As soon as the storm passed, Rohak immediately pushed a sense of awe and understanding, of courage and faith, down that golden string, straight through my own poorly held blockade. It was as if he wrapped his strong arms around my soul, pulling it straight into his chest. I could feel the phantom touches of his thick fingers lacing through my curls, massaging the back of my head and neck to ease the tension that I held there. My bones liquefied in the chair, and I hummed softly as I let him assuage my external pain and internal guilt.
Ishouldblock him, I should refuse his comfort and sweet mental caresses; I didn’t deserve them, not after I forcibly bound him to me for the rest of eternity, but I was simply too tired and too selfish to care.
I needed him, I wanted him, and I would take whatever he chose to give me, even if he deserved better than a Rune Master who couldn’t even decipher one simple text.
Rohak harrumphed through the Bond, displeased with the direction of my thoughts. A small smile played over my lips as I fell further into his warmth, dancing my fingers over the mark on my forearm.
I could get lost here, I whispered, not entirely sure if he’d hear the faint projection.
A deep rumble of a laugh was his response before I felt the thread of his soul bind tighter around mine.
You should, he whispered in return.I already have.
My breath caught in my throat, and I stifled a moan at the utter adoration he wove through the fibers of the Bond.
The sensation was pure ecstasy; arousal flooded my physical form as Rohak lavished attention and love on my soul.
My mind drifted down the Bond, wanting nothing more than to envelop myself in him fully, but was jolted from the warm reverie by a sudden, heavy presence.
My eyes snapped open as I detangled myself from Rohak and fixated on a void-like entity in the chair opposite.
“I didn’t even try to conceal my arrival,” a deep voice reverberated through the space, bouncing off the stacks of books and impossibly high ceiling.
“How—how did you get in here?” I croaked, disoriented and morbidly curious.
The dark god only raised his eyebrows with a slow blink.
“I’m a god,” he deadpanned as if that statement alone explained all of his actions and intricacies.
Maybe it does.
“And?” I pushed the heels of my palms into my eyes, too physically and emotionally taxed to have this exhausting conversation.
Kaos pushed an annoyed sigh through his nose. “I portaled here, obviously.”
“Obviously,” I grumbled. “What do you want?”
“You are a mouthy thing, aren’t you?” Amusement and vexation tickled his words, and I rolled my eyes in response.
“Your generation no longer has any respect for their deities, I swear,” he mumbled.
“What is it you want, Kaos?” I sighed in exasperation.
“Oh, so youdoknow who I am,” he practically purred, his body leaning forward so his forearms rested against the table.
“I saw you at the Battle of Vespera. Your presence and”—I gestured vaguely tohis hulking form that nearly swallowed the chair he perched on—“physical attributes were obvious tells.”
Kaos hummed.
“In that case, you must know what it is I seek.”
I chewed my lower lip in thought, tattooed fingers drumming a senseless cadence against the wood table.
I shook my head once, curls bouncing about my shoulders from where they had pried loose from my bun.
The darkness that surrounded Kaos seemed to swell and undulate as his expression hardened, his obsidian eyes flashing dangerously. “Do not play coy with me, Rune Master. Ignorance does not suit you.”
The abrupt change in his demeanor had my head spinning as I tried to wrangle my thoughts into something tangible.
