Broken Dove (Fantasyland #4)(143)

Yet, I still felt empty.

* * * * *

Two nights later, the lamps out, the firelight dancing, Apollo having decided he wanted to feel the silk of my nightgown against him as he slept so he’d dressed me again after he’d made love to me, I lay on top of his body, running my lips along his collarbone.

“Can I ask you something?” I whispered against his skin.

His hands spanning my h*ps tensed, giving me a squeeze when he answered, “You can ask anything, poppy.”

I lifted my head, slid up him and raised my hand. I watched my fingers drift through the dark hair that had fallen on his brow, smoothing it away and I left my fingers in it as I turned my eyes to his.

“What gives with the wolves?” I asked.

His brows drew together as his hands at my h*ps glided around so he could hold me. “What…gives?”

It was cute, and sweet, how he reacted to the way I said things in the terms of my world.

I didn’t tell him that.

I explained, “That night, after those things attacked us and you showed, you talked to a wolf and, I mean, I know men can talk to wolves and such, but it seemed like something more.”

“Ah,” he murmured but said no more.

“Ah?” I pushed.

“You do not know.”

“No, I do not know,” I confirmed the obvious, since I was asking.

“I am an Ulfr,” he stated, and I stared.

When he said no more, I informed him, “Uh, I know that, sweetheart.”

“The Head of my House,” he went on.

“I know that too.”

“Ulfr Heads command the wolves.”

At that, I blinked.

Apollo kept talking.

“The House of Ulfr has always commanded the wolves. It’s more than talking to them. They do our bidding, specifically, if needed, during war.”

Wow.

The book on the Houses that I read in Fleuridia hadn’t mentioned that!

And that was cool!

“Seriously?” I asked.

He grinned and his arms tightened around me. “Seriously, dove.”

“So, you bid them to help me when I was in danger?”

“For the most part, yes. The night before the gale, I felt you were protected but I had concerns and wanted to be certain. So I called to the pack leaders and bid them to stay alert, patrol, and come to your aid if it was needed.”

“That was what you were doing before you came back to bed,” I noted.

“It was.”

That explained that.

Apollo kept the information flowing. “The alliance between the Head of the House of Ulfr and the wolves is strong. This is because, during war, they can sustain many casualties thus we do not call on them often, only if the situation is important or dire. And if they do sustain casualties, we avenge them. Therefore, someone involved in this plot, if found, tried and deemed guilty, as treason carries the death sentence without question, they will be turned over to the wolves. The wolves will then tear the perpetrator to shreds as vengeance.”

Uh.

Gross!

“Holy cow,” I breathed.

“It’s unpleasant and has not happened in decades. But it is their due.”

“Yuck,” I mumbled.

Apollo again grinned, sliding a hand up my spine so his fingers could play with the ends of my hair.

“You will obviously not witness this,” he declared.

Thank God.

“I’m down with that.”

His grin turned into a smile.

“Now that I get the wolf business, what’s with the birds?” I asked.

Again his brows drew together. “What birds?”

“I’ve heard mention of sending ‘a bird’ more than once. What’s the deal with that?”

His brow cleared, his fingers tangled deeper into my hair but the expression on his face changed in a way I felt deep in my belly. In a way that made my beautiful Apollo even more beautiful.

I would know why when he murmured, “I forget that you have been here such a short time. It feels I’ve had you in my arms for decades. Strangely, at the same time it feels like fleeting moments. Those kinds of moments that are precious. I forget you still have much to learn of my world. But when I remember, I also remember how I enjoy my opportunities to share with you about your new world.”

I melted into him and whispered, “I enjoy it when you do too.”

He gave me a squeeze, dipped his face close to touch the tip of his nose to mine before he drew away and stopped being impossibly wonderful and went back to just being normally wonderful.

“Communication in this world, as you know, is slow. You’ve explained your world with its phones and computers. As you also know, we have none of that. Messengers on fast horses are used. But if a message is urgent, we send it with a bird. A bird can fly faster and straighter than any horse.”

“Carrier pigeons,” I said and his brows went up.

“They have these in the other world?” he asked.

“Yes, though they’re not used anymore. Not like they used to be,” I answered.

“Interesting,” he murmured.

“So, do you use these birds a lot?” I queried.

Apollo nodded. “Yes, quite often. But not all the time. There are issues with this as the message is tied to the bird’s leg so it cannot be very long. Thus, it has to be concise and cleverly written. Many a time a message was misinterpreted when the few words that can be written are not properly understood. And although birds are trained, if the distance is lengthy, they can come to harm or go astray and never deliver the message at all. Still, they are used regularly and if a message is important, two, three, or even more birds are sent with the same message in hopes one of them gets through.”