Vexxion, I named you well.
Bastard?I loved that I could state this, and we’d both see it as a joke. Only with this woman could I be myself. Only with her did I have even a shred of beauty.
She poked my chest.You’re precious. Patient. Infinitely lovable.
Amazing. Sexy.Leaning close, I sucked in her delicious scent and nibbled on her earlobe.You’re forgetting all my best attributes.
You’re infuriating at times.
I thought I was vexing.
That too.Her lips curled up.I’ll try again, and then we’re flitting to our suite. I have to clean up before I return to help Brenna prepare for the evening meal with the king, but I’ll bathe quickly. There’s this man I know. As we’ve recently noted, he’s quite vexing. But I’m going to take him to my bed before I help Brenna.
That’smybed,I purred.
Prove it.
Oh, I will.Would I ever.
She stared at the picture for a long while before pinching her eyes closed. This time, I felt her power rise within her, cresting, overflowing in a way it hadn’t before. It poured out of her as she mouthed the spell.
The marscapoles stopped moving, staring at her.
Her breath caught.
Then they started writhing once more.
18
TEMPEST
After bathing and tumbling around with Vexxion on the flooferdar blankets, proving that perhaps we both owned the bed, he dressed me in an appropriate gown.
“I have to go,” he snarled as he stood near the door, his sultry gaze gliding along my body in a weighted caress.
“I can flit to Brenna’s on my own.”
“Before you do, I need to show you this.” He crossed the room and took my hand, leading me to a tall wooden cabinet with two paned glass doors on the top and three drawers below. Opening the top drawer, he pointed to bulging cloth sacks the size of big fists. “Spelled to all but you.”
I lifted one, marveling at the weight. It clinked when I shifted it to my other hand.
“Enough wealth to support you for a very long time,” he said.
“I don’t need money.”
“You might.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. No, the shadows I saw there flickered, masking what I needed to see.
“Tell me.” My voice croaked, but I didn’t care. “I want to know.”
“I will when I can. Trust me?”
Always this question. “I do. I love you, Vexxion.”
“Yes. Yes, you do.” Stark desperation came through his voice, and my eyes burned with tears I would not shed while he was here with me. “I love you just as much.” He cupped my face and kissed me, his mouth as gentle as his hands. As I panted with reawakened need, he backed up a step. After stroking his knuckles across my cheek, he flitted to the king.
Drask soared in through the open window and landed on my shoulder. When he rubbed his head on my cheek, something scraped my skin.
“What do you have, little one?” I asked, plucking him off my shoulder to hold him in my outstretched hand.
