“Okay. Come to bed.” I scoot over to make more room for his seven-foot-something frame.
He doesn’t budge. “Only if you still want me to grip you like an insect. Otherwise, I will take the floor.”
“I’d like that. The gripping,” I add, in case he thinks I meant the floor-sleeping.
Finally, he settles in beside me on his side, our faces nearly even, too close to focus, our breaths mingling. I’d only have to move my arm out from between us to kiss him. My heartrate kicks up just thinking about it, but my stomach clenches at the prospect of his guaranteed rejection.
All this awkwardness has made me feel weirdly vulnerable. Most of the time, he seems so transparent to me, his hurt wrapped around him like a black cloak. But here, bare and begging, his hand sliding up my spine, I realize I don’t know him at all.
“Why did you make me ask you again?”
His hand clamps comfortingly on the back of my neck, and I go boneless like a kitten. Lyro’s lids slide shut for a long momentand then reopen. “What you said before about my concubine on the Eye, how we were both prisoners. I worry that the same is true for us now.”
I almost laugh. “I’m not a prisoner. I want to be here.”
He sighs. “You are very...giving. I don’t want you to give me something you can’t afford just because I asked for it.”
Sweet. I move my arm, leaning forward to close the gap. His fingers slide up to twist in my hair, stopping me before I can press my lips against his. A sigh slips out of me as the tips of my breasts graze his chest. “Someday I’ll convince you that kissing isn’t a waste of your mouth.”
He gives a sharp laugh. “I know it isn’t. My mouth just requires more than one occupation. For now, it’s my only weapon. My only potential salvation. I have very little power, and almost all of it is balanced on the strength of my words, the dedication of my prayers. I can’t—”
“Waste it?” I finish for him, too conscious of all the places our bare skin is touching. Of how my core isachingto be touched.
“Forget myself. Not yet.”
I’m not sure he’ll ever be able to forget himself completely. I slide my hand over his arm, pausing when his breath sucks in and his bicep flexes under my palm. Now he knows how I feel about the slight strain of his fingers in my hair. I want to lean in, feel it more. “When?”
“When I get word from my brother, Nik.” He tugs my head back, exposing my throat, and runs his nose from my collarbone to my jawline. Goosebumps erupt over my arms and stomach, and my fingers dig into the muscle of his arm. “Lothan sent me to rescue you, but he is not the only one who is interested in your...safety.”
Guilt tamps down some of my desire. I didn’t comm Ada today. I should have done it while Lyro was working on his shipinstead of watching the transport run and napping. I was too tired to deal with her reaction, I reason. I’ll do it tomorrow.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Lyro presses, tightening his grip on my hair and giving me a small shake. Just like that, I’m heated up again.
I wrap my leg over him, tangling us up, even though our height difference means I’m stuck grinding against his abs and not where I’d really like to be. “Not really.”
He growls under his breath, his fingers relaxing until he’s absentmindedly fingering the strands at the nape of my neck, sending waves of tingles over my scalp. “I can’t find a way to say it that doesn’t paint me in a poor light.”
“You can tell me. I’ll reserve judgement.” I pet his shoulder and arm, letting my fingers play down over his chest until he snaps and lunges forward to nuzzle into my neck again. This time, he runs the points of his teeth over the sensitive hollow above my clavicle. Every time he scratches me with them, he licks the spot with his hot, slick tongue. The one he used so skillfully the other night. Practically panting, I tack on, “If you want to kiss me, that’s fine, too. Anywhere you want, if you’re allergic to my mouth.”
He growls into my skin before pulling back slightly. “What are you doing to me, terrakin? You’ll make me betray every loyalty.”
I grin at him, hoping that’s a good thing. “Trying to understand you. Where you’re head’s at.”
His expression goes bleak. “It is on a space station thousands of miles away,” he says. “Where it has dwelled for many years. As long as I have lived there, my mother has, too.”
With a jolt, I remember what he said about love, about how love persists. Specifically, his mother’s love. I suck in a breath. “She’s still there, living with the priests? I thought she would have left once your dad passed away.”
His mouth tightens as he jerks a nod. His fingers smooth down over the back of my neck, like he’s soothing me. “My father’s other concubines are there, as well. My brothers’ mothers. The High Priest, Zomah, refuses to let them go.”
“Why?”
“Strings,” he says cryptically. Then he clarifies, “He uses them to control me. That is why I am here. Zomah sent me to collect you. He wants to use you to manipulate your sister.”
Shock ripples through me. I’d assumed Ada and her emperor had orchestrated my rescue, but maybe they didn’t! “Didn’t Lothan send you here?”
Lyro nods. “He did, too. But if I fail him, I merely frustrate and disappoint him. If I fail Zomah...”
“He’ll hurt your moms.” I feel sick. I sit up. “We have to go, then! Whatever he wants, it’s worth it.”
