Now here he was, telling her everything she wanted to hear from him. It felt like a dream, one she was hesitant to indulge in.
She dipped her head back to rest on his chest, warmth unspooling behind her ribcage. “I still plan on protecting Ash.”
“I know.”
“And Naia, and the family she has made.”
He pushed his thumb into the sides of her throat, against her quaking pulse. “Rina, I do not intend on standing against you, or your kin.”
A warm euphoria blossomed in her stomach, and her lips fought against the urge to lift into a broad smile.
But to let herself feel such happiness felt foolish—too good to be true.
She swallowed, the motion of her throat straining against his hold. “Why?”
He brought his mouth to her ear. “Because I want whatever this is between us to continue. You challenge me, excite me, elicit such wicked, depraved thoughts in me. I crave you in every form. Your darkness serenades mine, and I do not think I have the control to pretend otherwise any longer.”
“Then don’t.”
Without another thought, she grabbed him by the collar, hauled herself up on her toes, and crashed her lips into his.
Not once had she cataloged the details that came with kissing Acacius, but something had changed. He no longer blamed her for Ruelle’s death, and he’d decided not to oppose her, Ash, and Naia any longer. It felt as if some of the weight of their past had lifted, freeing up space for them to move to a new dawn.
She kissed him deeply, gripping the sides of his face and swallowing his breath.
His hands curled around her waist, pulling her snugly into his chest. An exhale left his nose as he slipped his tongue in between her lips. Desire sparked to life in her bloodstream, a river pulsing in her veins to chase the liquid pleasure running through her.
Ash.
The internal reminder was like the snapping of a safety wire.
She pulled away, her breath heavy. “There are monsters hunting Ash as we speak. I must return.”
Acacius’s lips were pink and swollen as his eyes swept over her face, analyzing the concern that pinched her brow. “Stay with me for a bit longer, and we will go investigate during nightfall.”
She rested her forehead against his, warring with herself. “What if something happens while I am here?”
Acacius kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ve already sent my Heralds back to the city.” Over her cheek. “They will watch from afar to avoid spreading the echoes of my Ruin, but I can at least use them as my eyes.” Up her temple. “If they find or see anything alarming, they will inform me right away.”
His assurance eased the tension in her chest, and her voice of reason kicked in. The child had Ronin and Naia and the Blood Heretics. Soren was somewhere in the shadows, watching aswell. Ash would be okay. For now, she could savor this moment with Acacius.
“Fine.” She relented, leaning into his kisses down her jaw. “But only until nightfall.”
He drew in a breath through his nose, and her equilibrium shook.
She opened her eyes and looked around. They were no longer in the dark desert, but a room instead.
The same lancet windows as those in the spring lined the stone wall, their insides open to the view of a raging sea. Foaming waves crested and slammed down, sloshing like a shaken cup. It had to be another island of his, close to the mainland. The rabid water ran off the edges of the isle and into the center of Tavora, but the ocean never lessened, ever thrashing.
Acacius slipped his arms around her waist and lifted her up off her feet.
He threw her down on something plush and soft. Above her, a canopy of vines snaked around the bedposts. White moths crawled in the crevice of the greenery, fluttering overhead like particles of starlight.
Acacius pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it onto the floor. For once in her life, Marina praised the light spilling in through the windows as she admired Acacius’s sculpted build.
All the muscles writhed under his skin as he climbed on top of her, smirking. “I missed you.”
She lifted her arms over her head, accentuating the shape of her body in hopes to affect him the same way he did her. “You know, we have yet to have sex in a bed.”
