Rolling onto his back, he slid one arm behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. “I might have run some numbers, some scenarios.”
“About you…finishing inside me?”
“Yes,” he snapped without any bite. “I don’t want to alter your mortal makeup in any possible manner. It was dangerous enough that the realm accepted you the day I made the oath to keep you alive, but I’m concerned that any serious amount of my essence within you could interfere with your transformation.”
“Andwhywould it interfere?”
“I don’t know! It was just a thought, so I ran the numbers, and itisa significant possibility, and we don’t need any more things that could go wrong.”
Elysia bit her tongue, studying his clenched fingers and the forearm covering his eyes. She wrapped her pointer and thumb around his wrist, delicately lifting his arm as she draped herself across his chest. Stubborn light shone out of the low fire in his eyes. Dropping his arm away from his face, she folded her hands and rested her chin, continuing to gaze quietly at him.
His shoulders dropped. “You think I’m ridiculous.”
Her brow scrunched, but her voice was gentle. “No, I think your brain wouldn’t know what to do if it wasn’t worrying. The odds for all of this are terrible, and you can’t control that no matter what, and that’s hard. Your brain is stuck. It can’t find a solution, and it doesn’t know how to rest, so it makes more problems to worry about.”
He huffed lightly, shooting her a look. “I’m not risking you.”
She rolled into the crook of his arm, staring up at the ceiling like him. “Thereareother options.”
“I’ve waited this long. I can wait a short while longer.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” The word was suspicious.
She lifted a shoulder. “Sounds like I need to give you more actual things to worry about. I could tell you about how today went if you’d like. Might help.”
Even though she couldn’t see him, she could feel his silent grin as he shook his head.
“You know I’m never going to be able to sleep unless you tell me now, right?”
She glanced up, tilting her head back. “You’re a very strange man.”
He pinched her ass and she squeaked.
Voice barely a whisper, she rolled back on top of him, nose to nose. “I have an idea. Will you run the odds?”
Hands cupping where her thighs met her ass, the god of the dead kissed her so intensely she lost her breath and saw stars.
“Tell me what you need,” he rumbled, and she smiled. Maybe letting people in on her plans wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
Chapter 42
Elysia pacedin the empty warehouse. Her black boots struck hard against the concrete floor of the wide-open building as she walked back and forth. Jessa’s gaze trailed her as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.
“You’re making me nervous, stop.”
She came to a halt, spinning to scowl at Jessa. “Remember when we were so convinced I could make a deal with Aidan, and it could fix things?”
Jessa lifted a shoulder. “I was never that enthusiastic, but sure.”
“This feels like that.” She hadn’t looked at the fated hourglass today, but intuitively she knew the sand was almost at its end.
“Like it’s going to go sideways?”
She twisted her fingers together. “Something’s wrong.”
Pushing off the wall, Jessa grabbed her by the shoulders. “Of course, something is off. This plan is insane, but it’s the best we’ve got, so get your fucking head on straight, and pull it together.”
