Cassian could bridge the small wedge of space keeping them apart if he were to tip forward and...
He licked his lips, feeling his cheeks flush.
Averting his eyes, he said, “Do you think I wish to feel this way?”
Finnian didn’t respond right away, prompting Cassian’s gaze to return to him.
He stared at Cassian’s mouth, his eyes darkening.
Heat dropped low in Cassian’s stomach.
“Decide what you want, but stop toying with me.” His gaze flitted up to meet Cassian’s, sharp and full of intent. “I will never stop raising souls from the dead.”
In his declaration, there was loneliness, anguish. All Cassian desired was to unearth the harshest secrets of his soul and merge them with his own.
“Because it is all you have,” Cassian finished, voice low, yielding to Finnian’s feelings.
He snatched Cassian’s chin between his thumb and index finger, and dipped in closer, glowering through hooded eyes. “I loathe you,” he said through curled lips.
His breath warmed Cassian’s mouth. Desire saturated in his bloodstream, slurring the voice of reason begging him to disappear—to go home and never chase after the young god again. Yet, all he could focus on was Finnian’s fingers bruising his skin.
“I loathe you justas much,” Cassian whispered.
I long for you, is what he wanted to say instead.
The tension between them surged. Their eyes remained locked. Cassian’s stomach flipped from the sensation of tiny currents zapping at his cheeks.Magic.Coming from Finnian?—
He yanked Cassian forward by his chin and swallowed his gasp with a kiss.
Shock jarred his system, stunting his movements, consumed by the heat pouring down his throat.
Finnian tasted like alkaline, like something sweet and earthy, and Cassian devoured it, guzzled it down deep until he was made of nothing but the taste.
Finnian’s tight hold relaxed around his chin, and he spread his palm over Cassian’s cheek, hooking his thumb underneath his jawline. A primal instinct awoke in Cassian that razed the strategically structured pillars of his self-control.
He sucked in a breath through his nose and threw an arm around Finnian’s waist, pulling him into his chest. Their bodies curved together and burned as one. The strong stride of Finnian’s heartbeat thundered against Cassian’s ribcage.
The kiss was greedy. Lips fused together. Tongues grazed teeth. An enchantment hummed under Cassian’s skin. Sensations fluttered in his stomach.
All the thoughts that plagued him stilled. Silence stretched out across his mind. The never-ending to-do list. Ruelle. Balance. The state of his realm and his souls. Operation and order. All of it shattered into dying white noise, a welcoming static between blood and bone. Nothing before had been able to captivate his full attention the way Finnian so easily did in that moment.
Finnian’s tongue danced over his bottom lip. An inferno burned in his abdomen and he locked his fingers around Finnian’s nape, drawing him in and kissing him harder.
He slipped his hand beneath the hem of Finnian’s shirt and spliced his fingers across the middle of his back, stroking up the side of Finnian’s torso, over the ridges of his ribs.
Finnian retracted his tongue from Cassian’s mouth and bit down on the cushion of his bottom lip, stretching the skin. Tingles fluttered up Cassian’s spine.
He lifted his other hand up into Finnian’s long strands and forced his head back. His thumb slightly extended, grazing over the solid crystal still safely inside the canal of Finnian’s ear. A confirmation that made Cassian feel better, knowing Malik had not destroyed it.
Finnian scraped his teeth across the nerves and skin of Cassian’s lip. A pain mixed with an insatiable pleasure. The sensation made him twitch against the inside of his trousers.
An intense gathering welled up behind his navel. He brought his mouth down onto Finnian’s neck, tracing his tongue up the curvature of his throat, nipping and marking his skin to leave proof, if only for a second, before the bruises healed.
Finnian rolled his hips, grinding his hard length against Cassian’s pelvis.
Cassian dragged in a breath against the skin of Finnian’s neck. A tremor shot deep into his belly as his heart sped up like a butterfly caught in his chest.
He licked up Finnian’s throat, ravishing in the sensation of the young god’s quickened pulse on his tongue.
