A Vow So Bold and Deadly (Cursebreakers, #3)(38)

Love.

He kisses the shell of my ear, adding a little nip with his teeth before withdrawing. He reaches up to pull the shirt over his head, and all the breath leaves my lungs in a rush. The firelight paints his skin with gold and shadow, and I’m flushed and dizzy with desire and fear igniting in my belly. Suddenly I’m shy, my hands fluttering against my abdomen as he bends to yank the ties on his boots. But he must notice, because he pauses for the briefest moment, peering up at me.

“Should I re-dress?” he says, and there’s no censure in his voice, no judgment.

“No. No!” I shake my head quickly. I have to make my voice work. “Grey—Grey, you should know—”

I can’t say it. Flames are eating up my ability to think. He’s too lovely, too fierce, too male, too … oh, too much.

He kicks his boots free. Without warning, he steps forward and scoops me into his arms. I yip and grab hold of his neck, but it puts our faces very close. My free hand is against his bare chest, and I have to force my eyes to meet his.

“I should know what?” he says, and his voice is low and gentle, just for me.

“I’ve never,” I whisper.

“Ah.” He carries me to the bed, and now it’s my heart’s turn to want to escape its cage. But he eases me onto the coverlet, then climbs up to lie beside me. Mere inches of space exist between us, and I want to close every inch.

Then he says, “I haven’t either.”

It’s so unexpected that I nearly fall off the bed. “But—you were a guardsman! How is that possible?”

He shrugs a bit. “I was seventeen when I was sworn to the Royal Guard, and we forswear family, so courtship was not allowed. Some of the others would visit the pleasure houses in the cities, but that wasn’t for me.” He traces a finger along the line of my robes, along my shoulder, across my neck, and then down the front of my chest.

I shiver and my breath catches, but he leans in to press another kiss to my lips. “You’ll have to forgive my inexperience.”

“You’ll have to forgive mine—” I begin, but his gentle hand slips under my robe, and my back arches into his touch, and I find I can’t think at all.

“I’ve heard many stories,” he says against my cheek, his voice teasing as he drags his teeth along my jaw. “You read so very many books.” His thumb strokes against a sensitive bit of skin, and I gasp again.

He draws back enough to find my eyes, and he smiles. “Surely, we can figure it out.”





CHAPTER SIXTEEN

GREY

I’m rarely asleep long enough to be woken by the sun, but the room is dim with early morning light when my eyes finally open. The fire has fallen to embers, and I can taste a chill in the air, but Lia Mara’s blankets are enough to keep me warm, especially with the queen herself curled up beside me.

She hasn’t woken yet, but her forehead is pressed to my shoulder, her red hair spilling into the space between us, shining in the pale sunlight. Her knees are drawn up to press against my outer thigh. I am torn between wanting to wake her so I have the pleasure of seeing her eyes, and wanting to let her sleep so I can continue to watch the sunlight drift along the bare curve of her shoulder. I am torn between wanting to stay by her side until the end of time, and wanting to find every single person who would dare wish her harm so I can put a blade through them myself. I have felt protective of her for ages, of all my friends, but this … this is different suddenly. Not an obligation. An imperative. A fierce urgency.

I am supposed to be meeting with the army officers and Lia Mara’s generals this morning, likely right this very moment, but I find I cannot leave her side.

Lia Mara inhales deeply, and then her lips press to my arm before her eyes even open. I reach over to stroke the hair back from her face, and her eyes open the tiniest bit.

“I was worried,” she says softly, “that I would wake and you’d be gone.”

“Still here.” I trace a finger over her mouth, and she touches a kiss to my fingertips. “Though I am to meet with your generals about the reports from Emberfall—”

“They can wait a bit longer.” She shifts closer until her legs tangle with mine, and I forget everything but the feel of her skin and the taste of her mouth.

Minutes or hours or decades later, sunlight floods the room. I’m buckling my bracers into place while Lia Mara is blushing at me from under her blankets.

“If you don’t stop looking at me like that,” I say, “I will be forced to spend the day here.”

“Do you mean that to be a warning? Because it sounds like a promise.”

That makes me smile, and I lean down to kiss her. “Don’t tempt me, you lovely girl.” She attempts to hook her fingers in the neckline of my shirt, but I grin and bat her hand away. “Later.”

She flops back against her pillows and feigns a pout. “I suppose I do need to be a queen, at least for a short while.”

“I will ask Iisak to stay with you when I cannot,” I say, and she sobers. Her mock pout turns into a true frown.

“I really do wish we could stay here,” she says softly.

I pick up my sword belt and loop it around my waist. “I once heard Rhen’s father—my father, I suppose—say that if you cannot make your people love you, you should make them fear you.” I pause. “Respect is rarely born out of anything else.”