“Andyouare the most infuriating…”
He took a step, his rage matching her own.
“Maddening…”
Another step.
“Incessant...”
Another.
“Enraging…” He stood so close now.
Tethys’s breath hitched. The man before her dripped with deadly prowess. Her heart slammed into her throat as she realized the darkness stirring in his honey gold eyes wasn’t anger or hatred or even irritation. No, it was raw, unrelenting need.
His stare washed over her body, trailing each curve and crease of the soaking wet tunic that clung to her skin.
He stole another step of space between them.
She sucked in a breath that smelled of him—peppermint and leather. It wasintoxicating. Tethys drew in another. She could spend the rest of her damned eternity cocooned in that infuriating scent.
“I would love nothing more than to travel far from here. To put the entire damned continent between us,” he said, brushing his nose against her brow. He too breathed her in. “To claim my loyalty to Venia and never look back.”
“Then let me go, if that’s what you wish.” She drew a breath, her eyes fluttering shut as their foreheads connected and he laced his fingers through her hair.
“Unfortunately for the both of us, I’ve concluded that there is nowhere far enough for you to escape to. There is nothing I can do or say that isdistractionenough to keep me from what I now know to be true. I cannot, and will never, have enough of you. You are the poppy and I am an addict. You are the air I breathe and the water I drink. You are the dream I hope to return to when I lay my head to rest at night. You are every damn missing piece that fulfillsme. Not Venia. Not my battalion. Not even the rest of the fucking realm.”
Her tunic scratched against her skin. Her flesh was fire beneath his touch as he trailed his fingers down her cheek, her neck, her breast.
“I’ve found myself entirely at your mercy, and I will follow you to the ends of this world if you ask me to,” he whispered.
Everything melted around her.
“Ask me again, Goddess.”
“Come with me to Aquilae?”
“Ok,” was all he said.
Her hands were steady as she wrapped them in his curly brown hair. Her heart was quiet as she placed her lips on his. Never in her entire existence was she so sure, so resolute, about somethingthan this.
Araes tipped her chin to deepen the kiss, and the taste of his tongue against her lips set fire to her blood. She burned beneath his flames as she wrapped herself around him.
“Lock the door, Tethys,” he said, pulling away.
Her name on his lips was everything she ever needed.
“And if I refuse?” she whispered.
“Someone may walk in. We’d be caught and the consequences would be…catastrophic” he said, leaning down to face her. His lips were a hair’s width from hers. She couldn’t bear it. She needed to feel his warmth against her skin,needed to taste him again.
“I do not care,” she murmured, closing the space between them. His hands gripped her waist before she could kiss him.
“I will not risk you exposed. Especially in the position you’re about to find yourself in.”
She prayed to Eos for strength. For composure.
This mortal would be her undoing.
