“Burning off these tiny hairs?” He leaned over and licked up the inside of her thigh, tickling her sex with his tongue and making her want him all over again. “I consider it my duty as your husband.”
Oleg rarely lost control over his fire. The only time she witnessed it was when they were together and he was climaxing. And that wasn’t even all the time. Usually only when it had been a long time apart or if they had been fighting and his temper was riled.
Tatyanaoftenlost control over her element. She was young enough that it still happened regularly. She couldn’t imagine thelevel of control her husband had to exercise at all times over his. There was a reason fire vampires were rare in immortal circles.
They were a spontaneous mutation; all of Oleg’s sired children were earth vampires like his sire. Added to that, fire vampires very often killed themselves in the first year of their life.
“How does it feel to control fire?”
He looked up with a raised eyebrow. “How does it feel to control water?”
“Water cannot kill me. Water would never kill me.”
“My fire doesn’t want to kill me. Anymore.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her knee. “We have come to an agreement.” He slid between her legs, propping himself up with his muscled arms as he rested his head on her belly. “Ah, my favorite place.”
He smiled, and he nearly looked boyish.
She felt suddenly afraid for him. He was so powerful, and that made him a very large target. “Samson asked me about you when we spoke.”
Oleg’s smile fell away. “You mention that man in our bed?”
“Do you really consider him any kind of competition?” She rolled her eyes. “Especially after tonight.”
He lowered his head and scraped his fangs over the soft flesh of her belly, never breaking his stare. His eyes narrowed in calculation. “What did he ask?”
“I think they were Arosh’s questions more than Samson’s. He was asking about the incident with the warehouse and the trucks.”
“So Ivan’s incompetence has made the news outside of Russia. Good.”
“It’s more than that. They are questioning your control of such a large territory. There was some insinuation that you are not strong enough to hold that large a territory on yourown. Samson kept talking about how when human populations expanded, most immortal territories fractured.”
“He is not wrong.
“But yours did not.”
“Because I am powerful enough to hold it.”
Oleg was powerful and he had his druzhina, a group of vicious warriors who would shed blood out of loyalty to him. He had his brothers, but Tatyana never felt like Oleg saw his brothers as family. Oleg and his brothers were more like a very suspicious gang all forced to work together.
And then there was Ivan.
Tatyana mused, “I worry that Arosh might consider the internal problems with Ivan an opportunity to weaken your eastern border.”
She was also thinking about her meeting with Kezia and Radu and Kezia’s suspicions about Arosh’s intentions with Alina, but she tried not to mention Poshani business with Oleg ever. That felt too much like a betrayal of her family.
“Don’t worry about that.” Oleg ran his hands up and down her sides. “The things you mention are not anything I have not considered.”
“And you still think undermining Ivan is the best tactic instead of challenging him directly? Even if it exposes your territory to speculation?”
“When I remove Ivan and set one of his more competent men in his place, I will be seen as the rescuer instead of the usurper,” Oleg said. “Then, shortly after that, I will press my influence even farther into North America via the northern trade routes with Pavel. Ivan will be irrelevant history, and my empire will be expanding again.”
She ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair. “Ever the Varangian raider.”
“I am who I am.” Oleg looked up, his chin at an arrogant angle. “And you love me for it.”
Oh, he was going to throw those words at her regularly for the rest of eternity.
I will never leave my people.
