“For now.”
The curl of his lips returned as he lifted his gaze to mine. “And yet it feels as if we’re still locked in battle.” He eased his fingers from my hair and raised his thumb to my cheek, touching the skin beneath the scratch and then my throat, just below the healing bite.
Nyktos stayed there for several moments and then pulled back. He watched me as he kicked off his boots, as if he expected me to bolt. But I hadn’t lied when I’d said that I was done fighting for the night. The exhaustion had returned once more, but this time, it was warm instead of brittle. I stayed where he’d left me, watchinghimas he stepped back and turned to the side. My gaze dipped, and I saw the hard line of his arousal, clear against his breeches. A pleasant ache settled in my breasts and lower when he pulled his tunic off. The swirls of ink along his sides and back were a blur in the dim light as he walked around the side of the bed, to his wardrobe. He opened a door and then reached down to his breeches. My lips parted as he undid them, revealing the hard curve of his ass. I didn’t look away as I’d done at the lake. I soaked in the golden-bronze flesh and the dusting of dark hair on his legs.
His body was…it was indecent.
Nyktos pulled on a pair of loose, black pants like the ones Nektas had manifested. He turned back to the bed and freed his hair from the knot at his neck. As the strands fell against his shoulders, I couldn’t help but think how intimate this felt.
The lights in the wall went out as he approached the bed, plunging the room into darkness.
“That was me,” he said upon my gasp.
It took my eyes a moment to adjust. He was at the side of his bed. “More magic?”
“Yes.”
The bed dipped under his weight, and I…I was still where he’d left me. In the darkness, he came to me. He folded his arm over my waist, and I didn’t resist—mainly out of shock—as he tugged me back and then down, bringing a blanket over my legs. My head hit a pillow, and then the bed shifted more as he settled behind me.
His arm was still draped over my waist, but no other parts of our bodies touched, even though there couldn’t be more than an inch or so of space separating us. My eyes were wide and fixed on the darkness. Several moments passed. “I didn’t think you meantwithin arm’s reachin the literal sense.”
“I did.” His cool breath touched my shoulder, sending a faint shiver through me.
The weight of his arm was…it was too grounding. Tooeverything. “I don’t think I can sleep like this.”
“If I can, you can.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Just close your eyes and try, Sera.”
Gods, when he said my name like that—like it was a solemn vow—it always left me rattled and thrown. I closed my eyes, hearing only the sound of my heart and his deep, steady breaths, and focused on those breaths until I… I did the impossible and fell asleep. I didn’t know how much time passed before I was jarred awake.
Something…something had happened.
I stared into the darkness, quickly becoming aware of how tightly Nyktos held me. He had his arm clamped down on my waist, and the slip was an inconsequential barrier against the cold press of his flesh to my back. His chest rose and fell sharply, and his breath came in rapid, short bursts against the curve of my neck and shoulder.
Was he dreaming?
I tried to turn my head to look back at him, but his arm clenched, drawing me deeper against the curve of his body. “Nyktos?” I whispered.
There was no answer.
Concern rose. I reached down, touching the tense, corded muscle of his arm.
A tremor ran through his entire body. “Promise me,” he rasped. “Promise me you’ll never go after Kolis again.”
My heart stuttered as I sucked in a shallow breath.
“Promise me, Sera. Never again.”
I squeezed my eyes shut against the sudden dampness gathering in them and spoke two words I shouldn’t. “I promise.”
Chapter 8
Nyktos was gone when I woke, but my last words to him lingered.
Promise me.