. Through it all, my mate's voice pierces the darkness, an anchor in the storm. Her human skin slides over my bare flesh, and I shiver. It feels cold, so much colder than it did before. I know I should fear the cold and protect her from it, but I don't remember why. “Come on. You promised me not to die.”
Her lithe figure blurs into focus, and I can see the desperation etched upon her face, her eyes wide with fear. As she reaches my side, her body tenses like a coiled spring. She's holding large black stones, and I wonder where she found the obsidian.
The pain returns, and my world tilts on its axis, my vision swimming with stars, but I hold on. I will not allow this pain to consume me, not when there is so much at stake.
"I need to get more crystals. Stay with him," Liana commands my mate. I can't stay awake long enough to know if Estela does.
PartThree
Chapter32
Epidote
ESTELA
Darkness clings to my eyelids, reluctant to release me from its grasp as I stir into consciousness. There were no nightmares while I slept last night.
For a moment, I can't place where I am, but the feel of silken sheets against my skin and the unfamiliar scent gradually roused me from the depths of sleep. The haze within my mind begins to clear, revealing that I am lying in Teo's bed.
Yesterday comes back to me. His neck wound. He lost so much blood. He asked for me to stay, so I did. Just to check on his wounds. It seems that after I changed the first dressing, I stayed.
The last fragments of sleep slip away as I become fully aware of my surroundings, my eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. While I slept, I splayed out, and I got tangled up in bare blue skin, with my leg slung over his hips and my head on his chest. A hard mass touches my thigh, and a hand grips my knee.
The song between us is more insistent than ever, as evidenced by the slickness between my legs.
I shift slightly, trying to disengage myself from Teo without waking him up. I'm glad to see hardly any blood soaking through the bandage on his neck, and his breathing is even and deep.
Thankfully, he doesn’t stir as I extricate myself from his embrace. I get up from the bed, self-conscious about my body's reaction to his closeness. I make my way to the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
In the bathroom, there is a bath which is much larger than my own. I look at myself in the mirror. My face is flushed, and my eyes are bright. I'm a stranger to my old self. My face has filled out, and there's a glow to my cheeks despite weeks in the under mountain.
Weeks running from my feelings. Weeks falling further and further into… something with the Enduar king. I think of his kiss, his touches, and how afraid I felt when I thought he would die.
Then I think of the throb between my legs while we were holding each other close. My skin is on fire. I need to do something to extinguish it—something that doesn’t include waking him.
My hand brushes my heavy breast. Then I push lower, allowing my hand to stray between my thighs and explore the warmth.
I've never been in love. My first kiss was a shock to my senses. I have never given myself pleasure and, to be honest, I don't even know how. But if my destiny is the beautiful man lying in his bed, I want my first experience to be something I can control.
My skin is tight and sensitive as I pull off my clothes. The heat of the bath is heavenly as I sink into the water, my body relaxing in the luxurious warmth. I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, my mind wandering to thoughts of Teo.
As I submerge myself into the water, I let my hand wander back down, across the curve of my belly, towards the growing heat between my thighs. I gasp as my fingers touch the slickness there. It’s definitely different from the water and my body arches upwards as I explore the new sensations.
I close my eyes as I imagine Teo joining me in the bathroom, his hands on my body, his mouth on mine, his hard length filling me up. The image is so vivid that I can almost feel him there with me.
My fingers move faster, and I moan in pleasure as I reach my peak. I lean back in the water, breathing deeply as the pleasure subsides, my body still humming with the after-effects of my first release.
For a few moments, I can't move. I'm relaxed, yet a little sore. Satisfied, and yet hungrier than ever.
I panic, this was supposed to fix my problems—not make them worse. I need to get back to my own room.
Reaching for the cloth, I begin to bathe, washing myself clean of any trace of what I’ve done. As I pull myself out of the bath, I hear movement from the other room. Quickly, I wrap a bathrobe around myself, grab my clothes, and step back into his room. My plan is to sneak back to my room and come back when I have calmed down.
“You stayed?” Teo's voice is soft and gentle from the bed.
I freeze, looking over at his eyes, which glow in the dim light. "Yes. I wanted to make sure you didn't lose too much blood."