For a moment, there was only their hammering pulses and quick breaths and ebbing currents of intertwined fervor.
As the blinding corona of her Shine receded, a clawing spark of panic formed in her.
What if he thought this meant she’d made her choice—him? She hadn’t chosen anything. None of this would’ve happened if she hadn’t been in her Shine. Everything would be so much more complicated now. Why had she tied Kaelan up?
Kaelan . . . her heart sank.
What would he do when he found out?Ifhe found out.
She wasn’t going to tell him. She wasn’t going to tell anyone. This had been a mistake... a fluke of her damned Rae instincts.
Before her logical mind succeeded in pulling her from the mire, Endreas rolled her over.
Gently, he kissed her forehead, her lips, her throat, the hollow between her breasts, the downward slope of her belly.
Each soft brush of his lips spoke to her in that silent language of his.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
He kissed the curls over her mound. His tongue parted the folds and lapped up the wetness he had left there. He watched her from the top of his eyes.
Mine.
And then he delved in, lapping and devouring, chasing away the pesky nits of rational thought as her Shine brightened, blinding her.
THE ROOM WAS DIM.Seconds passed before she recalled where she was. Many more went by before the memories of what had happened between her and Endreas surfaced through the lingering fog left by her Shine.
Twisting in the sheets, she found the bed empty beside her.
No trace of Endreas except the musky aroma of their time together. Although just how much time that had been, she couldn’t say. Thinking about it ignited a terrible burn under her skin.
Finally, she shoved aside the bedclothes. Finding her body naked, muscles loose and responsive after days of love-making, made her tense.
Hurrying to the bathroom, she started filling the tub. While the water ran, she checked herself in the mirror. No glow. The Shine was burnt.
She said a silent prayer of thanks to the gods that, even though her body went into a mating frenzy every few months, pregnancy was not possible until after she had claimed a Prince.
She ran her hand down her neck, searching, but Endreas had left her skin unmarked.
Once convinced no outward evidence existed, she retrieved her knives from her shadow’s vault and trimmed her hair, which was a tousled mess. She could just hear her mother clucking disapprovingly for using her daggers to cut her hair. But Magda had other things to worry about.
The biggest among them, Kaelan.
The thought that he might discover what had happened between her and Endreas sent a cold tremor through her.
Once the bath was drawn, she sank in and scrubbed herself again, attempting to slough off every bit of skin Endreas had touched, at least on the outside.
Though her thoughts kept tugging towards Endreas, she restrained them with two mantras.
The first,I do not love Endreas.
The second,No one has to know.
When she stepped out of the bathroom, she found the bedding changed and remade, the curtains drawn back, food steaming on the table under the triptych of stained glass windows—red dwarf cap mushrooms in a green meadow—and new clothes laid out on the bed.
Did Meer know?
The brownie had to suspect.
