“That one is from my bargain. Jordi was shot by a poisoned arrow and I didn’t know how to use my healing gifts.”
His eyes flick to mine. “Your desperate bargain.”
I nod, smiling softly as I brush his hair away from his eyes. “I guess when I heal people, I end up taking their scars.”
“You guess?”
"I didn't see Jordi's chest afterward. I forgot to ask if he ended up with one."
He nods and traces the larger, jagged scar. “What about this one?”
“I don’t know.”
He frowns as he searches my face, waiting for an explanation.
“I had it when I arrived. That’s what the Sages told me, anyway.”
He stares at me for a long moment before he presses a kiss to each scar, then my sigil, then my throat, and finally, my lips. I smile as I sit up higher against the headboard, pulling the sheet up with me as I turn my face towards him.
"Why do your eyes flash like that?"
He settles beside me. "Because I'm a Rook."
"Freida told us stories about raffin wielding different colors of lightning. She never mentioned the riders' eyes flashing."
"Not all raffin wield lightning. Some control cloud formations. Create storms. It helps them travel unseen." He stretches his arm behind me. "Others can disappear entirely. My raffin happens to wield bronze lightning."
"That sounds incredible." I pause. "And terrifying."
His lips twitch.
"Have your eyes flashed before tonight? I can't imagine I'd miss something like that."
"Once." He casts me a sideways look. "At Siren's. When I learned you were in a private room with that legion guard."
A smile spreads across my face before I can stop it. "Because you were jealous?"
He chuckles. "Are you so cruel that my agony excites you?"
“Your agony doesn't excite me.” I trace a finger down his chest. “Knowing you want me does.”
He cups the back of my neck. Gods. Even after everything I've told him, he looks at me like I'm the only one who can satisfy the hunger banked inside him.
"I always want you, Menace."
The yearning in his eyes undoes me. I shift, straddling his stomach, and shiver when I feel him hardening between my legs. I lean in, holding his gaze, and press a soft kiss to the hollow of his throat. The choked gasp he makes sends a thrill through me.
"Merciless." His fingers dig into my thighs as I lick up the column of his throat. "That's what you are."
"You said you like everything I do."
"I love everything you do." His grip tightens. His voice is hoarse. "Everything."
I pull back to say something. The words die on my tongue when I see the hunger blazing in his eyes. Instead of speaking, I rise up. Position him at my entrance. And slowly sink down.
My breath catches at the stretch.
"Gods—fucking—damn." Each word is punctuated by a strangled sound as I seat myself fully.
