I smiled, drawing my mouth closer to his, using the words he’d spoken against me yesterday. “Be gentle, be kind, and be nightmarish. I will want you every way.”
Jonas kissed me, slow and deep. His lips were dry from the fever, but demanding and gentle all at once. I dug my fingers through his hair, tugging at the roots. This was a kiss with time to spare, no need to rush, no need for frenzy.
It was the sort of kiss where two hearts knew there would be another, and another, and another.
My fingertips traced the edge of his jaw. “What do you fear now that torments you so?”
He pulled back, drawing my cheek to his heart. “You. It took me so fiercely; it was so real.”
I drew small circles over his chest. “What was it about?”
“Arion came for you. He hurt you, kept you in chains, and you . . . you were calling for me. I couldn’t reach you, so they kept hurting you until you didn’t move anymore.”
For a long moment, I didn’t know what to say. I rolled over his hard body, and propped my chin on the tops of my hands over his chest.
“I am not laughing at you and you’re not weak.” I lifted his palm and placed it over the thrum of my heart. “This is what is real. Arion cannottouch me unless the alliance is broken. I have no plans to break it, do you?”
Jonas ran his other hand along my spine. “No, Fire.”
“The nightmare was terribly unrealistic, would you like to know why?”
“Why is that?”
“Because if I were to be taken from you, after being here even this short while, I would be as monstrous as I ever was until I found you again.”
I kissed him before he could speak. I kissed him for the surprising truth of each word. I kissed him for the knowledge that this arranged vow of ours had become a refuge from our nightmares.
Chapter 28
The Mist Thief
There wasa shift after the mesmer fever. As though a new sort of trust had formed between me and my nightmare prince.
I joined the alvers at meals, interacting with the guilds, learning more of their customs and histories. Jonas spent most mornings with Von and Sander working in upper corridors. A rope was kept over the stairwells as a clear sign only the trio was welcome.
Someday, perhaps, he’d tell me what went on up there, instead of kissing me until I forgot to care.
His kiss became a part of my dreams. His touch a craving. More than trust, the fevers and our intimate bath, pulled back pieces of my new husband I didn’t want to see before. The man knew how to threaten and frighten, he knew how to kill well enough, but I was beginning to see the heart his fellow royals and friends kept insisting was inside.
Jonas was gentle with the staff, well-loved by the household of the palace.
He treated his mother with the highest esteem, always seeing to it she was seated before him and speaking with her with levity but respect.
The prince did the same for brisk Ylva, for women and men in thetownship or dockyards. He cared for his people, even those he did not know well.
But by the hells, the man knew how to irritate.
I thought he took a bit of pleasure in trying to flush my face in annoyance. Last night, I’d nearly tossed him into my affinity when he tried to spoil the ending of yet another book.
Sander saved the tale, and practically tackled his brother for the sheer audacity of it, then stood watch by my door until I sent the signal I’d finished the story.
Jonas rejoined me on my side of the bedchamber, begging for my forgiveness. His consuming mouth, the taste of his tongue against mine, the touch of his wicked hands teasing my body, earned him the invitation to stay at my side.
He held me close, stroking my hair, merely listening while I repeated how the tale impacted me even though he already knew the ending.
I studied my features in the mirror of the vanity. My fingertips touched my lips, still swollen from when he’d kissed me after the morning meal before setting off to his mysterious room in the upper levels.
In the past, my heart led me astray. Most of my people thought me to be cold and unfeeling. There was a bit of truth to it, for I’d learned soon enough it was better to freeze the heart than feel the agony of it breaking.
