Page 64 of Hallowed Games

His chest rose and fell, and he leaned forward. Now, instead of gripping his own armrests, he was gripping my waist. “The Archon is watching us.” His voice had grown deeper, the accent even thicker.

And his words sent a warm shudder through me.

I’d shifted so close to him, now, I could practically kiss him. “Aren’t you hot?” I whispered.

Maelor’s eyes looked heavy as I started unbuttoning his robe. While I opened the buttons, he closed his eyes as if he were giving in. Beneath the robe, he was wearing black trousers and a simple dark shirt. Already, I wanted to climb into his lap, to feel the steel of his muscles beneath me.

He muttered a prayer to himself in Tyrenian—then a sharp curse in what I assumed was Lirion.

His eyes snapped open again once I pulled at the final button, just by his lap. The darkening blue in his irises lured me in. “Don’t have any idea what you’re unleashing,” he rasped. I felt as if the real Maelor was arriving at last. “The things I would do to you.” Now his fangs had emerged—sharp ivory daggers, warning signs.

My heart skipped a beat, and my gaze swept down over his exposed chest. Pure, carved muscle, just as I’d imagined.

“And the trials are dangerous, and yet here we are. Maelor, I need to unburden, don’t I? Because my vision was of you,” I whispered. “Your eyes went dark, and I liked it. Because I like the real you. You told me if I was going to act like a whore, you’d treat me like one. You ripped my clothes off me, and you could see exactly how much I wanted you. You spread my thighs open, and you fucked me hard until I screamed your name. And last night, when I fell asleep, I had to pleasure myself while I was thinking of you.”

It wasn’t even a lie.

A quiet growl rose from his chest, and the sound alone had molten heat pooling in my core. Something in him must have snapped completely because he pulled me into his lap. “Do you know what you’re doing to me?” One of his hands slid up into my hair, gripping it in his fist.

His fathomless eyes, black as a moonless sky. His hand slid into my damp undershirt, caressing my bare skin. Under the wet cotton, my nipples peaked with sensitivity, already aching for his touch. My pulse was racing, and heat lit up my body.

As I straddled him, I could feel the length of him straining against his trousers. I rocked my hips against it.

“Maelor, is there really no way out for any of us?”

He ran his hand over my stomach, my hips. “If there were, I would tell you.”

As I lowered my lips above his, hovering close to him, I tried to remind myself that this was an interrogation. “The Pater—is he a vampire, too?”

“No. But don’t even think about trying. You’ll be killed…so fast.”

I rocked my hips into him, and his fingers slid up, cupping my breast. He tugged lightly at my hair. “You stay away from him, Elowen.”

Maelor would be disloyal to the Order, but Sion? He was standing in my way. “And what about the Magister?” I whispered. “Is he always loyal, or might he break the rules like you?”

“Unwavering and brutal loyalty to his cause. He and I are not the same.” One of his hands reached down to cup my arse. “And he is the last person I want to think of right now.”

My breath quickened. If Sion was going to stand in my way at some point, I needed to know if I could end his life.

I brushed my lips against Maelor’s. “Why do vampires only go out at night in Sumaire?”

He inhaled sharply, then ran his tongue over his fangs. “We burn in light.” His words were a husky exhalation. “Creatures of the night. Of shadow magic.”

“In the light of the Archon,” I whispered, “you incinerate.”

“The Archon shuns us…and we are monsters, love, because I could kill you at any moment, but that’s not what I want from you right now.” He pulled me down to kiss him, lips slanting against mine.

Every wicked, sensual lick of his tongue built a wild ache inside me. This wasn’t the kiss of a cleric but the deeply sensual kiss of an experienced lover. Despite the vow of celibacy, this man knew exactly what he was doing. Pleasure rolled through my body. My nipples had gone hard against the cold fabric of my top, and I wanted to pull it off.

I forced myself to pull away from the kiss. “But you don’t burn.”

He palmed my breast over the damp fabric, staring in a dark-eyed trance as he ran his thumb over my hard nipple. “I burn.”

I could hardly catch my breath. Deus Invictus, Archon Magne.

“I mean in the sun. You can walk in the light. I’ve seen it.” I lowered my lips to his, hovering just out of reach.

“Pendant. It’s magic.”

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