“Be calm,” he said gently, “All is well. I just wanted to be sure Blake and Menion hadn’t upset you too much.”
Kira’s heart swelled. There was such genuine concern in his tone, she couldn’t help but smile sadly.
“What’s wrong?” Drake’s grip tightened on her fingers, and it was clear he was picking up on her emotions almost as instantly as she felt them. Is this what it’s like for all fated mates? she wondered, fearful that if he could feel her emotions so easily, Menion and Blake might be able to as well. What was to stop them from feeling her emotions right now? Instinctively, she glanced in the direction of the door.
Drake released one of her hands to place his fingers under her chin and turn her face back to his. “We are alone,” he assured her. “You’re safe with me.”
Kira allowed herself a moment to close her eyes and simply enjoy his closeness. When she opened them again, he was gazing down at her with an awestruck expression.
“What?” she asked uncertainly.
“You,” Drake responded, running the pad of his thumb over her lips in a gesture that caused her to tremble. “You’re just so beautiful.”
Instinctively, Kira’s eyes closed once more as she felt Drake leaning down toward her. The moment their lips touched, her entire body lit with a desire like none she’d ever felt before. Her fingers itched to run through his glossy, crimson-streaked hair. His hands on her cheeks appeared to be the only thing keeping her grounded as she suddenly felt as light as air.
It wasn’t until he ceased kissing her and pressed his forehead against hers, that she was finally able to take a long, grounding breath and center herself again. Both their eyes remained closed as Drake asked, “Will you tell me what Menion is really here for?”
Kira reacted instantly, taking a pace back, out of his arms. Drake looked dejected, but did not try to make any protest.
“Is that why you came back?” Kira demanded suspiciously. “You didn’t want to check on me. You just wanted information.”
The moment the words had escaped her lips Kira regretted them, yet there was no way to take them back. They hung in the air like a poisonous cloud between them, until Drake sighed and lowered his gaze, looking more than a little hurt.
“Kira, I don’t know what happened to you in the past to make you so distrustful, but you should know that I would never do anything to hurt you,” he said with such ferocity that Kira couldn’t help but believe him. She sucked in a breath through gritted teeth and began to shake her head.
“I’m sorry. I’m just so used to people wishing to use me for their own gain,” she admitted, closing her eyes in an attempt to sift through the thousands of thoughts whirling around her mind. She had so many questions that even being an oracle couldn’t seem to answer.
“I will admit,” Drake began as he stepped forward to take her into his arms once more, “that when I first agreed to join my brother on his quest to find you, I had every intention of using your gifts for my own gain, but ever since the moment I saw your face, I’ve been able to think of nothing else but holding you in my arms.”
The distrust Kira was so used to began to bubble up in her stomach all over again, and yet she couldn’t help but feel herself being drawn into Drake’s stormy grey eyes. He gazed down at her as if he was willing her to believe what he was saying, and there was something in his eyes that made her want to believe him.
Deciding that perhaps for the first time in her life, she might be willing to give not only him, but herself a chance at something more, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply before explaining, “Prince Menion came here for my tears.”
Though she didn’t open her eyes right away, she could feel Drake’s shock and confusion in the way his arms tensed around her. When she opened her eyes again, he was gazing down at her with a furrowed brow.
“It’s said that the tears of an oracle are almost as powerful as her visions,” Kira explained before he could ask the questions that were obviously forming on his tongue. “They might be able to cure his mother.”
“You don’t strike me as the kind of woman who wouldn’t be willing to heal someone if she could,” Drake pointed out with a raised eyebrow. His arms squeezed her gently, his hands firmly planted on the small of her back. Being in his arms suddenly made her feel as though she could talk to him about anything. The warmth of his embrace was like nothing she’d ever experienced before, and the urge to kiss him again was almost overwhelming. It was only the sudden seriousness of their conversation that stopped her from doing so.
“You’re right. But I have my reasons.”
Drake didn’t look as though he was going to question her on it, but in that moment, Kira realized she was fed up with trying to deny her past. She steeled herself with a deep breath and finally admitted out loud, “Before I found my little cabin in the mountains, I was a prisoner of King Dunston.”
The quizzical look on Drake’s face reminded Kira that Drake didn’t have any idea who that was, and she quickly added, “King Dunston is Prince Menion’s father.”
“Which would make Menion’s mother King Dunston’s wife,” Drake breathed out the words with understanding, and Kira began to nod. “Is that why you can’t or won’t help?”
Kira’s stomach clenched at the question, and she struggled with how much to tell him. I’ve come this far, she reminded herself.
“I won’t give anything that would benefit King Dunston,” she admitted, playing anxiously with a button on Drake’s shirt. “But even if I were willing to give up my tears, it isn’t that simple.”
“Because you cannot cry on command?”
Kira shook her head. “Because for the tears to be powerful enough to heal Menion’s mother, I must be brought to such ecstasy that I cannot help but cry happy tears.”
Drake’s body tensed against hers all over again, and the sense of desire that suddenly passed between them suggested the fae king understood exactly what she meant.
“I’m going to guess that means it can’t be forced?” Drake asked, and Kira nodded, cringing as she remembered the tales she’d read of previous oracles and how men had tried to force themselves upon them in attempts to gain the healing powers of their tears.