I tossed another ancient volume on the desk in frustration. Jallina had mentioned the Breaker of the Spine, and I had never heard of it.
My newest question was, how had I never heard of it?
Books upon books were here, in the library, in the public section, about the Breaker of the Spine.
I had never heard this part of our legends.
I put a hand to my head and stared at the desktop.
“Tymon told me you’d be here.”
My head jerked up to find Elex standing over the desk. “I asked him to let me in. I’d hope he knew where I was.”
Elex pulled a few of the books toward him and flipped through the pages. “What are you looking for?”
“Jallina—”
His head snapped up this time. “You talked to her?”
“Yes, yesterday after I walked out on Dorian. I ran into her at a coffee shop in the market. We talked and caught up and…”
Pulling a chair out, he sat next to me and moved the books closer. “And what?”
“It seems we have enemies. And we should have known about them all along. As much as it pains me to say, Dorian was right. We don’t know everything there is to know about this world. Not by a long shot.”
He rested his head on his fist, letting out a breath. “How could we have known we had enemies when we didn’t even know what or who we were supposed to be.”
The oldest book of the lot sat closest to me, and I flipped it open, turning the pages carefully. “Does that mean you’ve heard of the Breaker of the Spine?”
“Yes. You haven’t?”
“No.”
“How…”
“Don’t know.”
Elex was thoughtful as he turned the pages in the book in front of him. “The Breaker of the Spine is the one who must not only mind the spine as it falls back to the earth but mind all of S’Kir as it does. There’s a lot of magic in that, and it’s not an easy thing to be in charge of.”
“Jallina called me the Breaker.”
With his finger tracing the drawings on the page, Elex was preoccupied with the designs on the page for a quiet minute.
After several false starts, he finally found his voice. “I suspected you were the Breaker when the mountain called you. I was nearly sure when we entered the cave. And after the kidnapping attempt, I’m not the only one who thinks you are.”
A deep sigh left me. Suddenly, I felt resigned to this fate. “You think that I’m going to break the spine?”
He pursed his lips, trying not to answer the question, but eventually, Elex gave in. “Yes. I do.”
The slam of the book echoed through the empty library hall. “Shit. Dorian was right.”
The laugh that bubbled up in Elex wasn’t as full of mirth as he wanted it to be. “That pains you?”
“Elex, he’s an asshole.”
“We’ve established that, yes.”
“I don’t want him to be right.”
His fingers caressed my chin and turned me to look at him. “He’s so much older than everyone else. He’s going to be right more than you can possibly imagine.”
His beautiful black eyes sparkled in the dim light of the library.
“Jallina is going to spy for us.”
“You asked her to do that?”
“No. She offered. She’s part of the Outlier Temple in the market, and Milgran is a big mouth who hasn’t realized she’s not on his side.”
A pleasant chuckle passed between us as he studied my face. The dark olive tones of his skin were softer than I remembered from our interlude the other night.
I could feel the heat between us rising. In a move to deflect the growing sexual tension, I tried to ask a question. “If I’m the Breaker, who are you?”
He drew in close. “The man who gets to fuck you.”
My resolve to stop this got up and left the room, abandoning me, happily, to his advances. “Does that have an official title?” I teased.
“Mm. We’ll have to come up with one.”
My hand found the rising shaft in his pants. “You have no trouble coming up, do you?”
He lost his voice for a moment and then grabbed my hand to still my motions over his erection. “I wanted to show you that last night, Kimber. But you never came to my apartment.”
“You could have come to mine.”
Cocking his head, he considered me a moment. “Oh, can I?”
Leaning in close, I let my breath dust over his ear with a suggestion. “I don’t care to sleep apart from you, Lord Everettson. Why don’t you move into my apartments?”
“Does this mean that I get to fuck you every night?”
“And every morning.”
At the same time, we turned, and our lips found each other. The kiss that ensued was pure fire. His tongue sought mine, and curled around, stroking and sucking, teasing and finally leading me into his mouth.
It was only our need for air that broke us apart, and I grasped his cock again.
I pulled him to standing, and I tried to lead him away. “Let go—”
“No.” His grip was strong as he yanked back, leaning my whole body against his.
His fierce erection pressed against my stomach.
My knees were weak. So was my will. “No?”
Shaking his head, and again moving my hand from his erection, he confirmed his statement. “No. Right here. Right now.”
“In a library?” I was actually scandalized.
“There’s no one here.” A heated hand found my breast through my shirt and squeezed just this side of softly.
My nipples hardened and answered his call. A second more and they were aching for his touch.
We were not going to make it anywhere.
His lips seared another kiss across mine. Those black eyes grew even darker with the heat of lust and damned if my thighs weren’t already soaked and ready for him.
“You are mine, aren’t you, Kimber.”
“Yes.” The word was drawn out as his hand found and rolled my nipple through the fabric.
“I’m going to fuck you right here, right now.”
“Oh, gods and stars, yes.”
Hands were at the neck of the tunic I was wearing, and before I could utter a word, he ripped the top down the center to my waist, revealing the bra I was wearing.
“Kimber, oh Kimber. If I do move into your apartments, I don’t want you wearing these around the house. I want your tits natural so I can enjoy them anytime.”
Why did this dominant play make me so wet for him?
The magic gathered at the front of my bra. My momentary confusion was gone when Elex used it to snip the front of it open, and my breasts spilled into his waiting hands.
“So wonderful, my sweet. So ripe.”
The same tongue that had seared my lips now tortured my nipples as he suckled and sucked and nipped at me.
I shoved my hands into his hair and held on as he ravaged them. Lust spiked through me, and nothing could have stopped the moan that snuck out of me.
“Elex, shit.” That was as much as my mind could muster for words.
“One day, when I don’t need to be inside you right away, I’m going to spend a long time just sucking on your nipples, and I’m going to make you come.”
My legs were shaking now.
What a wonderful threat that was, but I needed something else, and soon.
“Elex.” I glanced down and what a magnificent view of his lips on my skin I had. His dark, dusky complexion was a perfect complement to my pale pink cream.
“Not today, sweetness. Not today.”
Trailing his lips up my chest to my throat, he nibbled on the column of my throat.
I couldn’t take much more. Elex knew it.
I felt his hand pushing its way up my thigh, gathering the bottom of my tunic, moving it up and up, until it was at my thigh.
His hand wrapped around my arm. I didn’t have a moment to protest or even realize what was going on before I found myself pressed onto the table with the books on it.
The move was smooth and calculated, lifting my tunic skirt up over my ass.
The moan that escaped me as he caressed the naked globes of my ass echoed in the library.
I couldn’t even bother to be embarrassed.
He had a cock, and I wanted to be on it.
Now.
To encourage him a bit, I lifted one leg to rest on the tabletop, opening me wide for him.
“Oh, that’s nice. So very nice.” Fingers dipped into my pussy and ran circles, tracing the walls of my sex.
I drew a hard breath, trying to slow my heartbeat. He was going to kill me. I wanted to die without him inside me.
He offered no warning. His cock slammed deep into my channel, stealing my breath and mind at the same time. He seated himself deep inside my pussy, pushing my whole body into the table with his.
It was fucking hot.
He leaned forward, trying to press even deeper. Again, the moan filled the library, and I still didn’t care.
“Move, Elex, oh, shit move.”
He didn’t speak. Instead, he withdrew slowly until he was just barely inside of me and slammed back inside.
“Fuck!” He forced the word out of me.
“Mmm, yes.” Sliding his hands under me, he found my breasts and lifted me just enough to wrap his greedy hands around the tender flesh.
“Beg for it, Kimber.”
I gasped as he made his demand and withdrew again. I waited for him.
When he didn’t take my pussy hard again, I knew he wasn’t kidding. He wanted me to beg for it.
“Please, Elex,” I managed. “Please.”
“No. Beg me for it, lovely woman. Beg me.”
“Elex, please give me your cock.”
He pinched a nipple. “Not good enough.”
One hand left my breast and found my clit very quickly. His finger dusted over me, enough to torture me, but no more.
“Beg, Kimber.”
“Please fuck me.”
Each time I begged, he barely touched my bundled, excited nerves. It was enough to keep me enthralled, but not enough to take me closer to my climax.
I needed to come.
He was driving me mad.
“Beg, Kimber. Beg me to fuck you.”
“Fuck me, please.”
“No.”
“Fuck me, Elex.”
“Try harder.”
His wicked finger danced and danced over my clit. I couldn’t deal with it. My mind was gone. I wanted him deep inside, and I wanted him to come too.
“Elex, please!”
“No.”
“Fuck me, Elex! Fuck me! Drive your cock into me!”
His answer was the piercing of his cock into my pussy again. Harder this time, relentless, driving in and in again and again as Elex commanded me.
I was wound so tight—too tight!—I was sure that I was going to pass to the next world before I could actually come.
I didn’t need to worry about that after all.
Elex’s finger left my pussy for just a moment and returned with a slap.
It broke me.
I screamed my orgasm to the empty library hall. There was no mistaking the sexual delight as it echoed through the room or the slap of his balls against my heated flesh.
Following my climax, his was upon him, and he yelled it into the same space as mine. Pumping himself once, twice, three times, I lost count, his cock exploding with his cum, painting my channel with his release.
He collapsed on top of me, his heart hammering against his ribs. His weight pressed me harder against the table, but I didn’t mind.
His body felt so good, so hot against mine.
We breathed together, and after just a few seconds, he realized he was on top of me, and lifted himself up.
Dragging a chair close, he collapsed into it and pulled me onto his lap. Exhausted and still recovering from my massive orgasm, my eyelids fluttered trying to stay open. Gentle fingers brushed the hair from my eyes.
“I was going to hesitate about moving in with you.”
I managed to make a questioning noise. I was curious what he was going to say.
“Yeah, I think I need to. I can’t fuck you in the library like this.”
I grinned. “You can try.”
* * *
Elex’s hand spun small circles on the skin of my back.
“Anything?”
I turned the page of the book I was leafing through. “Nothing. I keep trying to figure out how I don’t know this, but there’s nothing.”
Dropping a kiss on my cheek, Elex climbed out of bed where we had finally made it hours earlier.
Sneaking around the temple grounds in a ripped tunic and my legs still trembling from the amazing fucking I’d just had was more excitement than I had needed.
Naturally, as soon as we got into my apartments, Elex pushed me against the wall and made me come again.
Then again in the shower.
And at least twice more in the bed.
I delighted in the feel of him, fully inside of me. And, thankfully, there would be no children until we’re ready.
With the way we were fucking, it was a very good thing.
The volume we were reading in the bed was one of the most concise, most recent books on the Breaking Times and the Breaker of the Spine.
I still didn’t remember reading this story. Ever.
Shortly, I lost interest in the book as Elex’s naked glory moved around the room. I was falling for him and his animalistic bedroom persona, hard.
And there was nothing wrong with the fine, tight ass he had either.
“Are you reading still or are you gazing at my dick?”
“I’m not reading, but I was more interested in your rear end at the moment.”
He angled himself to see his backside in the mirror. “Mm. Yes. I can see why you’re looking.”
Rolling my eyes, I turned back to the book.
“Put on some underclothes, please. I do want to read some of this. My poor girl bits need a break, too.”
Laughing, he trotted into the bathroom, and I was finally able to turn back to the book.
The Breaker of the Spine was a significant part of the legends. They were more than just a strong magic wielder. They were meant to command the spine as it fell and direct the power of the crumbling stone and keep the people of S’Kir safe.
I felt as though I had failed my students by not telling them the story.
Elex reappeared and sat on the edge of the bed, peering down at the pages in front of me.
“Was there anything ever in your life that would make you forget this legend?”
“You’ve known me how long?”
“Since you were in college. Not your whole life, but quite a bit of it.”
“Then you tell me if there was anything out of the ordinary.”
His eyes bore into mine. There was nothing suggestive or sexual about this stare. “You don’t think there was?”
“No. Why would I?”
He stood and folded his arms. “Your parents are gone.”
“There are a lot of us who have lost our parents.”
The bed dipped as he sat down next to me. “Not everyone loses their parents the way you did.”
“It was an accident.”
“But it’s not something that everyone experiences. Is there anything there that might have caused you to forget?”
My forehead wrinkled. “Forget just one thread of thousands of my life?”
“We live in a world of magic, Kimber. Isn’t it possible?”
I plopped my face into my pillow. “I can’t believe I would lose just that story.”
The pillow partly absorbed my words, but I knew Elex heard me when his hand stroked my hair.
“It happened out in the Great Western Bay, didn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go.”
I snapped my head up. “What?”
“Let’s go. Maybe being there will jog your memory for the story or something else that happened there to rob you of it.”
“It will take three days to get there by horse and carriage.”
Laughing, he stood. “We can take the train. We’ll be there in half a day.”
“The train? I’ve never…”
“We’re part of the temple now, my sweetness, and we can get the train in the morning.”
I rolled to my side and stared up at him. “The morning?”
I knew damn well I wasn’t wearing anything at that moment, and the sheet was down at my waist.
His eyes went straight to my now-bare breasts.
“Definitely in the morning.”
* * *
I hadn’t been to the Great Western Bay since the day my parents had died. I had nothing but good memories of the place destroyed by that awful day.
As the blue bay rolled into view, a terrible shiver ran up my spine. I didn’t want to be here.
No, it was more than just not wanting to be there. It was almost a push against me. As strong as when the mountain had pulled.
Elex’s fingers entwined with mine.
“Take a deep breath, Kimber.”
“I’m trying.”
He shook his head. “If I had known that you were going to react this badly, I might not have suggested this.”
“I had no idea I was going to react like this, Elex. I haven’t been here since they dragged their bodies out of the water.”
He sucked a breath in through his teeth.
My words were harsh, but it was how I dealt with the anger that remained from their deaths.
“You’ve never come back?”
“What reason would I have? I can swim in the river or in the southern sea.”
I saw the marina where my father hand launched our boat from as the train passed by it, pulling closer to the station.
I still had their boat docked somewhere in that marina.
My stomach roiled.
“Elex, I’m not getting off this train. I’m not. I don’t want to be here.”
“I’m sorry, my sweet. This was a bad idea.”
I shook my head. “This isn’t your fault. They were young when they died. Younger than we are now.”
“You were not a child.”
“No, but it wasn’t fair and it—”
The words got caught in my throat. I didn’t want to throw up, but I was getting close.
“Do you remember the accident?”
The train track turned, and the sun flashed in my eyes, making me cringe. I didn’t want to remember that day, not today, not ever.
“It’s just a stupid story. Take me home. I’ll read about it there.”
Clearly disappointed, Elex drooped into his seat. “As you wish, Kimber. I was just hoping…”
“I was on the boat when they died, Elex.”
He swiveled around in the seat. “What?”
“I was on the boat when they died. I was in the accident too.”
“I didn’t know that.”
I nodded slowly. “Most people assume that I was sitting on the beach with my nose in a book. But I wasn’t. I was on the boat with them. I loved sailing.”
I froze.
I had loved sailing. Why had I not remembered that until just now? Why was so angry at the boat? The boat did what it was supposed—
Oh.
Gods.
I grabbed Elex’s forearm with my other arm.
“The boat did what it was supposed to, Elex. It kept me above the water. But my father died making sure I was on the boat, making sure I could get my hands on the topside.”
His eyes searched my face. “Go on.”
The blue ocean flashed in the corner of my vision, and again, it was like someone unlocking vaults deep in my brain.
“It was a good day for sailing. There was a substantial wind, but nothing outrageous. We weren’t all that far out but around a cove. I was on the boat because we had come out for the weekend. Mom insisted and said I spent too much time tucked in a book.
“Something rammed the boat. I remember the main mast shaking wildly and the sails losing their billow. Mom screamed and…disappeared over the side. Dad went after her.”
I gasped and snapped my head around to the water.
“They were soul mates, Elex. Bonded soul mates. He would never have been able to live without her. That’s why he went after her. He didn’t care if he lived or died, just as long as he followed her. And when the… ropes…nets came and pulled me off the boat...
“I saw my mother dead on the bottom.”
Elex barely had time to get the bag over to me before I vomited.
My mother’s dead body was caught in a fishing net, and she floated in the kelp there.
“My father swam over to me and used every ounce of his magic and energy to get me out of the nets. He swam me back to the boat and shoved me up out of the water and onto the dive platform on the back of the boat.”
I smeared the tears off my own face.
“He never came back up. Why didn’t I remember this? Why was all of this missing from my mind? Someone murdered my parents!”
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t see for the tears that were crowding my vision.
Someone had murdered my parents.
Why?
I didn’t know what happened in the next few moments, but somehow we were on the platform for the train, and I could smell the fresh ocean air tinged with salt.
“Breathe, Kimber. Breathe,” Elex whispered
“I’m trying.”
I was, desperately.
It wasn’t easy, though, after thinking for forty-five years that my parents had died in a boat accident, and they hadn’t.
Elex had me tucked into his side on the bench and just waited for my hysteria to clear.
It did, eventually. Only took about three more hysterical outbursts.
“And you were never able to remember that until now?” Elex’s voice was low and kind.
“Not until we just got here.”
“Someone suppressed the memories and left this area as a trigger if you ever came back.” He smoothed my hair carefully.
“Why? Why did they kill them?”
“We don’t have to figure that out right now.”
“They were only twenty-five years older than I am. They were young. They were so lucky…”
“Please breathe, Kimber.”
It hit me that he was horribly worried about me, and I sucked in a few deep, slow breaths to steady myself.
“Back to the city, Elex. Take me back. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be near this place.”
Nodding, he helped me stand, then we walked toward the train, and he helped me on. We ambled to the seats.
“I didn’t remember my parents’ death.”
This was a nightmare.