In a Brave New World (Brave New World Book 5)

Chapter 12

Xaniban

I flapped my wings twice.

It was time to go, yet I still lingered by the bed, unable to part not just with the closeness to my anima but also with the sight of her sleeping form.

"My liege?" someone whispered from the upper door to our bedchamber.

I looked up to find Samuin perched on the threshold. I had not even heard him land there, too focused on the sight before me.

"No need to whisper," I told him as I sat on the bed, finally succumbing to the need to touch my mate one last time after the last time.

I let the scent of her fill my senses first: a mixture of our two scents with no more traces of that terrifying smell of burnt flesh from her injuries. She was fully healed now, had in fact been since yesterday, but there was nothing bad in reassuring myself of that fact once more.

Next, I let the image of her luscious body, outlined by the gold-colored sheet I had draped over her, fill my eyes. May it erase forever the image of my anima burnt and bleeding when I had pulled her out of that crashing metal bird before it had reached the ground.

Finally, I let the softness and warmth of her skin as I traced the outlines of her face, soothe the ache in my soul, which was once again to be away from hers. Maybe our unity of soul would be restored in no more than a day. Or maybe death would separate us until her soul could join mine in the great beyond.

"My liege?"

Samuin's insistent voice pulled me out of my mesmerized state. "Whispering is unnecessary," I continued with the thought I had left unfinished, all the while feasting my eyes on my anima. "My little blessing will not wake, not until noon at the earliest."

I brushed a stray strand of her chestnut hair away from her forehead with a claw. She looked so peaceful in sleep, free from the worries of yesterday when we had quarreled yet again.

"How many of the strawberries did my Queen eat?"

I could not help but smile with a hint of fang.

"All of them, my liege?" As closely familiar with how much my anima loved strawberries, Samuin sounded shocked.

"My little human was famished," I explained, the image of her eating the fruit so eagerly flashing before my mind's eye. "The many days of healing took a toll on her curvaceousness. You also know she is insatiable when strawberries are involved." She was also insatiable when I was involved, but I did not have to keep telling Samuin what he already knew.

"My Queen suspected nothing, then?"

This time I chuckled. "My smart little human saw right through my plan. She made me taste the fruit before she indulged. I had to eat four to appease her, all selected by her gentle hand."

"My liege must have gotten sleepy?"

"By the time the sleeping poppy powder affected me, my anima was already under its effect. But I needed only half an hour to recover."

I traced her slightly parted lips with my thumb, only to find them still sticky from the strawberry juice. Before I knew what I was doing, I swooped down and stole a kiss, tasting the sweetness of both the fruit and my little blessing. I was addicted to the taste of her up here, but not as much as I craved the taste of her honey. I wished I could have had a taste of that ambrosia before the battle, but my devious plan had made that impossible.

I sighed and got up quickly, flying away from the bed before I would be once again tempted to remain close. Landing next to the lower door, I gestured with my tail for Samuin to join me on the ground.

"If my little human wakes before I return, make sure you are ready for an attack or attempted blackmail into bringing her to the battlefield."

Samuin smiled ever-so-slightly – something he had not done so often before my mate's arrival in the palace. "Yes, my liege."

"If I do not return, she will be yours to care for until a new king is elected and takes her under his wing."

He flapped his wings in confirmation. "May I voice an opinion, my liege?"

"As always, Samuin." I flashed him a fang. Samuin never failed to show good reasoning skills which, along with all his other gifts, would make him a fine king one day.

"My Queen is bonded to you as strongly as any mate and she carries no pip... The loss of you will destroy her, my liege."

My tail curled inwards. That was true. Gods, even my father had chosen to die upon my mother's passing, and he had had me and my brothers to keep his will to live burning. But as much as I wanted to be with the other piece of my soul after death, my anima had a long life ahead of her. If I fell in today's battle, I would wait for her patiently in the great beyond, as long as it took.

"Protect her from any danger, even herself," I instructed Samuin. "The Gods united us and they will unite us again, be it in this life or beyond."

"Yes, my liege." He flapped his wings, too, to further assure me my little human would be in safe hands.

I glanced at the bed again. My little blessing was sleeping in a similar position to the one I had found her in on our first night together two months ago. The only thing missing was my ancestor's sword in her hand.

Back then, I had entered my bedchamber with such primal need that, upon discovering the little human sleeping armed instead of eagerly awaiting to be claimed, I had stopped in my tracks. Then my tail had curled a couple of times in annoyance at my plans for mutual pleasure being ruined. Then I had rumbled deep in my chest, insulted by her decision to arm herself as if I would leave her alone in a dangerous place.

Then... I had felt a smile split my face: this little human had kept surprising me ever since I had laid eyes on her; she had kept me on my claws from the very start. And when I had stepped closer to the sleeping female, her tantalizing scent wrapping itself around me like a caress, there had been no doubt left it me: I had been bested at my own game. Seduced by the female I had been trying to seduce.

Should I return to my homecloud victorious, I would have a lot of seduction to do if I were to make my anima forgive me for my strawberry-based treachery.

I tore my gaze away from the precious sight of her and flew out of our bedchamber. Time to focus on blowing the alien invaders right out of the sky, as my little blessing liked to say. Best to be back in time to present her with the gift of our enemy's head upon her awakening.