She shrugged. “The Realm of the Forgotten. I stashed Neeka there, but she’s gone now.”
He—What? She’d offered the information freely? His shoulders rolled in. Would he ever understand this woman?
She headed for the closet, stopped before entering, then pivoted and marched to Roc. “My selfish husband didn’t think to prepare a wardrobe for me. Out of my way. I’ve got to grab someone else’s gear from yet another room.”
Her attitude rankled. Selfish? He’d pleasured her well. Many times!
You also left her to deal with her own emotions afterward.
Guilt choked him. What if she had experienced the same sense of vulnerability as him?
“Why tell me the truth now?” he asked.
“Because I don’t have time for another mantrum. Your murder isn’t going to plan itself.”
Roc acted without thinking, picking her up and carting her to the bed, where he tossed her. Before she finished bouncing, he flashed to her side, coiled one arm around her and drew her against him.
“What are you doing?” She sputtered. “I’m not going another round with you. We’re enemies again!”
He didn’t know what he was doing. “We can be enemies tomorrow.”
“Fine.” Rather than reject him, she snuggled into him, seeking his warmth. “I’ll go another round with you.”
She had experienced vulnerability, and he had no idea what to make of it. All he could do was marvel. The unflappable Taliyah Skyhawk had been flapped. “We’re cuddling, not pleasuring.” He had some things to figure out first.
“I’m not so sure about that. Mmm. You smell good enough to eat,” she said, her voice thicker. She stiffened. “Uh, I should go.” Something tinged her words. Panic? “I need to go immediately.”
Leave him? No. Now that he held her against him again, her cool skin warming, he refused to let her go. “Tell me why you wish to flee, and I’ll consider letting you go.” Before I decline your request.
“Flee?” She balled her hands and beat on his chest. “You take that back! I do not flee. Ever.”
“Then settle in and get comfortable. We’re having a real conversation. We can discuss what occurred between us.”
“What? No! Dude. No. Don’t ruin this.” Bit by bit, she relaxed against him. Whatever had hurt—or spooked?—her no longer seemed to be a problem. “Nothing happened but a momentary truce. Tomorrow, we return to business as usual. Meaning, yes, you’ll stomp around like a drama queen, making decrees that I’ll ignore, and I’ll learn how to kill you.”
Roc heaved with relief—not a whole lot of irritation. “I’m glad you understand how things must be between us.”
Must? He was a god. Powerful. A creator of worlds. So he and his men had tried to find other ways to escape the blessing and curse. So they’d found none. Why must the sacrifice roll on? This marriage was different. Shouldn’t the ending be different, too?
Thinking like Solar?
“Understand?” Taliyah snorted. “Warlord, I’m demanding it.”
In all the worlds Roc visited, he’d encountered no one quite like Taliyah. Even now, in the warmth of his arms after four—five?—orgasms, she wouldn’t bend. “How are you not General yet?”
Her little claws curled into his chest as she petted him, and he knew the question pleased her. “Apparently my own sacrifices suck. Even the arm and leg I once amputated on purpose. Did I receive my star? Nooo.”
“Why did you offer an arm and a leg?”
“Haven’t you heard the old adage about giving an arm and a leg? Well, I had a dagger, so...”
Bad form to discuss your past brides with the current, yet he told her, “Chaos hinted that I’ve made mistakes with my sacrifices, as well.”
“What happens when you make the right sacrifice?”
“I ascend for the second time.” He needed to ascend to have a family. Could he have a family without his gravita? Here, now, with Taliyah pliant and curious, he thought he...wasn’t sure. “I will kill Erebus for good.”
She braced, as if expecting a blow. Why?
“Hey, the alevala are moving again,” she mumbled, resting her cheek on the hollow of his shoulder.
“They stopped?”
“While we were busy negotiating our...one-night truce.”
She didn’t know what to call what they’d done, did she? Good, because he didn’t, either. It hadn’t been sex. He’d had every type of sex imaginable, but this had been...better.
“That happens when I’m lost in anhilla.” To his knowledge, the alevala had never stopped due to arousal before.
“That was anhilla? Don’t take this the wrong way, but I didn’t expect your most fearsome state to mimic horniness.”
“You’ll know anhilla when you see it. I destroy every foe in my vicinity without thought, mercy or regret.”
“Okay, stop with the sexy dirty talk if we’re not going to fool around again.” She tapped the spot above his heart. “Stains are growing here. What’s that about?”
Tension overtook him in an instant. To distract her from the question, he reached out to clasp behind her thigh and heft her partly atop him. With her sex resting against his and her face cradled against his throat, he said, “Tell me more about you.”