“Good,” she said, smiling sweetly at him. “Even better now,” she added.
Were they flirting in the middle of the forge? Yes. Could everyone around them see? Yes. Did she give a fuck? Absolutely not.
Somehow, despite sleeping next to him every night, she missed him. She wanted more of him. She wished she could follow him around all day, like a friendly cat in the shadows, just watching him move and talk and…
“Hey, Ty!” They were broken again from their reverie as one of the other blacksmiths, a large, burly male daemon with a shock of red hair, approached them. “Can you come be the striker for me?”
Ty reluctantly dragged his eyes away from Ena to look at the man. “Sure, just give me a minute here,” he said, gesturing at Ena.
The man looked down at her, realization dawning on his face as he took in herimperaecollar. He nodded quickly before walking away.
“You seem busy,” Ena said once they were alone again.
“Yeah, kinda,” Ty said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I’ve been so absent lately, it’s just…”
“You don’t have to explain,” Ena said. “You’re in high demand, I can see that,” she said. In all honesty, she found it admirable how much he seemed to care about his duties in the Underworld, how much everyone relied on him. He clearly was well-respected among the other daemons. And while that meant she didn’t get to see him as much as she wanted, she understood. He was doing his best for his people.
“I’d love to come help you with your research tomorrow, if you could use a second set of eyes,” he offered. “Assuming I don’t get called away for some emergency.”
Ena smiled at that, knowing there was a very good chance he would, but appreciating that he wanted to try. “Yeah, I could definitely use help. I know we’re getting closer to theonatacelebration and I have yet to find anything to appease Cole.”
“Don’t worry too much about that, okay? I can handle Cole,” Ty said reassuringly, running his hand down her arm.
“Ty!” another daemon called to them as she approached, holding out two blacksmithing tools that Ena had never seen. “Can I ask your opinion on something? I’m not sure which tool to use for this flask. It’s delicate work.”
“Sure. I’ll be there in a minute, okay?” Ty responded kindly.
The woman called her thanks before turning to walk back to her station.
“I’m starting to feel like a distraction,” Ena said, arching her brow at him.
“Oh, absolutely you are,” he said, grinning in that infectious way of his. “But the best kind of distraction.” He leaned down to whisper low in her ear. “I can tell how sweaty you’re getting under that shirt of yours. Fuck—you make me want to rip it off with my teeth.”
Ena giggled—just straight-up giggled like a little girl at that comment. Gaia, if she had any self-composure, it was dead and gone by now. She was so lost for this man.
“Mmhmm. What else about me distracts you?” she asked coyly, reaching out her hand to stroke the bulge of his bicep.
He sighed, pulling back so he was looking at her face once more. He locked eyes with her, staring into her with every ounce of his attention. “Your eyes…” he said.
“My eyes?” She wasn’t expecting that. She thought he’d wax poetic about her cleavage in this vest or something, but…her eyes?
He gripped her chin gently, as if afraid she might look away. “I could drown in them, viper. I love it when you look at me.”
Ena swallowed, and she could swear her heart skipped a beat. How could she even respond to that? She just stared at him, her mouth hanging open like a lovestruck fool, when Lara returned to their side.
Ty released her chin, and Ena cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure after the absolute putty he’d just turned her into with that comment.
“Cool with you if we head back, Ena? I’ve got to go check in on the kids.”
“Yeah, sure,” Ena said. “I should stop being such a distraction anyway.” She smiled shyly up at Ty again as he chuckled slightly.
“Anytime, viper,” he said, trailing his hand down her arm once more and squeezing her hand slightly before releasing her.
She wished fervently that she could kiss him goodbye, like she’d seen Greya and Perse do a hundred times, but she knew that while sexual exploits were expected between them as a witch-slave and her master, anything that made them appear like they were in a relationship would be a red flag, so they had to keep public displays of affection to a minimum.
Ena watched Ty walk away, off to help the redheaded man who’d come up to them a few minutes ago, before turning towards Lara and following her out of the forge.
She was silent as they walked, deep in thought, because she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was this new…feeling inside her when it came to Ty. She already knew she was his, that she’d been so hung up him for nine years that she hadn’t even tried giving herself to anyone else, but now…
