His thumb stroked lightly across the top of my foot.
My entire body shivered.
“Yeah,” he breathed, eyes lifting to mine. “I know.”
His touch lingered—just a few fingers resting against the top of my foot—but it felt like my whole body was straining toward that point of contact. Everything inside me felt fragile and too big, like a trembling glass filled to the brim, ready to burst.
Jace’s thumb made one more slow pass over my skin.
I sucked in a breath that stuttered, a sound escaping me—small, broken, humiliatingly soft—a whimper.
His eyes flicked up immediately.
Not mocking; not surprised.
Something else—something dark and intent—gone just as soon as it came.
The silence between us stretched thick enough to drown in. My heartbeat felt like it was happening in my throat, like I couldn’t swallow around it.
He didn’t move his hand.
And I didn’t dare move at all.
Another breath slipped out of me, shaky and thin. My toes curled again uncontrollably. My fingers dug into my knees. I wanted—God, I didn’t even knowwhatI wanted, only that his hand was on me and it felt like sunlight and danger and relief all tangled together.
“Elior…” he crooned.
Then—
His hand disappeared.
Just gone. Leaving my skin buzzing, cold, almost aching in its absence.
I blinked at him, startled, breath still caught half-formed in my chest.
Jace sat back on his heels, expression smoothing into something easy—too easy, considering what he’d just done. He ran a hand through his hair like nothing unusual had happened, like we hadn’t just crossed a line.
“Well,” he said lightly, pushing to his feet with a soft grunt, “thank you for listening. I feel much better now.”
I stared up at him, mouth parted, unable to form a single coherent response.
His lips tipped into that faint, crooked smirk he wore. “See you in the morning, Elior.”
And just like that, he turned and walked down the aisle.
No bow. No hesitation. No sense of the world-splitting moment he’d left me drowning in.
The chapel door creaked open, spilling a slice of night air across the sanctuary, before shutting behind him with a quiet thud.
I was alone again.
But my skin still burned where he had touched me. My pulse wouldn’t slow. My thoughts wouldn’t settle into anything understandable.
I pressed a trembling hand to my chest.
I wasn’t sure what had just happened.
All I knew was that my body had reacted. My penis was hard between my legs. I stared down at the way it tented my robe, lip quivering.
