Your stupidity is endearing.
Lyra frowned.
I drifted closer. The swell of her breasts brushed against my chest. I tightened my body against hers, caging her to the wall, and moved my hands in sharp, angry gestures.He should never have put a hand on you.
“And you should not put yourself at risk.” Heat flooded the bridges of her cheeks. “Do you go around ending everyone who looks at Emi improperly? Or anyone who speaks poorly of Thane?”
I slammed a palm against the wall. Lyra stopped speaking, but looked at me with a touch of defiance.
“Do you?”
I tipped my head, drawing my nose along her cheek. She drewin a sharp breath. I mouthed the wordnoagainst her skin, shaking my head and watching the heat of the word lift gooseflesh over her neck and cheeks.
One of Lyra’s hands skirted up my waist, her fingers curling into my side, holding me closer. “Then why do it for me?”
I lifted one hand, making certain she would see.Thane and Emi have not infected my soul like you.
Lyra’s lips parted, as though she might respond, I did not give her the chance before I kissed her. Hard.
For a moment, she was stiff with surprise, but in the next breath Lyra dug her fingertips deeper into my waist, slamming my body to hers.
Those sweet lips parted and my tongue slipped through her teeth, meeting hers in a frenzy of need and lust.
There was no easing into the kiss, nothing gentle. I demanded her mouth and took it. She tasted like rain in the forest, fresh and wild. This, I shouldn’t want it. Her taste, her body, her skin, I should not be such a weak thing and crave it, but a spark in the blood settled in my chest. Heat that drew me closer, keeping me ensnared by her touch.
It was a feeling like coming home, like I’d been here before.
A craving took hold deep inside, a bit of madness unraveled at the edges, and left me needing more of her softness, her kiss, her touch. More of her.
I wasn’t alone.
Unease faded from her features into something darker, almost feral. One hand held my waist, keeping my hips aligned with hers, and the other dug into my hair, tugging at the roots. She arched against me and a soft moan glided from her throat.
One kiss slid to the next, rough, desperate. All teeth and desire. I tasted her jaw, her throat.
“Roark.” My name spoken in such a cry of want snapped something inside, something greedy. Something dangerous.
One palm flattened next to her head, the other dragged along the length of her thigh, up the divots of her ribs, to the underside of her breast.
I paused and Lyra cracked one eye. She took hold of my wrist, a beautiful bloom of pink flushed her skin. The silver scars flashed with heat when she guided my hand over her breast.
A groan escaped my chest. I crashed my mouth back on her, working the shape of her, rubbing my thumb over the peak of her nipple under her bodice.
Lyra reached between us and palmed the bulge in my trousers. Blood abandoned my head. Couldn’t be helped. With every touch, this woman had my body raging for more, like a boy who couldn’t control his own damn cock.
She would be wise to turn from me, and I’d be wise to let her. But I was a selfish bastard and could hardly stomach the thought of anything but Lyra’s body wrapped around mine, the slap of our skin, her eyes looking at me like I was more than the Death Bringer of the kingdom. Like I was more than a silent Stav who was only here because a boy prince had taken pity on the enemy at the gates.
I tugged at the neckline of her gown, desperate for a taste of her skin, but went still when voices rose from beyond our hidden sanctuary.
“Sentry Ashwood! Melder Bien.”
Thane’s voice followed. “Keep looking. Find them.”
The prince’s voice was next to the door. My chest tightened. Thane would lead the guards away, but he had to know exactly where I was. He’d never used the bone shard from my fingertip, but it gave the prince the ability to sense my whereabouts.
He knew I was tucked away like a coward.
If he knew that, he would suspect the fallen Myrdan noble had something to do with me.
