Acacius tilted his head at her, a solemn crease forming in his brow. “Let me show you that I am a god of my word. I will never be added to the list of those who disappointed you, Marina. This is my vow to you.” He pressed his palm against her chest, over her heart.
At the sound of her full name wrapped in his voice, a sense of calm and ease overtook her. There was no tautness in her gut urging her not to do this. Only a steady push to accept the helphe offered. She believed him and his vow, and for the first time in her life, she wantedto rely on another.
“Together.” It was the only way. “We do it together.”
“Only if you wish to do so.” He searched her face as if to gain confirmation.
She nodded, her pulse firing and stomach twisting all at once. “I do.”
Acacius kissed from her jawline to her earlobe. His warm breath spread gooseflesh down her nape.
Using his hold on her waist for better control, he ground his hips up, refocusing her attention back onto their joined skin.
Her breaths quickened, and she bucked her hips to the tempo of his thrusts.
“Scratch your nails down my—fucking hell.” Acacius moaned out as she scraped roughly across the back of his shoulders.
His reaction pooled heat through her bloodstream.
Warm liquid oozed underneath her long nails and down her fingertips.
Her chest went light to the feel.
She peeked over his shoulder, slowly turning over her palm. Crimson beads ran along the insides of her fingers. Its presence stung her skin, and flashes of Evander, decapitated and gushing on her bed, flickered in her thoughts.
Her body stiffened.
She slipped her bloodied fingers into Acacius’s pale hair to hide them.
Her sense of security was fracturing, like the debris that orbited around Tavora’s isles.
His blood.
His blood is on me.
Her heart rate turned erratic, surging wildly in her ears.
He is inside of me, and his blood is on me, and I am?—
“Are you still with me?” Acacius ran one of his hands up her spine and curled his fingers around her nape. The sensation of his touch calmed the pounding of her heart.
“Yes.” She hid her face in the crook of his neck. “My thoughts are spiraling.”
“Focus on this.” Acacius gripped the backs of her thighs and hauled them forward.
Marina’s back met the mattress with Acacius on top of her. He lifted her leg up by the crook of her knee, deepening his position inside of her.
She gasped, the intensity building in her core.
“Focus on me.” Acacius took her wrist and brought her stained finger up to his lips, licking away the blood. The sensation of his tongue convulsed a wave of pleasure down her middle. “You have all the control, all the power here, Rina. Nobody else.”
You are in control.
Marina kept her eyes locked with his, the cresting panic in her chest calming.
Compelled to try again, she dragged her fingernails down his chest.
Vermillion trails flowed down the contours of his pecs and abdomen, over her knuckles and the back of her hand.
