Page 81 of Threaded

He grinned up at her, overcome with a desire to make her squirm.

At least last night hadn’t changedthat.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Her answering glare started a pounding in his blood, as it always did.

Gods, he could spend the rest of his pitiful existence pissing her off and be perfectly content in doing so.

“Relax.” He pulled harder on her hand, dragging her back into the bed and on top of him. She went willingly, her naked figure a warm weight that set every inch of him on fire. When she felt him, how hard he was, her eyes instantly heated, that beautiful flush spreading down her neck to the top of her breasts. He reached a hand up and tucked a long strand of her dark hair behind her ear before bringing his mouth to brush against the shell.

“Don’t worry about how I know. We have this day, this one day, without interruption. And I don’t intend to waste it.”

With those words, he skimmed his lips across her cheek to her mouth, and with a devouring kiss, he lost himself in her.

CHAPTER37

The stables smelled of hay and horse and leather andhome.

The second Mariah strode through the barn doors, leaving Feran waiting patiently outside, she’d known this was exactly what she’d needed.

Even if she wasridiculouslyoverdressed.

She glanced down at her black gown, the shimmering material clinging to her curves. It almost glowed like starlight, and delicate lines of gold were sewn into the material. The straps were thin, the neckline dipping between her cleavage, the back equally low.

She looked fantastic, and the dress was far too nice for riding.

But she wasn’t actually here to ride.

Ryenne had given her a week after the Uroboros. One week away from her role as queen apparent, one week to piece a feeling of safety in her own home back together before she was summoned back to the politics of court.

That morning, her week had expired, and Ryenne had asked Mariah to meet her in the queen’s private council chambers. But after Mariah had dressed herself, staring at her reflection in her bathroom’s full-length mirrors, all she’d wanted to do was visit the last piece of her old life lingering within the city walls.

Mariah still hated Andburgh, but at least with her family, she’d never felt terrified of empty rooms and too-quiet nights. Of things that might lurk in the darkness and hidden places.

She’d never felt terrified of beingalone.

She walked through the rows of stalls, pausing every so often to pet the inquisitive noses and stroke the soft faces of the horses pushing their heads out at her approach. Rounding a corner, Mariah spotted a golden head, black mane falling into brown, intelligent eyes.

Kodie. Her horse.

He’d seen her, too, whinnying softly as he gently tossed his head. A soft grin spread across Mariah’s face as she quickened her steps to him. She threw her arms around his neck, let his head drape over her shoulder, felt his warm breath against the skin of her back, not caring for one second about the dress she wore.

Stepping back, she continued to stroke his face, tickling his soft ears and velvety nose. Reaching into the satchel she’d slung across her shoulders, Mariah pulled out a carrot, breaking it into small pieces before offering the morsels to Kodie out of her open palm. His soft whiskers and breath tickled her hand, and the feeling of home, of safety, of simplicity burned away some of the chaos in her mind that took root every time she opened her eyes.

The only other cure for that chaos she’d found, annoyingly enough, was a dark-haired devil with tanzanite eyes.

Mariah continued to stroke Kodie’s face as her mind wandered.

She still couldn’t sleep in her own chambers. She’d walked in once, taking slow steps through the open kitchen and living space, forcing herself to stand at the entryway to her bedroom. Looking at her bed, the silk sheets now replaced, all evidence of poisonous black blood gone, her feet had felt rooted to the ground. The world had begun to collapse around her, shrinking in, paralyzing her with fear. Her magic had roiled up, the light dwelling beneath her skin seeping out, tendrils of silver and gold threads pooling at her feet. She was unraveling, the rising tide of her anger and terror threatening to swallow her whole.

Until a firm hand had gripped her shoulder, slowly spinning her away from the bedroom. Her forest green eyes had met those of wild blue, his shadowy aura drinking up her light, pushing it back beneath her skin. She’d made another mental note, to one day question what she was beginning to suspect lurked inside his veins.

She’d then followed Andrian back to his rooms and used him to help her forget, to feel some semblance of safety once again.

Still stroking Kodie’s nose, she felt her cheeks heat as her thoughts shifted to those nights spent in his room this past week.

They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. It was as if some tether had snapped, and now that they knew the feel of the other’s skin, it was like a drug. A Goddess-cursedaddiction.

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