Radiance (Wraith Kings Book 1)(44)
He stretched recumbent on one side, facing her, one arm tucked against his chest, the other extended toward her. A few locks of black hair partially obscured his features, but Ildiko could still see the sharp line of his jaw and equally sharp bridge of his nose. For a man who smiled and laughed so easily, his mouth had a distinct downturn, a gift of heritage from the cold-blooded mother he so despised.
His deep-set eyes were closed, the thick lashes fluttering with the occasional twitch of his eyelids. A faint frown marred the stillness of his face for a moment, lowering the slant of his eyebrows. It faded as quickly as it appeared, and he sighed softly in his sleep. Ildiko reached out to smooth his brow. She pulled back, unwilling to disturb him and end her chance to openly admire him.
He had rolled in the covers at some point. They bunched at his waist and twisted around one leg, leaving the other exposed to the cool night air that drafted in thin streams into the room through the window shutters’ narrow slats.
Ildiko blinked, and a surge of heat climbed from her belly to her chest, making the breath catch in her throat.
He was naked under the sheets. She’d seen him bare-chested before, but he usually came to bed partially dressed in loose breeches of parchment-thin linen. That long leg, bared to the evening air from ankle to flank revealed he’d chosen to forego such modesty.
The Kai were a tall, graceful people, their willowy physiques deceptive. It was known among the human nations that the Kai were immensely strong, with bones like iron and just as heavy. The Beladine lord Serovek was a big man, powerfully built and looked like he could carry a draft horse on his shoulders. Brishen, by contrast, had seemed almost delicate, yet Ildiko suspected his weight equaled, if not surpassed Serovek’s, as did his strength.
Resting beside her, he seemed to Ildiko a living statue, carved from dark granite into a form of supple elegance and power. He was beautiful, and the tremor change in her perception of him robbed her lungs of air.
He opened both eyes suddenly, making her jump. Two shimmering gold coins stared at her unblinking. “Good evening, wife,” he said in a voice raspy with the remnants of sleep. A closed-lip smile curved his mouth upward and deepened the tiny lines that fanned from the corners of his eyes. “You’re staring. Do I have a fly on my nose?”
Fighting down a blush at being caught gawking at her own husband, Ildiko lightly tapped the tip of his nose with one finger. “I was trying to find a way to kill it without punching you in the face. Lucky for you, it flew away.”
He clasped her wrist and brought her palm to his mouth for a kiss. Generous with his affections, he’d done this many times before, but this time was different. This time the brush of his lips across the sensitive center of her palm sent hot shivers down her arms and back. Ildiko freed her hand from his grasp and sat up to fluff the pillows behind her. She avoided his gaze and smoothed the covers over her lap. “I’m sorry to have woken you.”
She caught the faint narrowing of his gaze from the corner of her eye. She was acting oddly, and he knew it.
He started to sit up and recline beside her but paused. A gravid silence hovered between them before Brishen cursed softly in bast-Kai. He yanked the covers over both legs and sat up. His fingers on her chin were light as he turned her head to face him.
The firelight yellow of his eyes had paled, and the smile that greeted her when he awoke was gone. “Forgive me, Ildiko. It was too hot yesterday for bedclothes, and I usually sleep unclad. I meant to be up and dressed before you.” He dropped his hand and motioned for her to turn away. “This will only take me a moment.”
He tried to rise, halting when Ildiko grabbed his arm. She’d heard it in his voice, threads of disappointment, embarrassment. He thought her disgusted by the sight of him naked beside her and barely covered by the bed covers. The opposite couldn’t be more true.
That persistent blush did a slow crawl up her neck. This time Ildiko ignored it. “Don’t be foolish, Brishen. I should be the one embarrassed. You caught me eyeing you like prized horseflesh.” She chuckled as his eyes rounded. “Don’t look so shocked. I may be human, but I’m not blind. I’ve come to appreciate Kai beauty.” She raised her chin. “And I refuse to apologize for indulging in admiration of my own husband.”
Brishen’s wide grin matched her own, even if his teeth far outmatched hers in intimidation. He tucked his pillows behind his back and recaptured her hand. Ildiko didn’t pull away this time. “And here I thought I’d married a shy, blushing maiden,” he teased.
Ildiko sniffed and tugged aside the collar of her night rail to reveal her neck, now feverish to the touch and no doubt bright red. “You’re partially right. I’m blushing right now.” She released the collar and gave him an arch stare. “I am not, however, a maiden.”
To a Gauri nobleman intent on siring heirs of his blood, confirmation of a new bride’s innocence was paramount. Ildiko’s cousins had been guarded like prisoners by an army of governesses and bodyguards as if their maidenheads were made of precious stones instead of flesh. Any man deemed unworthy as suitor material by the royal family risked life and limb by so much as casting an admiring glance toward one of the prisoners.
Ildiko’s own virtue was far less prized and as such, her aunt didn’t act quite the zealot toward protecting it. Brishen had never inquired, and she hoped it was from lack of interest more than an assumption that she was yet uninitiated into the physical intimacies between men and women.