Eira rolled her eyes and smiled. Her “Prince of the Tower” hardly ever had a hair out of place—unless it was from her fingers raking through it.
Hers.
The thought simmered in her, rolling on a warm tide. Eira liked the idea of him being hers. She liked the idea of him in general. But something about knowing that he desired her, of all people, was supremely delicious. Knowing he had sworn himself to her, time and again last night, between eager kisses…made thoughts of him the sweetest sort of torture now.
How was she ever going to pretend that nothing had happened? Eira groaned. The right decisions were always the hardest ones.
She lingered as long as she could in her tired, satisfied haze. But, eventually, the room had brightened to the point that Eira could no longer ignore the time and she pulled herself from the warmth of her covers to dress and start her day. When she emerged, she’d expected to find the common area empty, given the relative silence. But Cullen sat in the same spot as the night before, a journal perched on his knee.
His eyes drew up to hers immediately on her arrival. One corner of his lips quirked upward in a slightly smug expression that Eira had a hard time resisting kissing off.
“I didn’t know you journaled.”
“Sometimes it’s journaling, sometimes it’s short stories, sometimes it’s notes.” He shrugged, put his quill in the crack of the page, closed the journal on it, and wrapped a length of cord around it.
“What was it this morning?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He stood, still smirking.
“Fine.” Eira shrugged, acting like she hardly cared, when she cared very much about everything he did. “Don’t tell me. Keep your secrets.”
“I’m not the only one who has them.” The statement could’ve been a jab, but it came out somewhere between playful and a harmless observance. “Are you headed down for breakfast? I’ll put this away and then join you.”
“Sure.” It wasn’t suspicious if they went down to breakfast together, right? She was certainly going to be overthinking everything for a while when it came to him.
“Oh, that reminds me; I have something for you.”
“You do?” Eira arched her eyebrows.
“Yes, in here.” He motioned for her to follow. Doing so was certainly a bad idea. But Eira did so anyway.
“What is it?” Eira asked as she crossed the threshold.
The moment she cleared the door, Cullen shut it quickly behind her and yanked her to him. Eira let out a surprised chirp. Her weight pushed his back to the door, and Eira’s hands landed on his chest for balance. His fingers were back in her hair, his mouth on hers. Returning his kiss, deepening it, devolving into a chorus of content sighs, it was all already instinct for her.
Cullen kissed her as though they had never kissed before. She kissed him like she intended to devour him whole. Nothing had ever felt so good, or so right. Nothing smoothed over the anger, hurt, and pain the world around her blazed with. He was so immensely soothing.
He would also be her downfall if she couldn’t get herself under control and keep her head around him.
They broke apart and Cullen gave her a satisfied smirk, trailing a finger down her spine. Eira shivered, pressing her eyes closed and laying a few light pecks along the edge of his jaw.
“Is that all you wanted me for?” she asked softly.
“I want you in far more ways than merely that,” he growled.
Eira looked at him in surprise. She’d never heard Cullen make a noise like that before. She certainly would be all right with him making it again.
Awareness of what he’d said—what he’dimplied—dawned on him and a scarlet flush spread across his tan cheeks. “I meant to say—” He cleared his throat.
“I know exactly what you meant to say.” Eira grabbed his collar and pulled his mouth to hers one last time. “But anything of that nature is going to have to wait.” She couldn’t risk it with Ferro out there. They were already struggling to keep things a secret a mere few hours into whatever this was.
“Of course.” He gave her a light squeeze and they parted. “We should go, before anyone else wakes.”
Eira nodded and stepped away so he could open the door. They’d just tiptoed out when a snicker could be heard. They turned slowly to see Noelle closing her own door with a smug smile.
“Oh, don’t mind me. I know how to be discreet.” She grinned and Eira’s chest tightened. They’d hardly made it a night before rumors would start flying.
“It’s not what you think,” Eira said hastily.
