“One could assume these effects to be yours, if that is the case,” I say.
Kerasea arches an eyebrow. “Go to the Senate with that, Praetorian.”
She knows that this is not nearly enough—even if I found these items on her person, the Senate would not breakun exorum. There’s no proof anymore that Eyo was even poisoned, and I said Antinous had died accidentally. No, they’d censure me for looking into her affairs without permission.
“Someone else was staying here,” Kerasea says. She turns hesitant as she glances around the room.
I nod. “Undoubtedly.”
Kerasea’s brow knits. “You know that, yet you were going to torture her?”
She can’t hide the disdain in her voice. But there are those who get their hands dirty and those who can wring their hands over the manner in which they are kept clean.
“I was going to lock her up with minimal food until she gave me the identity. Call it torture if you like, but plenty of citizens in the Northside live worse than what I’d subject her to for a short amount of time.”
The High Priestess stares at me and then shakes her head. “Your reputation is deserved.”
Her condescending tone makes something inside me snap. How dare she sit swaddled in luxury and judge me.
She holds still, even as I storm closer. Anger propels me, molten in my chest.
“It must be so easy to cast judgments down from your golden palanquin.” My voice rumbles through my locked jaw.
Her mouth opens in outrage, and then she shuts it and breathes out a laugh. “You think it’s easy for me?”
“I think you’ve never known a hard day in your life. Nor would you know what to do with one.”
“You don’t know a thing about me.” She holds her body rigid, her chin high even as I stand a breath away from her.
“I do know you, Kerasea. I have for years. Cross me again and, innocent or not, I’ll bring you down from on high. I swear it on the five gods.”
She narrows her eyes slightly. “You won’t ever see me on my knees, Praetorian.”
That smug mouth.
She’s too close, and the image she painted in my mind is too vivid. I look at her face, and all I see are her perfect lips. All I can think about is how I want to taste her.
I reach out and grab the side of her face. This time not the gentle way I lifted her chin before, but something else entirely. Surprise lights her eyes, but then they grow heavy-lidded in desire.
“I will see you on your knees, Kerasea,” I say.
Her eyes widen, and then she smirks. “You first.”
The pull toward her feels as natural as falling. I lean down and press my lips against hers.
XLVI.
Torren
The second our mouths meet, it’s like a thunderbolt striking through me. All my muscles tense as fire dances inside my bones. A kiss has never felt like this. I’m not even sure why I have this connection with her, but I just want more.
Our lips part at the same time. It’s hard to say where we begin and end as my tongue swirls around hers. Her taste is perfect, her jasmine scent filling my senses, lips pillowy soft, and I want to dive into them. Her mouth responds to mine in a rhythm as if I’ve kissed her a thousand times.
Bottomless hunger rises through me. Every taste is tantalizing. Kissing her feels like the first time I ever drank—a dizzy, heady high that’s enough to make me forget everything else. But this isn’t poison.
Or maybe it is and I just don’t give a fuck. I need this. I need her.
I grip her harder, pressing her body to mine as the room, the palace falls away. There’s just Kera in her lilac dress and all the things I’ve wanted to do to her since she first put her hand in mine.
