Given the amount of sex they’d been having the last few days, he’d thought his desire might have started to calm by now—he wasn’t exactly a young man anymore, though Theira assured him she could produce an effective potion for any situation if needed—but if anything it was increasing. Like regular exposure was teaching his body it could have as much as he could handle.
And both of them, it turned out, could handle quite a lot.
In the last few days, they’d shifted into a new pattern. They made love in Theira’s room, and Varius stayed there while they slept. A profound level of unspoken trust from both of them.
And it was also more than that. They trained in the underground twice every day. But they also made art together, and cooked and cleaned in the same room, and now even spent time reading quietly, still together. Like they couldn’t quite bear to not be in physical proximity if they didn’t have to.
It was a degree of bone-deep comfort Varius had never experienced with anyone, and he was like a starving man inhaling the bounty before him unable to stop, like he couldn’t quite believe he wouldn’t be starving again soon. He craved her with every part of him, and he’d experienced enough sorcery to know this wasn’t any kind of magic Theira had worked on purpose. When she spent time tending her garden or working in her lab, his whole being ached at the loss.
But she was here now.
And he was still hungry.
Varius set his painting aside and approached Theira slowly, loving that she knew he was coming—he could see the smile curving on her cheek—but didn’t tense. Just waited in a spirit of mischief to see what he would do.
He wrapped his arms around her middle and bent to kiss her ear, her cheek. Down her neck. She tilted her head to give him better access, her pulse accelerating, though she didn’t stop painting.
That was the game then. To see how far he could go before she was irrevocably distracted.
Varius’ own smile stretched as he nipped her lightly, reveling in the catch of her breath.
Then all at once Theira’s head snapped up, and only his battle-honed reaction time saved him from a broken nose.
Theira was tense now, and not in a fun way. Her head swiveled in the direction of a paint-spattered wall, but her eyes were unfocused.
She was looking farther than he could see.
That was the direction of the Aurelian Empire.
Varius’ arms tightened around her. “What is it?”
“One of my spells in the empire tripped,” Theira said tightly. “People are crossing a boundary in large numbers, and it’s not the border between our countries—it’sawayfrom the border.”
Varius frowned. The Aurelian Empire wouldn’t cede that border for anything.
Then all at once it made sense.
“Aurelian citizens are fleeing,” he said grimly, “from the empire.”
Even his departure hadn’t been enough for Sobanus to abandon his plan of slaughtering their own citizens. Or maybe this was part of a ploy to draw him out.
It would work.
Theira set down her paintbrush and turned in his arms.
Varius’ stomach dropped. He closed his eyes and bowed his head. This wasn’t how he wanted this.
They’d been preparing to stop a war. Not a specific plan, not yet, but they now unilaterally had enough leverage to make either side shut up and pay attention.
And if they were going to use that to make a difference, the time was upon them now.
Theira’s gentle hand on his cheek made him look at her, and he gazed directly into the deep, wild pools of her eyes.
“I wanted more time,” Varius whispered.
To prepare, yes. But he meantwith her.
No amount of preparation would change that they were planning to attempt the impossible. And that meant the chance of failure was high.
