We’re over a week late by the time we arrive. Word already spread to the village about the break in the bridge, from merchants and messengers who’d tried to traverse the pass from the other side, so we come with the perfect excuse. And since there were no active Shade attacks during our tardiness, we’re able to claim our post without further delay. There’s no surprise waiting for us from Henderson, no news of his survival or demise, so Dominic’s reputation remains untainted by all that happened.
As the first night of our stay in Eldeen approaches, I expect thingsto be the same as they were in Thornfal. That Dominic will keep his distance and patrol the streets on his own.
But he doesn’t.
He takes us with him this time. We keep watch from rooftops, then stalk the sleeping streets. Once Dominic deems the village clear, we assess the conditions in the outlying forest. We come across a few Shades, but they’re benign. Still, we keep our distance when he opens his vial of King Kaelum’s blood. He says it’s too dangerous for us to stand close, in case it does attract one of the king’s sought-after Shades, which may turn aggressive at the smell of their original body’s blood. I don’t mind staying back, for I remember the rotting scent of that vial from the rooftop, so much more pungent than Dominic’s and Calvin’s fresher blood. How long has he carried that vial? Is it even effective anymore?
If I think too much about it, his mission seems so fruitless. So impossible. Yet I keep that to myself. I may be keenly acquainted with the futility of hope, but it’s a powerful drug. Sometimes the only thing that keeps you going.
When the sun rises after our first night, Dominic does the last thing I expect; he retires to the same suite as us. I don’t know if I should be pleased or annoyed that he chose to stay with us, now of all times, or that he chose the bed the farthest away from mine. If he’d kept his own room like before, I could have snuck away for…certain activities.
With a huff, I riffle through the gifts that were left on my bed overnight. Clothing, mostly. A fresh pair of boots. It’s not nearly as much as we were gifted in Thornfal, but we also aren’t saving this village from a frenzied dragon Shade.
“Disappointed?” I stiffen as Dominic’s voice is suddenly behind me, his breath caressing my ear.
I glance over my shoulder, finding him so close it makes my breath hitch. In my periphery, I catch movement behind him, the others arranging their own gifts on their beds. It’s all that stops me from turning fully and pressing my lips to his then and there. We haven’t had much alone time, and I’m divided on how I feel about that. My desirefor him hasn’t cooled, and I’m eager to know what else he can do with that tongue, those fingers, that cock, but…I’m so afraid I’ll get carried away. That I’ll get too invested.
Even if I didn’t mind that our partnership has an expiration, I still know better than to be careless with my heart. It didn’t work well for me before.
“Disappointed,” I echo, as nonchalant as I can manage. “Why would I be disappointed?”
“Come outside with me,” he says, angling his head toward the pair of carved wooden doors that lead to the balcony. He doesn’t wait for me to agree before striding through those doors. I glance back at our companions, too distracted by their gifts to pay us any heed, and follow him out. As soon as I step over the threshold, he pushes the doors closed behind us. Then his hands find my waist and my back is pressed against the door. I manage only a startled gasp before his lips are on mine, his front flush against me.
Despite my initial surprise, I sink into the moment, parting my lips for his tongue, angling my head so he can kiss me deeper. Gods, I’ve been craving this. The taste of him. The feel of him. I wind my hands behind his neck and into his hair. He presses himself more firmly against me until I can feel his length straining his trousers, even through my skirt and petticoats. I don a devious grin as I slide one hand between us, cupping his impressive shape. He groans and rocks his hips as I stroke him over the thick material of his pants. I’m about two seconds away from lifting my skirts and freeing his cock when he suddenly pulls away.
He takes a single step back, releasing me to brace his palms against the door on either side of my head. His breaths come out uneven, his hair tickling my collarbone as he lowers his face next to mine. “I want you in my bed,” he whispers.
I lean more fully against the door, then lift his chin with my forefinger until he meets my eyes. “And whose fault is it that I’m not? You chose now, of all times, to get chummy with your Summoners?”
“I didn’t think it would be this hard.”
My hand returns to his firm bulge. “You mean like this?”
He bites his lip and stifles another groan. “Gods, Inana, you have no idea how badly I want to fuck you right now on this balcony in broad daylight.”
I lift my chin until our lips are just a breath apart. “Then why don’t you? Why did you stop? I can be quiet. The others won’t know.”
He heaves a ragged sigh, then his eyes dart to the side of the balcony. “It’s not our friends I’m concerned about.”
I follow his line of sight, expecting him to be glancing at the windows that flank the balcony doors. Instead, he’s looking at the street just two floors below, busy under the morning light. Eldeen’s citizens are already going about their day, most too immersed in their activities to notice the couple on the balcony above, but I find at least one pair of judging eyes on us: a woman carrying a basket of vegetables. She scowls and averts her gaze.
Away from the sight of me cupping Dominic’s cock for the entire town to see.
I snatch my hand back. My desire hasn’t drained with the reminder that we’re potentially being watched, but my rational mind has come to meet it halfway. Public signs of affection are considered taboo, since they could attract Shades, but now I know that isn’t because such acts are sinful; it’s because flirtation and lovemaking are signs of life, just like art and violence and other demonstrations of passion. Regardless, this isn’t the time or place to sate the need that burns inside me. Daytime may be the safest for sexual acts, and under daylight even safer, but with nothing other than an awning overhead and a thin wooden railing around us, we’re in plain sight.
“I can’t fuck you the way I want to,” Dominic says as he steps back, placing an agonizing amount of distance between us until he’s leaning against the wooden railing. Despite his words, he continues to watch me like he means the opposite. His gaze sweeps over me, lingering on the rise and fall of my breasts, the curve of my hips, undressing me with his eyes.
“Then you should stop staring at my tits.” I smooth out my skirts, as if that will convince the slick heat growing between my thighs to behave. It takes all my self-control to turn back toward the door,knowing that if I stay out here any longer with him, I’ll throw caution to the wind and sayFuck propriety and fuck me along with it.
Just as my fingers reach the handle, a wisp of shadow coalesces beside me, only partially visible beneath the awning’s meager shade. A strong, semitransparent hand splays against the door while an imitation of Dominic’s face—no, a sliver of his actual soul—smirks down at me.
“I didn’t say we were done.” It’s Pride’s voice, but there’s an extra layer to it, a tone I know intimately as Dominic’s.
I slowly turn back around and find Dominic still watching me with his heated gaze from where he leans against the balcony, arms crossed. His grin is wicked, his eyes dark and seductive.
A second shadow appears on my other side. Lust drags a featherlight finger over the swell of my breasts as he whispers in my ear. “I may not be able to fuck you how I want, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get you off.” Again the voice is doubled, even though Dominic’s lips don’t move. What I’m hearing isn’t being carried across the balcony from where he stands. It’s being delivered straight through his Shades.
“Do you want that?” Pride, Lust, and Dominic all say in unison. “Do you want me to touch you where no one else can see?”
