Obsessed (16 page)

And there was something else Liana felt she needed to know. It niggled at the back of her consciousness, but she could not quite place her senses on what it was.

She drew near the castle and her thoughts turned to her friends Ranelle and Tierra, and she again wondered how they fared. On the journey from Seraphine, Aric had promised Liana that he would send out some of his finest warriors in search of Tierra. He had claimed he had no doubt that Jalen, an Elvin warrior, would easily retrieve Ranelle. Liana hoped Aric was right—she couldn’t bear it if anything happened to her halia.

Because her visions were usually of the future, Liana didn’t know if the Sorcerer had actually captured Ranelle yet, or if it was an event that might not happen if Jalen reached her first. Liana could only pray to the gods and goddesses that Jalen reached Ranelle before Zanden did.

Liana paused at a bed of roses, taking a moment to touch the petals of a deep pink bloom. The petal felt soft to the touch, reminding her of the velvety feel of the head of Aric’s cock. As she stroked the petal between her thumb and forefinger, she pictured his erection in her hands when they had been at the Bewitching Pool. And then how she had slid her lips over the tip of his cock, working his shaft with her mouth, tongue and hands until he had spilled his seed into her throat—

“Your Highness.” Angelei’s voice crashed into Liana’s erotic fantasy.

With her cheeks flaming from embarrassment, Liana straightened and faced the Elvin woman, desperately trying to think of something to say. “I—I keep telling you to call me Liana, and not Highness or Majesty.”

Angelei gave her a sly smile, as though she knew what had been in Liana’s thoughts. Then the Elvin woman’s expression changed and her tone became serious. “You have guests waiting in the drawing room.”

“Guests?” Confusion flickered through Liana. She was so far from the village she had grown up in, and her only friends were missing. “Is it Ranelle and Tierra?” she asked, a hopeful note in her voice.

Shaking her head, Angelei replied, “Nay, ’tis not the friends you have spoken of. ’Tis best you come with me. You will find out soon enough.”

For a moment Liana considered trying to use her “Queen” status to demand an explanation, but she doubted it would get her anywhere. With a knot of worry in her belly and Angelei at her side, Liana headed back to the castle.

Angelei leaned close, her shoulder brushing Liana’s, her voice a caress in Liana’s ear. “While I am in Phoenicia, I am at your service if you wish to enjoy Elvin pleasures.”

“Ah, yes,” Liana muttered, embarrassment flooding her once again.

Liana really had to get some, and Aric damn well better get home and give it to her.

The Elvin woman gave Liana a quick grin, but as they entered the front door of the castle, Angelei’s expression altered and once again she became somber. The knot of concern grew within Liana’s belly as she wondered who could be waiting, and why it seemed to bother Angelei that they were here.

Angelei paused outside the drawing room door and rested her hand on Liana’s shoulder. Her crystal blue eyes met Liana’s. “Remember that ’tis always best to listen to all sides of a story.”

“What are you talking about?” Liana narrowed her gaze. “I don’t understand.”

Instead of answering, Angelei gripped Liana’s upper arm while opening the drawing room door, and ushered Liana inside.

Shock slammed into Liana, rendering her immobile. She barely processed Angelei’s retreat as the drawing room door closing behind her.

A muscular Tanzinite man commanded the center of the drawing room. He wore a simple white cloth around his waist, his wings were folded, and his powerful arms were at his sides. Like most Tanzinites were rumored to be, the handsome man was albino. His eyes were red, his skin was even paler than Liana’s, almost translucent, and his shoulder-length hair devoid of color.

Liana’s heart pounded and her mouth grew dry as her attention turned to the petite woman at the man’s side. The Tanzinite female’s small, firm breasts were easily seen through her opaque tunic. Her wings were folded and her complexion almost as pale as the man’s. But her tresses reached the back of her knees and were the same moonlight color as Liana’s—and her eyes were the exact sea green shade.

The man took a step forward.

Liana stepped back.

Do not be afraid,
the man said in Liana’s thoughts.
I am Palme and this is Salana…we are your father and mother.

* * * * *

Finally he was able to return to his heartmate. Aric pumped his wings harder, blood thrumming in his veins as he soared amongst the clouds and toward Sky Castle. The past week had felt like the longest moonchange of his life, passing by agonizingly slow.

The fighting drills, conditioning exercises and maneuvers he and the men had performed while in their nordai forms had done little to take his mind off Liana. More than once Renn had chastised Aric for his thoughts being elsewhere, rather than on his duties as King of the Nordain.

One day perhaps Renn would meet his own heartmate, and find his wings ruffled as well.

All Aric had been able to think of was how much he loved Liana and how badly he wanted to be with her. Every waking moment he had pictured her sweet smile, the sensuality burning in her sea green gaze, and her soft and welcoming body.

He wondered if she had pleasured herself as she thought of him, or perhaps even sampled the talents of the lusty Elvin wenches. The mere thought of his zjenni being pleasured by other women made his passions rise beyond belief.

Desire powered his flight as he led the flock of Nordain men back to their women. The warriors formed a V behind him, with Renn to Aric’s right, and his second in command, Troyas, to his left. The morning was crisp and clean, the wind exhilarating beneath his wings.

Yet Aric’s conscience bothered him. As though something was not quite right—and his zjenni was troubled. He had no doubt that the female warriors guarding the kingdom could fend off any invasion. They were a fine fighting force, equal to the men in intelligence and cunning, and superior in many ways.

Why then did worry gnaw at his belly?

As he spotted Sky Castle’s turrets, Aric’s excitement to see Liana increased, but his concern heightened as well. Could she have been injured in an accident? What of the babes she carried in her womb—were they doing well?

A furlong from the castle, Aric shrieked the traditional greeting as he passed a Nordain sentry perched on a pine. The sentry ruffled her feathers and gave Aric the all clear cry, bowing her head in respect as he flew past.

Like an arrow released from a bow, Aric shot through the air, eating up the remaining distance to the massive entrance of Sky Castle. When he was a few feet off the ground, he transformed into his nordai form, landing in a stride that carried him through the front doorway.

Behind him rang the laughter and excited cries of women greeting their men, and Aric knew the celebration was just beginning. Much mating and feasting would be occurring with the males’ return, continuing well into the night, after the ceremony where Aric would publicly claim his woman.

Aric signaled to Angelei as he strode into the castle. The Elvin woman wore a clinging gown of a sheer material that displayed all of her charms to their best advantage from her dark nipples to the enrli symbol in the patch between her thighs. Aric decided that Liana must have a gown like it—but to wear for him only. He would not have every man ogling his wife’s body.

“Where is my Queen?” Aric asked when he reached Angelei.

 “My Lord.” The Elvin woman bowed her head as she gestured down the hallway. “Her Majesty is with guests in the drawing room.”

“Thank you, Angelei.” Aric nodded as he immediately headed to Liana, his boots ringing against the stone floor. What guests could be so important that she was receiving them in the drawing room?

When he reached the room, he opened the double doors and strode through to see Liana. She was staring at a pair of Tanzinites with an incredulous look upon her beautiful face.

“What?” Liana said, disbelief in her voice. “Who—who did you say you are?”

Aric’s hackles rose at Liana’s obvious distress. “Am I interrupting something?” he growled as he reached her side.

Liana faced him, her eyes wide with relief when she realized he was there. “Aric!” she cried as she reached up and flung her arms around his neck, clinging to him as though she needed his support. “I missed you so.”

“Zjenni,” he murmured and kissed her long and deep.

Gods but she felt soft and wonderful in his embrace, her scent of moonlight and jensai blooms enveloping him. Her taste was even sweeter than he remembered. His cock grew so rigid he feared it might burst out of his breeches. He would take her on the drawing room floor if not for the Tanzinites—

Damnation.

With reluctance Aric drew away from the kiss, and his eyes locked for a moment with Liana’s. Her lips were moist and parted, her breasts rising and falling with every breath and her nipples jutting beneath the thin material of her dress. At least for the moment he had managed to take her mind off of whatever had upset her and she did not look nearly as unsettled as she had when he first walked in.

Slowly he turned away from her to the Tanzinites. “Beg pardon,” Aric said as he inclined his head to the couple. “I have not seen my beautiful Queen for nigh on a week.”

“Forgive our intrusion, King Aric.” The Tanzinite gave a slight bow. “We well understand as we have not seen our daughter for twenty seasons.”

Aric frowned. “Daughter?”

My Lord, I am Salana and this is Palme.
Aric startled as the woman’s gentle voice spoke in his thoughts.
We are Liana’s mother and father.

Clenching his jaw, Aric narrowed his gaze, anchored his arm around Liana’s shoulders and drew her close. “You abandon your daughter as a babe, and then have the audacity to appear uninvited in my kingdom?”

Aric’s protectiveness sent a swell of warmth through Liana. Never before had she felt so loved and accepted. With him at her side, she knew she could bear anything that came her way.

At Aric’s harsh words, Palme raised his chin. Salana bowed her head and her wings drooped. Despite the fact that these beings had abandoned her at birth, Liana could not help but feel compassion for them.

Liana looked up at Aric and offered him a smile, telling him without words how much it meant to her that he was beside her. “Let us hear what they have to say.”

His gaze met hers and he slowly nodded. “Anything for you, zjenni.”

“You have our deepest appreciation.” The Tanzinite man drew in a deep breath and he turned his red eyes from Aric to Liana. “No words exist in any language that can convey how much we grieved over losing you. Nor can they express how sorry we are that we were forced to give you up when you were born.”

“Forced?” Aric’s word rang out like an anvil against stone. “How could any beings be forced to give up their child, yet know that she lived in Zanden’s realm and was treated as an outcast her entire life?”

“I grew up knowing only the love of my friends Ranelle and Tierra,” Liana said softly. “Like me they were orphaned or discarded at birth.”

The prophecy.
Salana sighed, her eyes glittering as though she held back tears.
You were not discarded. The moment you were born and the Tribe saw you were without wings, you were whisked away from us.

“Zanden was still a young Sorcerer then, as you well know.” Palme’s wings flexed as he spoke, as though stirring with anger. “He swore he would have Liana killed if we did not leave her to live in Fiorn until her twentieth season.”

Aric stiffened beside Liana at the mention of the Sorcerer. His arm tightened around her shoulders, and she felt tension radiating from him.

We could not bear for anything to happen to you
. Salana’s sea green eyes pleaded for forgiveness, her voice soft and sweet in Liana’s thoughts.
The Tanzinite people have not the means to protect themselves from the Sorcerer.

“Thus we waited and hoped that the dual prophecy would turn for the good of us all.” Palme folded his arms across his chest. And then his voice lowered and Liana felt the caring in his words. “Especially for you, Liana. Although you never saw us, we ensured your safety and wellbeing throughout your years in Fiorn.”

“What do you want from her now?” Aric demanded before Liana could respond.

“We want nothing for ourselves.” Palme’s gaze met Liana’s and his stern features relaxed into a semblance of a smile. “It pleases us greatly that you are now safe from Zanden and happy with your new husband. Truly our only desire is that you know you have always been loved. We would have given anything to change the past.”

You are our only child.
Tears flowed freely down Salana’s pale face.
We hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us.

Throughout the exchange, Liana had been overcome by a sense of the surreal, and felt almost numb. But as she listened to Salana’s and Palme’s story, and sensed kindness and love radiating from them, tremendous warmth filled her.

With a smile to Aric, Liana tore herself from his grasp and went to her birth parents. “When I was a little girl, I often dreamed that you would come to me and say these very words.”

She fell into Salana’s embrace, and tears coursed Liana’s cheeks, mingling with her birth mother’s. Their essences mingled, and Salana’s hair caressed Liana’s shoulder. Liana felt a kinship with her mother that she had never felt with anyone else.

I would be pleased to have the opportunity to know you and become friends,
Liana told Salana as she pulled away, projecting her thoughts to Aric and Palme as well.

“Yes.” Aric’s expression relaxed as he stepped forward to shake hands with Palme and then kissed the back of Salana’s hand. “We would be honored to have you as our guests at our joining celebration.”

An hour later, Liana was clothed in a ceremonial gown that glittered with thousands of diamonds scattered across the silvery dark material. Angelei was brushing Liana’s tresses, making her hair shimmer down the back of her gown like moonlight against a star spattered sky.