“Very good job,” he says, and he strokes my cheek.
I don’t move, don’t say anything. I’m too scared and intrigued, frozen as he touches me. I’m naked and alone with him, and it’s not lost on me that he could do whatever he wants to me.
So, what is his next move?
7
Tolmond
It’s an effort to keep my eyes on her face, although her face is no less beautiful than the rest of her. Having Piper stand before me completely bare is testing every bit of self-control that I have.
Her hazel eyes sparkle as she looks up at me, something like trepidation and desire written in her features. My gaze falls to her lips, and I move my thumb across them, savoring their fullness.
I want to kiss her, to taste her, more than I’ve wanted anything in the past century, but the unease rolling off of her keeps me from pushing things too far. If it were any other human woman, I likely would’ve taken what I wanted by now, chaos magic or not.
But Piper… Piper is different. Piper makesmedifferent.
I don’t want to rush anything with her. Hell, I don’t even know if she’s interested in me, and that matters more to me than it ever has before. I don’t want to push her into doing anything she isn’t ready for.
Even worse, I don’t want her to agree and fall into my bed because she’s scared, or lonely, or thinks she has to in order to survive. I want her to want me the way that I want her, and I want to be able to take my time in showing her just how badly I’ve wanted her from the moment I saw her.
She seems so innocent in so many ways, as if no one has ever looked at her in the way a man looks at a woman. Piper behaves as if no one has ever touched her, wrenched her pleasure from her over and over…
Desire burns under my skin as I drop my hand from Piper’s face, turning away from her. While my back is to her, I readjust myself against my too-tight pants, praying she hasn’t noticed the evidence of my attraction to her.
I need to get a grip.
Thinking this way only complicates everything, and will make things even harder than they need to be, especially considering that the Hooded One has plans for her.
I grab a soft white robe off of the wall, taking a cooling breath before turning back to Piper. Her eyes are on the ground, an emotion I can’t quite place on her face, her cheeks stained a beautiful crimson.
Piper wraps the robe around herself wordlessly, and a pit hardens in my stomach at the sudden shift in her behavior. She’s typically shy, but this seems different. She steps toward the door, her eyes still on the ground, when I intercept her, gently catching her chin in my fingers and lifting her face to mine.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask her softly, searching her eyes for any indication of what’s upset her. Surprise and something like embarrassment flashes through her eyes as she shakes her head.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she says, though her voice wavers. I only look at her expectantly, and I know that she knows I don’t believe her for a second.
Piper smiles softly at me, reaching a small hand up to wrap around my wrist beneath her chin. I fight a shudder at her touch, the way it feels to have the soft pads of her fingers graze the sensitive skin of my inner wrist.
“I promise, Tolmond. Nothing’s wrong.” She offers me another sweet smile, and I release her chin, albeit a bit reluctantly. One of the lesser servants appears in the doorway, and while I instructed him to arrive to take Piper to her room, I have half a mind to send him away and escort her myself, if only to spend more time with her.
Unfortunately I have other duties to attend to. I give the zonak a sharp nod, chiding myself mentally for hating the pissant servant for simply being near Piper.
“This zonak will escort you to your rooms,” I say as I turn to Piper, placing both of my hands on her upper arms. “I’ll be in my study. If you need me, there will be zonak around to attend to your every need, don’t hesitate to send one of them for me.”
Piper nods, looking at me as if she has something to ask, but seemingly decides better of it as she turns to follow the zonak down the hall.
“Tolmond?” I look up at the sound of her voice to find her lingering in the doorway, looking unsure.
“Yes?”
“Thank you… for taking care of me, I mean.”
Her gratitude for such a simple thing nearly cleaves my heart in two. The fact that she thinks she needs to thank me for being decent, for simply existing without hurting her…
“You don’t need to thank me,” I reply, my voice rougher than I’d care to admit. Piper just smiles and shrugs at me before disappearing down the hall, and I’m left with only my thoughts.
The room feels far too empty without Piper in it, so I don’t linger long, heading to my study instead. There’s plenty for me to do, tomes and papers and various correspondences waiting on my desk regarding the chaos magic phenomenon and the various lectures I host over it, but I can’t seem to focus.