Black Crown (Darkest Drae, #3)(39)

His grip tightened on my hand. “I plan to become intimately familiar with you.” And no one will see you like that but me.

An image flashed in my mind. Walls? “Wait,” I said, stopping outside the doorway to the kitchen. “Did you just find a human thing you liked?”

“Perhaps walls have their uses.”

Trust him to pick the most possessive human thing he could.

He pushed the door open and the scents of yeast, potatoes, and roasted meat wafted in the air. My stomach rumbled, and I grinned in anticipation. We were in the kitchen. Food.

I inhaled, trying to eat the smells, and all-but ran to a flat tray of steaming potato wedges just out of the oven. My mouth watered, and I hovered on the verge of tipping the whole tray in my mouth before recalling those left behind would be waiting for food.

I took four and stood back as Tyrrik took four also. He totally needed more, and so I reached forward and grabbed a handful for him. “I’ll grow a few more potatoes on my way out, but you better get enough to eat.”

He raised his eyebrows and grabbed another handful then held them out for me. “You too.”

Our hunger abated; we left the rest of the food for the others, knowing we could hunt on the way.

“Excuse me.” I addressed the closest cook, a rail-thin man who didn’t sample enough of his creations. “Would you know where I could find some seed stores? I need carrots, beans, squash, tomatoes. Small seeds for vegetables and fruits, nothing that grows on a tree or needs more than one season to grow, preferably.”

“I will send someone to collect some for you.” He waved at one of the kitchen maids.

I stared at his scrawny arm. The woman who joined him was just as thin. “Thank you. A bag the size of my fist should do. And some potato and beetroots too. Could you ask them to meet us at the northern exit?”

The cook nodded and told the woman where to go to get the seeds, and then she hurried over to a teenage girl, hushing instructions in her ear.

We walked through the mountain halls, winding to the back entrance where we’d arrived early yesterday morning. Had only one day seriously passed? I felt changed, grown, at peace. Sliding my gaze to Tyrrik, I didn’t have to puzzle over the reason.

My mate completed me. His contentment was my contentment. After everything we’d gone through, separate and together, I’d do it all over again, knowing this was the end result.

Potato wedges long gone, I planted the other potatoes and beets, throwing some vibrant Phaetyn-mojo at them, and told the young girl to wait a quarter of an hour and then get some help digging up the root vegetables.

Tyrrik shifted just outside the Gemond Kingdom, and I joined him after stretching my moss-green veil over my Drae form to keep my presence cloaked from Draedyn. We wanted to keep our plans from him for as long as possible. I rose into the air just above the treetops to join my mate in his onyx Drae form and then extended my veil until it covered us both. The air was now clean of smoke and ash, and I grinned as we started northward to join our friends.

So, Tyrrik said casually, drawing my attention from the ground. Spawning.

My wings froze for half a second before they resumed their rhythmic beating. Yes?

You mentioned spawning?

I’d mentioned the word errantly, and so my reply was flippant. I like practicing.

I could feel through the mate bond how much my answer meant to him, so I considered my words before answering further. He was over one hundred years old; he might’ve wanted Drae babies for longer than I’d been alive.

I want to have Drae babies with you, I said. But I’m also younger than you. I feel . . . I feel I’m getting better, stronger, and a bit wiser. But I don’t know if I’m ready for little Tyrriks yet. We have time though, right? If we lost the war, my answer was pointless anyway. I closed my eyes, refusing to think of what might happen to Tyrrik if we lost.

We have time, he replied. And experience and wisdom will be good for you and them.

Good. Besides, I want to get my treasure stash all set up too.

He swept his great head to look at me. Of course. That’s a given. I’ll extend my trove into a cavern beautiful enough for my mate—

I was glad we were on the same page about babies and the privacy thing.

You will store your treasures there and then have our babies throughout the ages.

At least I thought we were on the same page. It bothered me we hadn’t come to a compromise on the ‘don’t leave my side’ issue. Maybe I shouldn’t have brushed him off earlier, but I hadn’t wanted to ruin the mood.

Before long, the trailing members of King Zakai’s army were visible dots moving on the stoney ground far below. As we descended, I shivered with how easy it would be for the emperor to spot them. He could unleash a jet of fire upon the army and kill them all without even landing.

Good thing Tyrrik and I were here now. But still . . . Hey, can you attack my mind for a bit? I need some practice.

I instantly turned my attention inward, knowing he wouldn’t delay. I imagined my mind as a ball and then drew the blue tendrils of my Drae power away from my mate, ignoring the hollowness in my chest as I did so. I wound the tendrils of power around my mind, thread by thread in a sort of turban-like shield. Working as fast as I mentally could, I thickened the glowing blue strands creating a shiny defense to outside attack.

Tyrrik’s mental blow hit my forehead with the force of a battering ram. I roared, feeling the buffer around my mind dissolve instantly, the power rebounding back to coil with Tyrrik’s black tendrils.