“You don’t understand what’s at stake,” he growled, teeth raking over my pulse point.
My lashes fluttered against my cheeks. Radiant need curled in my core. Yet through the fog of my lust, I managed to cling to the rock that anchored me to reality. “Explain it, then. Tell me why you can’t speak of your mate.” The truth tangled in mythroat, but I forced it out anyway. “Tell me why you are abandoning your duty to me.”
He stiffened, fingers digging into the flesh of my hips. “I am not abandoning you. You have no idea what I’ve done to ensure your safety since our arrival.”
I shoved against his chest, forcing him to look at me. “Then tell me.”
A muscle feathered in his jaw, our earlier desire dissipating like light into the darkness. “My escorting you to the healers has put you at great risk. But I cannot stay away from you,” he groaned, raking a hand through his hair. “Iaoth would, and has previously, exploited any sign of weakness in me. Anything I care about even a little too much, she latches onto. Learned it from our father and honed her manipulations into blades.”
He paused, his chest expanding on a deep inhale. An image flashed down our bond, so fast I thought I’d imagined it.
But the female, older, smiling down at a younger version of my mate, seared into my memory. Before I could ask him who she was, he spoke again.
“She suspects something, and I don’t know what or how she knows. I cannot—will not—make a move until I know I have some leverage over her. You are my mate. No matter what, I have to protect you.”
Hot salt pricked my eyes. Vaeron’s face clouded. I turned away, trying to compose myself.
“Look at me,” he demanded.
But I couldn’t. Not when agony etched his expression. Not when desperation for my understanding leaked from his every pore.
Because the well-worn lines between us were far past blurred.
He gripped my jaw and forced my head forward. His otherhand captured my lower back, bringing our bodies completely flush.
“In a few days, there will be a ball to celebrate my upcoming vows and all the new Seers I brought to the palace. All of you will be in attendance. I cannot,” his voice cracked, and his nostrils flared as he dragged in a breath, “I cannot feel this utter torture when I am in your presence and maintain a semblance of interest in my current role. Please, I am begging you, tell me that you understand my position. That you will no longer hold it against me. I am trying to do what is best for both of us.”
One tear leaked out, and then another. I couldn’t deny the sincerity of his words. Couldn’t deny that I needed this torment to end too. I couldn’t even lie to myself and say that he was only telling me what I wanted to hear.
And with our wide-open connection, there was no contesting his words.
Not when Iheldtheir truth in my hands. Not when his emotions were a malleable ball.
So I spoke, even though the words were like swallowing glass. “I understand.”
Relief washed through him and into me. His eyes dipped closed for the briefest of moments, and his shoulders relaxed from their tense perfection. “Thank you. For finally listening.”
I swallowed, hard, as he released my face. “It’s…difficult.”
His forehead dropped against mine. “I know.”
My attention flicked to his lips. How close they were. How if I just tilted my head ever so slightly up, our mouths would join…
Vaeron must have followed my line of thought, for a moment later, lightning arced between us. My hands joined behind his head, keeping his lips firmly locked against mine. His tongue swiped insistantly at the seam of them, and Iopened like it was the most natural thing to do. Our tongues danced, perfect partners to a tune only we knew.
His hands shifted, sliding under the hem of my tunic to cup my breasts. My nipples hardened under his skillful touch. A breathy moan left me as he broke our kiss and dropped to his knees. In the next moment, his mouth trailed hot kisses across my stomach and toward my hipbones.
“Vaeron,” I panted, fingers threading into his hair.
Incandescence emanated from him a moment later, pinning my arms against the cool stone. His power knocked my legs apart and kept them spread. My center clenched and wept.
My mate inhaled at the apex of my thighs. “This is what I’ve been missing.”
His fingers trailed over my ankles and up my legs, bringing the soft fabric with them. Careful not to brush against my knee, he bared more and more of me, his rapturous focus locked on each inch of skin revealed to him.
“Please,” I begged, though I wasn’t sure what for. All reason had fled until only the touch of my mate remained.
He slowed his ascent, and every muscle tightened in anticipation. I flexed against Vaeron’s magic, but it held firm. That only served to dampen my thighs further.
