He reached up and touched the spot, his eyes warm. It was a sweet moment, until the warmth in his eyes sparked into deviousness and his smile spread slowly.
“You could thank me with a proper kiss, my darling,” he purred, drawing it out. “Since you want to stay by my side.”
I punched his arm not so lightly, much to his amusement. “You just had to go and ruin the moment didn’t you.”
“Merely stating a fact. Does this mean you're going to kiss me? It can be the start of our Hunt.”
Ah shit.
twenty-five
Rathal
Hefeltlikelaughinglike those old villains in the few Earth movies he’d watched some years ago. He could practically feel his ears curling dramatically. The trap had sprung and she was caught.
The many escape attempts before were done under a heavy dose of denial, but this? This was real, out in the open, fun.
Though that escape attempt in the kitchens had almost seemed like play. Or a dare.
Catch me if you can.
He’d watched her on his hololink sneak through the crowded kitchens and when she’d come to the garbage chute he’d laughed out loud as he’d realized what she’d planned. It had startled his steward who was there trying to get him to decide on the date for the next lighting vote. The diurnal denizens of Erral were keen to move things along. They’d been grumbling at the time for the last ten orbits about the nocturnal votes winning for the third time in a row. It wasn’t his fault they consistently slept throughthe last Assemblies. He was befuddled that the Light had won this time.
He still couldn’t quite believe that Callie had married him. It would be nice to have someone share in the day to day workings of running a city. She wanted to stay, that much was clear. He wondered if she still had lingering misgivings about the timeline of their relationship? He couldn’t remember how long humans courted for. He was sure things had changed since the time of the Pharaohs. Then, fathers and mothers picked mates for their children or matches were made by either party based on merging assets or survival.
He distinctly remembered the courtships not lasting very long, though they sometimes varied based on economical status.
He studied her .
Poor darling. It must be hard to take a chance on something so unknown, so alien. From what he knew of her, Callie didn’t do spontaneous things. Under normal circumstances he thought she might take years to fall in love with someone. She had chosen him, but did she love him? Could she love him? Was this all too fast for her? Would he have to wait years before she confessed her deepest feelings to him?
He didn’t know.
Couldn’t hurt to ask. But not yet. Not here. He would wait for tonight when the setting was more conducive for romance. He would take pity on her for now.
She was blushing, the red staining the lovely brown of her cheeks and neck in a most becoming way. He wanted to lick where the blush spread, desperate to taste her skin. His mouth watered and he had to curl his tongue against the roof of his mouth to keep it from lolling out in lovesick pants. She looked lovely in her new outfit.
She fidgeted under his regard, her hand coming up to rub at the back of her neck. “Uh, Rathal?”
A large part of him wanted to further tease her by continuing his perusal, but alas, he was not so cruel. Instead, he tugged her forward, keeping her hand in his, and continued the tour of the gardens, taking her in and out of the small maze and then up long perron stairs to the great ziggurat that sat in the center of the garden layout. Inside, were lazing pools, and hot springs and bars that during working hours would have skillful attendants doling out drinks and small snacks.
“This is cool,” Callie said, her head turning this way and that to take it all in.
“I’m glad you think so. I’ll be sure to bring you back in the future during business hours so you can enjoy the bustle.”
She came to a stop and gasped when they made it to the wide archway on the other side of the pyramid.
“Rathal…” She swallowed hard and squeezed his hand. Her scent started heating up as she came to understand just what it was that they were doing here.
Below them, spread out seemingly forever—though it did have a more reasonable end, the endlessness was an illusion maintained by mirrors strategically suspended in various places—was the main maze of the garden. His master plan was coming to fruition. He all but dragged her down the stairs, stopping just before the gilded entrance gate of the maze.
He turned, raising her hand to his mouth and kissing her knuckles before letting go and taking a step away from her to start removing his clothing.
“Um, what are you doing?” she asked, smiling at him with a raised eyebrow. Though, he noted, she was enjoying the view. He liked when her little fangs bit into her full bottom lip like that.
He peeled off his pants, kicking them to the side, and began removing his jewelry. “I’m stripping of course. We can't very well have a Hunt with us dressed, now can we? What a waste of valuable time. Not to mention, I’d just end up tearing yourclothes and mine in my haste, and darling, I hate to ruin good clothes.”
Callie’s smile melted into that shy, aroused look she always got when he said something that turned her on. When she licked her lips he audibly groaned in his throat.
