—
As my eyelids flickered open,I saw the lanterns were dark, but the low fire seemed to magically burn at the perfect level, unfed.
It took me a moment to realize I felt sohotbecause my entire body was pressed to Blake’s, my head on his chest, his heartbeat steady beneath my ear. I waited a moment, like I might pretend I was still asleep, continue to lie in his arms, but when he made no move, I tilted my chin up to check he was asleep and met his blue eyes, more sapphire than frost in this light.
“I’m sorry,” he said, voice gruff. “I just needed to hold you.”
His confession winded me. His eyes were wide, shadowed, like he’d not closed them once.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” I asked, my own voice gentle to match his.
He sighed deeply, his hand tightening lightly on my back.
“I can’t stop thinking of those people, the citizens of our capital. How many were injured and killed.” His voice was vulnerable, unspooling like a ribbon and wrapping around me tightly. “It is…very difficult for me to sleep after any type of battle, much less one like tonight.”
“You feel responsible.”
Blake nodded, before his arm tightened around me again, pulling me closer to him. “Rubi, I—”
Again, his soft, warm voice stuttered off into nothing, jaw tightening. As if he’d been awake the last few hours trying to work up the nerve for what he was going to say.
“I haven’t properly thanked you for what you did for my sister and for Poppy. I find it difficult, I think, to speak about it because I’m so torn over the entire thing.”
I stayed silent.
“Part of me is grateful for your willingness to sacrifice and defend them, a true warrior. Believe me, it means everything to me.” He sighed heavier then, blowing an audible breath out that ruffled my hair around my face. “But part of me is furious at your complete disregard for your own life.”
“I was fine—”
“I don’t believe you. I am not often afraid.” He huffed a laugh with no humor. His hand rose to tuck a lock of blue-green hair behind my ear. “But I was…tonight. Of losing you—of you hurt. And…”
Then I felt it. Just barely. A kiss, light and soft, to the top of my head. Gentle.
So tender I felt my throat catch.
“Blake,” I whispered soothingly as I turned my chin up to look at him, “I’m all right. Everyone is okay—you savedso manytonight. It wasn’t your fault.”
I traced the lines of his saddened smile with my fingers carefully.
“I didn’t know I needed to hear that until you said it,” he whispered back. “Thank you, Rubi.”
His hand reached up to rest atop mine where it lay against his cheek.
Both of us were still for a moment then.
His throat bobbed, a hard swallow as he moved closer. “Rubi…can I—”
I wasn’t sure who moved first, but we were nearly sharing breath now, lips just barely touching, before—
Blake’s lips were on mine, soft and supple but unyielding. Words disappeared from my mind along with the ability to think. My body awakened despite the exhaustion. My pulse roared in my ears.
There was nothing but him. The wild taste of him, the heat of him, the way his lips moved against mine like he’d been waiting for this, needing this. My heart raced, my hands sinking into the skin of his shoulders as I pulled him closer, as if I could somehow anchor myself to him, keep from getting lost in the storm he’d unleashed inside me.
Blake’s hands slid up to cup my face, his touch rough but gentle, and the way he kissed me…goddess, it was like he was pouring everything into it, like he’d been holding back for so long and now that he’d let go, there was no stopping him. His lips were firm, demanding, but there was a tenderness there, too, a softness that made my chest ache.
My lips were just as desperate, just as hungry, my hands moving up to tangle in his hair, pulling him closer, deeper. The warmth inside me surged, the heat between us building until it felt like the air itself was burning.
His breath hitched when I stroked my tongue against his, making my body pulse with need, every inch humming with the tension between us.
