Page 199 of House of Lilith

“Just get it done, alright?” he says in a near whisper to someone over the phone.

I don’t look up, I keep enjoying his smell and the heat radiating off him.

“What’s gotten intoyou?” that someone demands, the voice similar to Dahrian’s, just more brusque.

And just as I start squirming to signal that I’m awake, he says, “Look, I have someone I’d like for you all to meet.”

It makes me smile from ear to ear.

“Oh,” comes the reply.

“Gotta go, Colm. Talk to you later.”

And he lowers his head to look into my eyes. “Morning, beautiful.”

“Morning, love,” I say as I start pushing myself up to give him a kiss, that idiotic smile still on my face.

But the kiss turns into two and then three, until he’s dragging me up and onto his lap with his tongue in my mouth. Images of last night flash through my mind, making me start burning up with the desire for more. I want him to keep making me come like he did before I feel asleep in his arms.

And my hands start moving of their own accord, trying to get rid of his shirt, but he takes my wrists in his hands and pulls away, making me frown in protest. There’s a teasing smile on his face as he says, “I’m not letting you take advantage of me any more than you have, at least not until you tell me about your plans for the summer.”

And he lets go of my wrists, giving my waist a little pinch. I laugh.

“Well,” I say, feeling a little flushed about it, “I was thinking of maybe spending it withyou.”

“So here’s what I had in mind,” he starts without a second of hesitation, making me blow out a laugh. “You spend a week at my place, meet my brothers…” He pauses to add, “If it wouldn’t be too soon, of course. And then we go wherever you want. Maybe your tundra?”

That makes my eyebrows shoot up. “You’d go there with me?”

He laughs. “Dame Gothel fixed things for my Academy, Nyx. My family is taken care of. I’dmovethere for you, if you wanted.”

“Well,” I start as I get up, making him let out that little grumble that I love so much, “that might actually solve a huge problem for me.”

He gets up to follow me, I take him by the hand and I lead him over to my desk, where I open the drawer to show him the plans I started devising after my last visit to Vasilisa and the night before the Game.

When I look up at him, he’s squinting and smiling at the same time as his eyes scan the maps with pushpins in them and my scribbles on the margins. “Planning a world takeover, I see,” he finally says as he turns to look at me.

“Just my part of the world,” I say with a shrug. Then I light up again. “Here’s what I’m thinking, Dahrian. The solution to all my problems — my family giving me trouble with the land, my rank without marrying a prince dropping too much, my desire being more than running estates…”

He gives my hand a tug. “Come on, edge of my seat here.”

For a second, I just look at him, feeling embarrassed about it. But I decide not to be a little bitch and I say, “Seems I won’t be a princess after all.” Then I pause. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t be a queen.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Fucking hell.”

It encourages me, when I realize his tone is not at all mocking. “Yes, I mean, after all, it’s not like the current nobility haven’t all done the same at some point, simply declared themselves to be kings and princes and dukes.”

“Yes, do that,” he says with this fire in his eyes.

It warms my heart, but I still frown. “I’m not sure that I can. And I’d need support from a lot of people of high rank who’d sooner think of me as a potential wife than a potential ruler.” I let out an awkward laugh. “So far, I haveonesupporter,” I say, thinking of Mrs Onas expressing eternal gratitude to me for finding her husband’s killer. And thinking of Mother’s reaction when I broke up with Max,again, I add, “And one person who’s not exactly a fan.”

It’s just at that moment that I hear a knock at my door and my mind immediately rushes to Nikolay.

I let go of Dahrian’s hand and I go over to the door, only to find a courier delivering flowers.

I take them with a smile and a nod, and close the door behind me.

When I turn around, flowers in my hands, I see Dahrian frowning.

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