Chapter Thirty Nine
Dahlia awoke to afternoon sun and a familiar presence.
“Kenny,” she complained as she pushed his arm off her, “what the hell are you doing in my bed?”
“Sleeping,” he said in a voice gravelly with sleep as he pulled her blanket over his head.
She sat up and pulled the blanket back down and glared at him. “Why aren’t you in your own bed?”
He popped one eye open, saw her scowl and buried his face in a pillow. “I was going to leave you alone like you said but you called my name once you fell asleep,” came the muffled response.
“I did not!”
“You did. You seemed upset so I figured you’d want me to stay.”
“What do you mean ‘upset’?” she asked cautiously.
“Feel your face.”
Dahlia’s hands flew to her cheeks. Salt lingered there from dried tears. She felt her face burn red. Kenny pulled his head out of the pillow and propped himself up on his elbows. “This was the first time you’ve been a captain when soldiers under your command were hurt, right?”
Dahlia rubbed her temples and felt the blood flushing her face slowly receding. “Yes, but it wasn’t that. It has to do with my ability to summon puppets. I’m just usually not around someone when I have to deal with the consequences. Normally it’s controlled and when I’m meditating, not sleeping.”
Kenny was quiet but she only felt his awareness focused on her. She didn’t feel any reaction to what she’d expected he would perceive as weakness. As had happened far too often lately she felt the words tumbling out of her. She didn’t even bother to fight it.
“You might have seen them vanish when they took a mortal wound,” she pulled her knees towards her chest and lay her forehead on them. “I can’t summon them again and they exist in my mind in a state close to death. They’ll stay like that until I restore them by taking on every experience that hurt them. If I didn’t my mental state wouldn’t be worth a damn.”
“So you experienced what it was like to die twelve times while you slept?” His voice betrayed nothing except that intense focus.
“Only six this time.”
He pulled her down and in close to him. She could feel his mind turning as they lay together but couldn’t catch a hint of the contents.
“What’s it like?” he finally asked, his voice unusually soft.
“It hurts. And then...nothing,” Dahlia felt her body relax.
Kenny was silent for a moment. “I’m glad you asked me to stay then.”
Dahlia tried to push herself back up, “I did nothing of the sort!”
Kenny pulled her back in close to him. The memory of what she’d experienced in the labyrinth seemed to fade like a bad dream as she allowed him to hold her there. She felt his chest against the fabric of her wrap, his arms circling her.
She’d never asked or wanted anyone to protect her, never needed anyone to offer to comfort her. But she felt safe there, with him, for just that moment. She didn’t try to put a name or reason to it, just let herself accept it and stay with him.
He pulled her over, on top of him and she pushed herself up and watched her hands run softly over his chest. “Tell me what these scars are from.”
Kenny smiled and raised an eyebrow, “There are so many, you think I remember?”
Dahlia raised her eyes to look at him and he sighed. “A lot of them are from when I was too young to have my abilities.”
Dahlia looked at him hard, “When did your abilities manifest?”
“Pretty early actually,” his smile turned rueful, “probably had to to keep me alive. I grew faster than normal so I was able to fend for myself before I starved. My skin didn’t toughen up until I was a few years older though.”
She was stunned. Abilities didn’t manifest until children were at least on their tenth year. She hadn’t heard anything about children who relied on them to survive childhood though.
“You got all of these when you were still a child?”
“A lot of them. The area I grew up in wasn’t very good for kids out by themselves. The rest were from people who had enough strength to cut me in a fight once I was a bit older. Haven’t collected a new one in about a decade.”
“That’s cruel, I’m sorry.”
“Life’s cruel. I survived.” He didn’t sound bothered. He’d accepted it long before.
“That makes the manifestation of my abilities sound trite.”
Kenny laughed, full and deep, and ran his hands down her back. “I bet you scared the hell out of someone.”
Dahlia grinned back, “I summoned my first puppet who pushed a girl down and kicked her until I pulled her off the girl. They took me away that night but I don’t think they realized it was more than an illusion then. They assumed the illusion startled her and that I pushed her down.” It felt good to confide in someone.
Kenny ran a hand back up and into her hair. Gently he pulled her down to him. Feeling her hesitation he paused halfway. “I’m not much at asking for things, but I want you so badly,” his voice had dropped back into its low growl.
Dahlia’s heart cracked open and she leaned down to let herself taste him. She felt a need well up in her body as their mouths met, gentler this time and bittersweet. She shifted her hips to melt her body down onto his.
Kenny growled softly as he felt her hips move and pulled a hand up her thigh to push her wrap up and bare her hips. She felt herself grow wet as he wrapped one hand under her thigh and stroked her clit with his fingers. The other hand pressed into her back, keeping her against his chest.
She felt the bittersweetness grow stronger in her chest, almost suffocating her. She moved her hips against his hand and pulled back from his mouth to nip at his neck. She knew he was as drowned in desire as she was. She wanted him to take her, wanted to feel him move inside her, to touch that longing in her chest. She murmured softly into his neck, egging him on.
She saw his black eyes bright with need as he pulled at her wrap with both hands, untying and stripping it off. Moving both hands to her hips, he pushed her down onto his cock. Dahlia cried out and dug her nails into his chest as her hands tightened. The pressure in her chest released and swept down her body in a wave of relief so intense she almost sobbed. Her breath became ragged as she rode him. Every time he plunged into her she felt lightning running through her body, pulling her entire being into the pleasure of her surrender. She ran a hand up his stomach, memorizing the ripples of his muscles beneath her finger tips. She wanted to feel him, not only to feel the release she needed from him now, but to own and experience everything he was.
She felt herself shaking as she ground herself against him, pushing him harder as her body demanded more. With his hands still on her hips he moved with her, adding force as she pressed him into her. She leaned forward again to take him deeper into her and moaned as she felt him strain against her. She gyrated her hips and rocked her body back with her arms, her hands pressed now firmly into his chest. Kenny groaned, feeling the change in sensation and pushed her hips down harder onto him.
“Kenny, I need more,” Dahlia said breathlessly, running her lips over his jawline.
Without bothering to respond, Kenny pushed himself up and rolled over so she was underneath him. Then he held her there a moment as he ran his gaze over her body. His black hair hung around his face and spilled down his neck. He moved down to bite at a spot on her breast where he’d left a mark when he’d taken her after they’d flown together. She felt his hair brush over her bare breasts. Pinpricks of pain shot through her as his teeth drew blood again. She rolled her hips against him. “Kenny, please,” she moaned as her body begged him to dominate her.
He pulled his head back up and she saw him grin, his sharp canines on display. He left one hand gripping her hip and planted the other beside her head. Then she felt as he began thrusting into her, deliciously rough.
“I like that mark there. Can I keep it fresh?” His voice was rough and thick with amusement.
“Kenny,” Dahlia moaned and ground her hips against him, wanting him to take her faster.
“Dahlia, I want you,” his voice was still rough but the amusement had been replaced with need.
“I want you, too,” she said softly and raised a hand to stroke his hair out of his face.
He ran his mouth from her ear down to her collarbone, increasing the pace of his hips, thrusting into her faster. “And will you still want me tomorrow?”
“Yes,” she told him, finally giving voice to what she’d tried to hold silent in her mind.
“Good.”
He stopped holding back and let her have what she’d wanted. He rode her hard, holding her in place as he pushed into her, making her cry out in pleasure. She locked his waist between her legs, gripped his shoulders and pushed back into him as hard as she could, wanting to take him deeper still.
She felt the hold she kept shielding her emotions loosen just a bit and the sensations intensified as she began to lose track of where her body ended and his began. Her senses were overwhelmed as she immersed in the satiation of their bodies. His mane in her hand, his hard waist between her thighs, and the intoxicating feeling of him moving inside her as he pushed her to the border between pleasure and pain. She lost track of any thought she’d had, experiencing only what was there, in that moment. She saw the same thing mirrored in his face as he lowered himself down to drown in the taste of her mouth, trying to merge his body with hers. Lost in the passion that consumed them.
She felt the release building in their bodies, feeding off one another, taking them still further into each other. She could feel his hand on her hips, his mouth against hers. She arched back into the bed, pushing her hips forward and into him as a climax ripped through her body, stealing her breath away. She clung to him, her muscles tense as the bittersweet need she’d had released a surge of ecstasy that dominated her senses, stealing her awareness from everything else and leaving her adrift in the sensation.
She felt her body shaking as her muscles relaxed and she slowly began to find herself in her body once again. She still clung to Kenny, her face inches from his. Her breath was ragged and she felt the rise and fall of his chest fast against her.
He pulled her mouth again to his and kissed her hard before letting her drop back into the pillow. She saw his grin flash before he flopped over to her side, draped one arm across her, and buried his head back in another pillow.
Dahlia rolled to face him and traced her fingertips down his neck and over his back. She smiled. So be it, she’d fallen for the man that made her dark heart sing, a literal monster who’d dominated a world of cruelty she’d never dreamed of. She looked at his face--handsome, scarred, and hiding more than a bit of madness behind those black eyes. A man who understood what it meant to dance with the darkness in your soul. A dance she was coming to recognize she’d been hiding from for many years.
“Who needs sanity anyways,” she said quietly with a chuckle.
“I never understood it.” Then he propped himself back up on his elbow, “Always figured it was something people use to keep themselves safe in a small box. If you’re not going to let me go back to sleep you might as well give me something to drink.”
Dahlia realized she was parched as well. Yesterday had been hard on her body and the soak in the tub had been nice but she hadn’t had nearly enough fluids to recover yet. She popped up and smacked her pillow down on his head before collecting her wrap from the floor.
“What was that for?” He sounded genuinely surprised.
She ignored him and continued into the area she kept supplies for tea. Kenny rolled out of her bed and pulled on the same tattered pants he’d worn earlier. He followed her out and sat at the table fiddling with her book of meditations. The sight of the enormous, disheveled man at her delicate table made her grin. Suddenly something occurred to her. She turned her back to the water she was heating.
“Kenny...there were bodies before we got to the structure last night. Something stopped the soldiers from breaking our gate before our group got there.”
She saw a flicker deep in his black eyes and his teeth flashed in the dragon’s grin rather than the man’s. Her heart caught.
“They met my better half. Couldn’t leave them alive to take that secret back to their commanders. Got out just as reinforcements started to arrive. I couldn’t hold them back, destroy it, and keep my full abilities masked so I came back for reinforcements of my own.”
As she stared at him images of the dead men came back to her mind; broken and ripped apart.
“Water’s boiling,” he said and the image of the dragon receded.
Dahlia turned to grab it off the flame. “How many people know you, uh…”
“Aren’t always human?” he finished comfortably for her. “Just you. Not many others are observant enough to sense my presence shifting or brave enough to ask about it.”
“You decided you could trust me, why?” She moved slightly mechanically, placing the tea on the table and sitting across from him.
Kenny took tea without bothering to add milk or honey. He sipped it and if the strength of the brew bothered him he didn’t give any sign. “I’d call it instinct but last I heard you didn’t think much of that.”
Dahlia thought back to the time she’d spoken to him after she’d witnessed him stab Macada. It seemed months ago rather than days. She’d said something like that.
She let it go. The man was the strangest mix of animal instinct and guile. No wonder she’d sensed the brief flash of wariness in Mazaran. Most of the captains assumed Ravin was a simple brute. Skilled in a fight--organized or otherwise--but putting little thought into anything else. If they caught the flashes of the veiled intelligence she’d seen they might be more nervous around him.
Kenny continued to sip at the tea as they lapsed into silence. He did like the bitterness of Nallia’s brew with alcohol, maybe he liked her tea. That would be a first.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but can you get back to your barrack without running into anyone?” she asked him.
A mock look of offense spread across his face. “Do I embarrass you?” he teased her.
“You know what I mean, everyone’s already nervous about me as it is and you just generally make people nervous.”
“I know what you mean. Thought Mazaran was going to have a stroke when he realized I’d been sleeping in your room.” Kenny laughed, “Would have been better if he didn’t know but I’m glad I was there to catch his reaction.”
“I didn’t see anything that strong.”
“That’s because he can control his face and body and shield his mind. People can’t mask their reactions from me though, it’s like a scent. He was shaken and pretty unhappy. Bet he never saw that coming.”
He stood up, “But yeah, I can get back.” His voice rolled with amusement as he crouched in front of her and ran his hand up her leg, “If you’re sure you want me to go.”
Dahlia kicked him lightly in the chest. He nipped at her thigh and she tried to smack him. He dodged and gave her a hurt look which she ignored, focusing on her tea instead.
He got up and paused for a moment at the window. Sure that no one was nearby he jumped out, landing on the ground without a sound. Somehow he managed to avoid all the traps her team had gone to the trouble to construct.
She felt odd once he’d gone, as though she’d walked from a warm room into a cold rain. The reality of the enemy forces at their doorstep and the injuries her soldiers had suffered weighed on her again, all the heavier for their short absence. Dahlia’s conversation with the twelfth puppet and her concern about what lay ahead returned to unsettle her.
Dahlia centered herself and shook her head. She needed to let all of it go and focus herself on the path ahead of her. She chose a moving meditation to help work out the stiffness lingering in her muscles and engage her worrying mind.
Going through the familiar motions her mind relaxed and her body released it’s anxiety. She smiled slightly as the turmoil turned into calmer waters. She was here, the same person she’d been, the same position she’d held before. Anything that came she would meet head on, no fear.
As she dropped her hands from the final stance she felt as if she’d stepped fully back into her own body. Confident and sure she moved to prepare for the day.
She swapped her wrap for loose black pants that gathered at the waist and ankles and a black shirt. Her captain’s jacket was still in the basin of water where she’d placed it earlier. She scrubbed at it until it was at least decent then hung it over the faucet of the tub to dry. She’d have to do without it for the rest of the day. As if members of either force could fail to recognized her after the events of of the past few days anyways. Fighting a trial in front of the gate had eliminated any hope of her going anywhere in the area unrecognized again.
She bound her hair on top of her head, slipped on her soft soled boots, and fastened on the sheath with her axes before heading out to the main area of her barrack. Weapons were in evidence around their owners. The moods varied from bleak to hopeful. One member ran his thumb over the talismen of a friend who had fallen in the fight that night. He contrasted Fidelity, twirling a new flower between her fingers.
Fidelity bounced to her feet, “Captain, I intercepted a messenger from Captain Borreal. Our enemy is leaving. We’ve won!”
Dahlia blinked. Just like that, it was over. She wasn’t sure what she had expected. A quiet withdrawal, a silent admission of of defeat, wasn’t what she’d anticipated. The attack had started with a bang. She realized she’d thought it would end the same way.
“That’s wonderful news, Fidelity. Any word on the guard postings? I assume we’ll still be monitoring during their withdrawal.”
The woman shook her head, sending pink pigtails back and forth. “No, nothing yet from Captain Mazaran or Captain Ravin.”
“Ok, let everyone know to sit tight until there’s official direction.”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Where are my lieutenants?”
“I think Lieutenant Arreal is in his room and Lieutenant Sabir is in your office.”
Of course Sabir would be in the office taking care of things she’d missed. She needed to make him take a break once things had settled back down.
“Thank you Fidelity. I’m going to let Lieutenant Sabir know and then I’m going to the captain’s lounge to see if anyone else there has news.”
Fidelity nodded and returned to her place under the tree as Dahlia went to find her first lieutenant. He was, as Fidelity had said, in the office reading messages.
“Fidelity told me the enemy had been seen retreating,” she said as she closed the office door.
Sabir nodded, “Yes, Captain, I’ve got a note here that says the same thing. Preliminary report, no action yet.”
“I think I may go insane waiting to hear something, I’m going to the captain’s lounge to see if anyone else has more information. I imagine Captain Mazaran will call a meeting pretty shortly anyways if notes are flying about this.”
“I don’t blame you. I’d considered going to see if any other lieutenants are around but I figured they wouldn’t know much more than me.”
“Anything else I need to attend to immediately?”
“No, nothing urgent. Rezzie and Nel are both doing well, given the large amount of casualties during the night they were placed on bed rest in their own rooms with alerts in case they need anything. I’ve been told to disturb them as little as possible. I haven’t got much more information about anyone else.”
“Thank you Lieutenant, I appreciate you doing all of this for me.”
“Of course,” he said without a second thought. “I’m always willing to do whatever I can to help.”
She laughed lightly as she made her way back out, “You’re too good to me.”
She didn’t catch his muttered response. Probably something along the lines of someone having to take care of paperwork. She closed the door behind her and walked down the path towards Mazaran’s barrack and the captains’ lounge.