I tipped my head back, finding him looking down at me with a deep hunger. I sensed his walls lowering, that same vulnerability he’d offered me the previous evening returning.
So I leaned into it—and not because I wanted to manipulate him any longer. Because I found myself…wanting to.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely, even offering him a small smile. “I’ll throw them into the entry when I take them off.”
He nodded, taking one step, then another, away from me, like the act physically pained him. With how the rope tying our fates together twisted, the punishment pushed into me too. It wanted nothing more than from him to join me in this tub.
And yet, I wasn’t quite ready to let him that close.
He scooted the same stool I’d perched on to the rim of the tub, placing a handful of soaps on it. My triceps screamed in protest from holding myself in this hovering position, but I didn’t dare surrender it until he walked away.
With one last glance at me, he disappeared through the archway.
Air fled my lungs. I called on my magic, creating a small bolster under my bottom, and stripped off the tunic. Fishing out the virelthorn from between my breasts, I used another tendril of white to secret it away in a shadowed corner. Then, I undid the bind. Bundling the fabric, I tossed it as far as I could.
“Shit,” I swore under my breath as it landed only halfway to its mark.
I eased fully into the water, hoping that by sinking down, my naked body would be mostly hidden.
“You can grab my clothes now,” I called out to my mate, heart beating a staccato rhythm against my ribs.
His familiar stride approached. I peeked over the rim, unable to help myself.
He stopped in his tracks on the other side of the entry. Tunic unbuttoned, his muscled, tattooed torso was on full display. He’d undone his hair, letting the iron-gray mess tumble to his shoulders. Lust coursed down our bond. I pressed my legs together involuntarily.
His gaze tracked over the tub. Then over my flesh. With his height, I should have known there was no hiding from him.
Yet I didn’t flinch. Didn’t make a move to cover myself.
I couldn’t with how transfixed I was.
Then, he shook himself, lips pressed into a firm line, and gathered my dirty clothes. “I’ll return in a little while,” he rasped, keeping his head down. “If you need my assistance before then, you know how to reach me.”
He spun on his heel and strode away like if he stayed behind there never would have been a chance for him to leave.
Every muscle stiff, I listened for the sound of the exterior door closing.
When it did, I sighed, shoulders finally relaxing.
Yet my thighs were tense, aching, along with my center.
Never in my life had I been this raw, this relentlessly primed. Never in my life had I had to suffer through the inability to banish the burn.
This fucking bond.
Vaeron was the kind of lethal beauty that legendswhispered about. He was the leviathan lurking in the deepest lakes, waiting to devour an innocent maiden.
And to be mated to a creature so sinfully cruel?
How could one resist the temptation of a taste?
Exhaustion had taken root in my bones each night, so I hadn’t attempted to touch myself, to snatch at a modicum of relief. Besides, I’d been filthy. But now that I could be clean…
The idea was too good to pass up.
I grabbed a bar of soap, running it over my skin in sensual, languid strokes. Imagining it was someone doing it for me. Cleaning me. Taking care of me. Protecting me.
I dunked underwater, scrubbing my scalp to rid it of the buildup of oil.
