Gods, she smelled so good. Like wild roses and that soap he’d wanted to lick. Sweet almond and honey—that was it. Two foods he never could resist.
He turned, bringing his nose to the top of Sophie’s head. He inhaled deeply, his pulse thudding. His fingers twitched on his thighs, his senses clamoring for more than just sight and smell. He wanted to touch. Taste. He inhaled again, and Sophie went absolutely still. There wasn’t a sound in the room except for her breathing. It quickened.
Still kneeling next to him, she tipped her head back. Their gazes met and held. Slowly, Piers reached out and traced the line of her jaw. Sophie leaned into his touch. Then she stretched up and pressed her mouth to his.
The groan he’d been holding back came out like an avalanche. He slid both hands into her hair and pulled her closer, molding his lips to hers. Every time they moved, breathed, Piers deepened the kiss. Sophie opened for him, and his tongue touched hers. She licked him back, a needy little sound purring in her throat. Arousal sizzled down his spine. She was soft, delicious,on fire. She blazed to life, and he burned to the ground.
Piers stood, bringing Sophie with him. Her fingers sank into his sides. Her mouth welcomed his. In two steps, he backed her against the wall. Lips fused, hands in her hair, he tilted her head back and kissed her like he’d never kissed anyone in his life—from the very depths of his soul.
A siren shrieked outside, jarring them apart. The sound continued down the avenue, fading quickly, but it broke the spell. Beyond the bathroom, the Shard of Olympus glowed as brightly as an oil lamp in the otherwise dim room, reminding Piers that he needed to protect Sophie, not devour her whole.
She dropped her head back against the wall. “Oh my gods.”
He grinned, his blood pumping fast. He couldn’t resist another quick kiss and then took her hand, leading her into the larger room.
“No, wait.” Sophie pulled him to a stop. “We’re not done.” She carefully placed two large beige squares over the bullet wound, front and back. They stuck to his skin all by themselves.
Piers contemplated the odd bandages in fascination. They’d gone back out after taking a moment to regroup and obtained their healing supplies at the interestingly named drug store, again using Sophie’s little green papers to pay. He could’ve stayed there for hours exploring the wares and reading the boxes on the shelves, but he’d still been bleeding on and off then, and Sophie had been worried about taking care of him.
He moved his shoulder, finding the ache bearable. Sophie had done a good job, and he told her so.
She shrugged, her already flushed cheeks deepening in color. “I wasn’t sure how to explain you at a hospital anyway. I did the best I could.”
That was fine by him. If it didn’t even serve good food, this hospital was a place to avoid.
“Come,” he said. “Let’s look at the shard together.”
“Come,” she teased in a deep voice. “You sound very imperious sometimes.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Piers was used to giving orders and being obeyed, but he hadn’t meant to treat Sophie like one of his soldiers.
She looped her arm through his and moved toward the ice shard. It radiated cold blue light from where it sat on the desk across the room. “It’ll be an acquired taste.” She glanced up at him with a glitter in her eyes and a smile on her lips. “I might call you Caesar here and there after all.”
Piers’s heart gave a tight, hard bounce. Did that mean she meant to keep him around and get used to him? Even when all this was over, and she was safe?
He gazed down at the top of her head, feeling something shift in his chest. If he couldn’t go home, he’d like that.
What if hecouldgo home?
The question hit him like a Cyclops’s fist, leaving his head ringing with doubts. Home was home,family, and everything he’d ever known and worked for. But lose Sophie? He’d only just met her, but somehow…
Fear sent a hot-cold rush of panic through his veins. His nostrils flared.
Somehow, now that they’d found each other, he knew they weren’t meant to be apart.
Sophie gaped athim. Piers liked it.
“I’m supposed to believe that people can do powerful and crazymagicwith this thing?” She turned a skeptical look on the Shard of Olympus.
Piers nodded. “If you’re Magoi, then yes. It’ll amplify your natural abilities. Otherwise, it’s useless.”
“Magoi—a person with magic?”
He nodded again.
“As opposed to Hoi Polloi—the many.” Her blue eyes owlishly wide, Sophie reiterated what he’d said earlier.Hoi Polloiwas a term she’d known anyway. Apparently, people used it the same way here, to describe the general populace.
“In Thalyria, there are many more people without magic than with.”
