“Get her back onto the saltire,” Iywan says.
I swallow hard, my stomach threatening to revolt, but I don’t fight.
“Briony.” Iywan sweeps out of the room while Briony approaches me. I swear regret surfaces on her face before she places her hand on my shoulder and sends me into darkness.
CHAPTER 72
Durvla
I waketo the weight of Kilkenny’s arm around my waist, my back pressed against his front. I don’t even remember falling asleep, let alone still having him in my bed. As I shift, he presses his hand against the outside of my thigh, halting my movement. “You don’t want to do that,” he says into my head. Even his mental voice is laden with sleep.
“What?”
“You shifting against me is making it very difficult for things to remain… chaste.”
It takes me a moment to figure out what he’s talking about, but then it hits me. “Oh!” I shift once more, but this time it’s to put some distance between our bodies. The ache in my head has died down to a dull throb. My stomach is a little more settled, and while my vision is still a little blurry, the room isn’t spinning. My face is still puffy, and exhaustion has a hold on me, but I am far better than before.
I sit up slowly, Kilkenny following suit. “What time do you think it is?” I ask.
“Well, no one has come in to get us, so I’d say it can’t be that late.” He smiles and runs his fingers through his hair, mussing it up.
I smile at him. “How do you manage to make messy hair look so good?”
His fingers pause in his hair, and he raises his brows at me.
Heat immediately floods my face. I clear my throat. “Thank you for… earlier,” I say. I can imagine it couldn’t have been easy, given that he can literally feel what others feel.
“Any time,” he says. His arm reaches around my back as he pulls me closer against his side. It completely takes me by surprise, but I rest my head against his shoulder and breathe him in. The scent of his marjoram soap still clings to his skin and mingles with my lavender soap. I commit the combined scents to my memory, knowing that soon we’ll all be sweaty again as we commence our journey.
My heart drops. I sit upright so I can glimpse his face again, and his hand falls away. “Kilkenny?”
“Yes?” He loosens the tie from his hair, only to smooth the strands back and retie it.
“Do you really think that I won’t become corrupt like other Basduunai?”
“I have no doubt,” he signs with sincerity.
“What makes you so certain?”
“I’ve been in your head, remember?” A smile slowly spreads across his face. It’s sunshine and flowers and meadows. His eyes twinkle like moonlight reflecting off the dark ocean, and my pulse leaps eagerly. He’s so humble, so gallant, so selfless. He’s everything a knight should be, but he’s so much more.
I’m almost afraid to breathe too deeply as that hypnotic pull reemerges between us. His lips draw closer to mine, and I find myself unsure what to do with my hands. Or my head, for that matter.
“You think too loudly,” his voice says into my mind, and I can’t help but laugh.
His lips claim mine, swallowing my laughter as my stomach lurches pleasantly and my breath hitches. His arm wraps around my back, one hand cradling my head, and I melt into his embrace as delight dances along my spine. My arms snake around him, pulling him even closer, until my back is against the soft sheets beneath us and Kilkenny’s weight presses into me.
I’m not even sure when or how exactly we got here, but our tongues meet, and my thoughts try to intercede. I shove logic aside, dampening the noise of my mind and making room for instinct to take over. Desire ignites, consuming me, quelling any residual angst. I wrap my legs around his waist, and with our hips flush against each other, everything south of my naval clenches. The world falls away.
A multitude of sensations war within me, lust rising above reason and surfacing as victor. Kilkenny pulls away, leaving me bereft and flustered. His chest heaves as he gently disentangles my legs from around his waist. “Gods, Durvla,” he says. Two simple words, but there’s so much longing in his eyes that I ache for more.
But then he moves to sit beside me, trying to gather his composure, and I find myself staring at him, marveling that his lips and body were just on mine.
Sothat’swhat it’s like.
Attraction. Yearning. Something greater that I don’t want to confront right now.
“Are you alright?” he asks, and I can’t help but grin.
