Page 54 of Fate and Fury

Katerina plucked a drooping petal from the spray of daisies on the table. “Elena. Do you think she knows?”

“Of course not, Katya,” he said, pushing himself up on one elbow. “It’s been a long day. Come here. Let me hold you.”

“I’m serious, Niko.” She tugged another browning petal from its stem.

“I can tell.” Sighing, he sat up and shoved his hair out of his eyes. “Leave that poor plant alone, would you? And stop cleaning, for Saints’ sake. Sit down and talk to me.”

Katerina hesitated to comply, for fear of where it might lead. Each time she kissed him, each time he laid her down on the rug before the hearth and covered her body with his, she vowed it would be the last. He would be married soon. This had to end.

She should have turned him away the night they’d fought Gadreel. But the fear in his eyes, the need in his touch, had been so blatant. She’d been as desperate as he was to feel his heart pounding against hers, to know that they’d survived.

“Katya,” Niko coaxed. “Enough stewing. Come tell me what’s on your mind.”

“You’re bossy tonight,” she said, cutting her gaze at him.

“It’s been known to happen. Why are you so worried about Elena all of a sudden?”

One of the shutters, as always, refused to latch. It banged against the house, filling the silence between them, as Katerina came to stand beside the bed. “I just…have a feeling.”

“I’m listening.” He rose to his knees and dug his thumbs into the column of her neck, massaging the tense muscles.

“She wouldn’t be the only one. Before we left Rivki,” she said, letting her head fall forward, “Dimi Zakharova suspected there was something between us.”

Her Shadow’s hands paused, then gripped her shoulders tight. “What are you talking about?”

“She saw how I looked at you.” Katerina sighed. “She…threatened to betray me, as a means of getting rid of me once and for all.”

“That’s why you were so eager to leave.” He shifted behind her, bewilderment pulsing through their bond. “Katya—why did you not say something?”

Katerina twisted, looking up at him through her lashes. “What should I have said?I wish to do with you all manner of things a Dimi should never wish to do with her Shadow, and the Kniaz’s consort sees right through me. Shall we go, before I bring ruination upon us all, or would you prefer I undress you on the hearth rug and prove her right?”

Despite the gravity of their situation, a low chuckle moved through Niko’s body. She felt as well as heard it, and the gust of his breath against her neck made her shiver. “All manner of things, hmmm? I don’t know that my imagination is up to the challenge, my Dimi. Perhaps you should elaborate.”

“This isnotfunny.” How had they reversed roles this way?

“Of course not.” His hands caressed her once more, but this time they moved more slowly, tracing an intricate pattern on her skin. It took her a moment to realize he was shaping a series of runes: love, promise, protection. And then, simply, her name.

“I’m waiting, Katya,” he said aloud, the edge of menace in his voice at odds with the gentleness of his touch. “Tell me. When I answered the door and you looked at me like you couldn’t decide whether to flee for your life or lick the water off my chest, what were you thinking?”

Katerina’s jaw dropped. “You—you knew?”

“Not then.” He took firm hold of her shoulders and turned her away from him, his hands taking up their slow, tortuous motion again. One of them slipped lower, his palm flattening on her belly. “Then,” he said, his lips ghosting across her neck as his hand drifted lower still, “I thought you were simply distracted and impatient. But now…” His lips curved against her neck in a wicked smile. “Now, my Katya, I have you where I want you.”

She squirmed against him in a halfhearted attempt to get away, but he held her captive, that low chuckle coursing through him again. His free hand gripped her hip, fitting the hot, hard lines of his body to her curves. A raw, hungry sound rumbled from his chest as his fingers found their target, brushing her shift aside and sinking into her.

“Tell me,” he whispered. “What did you want to do to me that night?”

“N-nothing,” she managed, but it took an effort. Already heat simmered along her nerve endings, igniting everywhere Niko touched her, as if of the two of them, he were the firewitch.

“Wrong answer,” he said, scraping his teeth over the delicate skin of her neck. “Try again, my Dimi.”

Her body fluttered in response, and his fingers thrust harder. Now Katerina wasn’t just aflame; she was melting, clenching around him. How could something that had the potential to doom them all feel so right? Why, despite everything, could she not stop craving him this way?

“Again,” he demanded, his free hand rising to cup her breasts, pinching first one nipple, then the other. The pain was exquisite, and she cried out, her head falling back against his shoulder. It was unfair how well he knew her body, after years of training by her side. And yet, when he was touching her the way he was right now—as if he were addicted to the feel of her, his mouth descending over hers to swallow her moans—she could hardly complain.

“Katerina,” he coaxed, pulling away.

Damn him. “If I’d told you what I wanted to do to you,” she said, breathless, “what I’d imagined doing for months—years—would you have gone along with it, my Shadow?”

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