I sense him move. The soft swishing sensation of him crossing the room, and then he is sitting beside me on the sofa, close enough that I can feel the familiar winter warmth of him that shouldn’t exist but does.
“Adam.” His voice is very gentle.
“I’m fine,” I say. To the mugs. “I’m completely fine.”
“I know you are.” His hand finds mine. “You don’t have to be.”
And that, more than anything, is the final straw. Not the news. Not a week. Not the throne or the Shadow Realm, or any of it. Just that.You don’t have to be.
I turn and he is right there, and his hand is warm in mine and his eyes are very steady, and I stop being impressively calm.
It is not dramatic. I am not a dramatic person. It is just that my eyes fill up and overflow and I make a small sound that I am going to be privately embarrassed about later, and Hex pulls me into him and wraps his arms around me and I press my face into his shoulder and let the whole carefully maintained composure go all at once.
He holds on. He doesn’t say it’s alright, because it isn’t, and we both know it. He doesn’t say don’t cry, or tell me reasons why this is manageable. He just holds on, one hand on my back and one in my hair, completely solid, entirely present, as real as anything I have ever felt.
“I know,” he says again, very quietly, into my hair. Just that. I know.
After a while the storm passes, the way these things do. I breathe. He breathes. The candle burns steadily on the coffee table.
I pull back enough to look at him. He looks at me. His thumb moves to my face and brushes away what’s left there, very carefully, and then he kisses where it was. Then the other side. Then my forehead.
Then he pulls back just enough to look at me again, and his expression is the unguarded one, the one underneath all the others, the one that doesn’t have a name.
“Stay,” I say. It comes out smaller than I mean it to. “I know you have to go. I know. But until you do...”
“I’m here,” he says. “I’m not gone yet.”
“Good,” I sniffle as I look away. “Because… you know. We should probably feed you up. Make sure you are as full of power as possible. For the cause.”
“That is very generous of you, My Love,” he says softly, and I hear the smile in his voice.
I don’t care that he is smiling at me. I turn back to face him, and I move forward, plastering my lips on his.
He doesn’t recoil. He doesn’t even flinch. What he does, is make a soft noise. One that sinks down into my belly and settles there, warm and glowing.
His arms circle my back, pressing me close. Holding me tightly while he kisses me back.
His kiss is tender and passionate. Fire and ice. Need, longing, and desire.
I fall into it. Surrender completely. I let all my fears, worries and anxieties float away. The only thing that exists is this moment, where I am in Hex’s arms and he is kissing me, and this moment is perfect.
Suddenly, the world tilts and shifts. It takes me a second to realise that Hex has stood up and is carrying me to the bedroom.
Okay, this is hot. Like super hot. I’ve always wanted to be swooped up into a hot man’s arms. It’s a fantasy I’ve had for a while. No idea where it came from.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I know exactly where it came from. When I was a teenager, I read an obscene amount of bodice rippers, so sue me.
Hex’s kiss deepens as we drift down the hall, and I realise with faint alarm, that we are drifting. There is no jolt of footsteps. I’mnot being carried to bed, I’m being floated. It might possibly be even hotter.
The mattress brushes gently against my back. My head spins with disorientation, but then Hex is everywhere, and I forget all about being dizzy.
He’s still kissing me, and now he is touching me everywhere. His soft, mist-like touch is brushing over my arms, my legs, my stomach, my neck, my thighs.
A filthy, wanton, moan pours out of me. Hex drinks it down eagerly.
Shadows twist and twine. Tines coil around my peaked nipples. They flick and squeeze.
Tentacles of dark smoke tighten around my neck. A secure, possessive hold. A touch that speaks to my primal instincts and tells me I’m safe, and the only thing I have to do is surrender. Someone strong and powerful has me, and they are going to take such good care of me.
