A knock at her doors interrupted the streaming tear now rolling down her cheek.
“Arissa, I do not require my handmaids tonight. I’ve already sent them away—”
Araes’s flaming eyes stole the words from her lips. His expression—dark with remnants of lust long since lost as he traced the outline of her figure beneath the sheer sleeping gown.
“I do not require protection in the privacy of my own bedchamber.” Tethys scowled and wrapped her arms around herself. She was suddenly aware of every raised hair on her body, every breath filling her lungs.
“I’m not here to protect you, Goddess,” he stated, biting his lip. Tethys caught her eyes wandering to his lips. The ones that’d once been on hers. The residual warmth lingered on her skin, heating her cheeks slightly. Araes’s eyes were a brand upon her, watching her every shift inweight.
“Then if you’re here to convince me to rethink my decision on meeting with Randall Maximus, you can turn around and return to the toxic sludge you’ve come from,” she snapped, attempting to slam the door in his face. A large, calloused hand blocked its swing before it clicked shut.
“That’s not why I’m here, either. I’ve thought about it, and I actually agree you should hold an audience with Maximus. He might offer something useful,” he said, stepping into her space.
“Then why are you here?” she asked, her words like venom.
The lieutenant’s throat bobbed and he reached for her hand. The touch of his skin against hers, even as cautiously as it now was, melted the frozen despondence coursing through her veins. She risked a glance up at his eyes. They burned with unwavering brilliance.
“Tethys,” he said, sending quakes through her body. Eos above, the way he pronounced her name—like a secret shared between lovers. Its sound was a small, but indulgent bite of the sweetest honey cake. “I’ve stayed silent, disengaged, but nothing keeps these thoughts away. You’ve entirely consumed me, and as hard as I’ve tried, I cannot keep myself from you any longer.”
She loosed a breath, entirely disarmed by the rough curl of Araes’s voice over her body. He stood so stiffly before her, with gritted teeth and darkness in his eyes. His irises kindled to a golden depthless shade she so desperately craved to melt into.
“I know this is a mistake,” he whispered, risking a step toward her.
“Yes, you’ve made that apparent, Lieutenant,” she breathed, her body entirely entranced by his intensity.
“But I don’t care. I need you, Goddess. Down to my very fucking bones. I cannot sleep, cannot eat, cannot evenbreathe without thinking of you.” Araes laced his fingers through hers. His smoldering gaze sent her heart leaping up her throat. “The things you do to me,” he said with ragged breaths. “You’re so fucking intoxicating.”
He brushed his brow across hers and closed the space between them.
“We cannot cross this line again. You said it yourself,” she murmured. Peppermint and leather pricked her nose as he brushed a thumb against her cheek. His touch was the gentlest of caresses but also the wildest of fires.
“You’re right,” he whispered, closing the space between them. “But if we’re to burn along with the entire continent, I will gladly cross it.”
Araes’s lips were on hers, then. All essence of time and space dissipated into the night as the greed in his kiss stole every thought from her head.
She melted into him, feeling his solid, powerful body tremble. This man, the deadliest of warriors, most stoic of soldiers, came entirely undone for her as she wrapped her arms over his neck. She wanted—needed more. Tethys drank him in, tasting his breath on her tongue. Araes tipped her chin and deepened the kiss, their lips moving with matched voracity.
Flames licked up her skin, sending shockwaves of need shuddering through her veins. Tethys pulled him into the bedchamber, never breaking the connection between them, and slammed the door shut behind her.
“Just this once, then,” she whispered, her voice like gravel against his lips. Her body heightened to every sensation his touch brought on. She pressed her body against his, but it wasn’t close enough. The forbidden feel of his hard cock beneath his trousers set her head ablaze, but these were flames she’d gladly succumb to.
“Do you think of me too? When you’re alone in your bed,” he breathed, lust dripping from every syllable. His fingers trailed down the curve of her spine, sending ashudder escaping her parted lips.
“Yes,” she breathed, desire pooling between her legs. Tethys unbuttoned his tunic and let it fall to the floor. She sucked in a breath. Thick black ink crawled up his body, like tendrils of twisted vines. Those marks, reserved for the highest ranking officer, proved just how lethal Araes truly was.
He untied the sash that held her sleeping gown in place. The pink fabric fell across her breasts, sending a prick of pleasure through her. Her nipples pebbled in the chill night air. The cool sensation alone sent ripples of anticipation through her bloodstream.
“Do you find pleasure in thoughts of me, just as I do you?” he asked, placing a trail of kisses down her neck. The buzz of tension between them was too thick, too suffocating. She needed release, needed to lose herself in this man.
Araes fell to his knees, gripping her thighs in each hand. He stared up at her with molten eyes. This warrior, marked with the highest of kill counts along his skin, knelt beforeher— worshipedher. Never in her life had she felt so godsdamned powerful as she did right now.
“You’re so fucking perfect,” he whispered, tracing a finger up her body. Lust dusted her vision as Araes cupped the curve of her breast and circled her nipple with his thumb. The scratch of his calloused palm tightened her belly. She rubbed her thighs together, squirming and breathless for any sort of friction. Any sort of release from the explosion of tension building at her center.
“But, Goddess, I wonder if you taste as sweet as I’ve imagined,” he growled. “You don’t know how many nights I’ve spent wondering. How many nights I’ve considered chaining myself to the bedpost just to keep from traveling down the hall and taking you over and over and over again.” His voice dragged along her skin, leaving only white hot heat in its trail.
Her body jolted in response as he pinched her nipple. Like a toxin to her brain, his touch consumed every thought, every sensation, every fucking blood cell coursing through her veins. Her physical reaction to him was so deliciously mortal. She combed her fingers through his silky brown hair, letting the curls lace themselves around her thumbs.
He slid his hands down her body and brushed his fingertips across her slit. The tension in her lower belly intensified with the stroke of his thumb as he circled her clit. Never breaking the current between their locked eyes, he pressed against her harder, sending waves of pleasure through her body.
