The Lion Soul by Amy Sumida

Chapter Twenty-Nine

By late afternoon, I had managed a slight breeze, which my teachers swore was impressive. It didn't feel impressive to me, but Kaelen seemed to agree. With that debatable accomplishment under my belt, Kaelen and I bid my teachers goodbye, left the Academy, and got into Kae's carriage.

“I'd like to take you to dinner to celebrate your success, but I'm not sure it's a good idea,” Kaelen said hesitantly.

“You mean because someone might smell that I'm part Farungal?”

“Or at least not entirely Lion Fae.” He nodded. “I hate the idea of segregating you. We can risk it if you like. What do you think?”

“I think a carriage ride through the city will be a nice way to celebrate.”

Kaelen smiled softly at me, then leaned out the window to direct the driver. When he settled back on the bench, it was closer to me. “Thank you for being so understanding.”

I nodded. “This is only temporary, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“When will we tell people?”

Kaelen sighed. “I imagine it might be best to wait until after the war is over. Then we'll have proof that you . . .”

“Aren't an evil monster?” I finished for him.

Kaelen's jaw clenched.

“It's all right.” I laid a hand on his thigh.

He set his hand over mine. “No, it's not, but the last thing I want is a repeat of my father on a grander scale.”

“People can behave irrationally when they are afraid.”

“Yes, precisely.”

“But what if it's not irrational?” I whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“What if Ry'zaran does use me to get through the mist? What if that was his entire reason for changing me?”

“I thought you believed him when he said he wanted to help us?”

“I do.” I grimaced. “I did. But being here, seeing everything that I could be jeopardizing, makes me second guess myself.”

“Don't. You're not a Farungal soul stone”

“No, but Ry'zaran's magic created me. That's a pretty close connection.”

“You heard the Queen,” Kaelen said, “if Ry'zaran shows up, she wants me to hear him out.” He sighed. “Look, let's not worry about it before it happens. You did well today, and I'd like to take the night to celebrate that without anything else getting in the way.” He lifted my hand and kissed it. “I'm proud of you.”

“I barely lifted the feather.”

“It can take months for a faerie to learn to use the elements, Rie. Trust me, your lesson was successful.”

“Months?” I blinked.

“Perspective makes all the difference in the world, doesn't it?” He winked at me.

“Yes, it . . . does,” I trailed off, my gaze wandering out the window.

“What is it?”

“What is that?” I countered and pointed out the window at a crowd of people entering a large, circular building without a roof.

Kaelen glanced outside and then away. “That's the arena.”

Cheering erupted from the arena, distance making it sound hollow, but there was an unmistakable eagerness to it.

“What's happening inside?” I asked.

“Violence,” Kaelen huffed. “Lion Faeries fighting each other to entertain the masses. Some in lion form, some not.”

I grunted.

“You're not horrified?” he asked in surprise.

“I told you about the martial arts in Nazaka,” I reminded him. “People enjoy the thrill of seeing one warrior pit himself against another and it seems that the Fae are no exception.”

“Lions especially love it,” Kaelen said with a disapproving tone. “Some think it's because we became too civilized and most of us don't hunt anymore. Being a soldier helps with that, I suppose. Perhaps if I didn't fight Farungals, I'd be one of those people in there, anticipating the sight of another faerie's blood. As it is, it only disgusts and saddens me.”

“It doesn't disgust me, but I see no pleasure or point in it—not for me, at least.”

A roar carried over to us even though we were at least a block away from the arena.

Kaelen rolled his eyes, “I love being a Lion. I rejoice in the raw power of my beast, and I have no problem with giving into its instincts.”

“Yes, I've enjoyed your instincts myself,” I teased him.

Kae grinned, his expression lightening. “I'm glad you enjoy them, but that back there,”—he nodded in the direction we'd come from—“is taking it too far. We are not animals; we are Sidhe with the ability to become animals for short periods. There is a distinct difference. Behaving like that feels offensive to me. As if they're snubbing their noses at the Goddess's gift. She made us to be the best of both man and beast. To elevate the base mind of the lion and enhance the senses of the man. Not to sink into bloodlust.”

“But aren't your Gods beasts?” I countered. “Perhaps this bloodlust is a way of honoring them?”

Kaelen considered it, then said, “Yes, our Gods are Divine Beasts and, as I said, I embrace many qualities of my lion. But ravaging another faerie for entertainment?” He shook his head. “I can't imagine the Great Lion approving of that. Regular lions don't fight for fun. They fight to defend their territory or their family. They fight to claim new land or kill their prey.”

I grunted. “Yes, but as you said, the Sidhe have become civilized and now must find other ways of venting those instincts.”

“Are you trying to vex me?” Kaelen asked with a grin.

“No, I'm trying to understand the people and kingdom that I want to be a part of.”

“Ah,” Kaelen whispered, going serious. “My apologies. I was venting my frustrations on you.”

“It's all right.” I pressed my shoulder to his and nudged his face in a very Lion way. “I want to understand you as well.”

“And you don't?”

“I understand what you've shared with me. I'd like to know more.”

“I'd like that too. And I'd like to know more about you. Your family for instance.”

I looked back out the window. “Later, Kae. When it hurts less.”

“Hey.” He gently turned my face back toward him with a finger on my chin. “You don't have to share anything you don't want to. If you want your past to stay there forever, I won't ask about it ever again. I'm more interested in your future anyway.”

“You are very romantic for a Lion,” I teased.

“Lions can be romantic.” He grinned broadly.

“When is that? When they kill another lion and take their pride? Don't they mate with all the females and kill the cubs?”

Kaelen made a startled sound. “Fuck, Rie, you had to go there?”

I shrugged and chuckled. “Lions can be brutal. You forgot to mention that in your pretty speech.”

“No, I specifically said that they kill to gain territory or defend it,” he reminded me. “I just failed to mention what they did to ensure that their progeny inherited their territory after they claimed it.”

I laughed. “I can't figure out if you want to be savage or civilized.”

“That's my point, Shirie,” he growled and grinned wickedly. “I want to be both, and I want to do it my way.”

Then the Lion Lord pounced.

I wound up beneath him on the carriage floor, my pants discarded somewhere near his feet and his pushed down below his ass. Above us, the windows were open and the sound of other carriages and pedestrians carried in to us. So close, and yet, down there, no one could see us. Hopefully.

Kae growled against my throat as he entered me, and I set my feet against the benches to either side of us, bracing myself against his lust. His cock was slick with nectar and so thick that it took a minute to get him worked all the way in. When he was fully sheathed at last, we both groaned in the bliss of feeling complete. But instead of thrusting, Kae paused, his cock throbbing inside me and his breath hot on my neck.

“Where is that savagery you spoke of, Lion Lord?” I demanded.

Kaelen lifted his head and met my stare with an intense one of his own.

“Kae?” I asked in concern, my hands going to his face.

“It's here, Rieyu. The savagery is right here, but it's too much. I'm going to hurt you if I don't calm down.”

“Don't you remember the garden? I can take it.”

“I don't want you to take it,” he growled and shivered, his shoulders tight with the struggle to hold himself back. “I want you to enjoy it.”

“I did enjoy it.” I kissed his jaw and pulled him back to my throat. “And I'll enjoy this too, if you stop being such a fucking gentleman.”

Kaelen snarled, a purely animal sound, and bit my throat as he began to thrust. The carriage shook with his brutal pumping but since it was moving already, I didn't think anyone would notice. And I suddenly realized that I didn't care if they did. Propriety didn't seem so important with Kaelen inside me. Honor had flown out the open carriage window along with his lusty growls. Nothing mattered but the fact that the Lion Lord was giving in to his base instincts in his way, both savage and civilized.

All right, maybe it was a little more on the savage side, but I wasn't lying when I said I liked it. And I wasn't about to do anything to discourage it. Primal pleasure rolled through me as Kae's thrusts grew even wilder. The carriage creaked. His thighs and heavy sacs slapped against me, every shove taking me closer to ecstasy. Lion musk thickened the air. My cock pulsed, sacs tightening as it was rubbed between us, our velvet tunics creating a delicious friction. I clawed at Kaelen's back, my own savagery rising to the surface, and suddenly understood exactly what he'd been trying to say.

There was ferocity that was beautiful, and violence that was sickening. One was a way to honor the Gods and rejoice in the gifts they'd given us and the other made a mockery of them. The animal inside me may only be part lion, but it knew the difference, and it wanted nothing more than to honor the Gods with its body. To lift its hips to its lover and bare its throat to possessive teeth. Did the dragon inside me care that those teeth belonged to a lion? If it did, it didn't protest. Maybe I was too busy languishing in pleasure to notice. Too lost to the sound of Kaelen's panting breath and the scent of his skin. Consumed by the look in his eyes when he lifted his head to stare down at me. And utterly enslaved by the climax that roared through me and up my throat, dragging Kaelen along with me until his roar joined mine.

I think I liked Kaelen's way.