Raven of Water

Chapter 28: Reprieve

I sighed as Kai pulled me into his lap, his mouth swallowing the sound of my quiet moan as his lips drove all other thoughts from my mind.

"You're perfect, Lex." He broke the kiss, deftly untying the belt of the robe so that his fingers could brush over the skin of my abdomen and breasts.

"I know." I laughed, a sound that devolved into a gasp when he growled and nipped my lip before lifting me in his arms and carrying me over to the bed.

The man set me down gently before removing the robe I wore and tossing it to the floor. At some point, the towel from my head had come unwound and fallen off, leaving my wet hair to fall in strands around my face.

Grinning, I felt a shimmer of Kai's magic and looked up to find the man in his demon form and smirking at me as he stripped off his own clothing. While staring at me as he undressed, he paused, looking saddened and guilty. I swiftly ended that pouting by not giving him any time to think before I left the bed and grabbed his hand, pulling him to the mattress with me.

He'd taken off enough clothing...

"Stop thinking Kai. Your habit of thinking too much is what got us into this mess."

He chuckled, breath hot on the skin of my neck as our bodies slid together, stroking and teasing one another, but not distracting us so much that we stopped our conversation.

"I don't really understand how this is happening. I thought you hated me. You should hate me."

"I've never hated you, Kai." I paused, guiding his face to mine and cupping his cheeks in my hands as I whispered. "You pissed me off, yes, but I still want you. Even if you're dumb. But, if you screw me over again, and not in the way I want, then my revenge will be swift and righteous."

The man smiled, a bit sadly, before gently removing my hands from his face and cradling my hands in his. When he spoke, his gaze grew darker. "In your escape, you were hurt because of me."

I rolled my eyes, grabbing the man's ass and squeezing. "I got hurt because of a bunch of asshats and weirdness and your poor decision making, but... if it hadn't been you, it would've been some other demon here in this world. So, stop blaming yourself. I already told you. I'll fix this."

Even though he looked broken, his smile had me shuddering and reaching down to stroke him. He hissed before growling out the words, "One last thing. Don't tell me your plan, darling. I know you have one, but the less we know about each other, the better. If Daz can read your intention, he'll assume it's the last-ditch imagining of someone condemned to die. He won't take your plan seriously because he'll underestimate you. With me... if he can read my intentions, then he'll get into my head and know everything you're going to do... He's done it before. I think I can resist him, but I'm not sure. So the less I know the—"

I sneered, using the hand that wasn't gripping his manhood to pull his face to mine, kissing him to cut off his words. As his hands brushed my body, sending trails of burning desire fluttering across my skin while I stroked him, I broke the kiss and grinned.

"Shhh... we're doing more important things."

"You really are my Lex." He laughed softly, lips brushing my temple as his searching hands and the thrusting movement of his hips grew more impatient.

"I am," I nodded, removing my hand from his erection, leading the man to huff. "And I don't know when or how we can make up for all this... male savior bullshit you've tried to pull, but it will be after I fix things. Now, stop talking about it. Here I am, throwing myself at you, and all you want to do is talk."

"Oh, that's very much not all I want to do." He whispered, lips sliding down my body, pausing at my breasts.

"Then, sex first."

His eyes shimmered darkly, and the man grinned at me, eyes ablaze with flames before he ducked his head lower, tasting me and making me arch back into the mattress, my hands gripping the sheets tightly.

Later.

Worry later.

We had much more important things to do first.

***

I woke up some time later to find Kai sitting by the fire in a large leather chair. The covers were rumpled thanks to our lovemaking, and the memories of what we'd done warmed me as I nestled into the heat of the fluffy comforter, watching the demon stare into the flames.

He'd spread my dress in front of the fire to air out, though part of me was wondering why he couldn't use his magic to dry the thing when a flash of memory reminded me of the knife I had stashed in the pocket. Thankfully, even from this distance, I could see the outline of the item resting there. I wondered if Kai had found the knife and left it there for me... then I remembered he'd given the dagger to me in the first place. Of course this version of Kai knew I had it.

What I was supposed to do with the thing was anyone's guess.

With the man distracted, staring at nothing in particular, I allowed myself a few moments to take in his form, his beauty. He was so perfect that my chest ached, but Kai looked sad, remorseful, the look affecting his handsomeness. And the man's stillness was eerie enough to unsettle me.

"If you keep scowling like that, your face will get stuck that way."

My words had the man's gaze snapping to me. He was still in demon form, but his eyes were softer, though they still were still alien enough to make me shudder.

"You're awake."

"And you're brooding." I sighed, sliding from under the covers and wandering over the man, realizing idly that where he'd put on pants, I was still naked.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked when I reached his side, reveling in the thrill of power I felt from the dark desire held in his gaze.

"Us." He whispered, eyes sliding over my body before landing on my eyes.

"Oh? Think of anything interesting?"

"I know what I need to do, but I don't want to deal with the consequences of it..."

The soul-wrenching look he gave me had me pausing before I made a sound of discontent and slipped into his lap. The demon welcomed me, though there was hesitation in his embrace.

"You're a worry wart. I told you. I'll save you."

"Don't..." His plea had me scowling as I pulled back and delivered an incredulous look. "Don't save me, Lex. Please?"

I snorted, not letting that morose look affect me as I slid my fingers into his hair and held his gaze. "Stop. I told you. I have a feeling this is going to work out. You... past you... told me that—"

"Lex—"

"I know. I know." I rolled my eyes. "I'm not supposed to tell you my plan, and you're not supposed to tell me yours. Which is dumb, by the way, but I know how stubborn you are. You're not going to change your mind."

The firm set of his mouth told me I was right, that he'd decided what was going to happen long ago and didn't want me to challenge the inevitability of our fate.

On some level, I understood it. Fate and time were troublesome things. One wrong move, one accident, could fuck up the progression of time and threaten the fabric of reality.

But this reality was super overrated, and something within me, that nagging trickle of power from the well of strength inside me, told me that everything was going to play out like it should. This would simply be a lesson in Kai checking his ego and me flexing my true abilities as a... a... something.

'Witch' no longer seemed to be the right term for what I was.

Or what I was becoming.

"How long do we have left?" I whispered, suddenly fixating on his lips, the contours of which were artfully accentuated by the light of the roaring fire at my back.

"A few hours."

His breath was warm on my skin. Smirking, I whispered good before pressing my lips against his, tasting his mouth as his hands inched their way up my back, long nails delicately scratching my skin as he moved.

A few hours.

It was a shame we didn't have longer than that...