Chapter Twenty-Three-All Confessions Lead To Clorva
Once I’d sent the mess away, I stood and stretched. “Oh, hey, what were you gonna tell me earlier?” I asked.
He paled and gulped. “Sade,” he said. He stood, also, and came closer. Resting his hand on my cheek, he looked deeply into my eyes. “I don’t want to scare you, but I have to tell you.”
My heart thrummed faster. “Tell me what?”
He grinned, a little dimple showing up in his cheek, and blinked. “I love you, Sadie Tabors. I think I have since the first time I met you, I just didn’t know it.”
Swallowing hard, I studied his bright blue eyes peering into mine so intently. “You love me?”
He nodded. “I do. And I’ve wanted to tell you for the past few days, but I couldn’t do it. I was too chicken.”
Snaking my hands up his chest, I locked them around his neck. “Really?”
He nodded. “Really.”
I knew in that moment I wanted to share myself with him. Aiden had always been the one I wanted in my mind, the person who knew me so well, the one who could make me smile through my tears. Breaking our embrace, I slowly undid my shirt, stripping down to my bra.
His eyes widened as he watched me. “Sade?”
“Take a shower with me,” I cooed seductively. Popping the button on my pants, I wiggled free and stood before him in my underwear.
He ran his hand through his hair and I saw his neck move as he swallowed hard several times. “Are you sure, Sade?”
I nodded. “I’m sure, but I haven’t…before,” I confessed.
He trailed his fingers from my shoulder and down my arm. “Me neither.”
My head snapped up. “What? You haven’t?”
He shook his head. “No. I always wondered why, but a small voice in the back of my mind talked me out of it. I was waiting for you to find me, Sade. To make me remember.”
Grabbing my dagger from the floor, I sliced his shirt open and peeled it from his body. “You always know the right thing to say, Aiden.”
He was breathing heavier by now. “That was sexy as hell, Sade,” he said huskily.
Tossing the dagger away, I fumbled with the button on his pants before he took over and stripped to his boxers. Awkwardly, we stood mostly naked in front of each other, studying one another.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. He pulled me close, his hand getting lost in my hair as he kissed me deeply.
Our tongues danced as our mouths moved in sync. We kissed passionately, the heat growing with each movement. He snapped my bra open, slowly pulled it away, and threw it to the side. Hooking my fingers inside his boxers, I tugged and pulled until they dropped to his feet.
I still hadn’t opened my eyes, scared of seeing him ready for me. Instead I turned away, wiggled out of my panties, and walked to the bathroom, calling for him to follow.
As I bent over to start the water, I felt him press against my backside. Warmth flooded my body and I turned the shower on. Climbing in, I breathed deeply and fought to control my fear. He joined me in all his naked glory, looking more beautiful than ever before.
“We don’t have to,” he said gently.
“I want to,” I said. “I’m just scared. I don’t know what to do.”
He shrugged. “Me neither…we’ll figure it out together.”
Standing under the water, I nodded and let my hair get wet. He watched me, a fire heating his eyes I’d never seen before. Then I pressed myself to him and leaned my head in.
His mouth devoured mine. The water flowed over us as he pushed me against the shower wall and his mouth assaulted mine in the best way possible. His hands roamed over my skin, his thumbs caressing and massaging my breasts.
Who knew that his touch would feel so good?
I ventured lower, allowing my own hands to explore his body. He groaned in my mouth, moving his lips to trail up and down my neck and across my collarbone. He lowered his head, taking my nipple in his mouth, and I gasped in pleasure.
That was the last straw for us both, and he shut the water off before lifting me around his hips. “Let’s go to the bed,” he growled.
I giggled and nodded. He carried me carefully, as we hadn’t bothered to dry off, and tossed me on the bed. Climbing slowly up the bed, water dripped from his hair as he made his way to my face, where he continued to kiss and tease me with his tongue and hands.
Pleasure took over and my mind became mush. Each touch sent shivers through me, until he was moving his hands in ways that made me crazy. I thrashed my head from side to side as he moved his fingers within me, crying out his name, begging him for more.
“We don’t have a condom,” he growled.
Snapping my fingers, one appeared over the length of him and I grinned. “Now we do.”
Opening myself up to him, I felt him pressing against me, and prepared for the pain I expected to follow. He moved gently, carefully, and the pain wasn’t as intense as I expected. Once I was adjusted to him, he leaned down and we kissed until we couldn’t breathe.
We came together, moving as one, as we expressed our feelings with our bodies. Nothing in my life prepared me for how this moment felt with Aiden. He touched more than my body, reaching deep down into my heart. When we finished, we stayed together, kissing and caressing one another.
He grinned happily, rolling to the side and pulling me to his chest. “I really do love you, Sade.”
“Aiden,” I said cautiously. “I never expected you. You rolled into my life like a storm, turning my emotions upside down. You completely changed me that day I met you. Boys were never on my radar, a waste of time in my mind. Then you came, and you needed me. You were my light on a dark day, my rainbow in the rain. I don’t know what I would do without you. And I know we aren’t heart mates, but Aiden….”
The next words didn’t come easily, but I’d had so many other firsts with Aiden, what was one more?
“Aiden,” I whispered. My thumb caressed his three day beard, the hair prickling my skin. “I love you.”
Leaning his forehead into mine, he grinned. “I knew it.”
Within seconds the world spun and we were ripped from one another’s arms. I called for him, but the sound was drowned out by the ferocious wind.
Bram was right. Revealing and accepting my deepest secret was the key to unlocking Clorva. Loving Aiden was something I’d done for so long, but only now did I accept that it was true. I loved Aiden Rivers. And my love for him was what tore us apart.
The movement stopped, and I landed hard on my bottom. Standing, I looked down at my clothing. A deep red ball gown and my leather jacket. “What the hell?” I murmured. Thanking the stars my boots were intact, I reached in and grasped my dagger. I sliced the dress at my knees, then ripped it the rest of the way and threw the fabric to the side.
Much better.
Taking in my surroundings, I saw trees. Lots and lots of trees. Mountains upon mountains of them graced the sky. In front of me, a large maze appeared, like something from a Harry Potter book. Aiden was nowhere in sight, thankfully, but I couldn’t help but feel panicked wondering what happened to him.
As if this place read my thoughts, a large glass tower rose up in the center of the maze. Aiden lay on a bed, sleeping, inside. No, no, NO! He wasn’t supposed to come here! How could I protect him in Clorva?
“What is this, sleeping beauty? If someone tells me I have to kiss him to wake him up, I’m blowing this place up!” I screamed to anyone who would listen.
Aiden then rose, much to my relief, and pounded on the glass. His muffled voice was low, but I could make out what he said. “Sade, don’t do it! Don’t!”
Don’t do what? I mouthed.
Bram’s voice rung out overhead. “Sadie Tabors, you have unlocked Clorva and the Sorcerer Wars. Congratulations.”
“I don’t really think this calls for congrats, Brammy.”
He growled and I smirked.
“
Aiden will die within three days’ time. You must enter the maze in order to save him and prove you’re worthy for the wars.”
Aiden couldn’t die. “I don’t want to go to any war,” I sassily replied. “What’s Aiden got to do with this anyway?”
“Then he dies.”
Bram knew he was my weakness and that was why he brought him here. But why three days? How was I going to get to him? I knew this damned maze would have more obstacles than I cared to think of.
I looked to the side, pretending to be engrossed by the tree with the gnarled, barely visible purple roots at my side, but really I weighed my options. I’d lost Aiden once—I wouldn’t do it again. If I stepped inside, Bram held the power. He was in charge. If I didn’t, I couldn’t reach Aiden.
“Fine,” I called. “What do I do?”
“You must enter the maze and complete it, reaching Aiden before time runs out. Your magic will be bound the moment you step inside and all you can use are the weapons on your person.”
As he spoke, a whip appeared in my left hand. What in the crap was I supposed to do with a whip?
“When you’re ready, Sadie Tabors.”
“Why can’t I have powers? I thought this was the Sorcerer Wars!” I growled, screaming the words to the sky.
Bram didn’t reply, but I heard him chuckle overhead. Where in the hell was he, anyway? I needed to kill the bastard as soon as possible, and was kind of pissed at myself I didn’t do it before.
I hated how he always called me by my first and last name. I hated him, period, actually. Securing the dagger back in my boot, I slung the whip over my shoulder and sent a prayer for assistance.
I stepped inside, and part of me was gone as soon as my foot hit the grass. My power was bound. Aiden screamed from his cell, but I ignored him. I would do this for him. For us.
Bram’s voice spoke again. “Let the Sorcerer Wars begin.”
People and Places: A Dictionary
Clorva-the sorcery realm
Ceeva-the human realm
Bram-the first of the six original sorcerers
The Six-Bram, Pryce, Wolfe, Quinton, Iyler, and Aric
Crimson Calamitous-the smoke-power hungry filled sorcerer who took vessels to survive. Defeated by Olivia Tabors when she was seventeen.
Elite-a descendant of the Crimson Calamitous
Dark Sorceress-the one who will defeat The Six and change sorcery forever
Clarqa-the realm for spirits of dead sorcerers
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You can get book two, Straying Sadie, here!