“Kael,” she moaned, her voice trembling.
He smirked, devilish. “Gods, I want to ruin you.”
Their bodies tangled, hands desperate, mouths colliding in hungry rhythm. When the tension broke—when she shattered in his arms—it wasn’t just her pleasure.
It was his too.
And she felt it.
Like lightning crashing through bone. Like being caught in the pull of a tide so deep, she forgot the shore ever existed.
Later, wrapped in each other under silk and shadow, they laid in silence. His fingers traced the inside of her wrist slowly, as if still memorizing her.
“You haven’t asked why I proposed,” Kael said, voice low.
Maris turned toward him, heart already thudding again. “I assumed the council—”
“The council can rot,” he said quietly. “This was mine.”
She softened. “I suppose I didn’t want to know if you’d say otherwise.”
He studied her face, then sighed and asked carefully, “Do you… dream?”
The question hit too pointedly. Her breath caught.
He was fishing.
Her mind reeled, but she didn’t give in. “Everyone dreams, Kael.”
He raised a brow, brushing a knuckle down her cheek. “Yours seem vivid.”
Her stomach twisted. She fought the flicker of guilt. “They’re only dreams.”
“Are they?” His voice held that teasing chill—half flirtation, half test. “You write about them in your journal.”
She froze. She knew he had seen in the day he disappeared and returned covered in blood, but with the goddess kiss the notion to ask has dissipated in her shock.
His gaze didn’t waver. “You left it open. And I am a possessive man, Maris. Especially when the dreams mention another.”
She pulled back, chest tight.
“Don’t turn this into something it isn’t,” she whispered. “I don’t even know who he is.”
“But you want to,” Kael snapped, suddenly sharp. “You crave answers you don’t share with me.”
Her eyes flared. “Then ask me instead of going through my things like I’m some pawn in your court.”
His jaw locked. He turned away, running a hand through his black hair, the muscles in his back rippling with frustration. “You are not a pawn,” he growled. “You’re the whole fucking board, and I keep playing as if I can win you.”
She blinked. The fire in her throat dimmed. Guilt swept in.
Kael looked wrecked—not with rage, but with a strange ache that ran bone-deep.
“Hey,” she said, voice softening.
He didn’t turn.
So she rose on her elbows and slid beside him again, pressing her body into his side. She touched his hand.
