“You just did it with Terrance,” Aros reminded me. “Don’t overthink it; you do your best work when you go off instinct.”
I nodded. “You’re right. I’ve never been one to plan ahead. We’ll just wing it.”
What could possibly go wrong?
* * *
Several rotations later, we still hadn’t figured out our problems, but at least we had managed to clean up the mess left behind by the mudhogs and Terrance. Donald had been sent back to her dormire for the night, and the Abcurses had all taken turns in the bathing chamber, leaving Aros to follow me in as I claimed the room after Coen.
“You’re my helper for tonight?” I asked, spotting him in the reflective glass.
I thought I had heard them arguing earlier while I had been picking up cushions in the living room. I should have realised that it would be about who would share this time with me. I swallowed hard as he stalked closer to me. I had already started filling the bath, so there was nothing for me to busy myself with. Aros didn’t speak as he stopped right in front of me. His eyes were a burning, almost liquid gold as they caressed me. I was wearing only a towel at this point—it was pink with silver tassels on the ends, because all towels needed character, according to Pica.
“You’re glowing,” I whispered, reaching up to rub my hand along the skin at the base of his throat.
The moment I touched him, it was as if a hundred suns had burst to life inside the room. His glow increased, and the heat swirling inside of me went to molten levels. The grip I’d had on my towel loosened, and the pink material fell to the ground.
I pushed up and closer to him, desperate, greedily drinking in every ounce of his power. Rational thought was lost completely as his arms wrapped around me.
“Willa!”
It took me a moment to realise he had been talking to me. The snap of my name at the end broke through the cloud that had descended over my mind.
Blinking, I tilted my head back to see him.
“I need to know that you won’t be rolled by my power,” he said slowly. “Because I don’t want to hold back with you, but I also don’t want to lose you to the lust.”
As if responding to that, my energy burst up through me, bringing with it more clarity. “You don’t have to worry,” I promised. “I’m here now. I just … didn’t realise it was happening. But now I’ll know.”
Aros shook his head, looking pained. “How do you know?”
With a laugh, I went up on my toes and pressed every inch of my naked body against him. “Because I love you. The reason I respond so strongly to your power, despite being a god myself, is only because I want you so badly. Your power isn’t rolling me at all … I just love you that much. You’re perfect to me.”
I wasn’t sure which part of my speech convinced him, but the slight edge of darkness that had been inching across his golden eyes faded away. His stance relaxed, although his grip on me didn’t. If anything, for the first time, he was actively pulling my body into his.
The heat and light from him increased, but instead of letting it completely take over me, I called on some of my own power, allowing it to swirl within me in the hope that it would help to keep the balance.
“Are you going to help me bathe?” I whispered. “That’s what you’re here for, right?”
Aros grinned. It spread across his face, lifting his cheeks and bringing a sparkle to his eyes. “You never say what I expect, even after hearing your thoughts for all of this time.”
His lips were on mine before I could reply, and then I was nothing more than light and energy. Whatever balance I maintained was smashed to pieces, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t lose myself to his power, I grew with it. It lifted me higher and filled me with life. It completed me instead of causing me to lose myself.
“We’re the only ones who haven’t had sex,” Aros reminded me as his lips lifted from mine.
“Each time I’ve felt stronger,” I realised. “The bond felt more complete.”
He was the final piece to our bond.
He nodded before lifting me higher with the one arm that was wrapped around my back. We were kissing again, and I jumped when warm water splashed across my skin. Aros had swung me around into the large round bath, the water still pouring down from the ceiling. It was full, but somehow it never overflowed. The water was going somewhere, and I really didn’t care in that moment where that somewhere was.
“You better get your ass in here,” I demanded, staring at him while I tried to suck in enough air to fill my lungs. Kissing Aros had literally stolen my breath away.
His response was to lift his arms, grabbing on to the sides of his shirt as he went, pulling it off his body.Oh yes, that’s exactly what I wanted.I’d seen Aros without his shirt before. Had touched his bare chest, running my hands across all of that golden skin, but we hadn’t been alone at the time, and now there was no distraction. My eyes drank in every carved line, all of the smooth skin. The colour was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. His brothers were all bronze-skinned, with darker tones, but Aros’s skin looked like a ray of sunlight, littered with flecks of the golden rock mined in Minatsol.
And if that rock was melted down, you’d have his eyes.
My golden god.
