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“You two are…” I trailed off, looking between them with suspicion.

“At an agreement.” Helion finished for me as he walked behind Rythos and grinned down at me, flashing his dimples.

“Agreement?” I arched an eyebrow at Rythos, the muscle at his jaw feathering before he dipped his chin.

“It is true,” he rumbled, the deep timbre of his voice sending gooseflesh over my skin.

He released my arm only to pick up one of the drawings I had been looking at, his brow furrowing.

“Where did you get these?” he asked in little more than a whisper.

“You left them on your desk this morning.” I gathered the rest of the papers and passed them to him a little too quickly, worried that I had upset him. “I’m sorry for going through your effects.”

“No.” He shook his head, his attention never leaving the drawings. “Anything of mine is yours.”

Something in my chest softened at the words, but the crease forming between his brows stopped me from responding.

“It is just…” His thumb dragged slowly over the sketch, smudging black across his skin. “I do not remember drawing these.”

Perhaps his subconscious could somehow sense that I was going to die on that very throne, and he had drawn it to warn himself.

To stop me.

My spine stiffened, but I forced the tension from my shoulders before he could notice. Gently, I took the drawings from his hands and placed them face down on the bedside table.

“You were exhausted last night,” I soothed, reaching for his hand before he could take them back. “Before they locked my chambers at Stonebriar, I used to wander the halls at night without ever waking. My ladies’ maids told me I would sing to ghosts. Once, I nearly climbed through a window because I possessed even less sanity when awake.”

Helion ran a hand through his hair, a small tell that I had learnt meant he was dealing with feelings he didn’t want to. But of course, his mask of amusement stayed in place.

“Lyra—”

“You have barely slept, your heart is rotting inside your chest, and last night you drank a lot of my blood.” I brought his stained thumb to my lips and kissed the ink-stained skin. “I think we can forgive you for doing something strange in your sleep.”

His gaze flicked towards the bedside table.

I caught his jaw and turned his face back to mine before he could look for too long.

“Don’t worry about the drawings, Rythos.”

Something dark shifted behind his eyes. “Why are you so determined?”

Fuck.

I smiled before he could hear my heart speed up, making a conscious effort to keep the bond muted inside my chest, even as the effort made it ache.

“Because I have better ideas for what you can do with your hands,” I whispered, bringing his ink-stained finger to my mouth.

A flicker of arousal hummed beneath my skin as my tongue swept over the pad of his pointer finger.

I pushed it past my lips, letting my tongue trail along his finger as I sucked it deeper into my mouth. The whites of his eyes bled to black as he watched me, the answering heat of his desire bleeding through our bond.

But it wasn't only his.

The warm, golden string connecting me to Helion stirred beneath my ribs, carrying a second pulse of want that was distinctly his.

My eyes snapped across the room, and a little flutter of anticipation wound through me, leaving a warmth in its wake.

Helion’s attention remained fixed on my mouth, and the golden string drew tighter with every passing second, until I could no longer tell where my own anticipation ended and theirs began.