I think I am falling in love with you, Darkan
Penetrating eyes rested on her face. The woman you are would never do what your grandmother did. Everything you have done is for your people.
Yet if I allow myself to love you…to ache for you as I do now, when the choice comes, what will I do?
He smiled. Do you doubt you would find a way to save everyone you love? You would not be forced into a choice that would test your loyalty, duty or love.
Her heart ached. She drew his mouth down and kissed him with voracious hunger, assuaging the heat and need that pelted within her. Pleasure rose, dark and stormy, as Saieke sank into the world that Drac seemed determined to pull her into—one of danger, lust, uncertainty and pure decadence.
Chapter Fifteen
“Anxiety beats in your breast.”
“I think that may be your breath against my nipples,” Saieke said as he flicked his tongue stabbing at her nipple.
He lay between her legs, with his head resting between the globes of her breasts. She hazily looked around the room. “It is troubling to know that I see and hear so much more. Yet I find it exciting.” She purred as he laved the sharp nip at her nipple. She smiled; the most dangerous man she knew lay on top of her completely at ease.
“Our libraries have extensive records of our kinds, tomes, scroll, great books, they are centuries old. I invite you to look with me.”
“I would love that.” She sighed softly.
“I sent a team of warriors to hunt for your Queen’s blades.”
Relief pulsed in her. “Thank you. I was groomed with the thought that they were dispensable. Their duty is to give their lives for mine in service to the realm…but I hurt at the idea of their death.”
“It is normal to feel a bond with ones that trained you, Princess. Do you want vengeance on their behalf?
Saieke shifted. “Vengeance? You perceive them as dead?”
He grunted, and then pulled her sharply back onto his body. “The emperor of Mevia is famed for claiming prisoners. I can feel the guilt lashing at you. Why do you feel such emotions?”
“They were loyal to me, my blades, because of my plan, they are now dead or prisoners. Kamu had a tsari—a wife. Thyon had the court ladies fawning over him, he lost his family in the second Great War, but he had his duty to the realm that gave him purpose. I led them to their demise, but what is most painful is that I do not know their fate, so I can impart news to their loved ones.”
“I will retrieve knowledge of your Queen’s blades. If need be, I will personally travel to Mevia.”
“I… I…”
“Was that pulse of fear for my safety?” he drawled.
Saieke glared at him. “It is not a matter to be amused about.”
“Do you understand what I am?” asked so dangerously soft Saieke bit her lips.
“Yes.”
“Then why do you feel fear for my safety?”
Because I am falling in love with everything that you are. Saieke looked at the resolve that lined his face, reassured by the latent violence she saw there. “There may be times I forget your power, like now, when you are purring on me like a big kitten.”
She laughed at the look of surprise that flickered across his face. She held onto him as he grabbed her and shiktred with her to the cave. Saieke shrieked with laughter as he dumped her into the water. She spluttered as she surfaced. His mouth flittered over hers before sinking into a deeper kiss.
“You make me burn,” he murmured.
She chuckled in his mouth as she doused him with water. She blew against his lips and ice crackled along his frame. She yelped as shadows cascaded around her and swallowed. Saieke splayed her hands against his hardened stomach, reveling in the heat of him. He cocooned her in the shadows, and she could see nothing except the paleness of his face.
“I leave soon.” She loved the raw intimacy the cocoon he held them in created.
“I can feel your doubts rising, Princess.” He nipped her lips sharply, then used his tongue to capture the drop of blood that beaded.