Page 65 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

I darted into Navin’s room and leapt over the back of his couch, falling hard on my shoulder as I rolled. I bit out a gasp as I inched to the column beside the couch and sat with my back to it, praying that Rasil wouldn’t enter. But the Gods weren’t listening, and the door rattled open after a ridiculous amount of fumbling from Navin. My chest rose and fell in giant heaves. If Rasil discovered me here it would ruin everything.

“I think that wine has gone straight to my head,” Navin slurred.

“Whoa!” Rasil exclaimed with a chuckle. “How many glasses did you have?”

“Too many it seems,” Navin said. Shuffling sounded as he stumbled around. “I should go to bed. Good night, Raz.”

“I was thinking...,” Rasil hedged and I cringed.

Navin stumbled forward and dropped onto the couch right beside me. I knew the second he spotted me from his periphery, but he hid it well. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he put his arms over the back of the couch, his right hand so close it nearly skimmed my shoulder.

“I have a feeling I know what you’re thinking, Raz,” Navin said. “And the answer is always the same.”

My shoulders bunched at the nickname, suddenly feeling like a voyeur to this intimate moment between husbands. Even if their history was long in the past, they stillhada history.

“Things have changed,” Rasil said from where he lingered in the doorway. I heard the careful snick of the door shutting, but I didn’t hear his footsteps approach. “I’ve changed.”

“You still seem like the same ambitious boy I once knew,” Navin said. “Just with more facial hair.”

Rasil chuckled. “You’ve certainly grown more confident, too,” he said. “I think we make a better pair now than we ever did when we were young.”

“I don’t think that—”

“I know that there were others,” Rasil cut in and I tensed. I couldn’t believe he was saying this out loud. “I know we both indulged in other dalliances. But you’re still mine, Navin.”

Navin’s hand dropped behind the couch, skimming over my collarbone, and it took everything in me not to jolt and rattle my chains. His finger trailed over my shoulder as he said, “I haven’t been yours in a very long time, Raz.” His hand drifted down, skimming over my chest, and I bit my lip as his thumb circled my nipple, rolling it into a peak.

“I could be,” Rasil offered. “You still look at me with lust in your eyes.”

Navin’s hand dipped lower, down the plane of my belly, and bunched the fabric of my shirt in a fist. “That look in my eyes is exhaustion,” he said. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” He tugged up on the fabric until my whole lower half was bare.

My breathing hitched, and I thanked the Gods that Rasil couldn’t hear as well as a Wolf. He’d probably be able to taste the current in the air, hear the pounding of my heart in my chest, know the pulsing that was building between my legs. All the wanton desire that had grown and grown over the course ofthe day all came to a head. Being touched by Navin, being nearly discovered, I was already wet and desperate for him.

“Why didn’t you get much sleep last night?” Rasil asked carefully, and my pulse quickened even further.

“The bitch was yowling from her cell about her sore arms,” Navin said without missing a beat. His fingers trailed up my leg, making my skin tingle. I wanted to spread my legs wider, wanted to shift and wriggle into his touch, but I knew one sound and I’d be found out. Maybe facing the samsavat would be worth it just to be touched by him again.

“Wolves,” Rasil spat. “Are you sure you’ll be all right to take her unaccompanied?”

“She’s beaten and nearly starved,” Navin said as his finger trailed up to my center and brushed through the dusting of hair between my legs. I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood. “And if she’s shackled, she can’t shift. She’ll be a good dog for me.” As he said the words, he trailed his finger down my folds and plunged into my wet heat.

I choked on air, my chin stretching skyward and toes curling as his fingers pushed inside of me and massaged my inner walls. I was already dripping for him. He slid his fingers out again and circled my clit, and I swore to all the Gods that my soul left my body as I tried not to moan. Let me just die here with his fingers inside me. I couldn’t care beyond that.

“Will you please just do me a favor,” Rasil said.

“It depends,” Navin purred as his fingers slid in again, massaging me in tortuously slow movements.

“Will you think about us while you’re in Rikesh,” Rasil said. Navin’s thumb circled my clit as his fingers pumped in and out. “Will you consider leaving Galen den’ Mora and joining me here and being by my side?”

Navin’s thumb pressed down harder on my throbbing bud, and I let out a short whine. He coughed, covering the sound. “Pardon me,” he said, coughing a couple more times for good measure. “I will think about it, Raz,” he said in a lazily boredtone that I knew was his attempt to curb his own lust. “But I think my conclusion will be the same as always.”

“That’s all I ask,” Rasil said, and the door clicked as he opened it. “Good night, Navin.”

“Good night.” Navin circled me faster again.

He waited after the door was shut for a good few seconds to make sure Rasil was gone. Navin pulled his hands from my aching flesh and stood from the couch. He sidled over to his door, and I heard the lock click.

I let out a panting breath, resting my head against the cool column. When Navin turned around the column, he dropped into a crouch beside me.

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