Page 41 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

Wild temptress, indeed.

Leaning against the desk once more, he forced out, “Go get some sleep, Tessa.”

Her violet eyes darted to the bed, and a sense of satisfaction he had no right to filled his chest.

“What would your Lord say if they found you in my bed in the morning?” he asked with a quirk of his brow.

“I don’t want to be in your bed,” she snapped, bending to retrieve her nightclothes

Which caused his shirt to ride up with the movement, allowing him to glimpse the bottom of her ass.

Godsdammit.

“I’m not staying in here with you,” she added, stalking to the door.

“I didn’t ask you to,” he retorted as she wrenched it open.

She said nothing else, slamming the door behind her.

He didn’t move from his spot at the desk, waiting a full two minutes before he pushed off it and made his way to the door. Pulling it open, he found her standing there, nightclothes clutched to her chest. He said nothing. Only stepped to the side as she stomped back in.

“This is only because I need to sleep,” she said, dumping the nightclothes onto the sofa.

“Naturally,” he replied.

“Shut up,” she grumbled, spinning and watching him pull the sheets back.

“Well?” he said, glancing from her to the bed.

She shifted on her feet, eyes darting from him to the bed. “You can’t sleep naked,” she blurted.

He sighed. “I won’t, Tessa. Just get in the bed.”

“I need a?—”

But he was already reaching for the hair band he’d placed on the bedside table earlier that night.

As she piled her hair up in a messy knot on top of her head, he asked, “How’d you get in here anyway? Don’t they have a guard outside your door?”

“They didn’t until you made this deal with Rordan,” she retorted, climbing onto the large bed and crawling to the other side before slipping under the sheets.

“And they just let you walk past them? You need a new guard.”

“No. I created a portal to this floor, and in case you’ve forgotten, Iamskilled at finding escape routes.”

“Definitely didn’t forget that,” he retorted, sliding into bed beside her. “I’m assuming Rordan taught you how to create a portal since that’s only something the Lords and Ladies can do?”

“The week I spent in Faven,” she answered tightly.

Luka nodded, propping a hand behind his head. There was a long stretch of silence between them before he said, “When’s the last time you truly slept, Tessa?”

“The night before the hearing,” she whispered. Then, even quieter, she added, “I can’t have this.”

He didn’t respond, and it wasn’t long before she was muttering to herself again.

“I can’t have this. I shouldn’t want this. Idon’twant this. I don’t want them, right? Right. We don’t want them. We don’t…”

He felt the bed shift as she rolled over to face him.

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