“You have referred to me as something similar if I recall correctly,” he contested. I didn’t need to look to know that he was sporting a presumptuous smirk.
“Do you think about anything other than sex?”
“Not really, no,” he answered in complete seriousness.
I snorted out a laugh, then rolled over in his arms to see his face, pressing our chests together.
“Speaking of the gods...”
I bent my neck up. “Oh no. Don’t tell me that there's more.”
“I had a lot of time on my hands when we weren’t together, so I did a lot of reading.”
“You did that even when weweretogether,” I pointed out.
He rolled his eyes but smiled. “Anyways, I found a text that had some information about the markings of the gods. I didn’t get too far into it, and in all honesty, I kind of forgot about it for some time since we moved that to a lower priority issue in regard to everything else. I found it when I was rearranging earlier and figured you might want to take a look at it.” He pointed towards the desk. “It’s in there. We really need to get a bookshelf in here.”
I threw the covers off and practically ran for the desk, forgetting that I never bothered to get dressed.
“Fuck, you are beautiful,” Sebastian groaned from where he lay sprawled on the bed. “If I had known you were going to be flaunting around like that, then I would have waited to say anything about the book until after I had my way with you.”
“Just close your eyes,” I responded, bending over to reach the bottom drawer of the desk. I rummaged through it, taking my sweet time just to tease him.
“Maeve…” he growled my name in a way that made me liquify from the inside out. “If you insist on taunting me like that, then please put some clothes on.”
Standing up with the book in my hands, I rolled my eyes, but made for his wardrobe. I selected one of his shirts and pulled it on, then began my journey back to the bed.
“Wait.”
I froze in front of the footboard, blankly staring at him with the book in my hands. “What?”
Without removing his lustrous gaze from my body, Sebastian flicked his fingers, shooting an icicle towards the desk and knocking his glasses to the floor. “Can you bend down and get those for me please?”
“Honest to gods,men,” I chortled, but did as he asked, making sure his shirt rose up past my hips when I bent down.
“Satisfied?” I asked as I got back in bed with the book and his glasses in hand.
“Not really. Just fucking hard now,” he cursed, adjusting himself under the covers then propping the frames upon his nose.
With an eye roll of fake irritation, I resumed my position from before, snuggled with my back into his chest, trying my best to ignore the feel of his obvious desire. “Where did you leave off?”
He reached over me and took the book, holding it in front of us and flipping about halfway through. “Here. This chapter is about the markings. I haven't read any of it yet. All I saw in the chapters prior were how the markings have never been seen on a mortal.”
I arched my brow. “If they’ve never been given to a mortal, then how do we even know what they are?”
“My understanding from what I read is that our knowledge of the markings came directly from the words of the gods, passed down by texts and word of mouth through the centuries. It was one of those things that we all just had faith in, but were neverpositive about.” He cleared his throat. “At least that's how it was for me. Until I saw them on you.”
“Beaumont seemed to know exactly what they were when he saw them, but I’d never even heard of it until I had them on my skin.”
“I hadn’t heard of them either until I took the second half of kingdom history during year two of the academy. I think it was assumed to be another fable, but one still worth being taught, just in case,” he replied, flipping a page of the book.
I focused my eyes back on the text and started to read, then froze when I felt a wandering hand teasing the hem of my shirt.
“Sebastian Hawthorne!”
“Sorry. I just keep thinking about how you looked bent over when you were getting the book,” he whispered, dropping his lips to my ear. “And then the glasses. And also how you aren't wearing anything besides my shirt.”
He slipped his entire hand beneath the fabric, running a finger over my stomach and up to my nipple. He pinched it between his finger tips, stealing a slight whine from my lips.
