DEAR GODDESS
Torin came to a halt beside my throne, the tension in him sharp enough to register without the need to look at him. He believed himself at fault, that much was clear. The thought sat heavily on him, coiled tight behind discipline and duty.
“Tell me about the girl,” I said calmly.
The request was quiet,but it carried enough weight to make Torin grit his teeth. He inclined his head immediately, shoulders stiffening as though bracing for the consequences he expected to follow.
“She arrived alone, my lord,” he said.
“And claimed to have summoned a goblin… um… did she request assistance in undoing it?” I asked, and his jaw tightened before he answered,
“She did, but I didn’t take her at her word… not at first.”
“And then you did,” I said, not as a question but as a statement made.
“She knew enough to make it plausible, yes. Enough that I called Vor to determine whether there was truth to her claim and another presence hidden.”
Sensibly done, I thought, and I couldn’t fault him…not yet.
“And?” I prompted.
“And she slipped past him, whilst I was dealing with another matter,” Torin admitted, frustration bleeding through the restraint in his tone.
“She should not have been able to do that,” I said evenly.
“No, my lord,” Torin agreed before adding,
“Which is why I ordered her to be retrieved.”
I clenched my jaw at the thought and would have ordered not a single soul touch her when doing so. Demands that would have been made absolute, along with the command to have her brought straight to me, had I the time to do so. However, I never got the chance, as the situation shifted ahead of us, and those orders evaporated the moment I heard it. A sharp, muttered curse carried up to my throne, cutting through the music and shadow.
“Fuck.”
The word was spoken quietly, under her breath, rather than shouted. That was when I lifted my gaze. At the same time, I felt the subtle tightening of panic as she turned, clearly ready to bolt.
She wasn’t too far away, having made it to this private space of mine on the upper floor. She was half-turned, tension written into the tempting line of her body. For a fraction of a second, Torin followed my attention and gestured unnecessarily in her direction.
“That’s her,” he said.
As if I wouldn’t have known.
The moment my eyes settled on her, everything else ceased to matter.Ceased to exist. In fact, the world could have fucking burned, and I doubt I would have noticed!
The dress confirmed it first. Black, gothic, threaded with symbols my mind recognized without conscious effort. Then the rest followed, swift and merciless, like a punch to the gut,stealing air from my lungs. The delicious and tantalizing curves of her body.
The way her hair fell straight around her face. As if deliberately tamed, the honey-blonde was glossy beneath the lights, not softened by waves but controlled. Restrained, even, as if she had forced it into order the same way she forced herself to stand still now. There was nothing ornamental about her, nothing fragile, and yet everything about her felt painfully, dangerously alive.
And the way her weight shifted as though ready to run made the memory of our collision snap into place with brutal clarity once again.
And as for her face…I was fucking spellbound!
She was beautiful.
Torin had barely finished speaking when the situation ahead of us began to unravel. She had tried to turn back. Of course, she had. The instinct to flee was no doubt a powerful one, and she was no fool.
My gaze remained forward as Torin continued, his voice steady despite the edge beneath it.
“I have given my men the order to retrieve her, but it looks like she is about to resist.”
