did you,” I told her. “He said you’re a fusion of flesh and flower. And you bit me, on the boat, asked for my blood then. You said Calanthe was hungry, and you were hungry. You’re some kind of extension of Calanthe. Calanthe was awakened by blood, and you needed to be revived. Those fucking wizards drained you of your blood, so I gave it back to you.”
A smile curved her lips, delight illuminating her eyes. “You have the intuition of a king, Conrí. Who’d have guessed?”
“I’m no king.” But the denial was reflexive. Kara had said that to me as we stood in the ruins of the temple at Cradysica, in a rare burst of sentiment. You are Conrí. Our king. My king. Now these people’s king.
“But you are. I think you knew what to do for Me because you are a true king, and you know intuitively how to tend the land.”
“Are you the land in this equation?” I teased.
“Obviously,” she breathed. She kissed me, and I tasted the salt of my blood on her lips, along with nectar, like the honeysuckle blossoms Rhéiane and I would pick, sucking the plucked tips of their sweetness. “Tend to Me, Con.”
“Always,” I said into her mouth. It didn’t matter if she wanted to be married to me. I was married to her the same way I belonged to lost Oriel. Something in me shifted and settled, the rightness of it glowing with surety. The king loved the land; the land didn’t necessarily love him back. But it did belong to him, and Lia was mine.
She’d been holding her injured hand carefully away, the twig fingers flexing like she wanted to touch me with them. I kissed her, feeling her open to my mouth, then touched my hand to the regrowing one. She tensed, pausing in her lush pleasuring.
“Does it hurt?” I asked, pulling back to see her face.
“No.” She searched my eyes. “You don’t mind?”
“Not at all.” We both turned our heads to watch as I threaded my fingers with the slender twigs of hers. They felt both delicate and strong, like the new limbs of a willow tree. Our hands joined, I brought them closer, brushing one of the slender fronds with a kiss. It smelled green, the leafy scent that was Lia. “I love all of you,” I told her.
She smiled and drew me into a kiss, opening like a blossom, heated and redolent of life. Much later, as I drifted into sleep, I realized the storm no longer howled.
7
When I woke, it was all at once, and I felt singingly alive. Con, his big body lax in exhausted slumber, lay curled around me, protecting me even in sleep. Bloodstains dotted the white sheets like crushed roses, the color vivid in the bright late-afternoon sunshine leaking through the cracks in the boards over the windows.
Sunshine. The storm had abated, at last heeding my wishes. That boded well for me getting a grip on Calanthe again. She still roared in the background of my mind but no longer felt entirely beyond my control. I could separate myself from Her again—a relief as visceral as being released from her grinding hunger. I still wasn’t sure how to pacify Her, or if I even could. Anure’s wizards, too, nibbled at Calanthe’s wards, searching for the orchid ring. I could feel their magic needles, poking at Her. I’d have to destroy them before they devoured me.
At least I felt finally able to face the possibility of trying.
All thanks to Con and his extraordinary actions. I studied his face, so much younger-looking in sleep. He’d come after me in Yekpehr, saved my life at least twice, declared his love for me—and shown it in so many ways. My heart wrung itself, full of so many raw emotions. As always, Con had a way of turning everything upside down. I didn’t know what to do about him.
But I did know I needed to get up and save my realm—if possible—so first things first.
Moving as silently as I could, I eased myself from his embrace, sliding out of the bed. I was so focused on not waking Con that I was standing before I thought to test my legs. They held me easily, vitality coursing through my veins. The orchid rustled in agreement, and even my twig fingers looked thicker, the vine webbing from the orchid’s band weaving through the lower part, forming a hand, the hint of a palm.
You are a creation of human