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As if that weren’t uncoh, the tes were still e heat from those direct flame hits The river of lava below didn’t help an to sweat A drop slipped froh His eyes locked on the drop as it clung to her pale flesh, poisedbefore it slid down like a lazy touch

He wanted to follow that trail with his tongue--then tug her little panties aside and discover what e positions?" When her thighs flexed around his waist, he jerked his gaze up

There was an unexpected e to investigate this, to test boundaries, was overwhel time, Talos "Good idea Yes" They shifted liether, perched across his own

"Interesting that you can read those glyphs," she reht not be de untruth

No one got his wings up like this sorceress! "You haveme I’m a demon You want this to be true, solely to , and you know it You lied earlier when you said you heard nothing, even though a dragon was approaching You told an untruth to get what you wanted: a look at ht?"

"Hoould you know if I’ve acted demonic? How many of their kind have fallen prey to your charet it If we’re about to die, I don’t want to fight with you" She wiped moisture froaze dipped to his chest, to the scars visible between the sides of what remained of his shirt

Noas her turn to follow drops trailing along his body She watched them as they meandered over the rises and falls of his scars

She’d mentioned them more than once yesterday How foul did she think the; instead he was often du scar, each raised welt He would absently trace theuilt for therasped her wrist, forcing her hand to his chest to explore the daaveher reaction

To his surprise, she slowly ran the pad of her forefinger over one, a line below his collarbone She continued on to another one, her expression contee his pain--to corew uncomfortable with her appraisal He was about to stop her when she traced the worst one, the one that had nearly taken his life

That shard of glass had pierced hi hi fro all the gods to spare her youngest son

Wrath He grasped Melanthe’s wrists

She blinked up at hiret what you did to ainst his wing "Sorceri disdain regret We consider it the equivalent of an offend her tells Whenever she lied, sos twitch Plus, she always leaned back from him, as if she wanted to put distance between theer "Untruth, Melanthe"

"Is that a Vrekener way of saying bullshit?"

"So you do feel guilt" She was capable of it "You must have heard I feel pain when I fly It seeladdened"

She crossed her arms over her chest "Do Vrekeners not have healers for their young?"

"Of course we do! My bones were set true, and healed strong"

"Then what happened?"

"I pushed the torn s and leg" As well asMy neck and shoulders "I did this up to the point when I froze into "

"You had to know the pain you were courting"

"What do you think would make me do that, Melanthe? I was on your trail before I was thirteen"

"So you overused your wings, and I overused hts, and noe’re both screwed Blaain, I can do this all day, deether For all these years, he’d never iitiuilt if you stopped treatingold’s sake, enough with trying to shame me about my sexual past--just because you’ve never been with anyone"

As ed

"So you haven’t been," she said in a quieter tone

He couldn’t read her expression, and that frustrated the hell out of hi him! "Unlike your kind, Vrekeners mate for life So, no, I haven’t enjoyed a horde of other lovers, as you’ve done"

Another flashing blue glare

"It seemed you ith every male but the one fate intended for you From me, you ran"

"What did you expect me to do whenever I saw you? Skip into your ar a pitchfork? I didn’t have any reason whatsoever not to run from you"

He had no answer for that He wasn’t her mate She’d told him that she had just lived her life

Without me As if he’d never existed for her

Maybe that hat angered hiotten hihts of her

TWENTY-ONE

Lanthe actually did feel the seeds of guilt

Seeing that memory of his had softened her toward his she’d once blamed him for, she found it difficult to hold on to the worst of her hatred

In fact, she could al, except for four things

He now hated her for his injuries He hated her for the loss of "years and children" He treated her like a war prize And he had a pathological level of jealousy and distrust

She would never convince hiirl She’d never convince hiht-skirt, and she had zero tolerance for his slut-shaer better; didn’tan intense attraction to Thronos? Like right noith his face set with deter her, and his scarred skin sheening with sweat