Page 42 (1/2)
As if the words were pulled from him, he said, “I ait until you feel better I’ve waited this long”
Since he’d been a teenager Lifeti lust
“Thronos, I’ll be fine if you give et used to the altitude”
She could hear his pulse accelerate as he said, “So tonight, we’ll”
All in, Lanthe? Accoe nancy
Which was a lot for any sorceress to have to decide in one night Was she really going to take this step?
She’d told hi expression like the one that Volar had sported, she’d consider giving it up
She regarded his face and found herself saying, “I figure I’ll go ahead and clai froht back Make yourself at home—because it is your home” At the doorway, he turned back “I’ht I feel like I should be chasing you, or we should be saving each other fro for you” When he exited with a look of longing, she reclined to gaze at the stars I’m in Thronos’s bed
Weird
How ht of her? He’d told her he’d dreahts How et nervous Because he was a virgin (her first and only virgin), she felt even ettable
But how could the reality possibly measure up to five hundred years of fantasy?
FORTY-SIX
Thronos was terinding pain right now So he ran, withstanding a lesser agony in his leg
He was actually going to claiht! He’d been so close in Feveris—or in his hallucination—yet then he’d had that bliss wrenched away fro would befall them before he could return to her He resolved to avoid Aristo Though his brother ht be away, Thronos entered the Hall quietly
He passed the sorcery power vault and the sacred scribe’s room, where the extensive list of offends, he experienced a twinge of guilt for all the things he’d done with Melanthe before they’d been wed
Soht, a proper wedding
He headed toward his fah boxes of ancient mementos and books By the tiht, in the most out-of-the-way spot, he was covered in dust
Whoever had organized this closet clearly hadn’t thought Thronos would ever get h pain coursed up his leg, he found hiht He could feel his horns straightening, beco more sensitive—
He froze Had the distinct i the back of his neck, he turned and scanned the shadows Spied nothing
Surely any Vrekener or Sorceri ward drifting about would hail hied off his disquiet by the time he’d reached the house He sed nervously as he unlatched their front door When he passed the bathroo beside the shoith her skirt and hose folded atop a ha her things here gratified hiree
She’d showered Should he? Another delay He glanced down at himself, at the dust
With an iarainst the wall Though the te to dihtnesswould he last long enough even to get inside her? Would he hurt her?
She’d taught hi better of it, he took the next ones over as well
When he returned to the bedroom, he had a torapped around his hps and the case at the ready
His heart stuttered a beat She was kneeling at the end of the bed, running the pads of her fingers over the footboard She wore her long shining hair loose, and she’d donned one of his shirts, rolling the sleeves up to her wrists The sight of her clad in soed to him affected him in inexplicable ways, s, to rub his horns all over her tre hiaze leisurely take in his face, his chest, lowerShe parted her lips on a sigh, and her little tongue wetted thelittered with appreciation—for hihtn’t even be real Feveris hadn’t been, nor those tireeted by his custo He would clench his fists, renewing his deterrin, she waved at his blatant erection behind the towel “Are you doing your Nereus ih escaped him before he even realized it “You really are here” Her ot hiht I’d see you in this bed”
“Thatit on his nightstand On their nightstand “By the way, the hot water’s broken”
“Oh?” Probably not a good time to tell her that there was never any hot water for showers
“So what’s in the case?”
He sat beside her, opening it to reveal the claio Theherbs
She unfolded it with a frown “This is what you had to retrieve? It won’t be big enough for your bed”
“We’re expected to keep that sheet between us It’s tradition”
“How is that going to work?” She trailed off when she found the stitched opening in the middle of the material “Well, how kinky But isn’t this supposed to be rubber?” She poked her forefinger through the gap, waggling her eyebrows at hihed “So s I’ll have to teach you I’ between us?”
He pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his aret to this bed before sleeping together I want to do this right A properbusiness is iainst hers “But, Melanthe, youAnd while I can’t have others—obviously wouldn’t even if I could—you could find sohs “If we take this step, you’ll have to pick me over all the men you’ll o” As if I would now