Page 72 of The Sorcerer of Shadowholde

Verian ran a hand up her bare thigh, then circled both his arms around her lower back. Their lips met in a kiss, passionate and deep, the smell of mint washing over her. He rocked her against him and she felt his erection pressing at her undergarments.

Vita pulled away from the kiss, moving to his ear. “This is how I rode Petran last night.”

Her heart raced, unsure if she’d said too much, but apparently not as he whimpered, rocking her against him once more.

“Gods, Vita, if I didn’t need to get back to Shadowholde, I’d want to take you right here.” He paused, considering his words with a sly smile. “And then watch while Petran takes you.”

She let out a bark of a laugh. “We still could… I very much doubt he would say no to that offer.”

His expression grew serious as he gazed into her eyes.

“No. I do not want to be rushed the next time we’re together.” He sighed heavily. “I have a meeting with the Prefect that I can’t miss.”

Stubbornly, Vita rolled her hips against him, eliciting an eye roll and a moan until Verian gripped her firmly, stopping the movement. Her faux pout turned into a smile, unable to deny the joy that radiated through her.

The news he’d shared had been important, and it felt like a new intimacy between them. There was a sense of levity with the commonality they shared, a weightlessness that made her chest flutter. She gave him a final kiss before sliding off of him, though her body ached from the absence.

Verian cleared his throat, standing and bowing gallantly before grasping her chin. “I’ll see you soon, sweet girl. Have your fun with Petran and Aurora and whomever you please.”

“Be careful, Ver,” Vita replied, and he gave her a somber smile.

Then he was gone, entering the palace and disappearing from view.

Her heart sank, mind racing with all the information of the past day. She wished she could’ve told Verian about Tullia, but his revelation was important. It brought a smile to her face, the way his confidence had ignited after he told her, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

And she couldn’t wait to be alone with him again.

CHAPTER 31

Verian

A BURST OF ENERGY coursed through Verian making his body feel as light as a feather as he walked back towards Shadowholde.

It was the same sensation he experienced after a sparring victory, but tenfold, that sensation of being dunked in cold water and coming up for a breath with your heart racing and every nerve tingling.

A rush of exhilaration.

He should have known, of course. Vita would never have disowned him for what he revealed to her. She was kind, almost to a fault, always accepting him for all that he was.

Still, pure joy buzzed through him, her acknowledgment and acceptance easing a tension he’d been holding within himself for so long. And then there was her own admission. Perhaps an interestin more than one gender was more common that he had originally thought. For so long, he had pushed the idea deep down into his soul, thinking he was abnormal, warped by the Gods upon his creation.

But it seemed they made no mistakes.

Now, his mind hummed with the possibilities. The image of Vita, his sweet girl, riding that oak tree of an elf, well, it did nothing to quell the stiffness in his pants. The thought of Vita and Aurora locked in an embrace? It made him want to turn around and march straight back to the palace.

Not to mention the High Consul…

Even Verian’s vivid imagination couldn’t picture what he’d look like without his elegant tunic, without that sly smirk that acted as his armor. What would it be like to press his lips against the High Consul’s, to get on his knees for him, to take his…

That was enough.

He needed to focus as he stumbled down the stone path, his heart racing and his cock uncomfortably hard, needed to prepare himself for this meeting with the Prefect.

The Curia stood before him, Shadowholde’s council chambers. Thoughts of Vita and the High Consul would have to wait.

Verian heaved open the bronze doors, not bothering to take in the beauty of the structure because he was almost late. A strange place for a guard meeting, to be certain, but he didn’t make the plans. That was the Prefect’s job.

As he entered the council chambers, he couldn’t help but let his eyes draw to the magnificent opus sectile, glimmering marble and glass inlaying the floor creating a repeating pattern of suns and diamond-shaped lozenges, vaguely feminine in nature. His mind again turned to Vita, baring herself before him in the Temple of Unera, and he shook his head to dispel the erotic images.

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