Page 55 of A Reign of Storm and Madness

I continue to kick, but the tails never release me and if it’s not him then … shivers dance up my back. “What’s touching me?”

He grins and spreads his arms out, sluicing through the water as he propels himself closer until our chests are nearly touching. I feel flushed, hot, and not at all clean like I had been after my bath.

“What is touching me, Kalix?” I demand, repeating the question as I try to kick the things off once more to no avail.

Kalix reaches for me and I try to send myself backwards only for the things latched on to my ankles to move towards him. My head dips back, hair going under water before I can right myself. His hand touches my waist and the second his fingers are on me, the creatures underwater release me.

Cutting my gaze to the side, I watch as twin little water snakes slide through the top of the water’s surface, hurrying away from the two of us. I flip accusing eyes on the Mortal God smiling at me with a little blood still on his lip and a wild look in his eyes.

“Cheating much?” I ask.

“All is fair in war, sweet little thief,” he says. “It was cheating for you to blind me back in Mineval, but you don’t hear me complaining.”

I go still, my legs no longer kicking beneath the water to keep me afloat as he pulls me more firmly against his profoundly hard body. Just like me, he’s naked, and I can feel the evidence of all that hardness pressing right against the skin beneath my belly button.

“Mineval?” I repeat, forcing a casual and confused tone into the word.

He chuckles. “Don’t try to deny it,” he murmurs, head dropping against my throat.

I swallow as he presses a kiss right where my heartbeat throbs, smiling against the delicate flesh as if he knows what I’m thinking. Kalix Darkhaven is an enigma. He’s difficult to predict and he likes it that way for a reason. I don’t know if he’s going to fuck me or kill me or perhaps even both.

“You sensed me before you ran,” he whispers against my flesh. “Just like you did that night.” Teeth scrape up the side of my neck and I gasp for breath as I arch up, feeling tingles racing down my chest. “Why did you set those humans free?”

“I didn’t—”

His hand tangles in my hair, the strands curling around his fingers as he does so. My neck strains as it’s ripped back and I’m forced to stare up into snake slitted pupils surrounded by jade green. “Don’t lie.”

I press my lips together for a beat. “Then I can’t tell you anything,” I say. “I won’t divulge anything I’ve done before coming to the Academy.”

He arches a brow, the violent expression on his face easing somewhat in mollification. So fickle, this Mortal God. “But you’ll tell me anything from the time you entered?” he asks.

I blink at him. Considering I haven’t necessarily done anything that would unveil my purpose, I don’t see why not. If I give him bits and pieces that make him feel like he’s getting what he wants, he might stop asking the kind of questions that won’t end well for either of us. Because I’m not sure if Ophelia would command it of me, but if she does—I don’t know if I’d even survive trying to kill Kalix Darkhaven, much less what it would do to his brothers or my soul if I manage to succeed.

The hand in my hair loosens its hold and Kalix drags it downward, around to my throat as it strokes a thumb over my fluttering heartbeat there, eyes glued to where it thrums. “How did you stop from healing so fast after your punishment?”

The question is a bit surprising, but after a beat to think, I decide that the truth wouldn’t necessarily hurt. “Poison.”

He tilts his head to the side. “Poison? You weren’t poisoned in the dungeons, were you? Did someone—”

“No!” I say quickly as I see darkness expanding in his gaze, anger filling the green color and turning it sinister and dangerous. “I poisoned myself because I knew I would heal, but I didn’t want anyone to notice that I wasn’t healing as slow as a normal human.”

The clouds hovering over his eyes recede slightly and I breathe a sigh of relief. “I see.” Kalix kicks his legs, turning us in a circle. “Interesting.” He peers at me as if he’s trying to figure out the image I’m supposed to present, as if he sees all these pieces but isn’t quite sure how the puzzle fits together.

I swallow roughly. “Niall is waiting for me—”

“Your human friend can keep waiting,” he says, cutting me off. “I want you to myself.”

I gape at him. “You can have me to yourself all the fucking time,” I snap. “Why now?” And why did it have to be in the bathing chambers?

Instead of answering, Kalix turns, keeping one arm solidly locked around my waist, and propels us towards one of the edges of the pool. I kick my legs awkwardly, trying not to hit him as I do, but end up feeling as if all my movements are useless while he carries me until I feel steps beneath my feet. Once there, he releases me abruptly and my hand shoots out, slapping into the water as I catch myself from going under at the sudden change.

I shoot him a glare that he doesn’t notice as he takes the steps out of the water two at a time, not stopping until only the lower half of his calves still remains beneath the surface. I look up and up some more, taking the full length of him in all his glory.

Kalix is tall and broad shouldered, like an ancient warrior of old—back when humans were the only beings on the land and they fought wars against each other to lay claim to the various territories. His thighs are strong and powerful, and his abdomen is shredded with muscle. When I get to his cock, my mouth goes bone dry.

Where Theos’ was long with a mushroomed head, Kalix’s cock is far thicker. But there’s one major difference between him and Theos that I’ve somehow missed even with him rubbing against me on the Day of Descendance. My cheeks heat as I gawk at the bars that line the underside made more evident by the erection he’s sporting. There are at least five pieces of metal that pierce the skin there. I’d heard—in the backstreets—that there were such things done, but I’ve never seen it myself.

Kalix, noticing my expression, looks down at his cock and then grins before fisting his shaft and turning back fully to face me. “Like what you see, little liar?” he inquires, cocking his head to the side as he strokes himself before me like he’s displaying the piercings for my viewing pleasure.

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