Part of me couldn’t be all that mad about seeing it there. I smirked as I stared at it. Did he think I couldn’t pick a lock? The lock wasn’t the only new addition to the room, though. It took an ungodly amount of time for me to see the book lying on the table by the doors, and I thought it was the one Orphine had been reading.
I ate my supper, once more alone. Fresh water came quickly after that, and I cleaned up as I had before. The wound on my side hadn’t reopened, and as I gently prodded the skin, I thought it looked like a cut that was several days old instead of merely hours.
Makes you wonder how else the Primal embers may be protecting you.
I was beginning to wonder that myself.
More tired than I wanted to acknowledge, I dragged on a heavy forest green robe that I hadn’t worn yet, not even bothering with a nightgown. I went to the chaise and picked up the book. The writing was faint but legible, and yet the words still blurred as I stared at the page. I couldn’t focus. As the hour grew late,Nyktos’s plan occupied my thoughts. If and when Hanan would send more warriors, the questions I had about this army I didn’t know existed, and the fact that I couldn’t believe I’d spoken about Tavius or my life in Lasania. I didn’t like to think about those last two things, let alone speak about them. It made me feel itchy in my skin.
Rising, I went to the table and picked up the bottle of wine brought in with supper. It was sweet, and I took one long swallow, then another as I tried to distract myself with the book. That was a failure because the wine sure hadn’t helped the process. It had me staring at Nyktos’s door more and more, considering really foolish things.
I shrugged off the robe, letting it lay where it fell. I didn’t bother putting on a stitch of clothing, too warm from the crackling flames in the fireplace and the wine. I then put myself to bed before the wine goaded me into doing something reckless.
Like going to that damn door.
I smirked, imagining Nyktos’s reaction if I walked into his chamber, naked as the day I was born. He would…
What would he do?
My smirk faded as I turned my head, looking at the door. My thoughts found their way in there. In my mind, I saw his massive bed. Was he there? Resting? Or was he unable to sleep, too? Was he thinking of dark events that had taken place over the last several days? Or was he thinking about us on his bed?
I closed my eyes at the sharp pulse of desire. Shifting onto my back, I searched for something else to dwell on, but my mind betrayed me. It took me right back into his bedchamber, showing us on the bed, me on my knees, and Nyktos’s large body caging mine as he had on the Rise. There was nothing between our sweat-slick bodies, and every stroke of his was deep. It was a pleasure that had bordered on punishing. The fierceness of how he moved was far too easy to recall. It didn’t even seem like a memory, not when I could feel him even now, between my thighs and inside me. I closed my eyes, biting down on my lip as the need returned.
I kicked at the blanket twisted around my legs in frustration. Gods, why was I doing this to myself?
Carefully rolling onto my side again, I stared at the door once more. For a reckless moment, I entertained the idea of going to that door, finding it unlocked and entering his bedchamber. Therewas no smirk on my face now as I wondered if I would find Nyktos sleeping in his bed. Would he welcome me? Want me? Without regret? The breath I took was reedy as I imagined him curving his body around mine, touching me. Eyes drifting shut, I squeezed my thighs together, pressing my balled hand to my chest. My skin felt hot as I forced my fingers wide. My fingertips grazed the now-barely-there indentations left behind from Nyktos’s bite, sending an illicit thrill through me. The ache deep inside me throbbed as I drew a finger over a hardened nipple. My hips rocked—
There was a sound, quiet and too quick for me to make out. My eyes flew open, sweeping past the door to the drapes drawn across the balcony door. I saw nothing but shadows and night, but the chamber…it felt different. The darkness seemed charged. Had I turned off the lamp? Had it even been on when I lay down? I couldn’t remember thanks to the whiskey and the wine. But the chamber was empty except for me and my need, which felt as if it had become its own entity, filling the space even beyond the bed. I closed my eyes again, willing myself to sleep, but in the quiet, all I could think about was Nyktos’s mouth closing on my throat, my breast.
Open for me.
I shivered at the memory of his heated demand, easing onto my back. I kicked at the blanket again, welcoming the cooler air as it washed over my bare skin. It did nothing to ease the fire. The charged air only seemed to enflame it. My other hand fell to my stomach, pressing against my bare skin. The tips of my breasts tingled under my fingers as I moved restlessly, pressing my rear into the mattress. The dampness gathering between my thighs only increased.
My pulse thrummed as I slid my hand down as I had when I answered his demand. I hesitated, not from shame or inexperience—I’d pleasured myself before, obviously. But I didn’t let my mind wander to how I’d learned to do so—those memories were not welcome here—I hesitated because there would be no faceless, nameless visage in my mind like the times before. The lines and planes would be clear, as would the name. If I touched myself, it would be Nyktos’s fingers I imagined inside me. There would be no denying that.
Show me…
I let my thighsfall open to the cool air and the darkness of the room. I slid my hand farther down as I went back to the memory ofus. I was in his bed, and Nyktos’s mouth was on my breast. But it wasn’t my fingers that I rode as I eased one through the slippery wetness. It was his cock. I moaned, kicking my head back against the pillow as I began working my finger in and out, pressing the heel of my palm against the ultra-sensitive piece of flesh. The feel of him, stretching and filling me, was branded on my skin, too easy to recall. I eased another finger inside—
My eyes flew open as my heart pounded. There was no sound. Nothing I could hear over my panting, but there was that…shiftin the chamber again. An awareness.
A knowledge that I wasn’t alone.
My heart lurched as I looked down, past the fingers on my breast and between my legs, past my bent knees. I scanned the space at the foot of the bed, the unlit fireplace by the balcony doors, the shadowy chaise before it—
Theunlitfire?
Air stalling in my lungs, my gaze swung back to the chaise and the thick mass of shadows there. My heart continued to skip. That cluster of shadows didn’t seem normal. They weren’t as opaque as what the Cimmerian had conjured, and I could see the muted glow of flamesbehindthem now, but the shadows seemed to churn. I dragged in a breath. The scent of citrus and fresh air surrounded me.
The scent ofNyktos.
My body flashed cold and then hot as my lips parted. It had to be my imagination or the wine. He couldn’t be in here, but as I stared at the shadows, I was reminded of when I’d first seen him in the Shadow Temple and he’d been cloaked in endless night. The shadows seemed to have stilled.
Could he…could he be in here? Watching me?
The sharp twist of pleasure curling deep inside me was downright sinful. As was the flush of heat and wetness. My desire-laden thoughts raced. Nyktos…he could sense extreme emotion, and what I was feeling was pretty extreme. Could he even sense my need if he were in another chamber?
And had he come to me?