She could feel her cheeks heating, but she refused to back down or break eye contact. No, she wasn’t proud of what it’d taken to get where she was, but sometimes doing the right thing in the wrong way was the only option.
“Yes.”
In hindsight, she probably should have seen the kiss coming, but even if she had, there was nothing Petra could have done to prepare herself for it.
Silas sealed their mouths together with all the heat and power of a welding torch. They fused instantly. Petra opened hermouth on a gasp, shocked by the roar of magic in her veins and the heady taste of him as he kissed her —consumedher. Silas’s tongue traced her bottom lip, hot as a brand, before it snaked into her mouth to seek hers.
He held her head in place, tilting her how he liked, as she scrambled to find something to hold onto. Her fingers curled into the fabric of his t-shirt, stretched tight over his shoulders. Her mind went blank in a white-hot rush of sensation.
The scent of him. The heat of his body. The slick glide of their mouths as the kiss got messier, more carnal with every second. The taste of him on her tongue as he tipped her head back and devoured her.
She forgot that they’d made a deal. She forgot that she was supposed to keep her head on straight and hold him at arm’s length. She forgot and shelovedit.
It had been so long since she’d had any kiss at all. Even before she set out to uncover the truth behind Max’s death, she’d been leery about who she shared intimacies with. Relationships in the Temple tended to be fraught with expectation and political intrigue, making casual sex both commonplace and dangerous.
Her last partner had been a fellow initiate instructor. She’d liked him, but when he began asking leading questions about bonding, she was forced to end things.
Sex was certainly something she’d never risk in St. Emaine’s, so she’d simply cut herself off from thinking about it — no great hardship when every day was a trial by fire.
Petra didn’t even realize she missed the feeling of another person’s body until Silas stroked his tongue along hers in a deep, ruthless kiss. Heat seared a path down her spine and then out, sparking every nerve until the warmth matured, turning syrupy and insistent.
A swirl of molten desire settled low in her middle, building pressure in her core as he somehow arranged her so she wasstraddling his lap. He rocked her down, against the hard ridge of his erection, and made an animal noise of want so guttural, she felt it between her thighs.
Silas fisted one hand in her hair, knotting it at the base of her skull, and reared back suddenly. His lips were swollen and red, but the look in his eyes was indecipherable. It was like he couldn’t decide if he was turned on, delighted, or absolutely furious.
“Every fuckin’ time,” he rumbled, twisting his fingers in her hair until she was forced to tilt her head back, arching her neck. “Everyfucking’time I think I have you figured out, you trip me up. How?”
Petra’s brows pulled together. Breathing hard, she bit out, “Maybe you should stop making so many assumptions about me.”
He loomed over her, lips curled in a snarl. “I’ll stop making assumptions when I figure out exactly who you are.”
She couldn’t help it — shelaughed.It was either that or she start crying the big, ugly tears she’d been holding in for so very long. Gasping for breath, she asked, “Don’t you get it yet? Gods, for someone who’s supposed to be so smart, you can’t see what’s right in front of your fucking face.”
The gleam in his eyes got even more unsettling when he brushed his lips against hers. It was a deceptively gentle gesture, contrasted sharply against the way her scalp stung. “Tell me, little goddess.”
Petra’s eyes closed automatically, against her will, as he whispered the words into her mouth in that silky drawl.
“I’m no one,” she murmured. “Honestly, truly no one. There’s no great truth to uncover in my past. I don’t have ambitions. I don’t want to be a member of the High Gloriae or play politics. I’m no one. Nothing.”
Silas pulled back slowly. In the glow of the fire she could make out a flush in his pale skin and a dark, dangerous look in his eyes. “I don’t believe you.”
“Why?”
“Because someone who’snothingdoesn’t lie her way into power.No onedoesn’t have secret phones, secret accounts, and a past that begins halfway through their adolescence.No onedoesn’t bargain with a fuckin’ king like it’s her right.No onedoesn’t make me want to take you apart so I can finally fuckin’ know what makes you tick. You’re more than nothing, and you have a damn good reason to do what you did. Sotellme.”
“Tell you what?”
The drawl deepened into a raspy growl. “Tell me what youwant.”
At that second, all Petra really wanted was to feel his lips on hers again. She didn’t want to talk about the mess of her life or think about the rapidly approaching future. All she craved was the sensation of clawed hands on her skin and a cruel mouth forcing her to yield, to letgo.
But something in the rigid set of his mouth told her he wouldn’t accept that answer, no matter how desperately his hard cock strained against her through the barriers of their clothing.
Petra curled her fingers into his shoulders, hoping he felt the bite of her nails into his tough demon skin.
Her eyes stung. She hadn’t realized how desperately she needed a tiny taste of oblivion until it was taken from her. Of all the things he’d done and said to her, this was by far the cruelest.
“I need to know who killed Maximilian Dooraker,” she admitted, each word like broken glass in her throat. “Ihaveto know.”
