I tipped my head on his shoulder. “Court me?”
“Sanguir males typically prove their worth through feasts, gifts, songs, trials of strength.” He kept massaging, my body softening under his touch. “I’m a shit singer, but the clothes in your wardrobe. The gloves. The rich meals. The best rooms in the castle.”
“Wait. I thought you were being…strategically nice. But you were trying to seduce me? I had no idea.”
“You weren’t supposed to. Let the prey think they’re making their own choices.” He nipped at my neck. “Until they realize they’ve been caught.”
“That’s a terrifying way to put it,” I whispered, sinking into his warmth. “And yet…I don’t mind being caught.”
“Good. I’m not letting you go.”
I tried to hold onto the bliss, but my chest was already tightening. Kairos's hands stilled on my shoulders.
“What’s the matter?” he said.
“The scouts should be back by now.”
His arms tightened. “I know.”
“What if they don’t return?”
“Then we go anyway.”
I stared at the rippling water. Tazurel’s voice still scraped at the edges of my mind, demanding I hurry to Skalgard. I turned in his arms, water sloshing against the sides of the tub.
“If this is our last night?—”
“It’s not.”
“But if it is.” I pressed my palm to his chest, leaning toward him. “I don’t want to spend it being sensible.”
His gaze darkened.
“I want to feel something that isn’t fear. I want to forget about the war and the dragons and the seal. I want?—”
He kissed me. Half the water sloshed out of the tub as my lips fused with his. I could drown in him and still crave more. His startled grunt became a growl, and then his arms locked around me.
I couldn’t get close enough. I’d waited so long to feel happy, my heart so full it ached. Every brush of his lips sent fire racing through me. I wanted more. More ofhim, of how he made me feel…like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Threads of silver mist curled from his skin like captured moonbeams, weaving themselves into a tapestry above us. They pulsed with each beat of my heart, as if his magic had learned the rhythm of my blood.
We broke apart, gasping.
The warmth in my chest deepened, spreading like molten honey through my ribs.
I reached up, touching the mist. “Why?”
“My magic reacts to strong…connections.”
“This is from sleeping with youonce?”
He hooked his hands under my thighs and lifted me from the bath. I yelped, grabbing his shoulders as water cascaded off us.
“Now that you’re clean, I need to make you filthy again.”
His lips smothered mine as he carried me the few strides to the bed of furs. We fell together in a tangle of damp limbs, laughter swallowed by the press of his body.
After that it was chaos—wet skin, tangled limbs, his mouth everywhere. We couldn’t stop smiling between kisses, couldn’t stop groaning when it turned desperate. I came so many times I lost count.
