And maybe it was the fear still pulsing through her blood from the nightmare, or the memories that chased her almost as much as she’d chased him, but she craved some semblance of comfort—of something she knew after being thrust into a world she so sorely didn’t understand.
Thalia moved across the floor and Cassius stiffened, no doubt bracing for an attack, but Thalia just grabbed his face, hauling her mouth to his.
He grunted against her lips, surprise sharp and tangy on her tongue. Thalia wound her arms around his neck, pulling her body flush against his, her nightgown doing nothing to mask the feel of his hard body against hers.
She kissed him deeper, willing him to kiss her back. Willing him to let go of whatever restraint he kept for himself.
Please,her lips seemed to beg his.Please.
Cassius gripped her shoulders, pushing her back. His eyes glowed brighter than the moon. “What are you doing?” he rasped.
Thalia shook her head. “I- I need you,” she got out, closing the distance between them. His lips formed perfectly against hers, a key fitting into a lock.
Cassius tore his mouth away, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “Thalia, this is not—we aren’t—we aren’t going to do this.”
She gripped his wrists, feeling the strength of his muscles. “You said you missed me,” she whispered. His hands loosened slightly, and she was able to press herself against him. “Was that another lie?”
Cassius’s throat bobbed. “No. No it wasn’t a lie.”
“You said you wanted to taste my flesh again.” She ran her tongue up the strong column of his neck, his heated skin burning beneath her mouth. Cassius groaned, his fingers tightening once more on her shoulders. “That it’s driving you insane.”
Cassius suddenly gripped her face with one hand, tilting her head back with the other, his fingertips tangling in her blonde hair. Hunger marked his features, his mouth parted slightly to reveal sharp-pointed fangs. But the sight didn’t scare her. In fact, it sent a pang of awareness straight into her belly.
“You’re married,” he finally got out. “To the man I serve.”
“It can be our secret,” she whispered. She didn’t even care that suddenly this didn’t feel like seduction. Didn’t care that the traitorous heat in her chest had traveled right to her core, making her ache. “It’s not as though monarchs don’t take other lovers. It’s not as though we’ve never talked about doing just that.”
Because even when she’d been engaged to that human prince, the plan was always to havehim.
His gaze darkened, his head tilting slightly until they shared a breath. “What happened, Thalia?”
She snapped her gaze to his, frustration blooming alongside her desire. “I don’t want to talk.”
“We should talk.”
Thalia jerked back. “Talk about what, Cassius? There’s nothing to discuss. Do you want to fuck me or not?”
A muscle in Cassius’s jaw flickered. Then he let go of her face and took a step back. Cold air brushed between them, stretching like a shoreline.
“What are you doing?” she practically growled out, her fingers curling as though she could still feel his strength beneath them.
“We aren’t doing this.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because when we fuck, it’s because webothwant it. Not because one of us is trying to escape something. And it certainly won’t be a secret.” Thalia’s body went numb as Cassius grabbed the blanket at the end of the bed. “I’ll sleep on the settee.”
Just like that, the fire inside her died, leaving nothing but a pile of ash in its wake.
Chapter Twenty
“Why are your eyes gold?” Thalia asked.
She’d finally made it to the library the next morning. Camilla had stumbled upon her there a few hours later and made a comment about reading for the afternoon. But Thalia had the sense Camilla was keeping an eye on her. She couldn’t say why, but every so often she’d feel Camilla’s eyes on her shoulder blades as she searched the shelves for books on sickness.
“That’s a strange question,” Camilla said, marking the spot in her book with her finger.
Thalia shrugged. “We were talking about eye color last night—”
