The younger man hesitated before obeying. As he crossed the room, he paused by the lieutenant long enough to say, “Kaja poisoned the Isar’s tea. Be careful of touching anything.”
“A magician has been summoned,” the lieutenant said with a nod of acknowledgment.
Arkadi nodded, and as soon as he was within arm’s reach, Roadian didn’t hesitate to drag him close, pinning that lean body against his own. Arkadi looked up at him through thick lashes, uncertainty in those glacial eyes. Rodian kept his arm wrapped around Arkadi’s waist, hand resting over one hip. It was the closest they’d ever been since the night Rodian had accidentally run into the other man on the balcony during his coronation ball. He was loath to ever let Arkadi go again.
Lidiya hurried through the doorway just then, her face pale as she took in the situation. “Isar, are you all right?”
“I am alive and well,” Rodian said.
“You almost weren’t,” Arkadi muttered in a low voice.
Rodian turned his head, leaning in close so his lips brushed over Arkadi’s temple. The shiver that racked the younger man’s body was a delicious thing. “I seemed to have been saved by a miracle.”
Arkadi had no response to that. Rodian let him keep his silence as Lidiya approached. She gave the four Ministers being dealt with by the palace guard a wide berth, her attention focused on Rodian. “What happened, Isar?”
“The Ministers had a disagreement on the amendment I proposed regarding the tithes to the wardens,” Rodian said.
Lidiya drew in a deep breath, worry etched in her face. “They tried to kill you. That is treason.”
“They will be dealt with.” Rodian would make sure of it. So, too, would he make sure the survivors never spoke of Arkadi as a Blade, even if it meant carving out their tongues.
Rodian knew the ivoryanin thought he lacked grace for being from the country. But even in the far north, he’d heard of Blades. Rumors he thought were just that—rumors. Yet the truth of them stood beside him, had killed to keep him safe. Rodian could not condemn Arkadi for following his road.
That road had led the other man to Rodian, who didn’t want to ever let him go.
“Isar, we’re going to move you,” the lieutenant said, gesturing for him to follow her. The palace guard seemed a little tense, probably because he was still within the same walls as the people who had tried to kill him.
Rodian was fine with leaving, but he didn’t want to be stuck in endless meetings for the rest of the day, rehashing everything that had happened that afternoon. What he wanted to do was get Arkadi alone, lay the younger man out on the nearest flat surface, and sink his cock into that perfect ass that was always so difficult to keep from touching while they danced.
The one perk about being Isar was that he could do just that.
“Arkadi and I need to speak with each other about what happened,” Rodian said, guiding the younger man to the door. “We are not to be disturbed.”
He could feel the tension coiling tighter in Arkadi’s muscles, and he wanted so badly to soothe him, but the words Rodian wanted to speak weren’t meant for an audience.
Thirteen
ARKADI
Arkadi silently followed Rodian away from the frantic bustle of the palace guard dealing with the traitors. A group of soldiers peeled off to escort them through the palace, with a magician taking the lead, their wand out in preparation for any further attacks.
Rodian didn’t speak, his silence making Arkadi’s shoulders inch up to his ears of their own accord. He had to force himself to relax, to ignore the tightness in his chest. He knew revealing himself as a Blade would have repercussions he couldn’t escape, but the thought of being banished from Rodian’s life was something he wasn’t prepared for.
So when they finally made it to Rodian’s private office, the palace guards first clearing the room, the only thing Arkadi could think to do was say, “I’m sorry. I should have told you what I had planned, what I was. But I couldn’t?—”
Hands grabbed him by the shoulders, shoving him up against the door that had just been closed and locked by a palace guard. His hands twitched automatically for a blade, but he halted thatmotion before his fingers could touch any weapon. This was his Isar pinning him to the door and staring at him with a heated gaze. Arkadiwould notharm him.
“You killed for me,” Rodian ground out.
Arkadi firmed his jaw, pressing his lips together so they wouldn’t tremble until he got himself back under control. “Of course I did. The Midnight Starchose youas our country’s Isar. I won’t let anyone harm you just because you got the crown they wanted and didn’t deserve.”
He thought that was obvious, thought Rodian understood that Arkadi wanted him to succeed, wanted to keep him safe. He opened his mouth to explain all that, fearful of being pushed away, only to find the very air stolen from his lungs when Rodian savagely kissed him, beard scraping against the tender skin of his face. The intensity of the kiss forced Arkadi’s head back, the point of his one remaining stiletto hair stick digging into his skull.
He didn’t care. All he knew was Rodian’s body pressing against his, caging him in against the door, tongue slipping past his teeth and licking deep. He sucked in a ragged breath, hands fisting against Rodian’s broad chest, bunching up the expensive long-vest. One of Rodian’s thick thighs forced its way between Arkadi’s legs, angling up and grinding mercilessly against his cock. Arkadi tore his mouth free, biting back a moan, cock throbbing against the solid muscle of Rodian’s thigh.
Rodian dragged his hand over Arkadi’s throat, fingers pressing against his pulse before moving back to tangle in his hair. Fingers worked at the half-undone knot there, loosening it until the last stiletto disguised as a hair stick fell to the floor. Arkadi didn’t care, not when Rodian’s fingers tangled in his hair and gave it a firm yank to tilt his head back, baring his throat.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to see you with your hair down?” Rodian growled in his ear, voice a vicious raspthat dragged a full-body shiver through Arkadi’s bones. “And to think, all I had to do was find myself in danger.”
