Page 78 of Court of Treachery

He dropped his gaze. “Don’t make promises you cannot keep, Harper,” he said softly. “I’ll do what I can.” He left her in the empty chamber.

Harper sank into the chair slowly, rubbing her arms to rid them of the goose pimples that had arisen with the cold. Her eyes slipped shut for a moment. She was exhausted, only buoyed by nervous energy and desperation, but the deep-seated tiredness within her crept up relentlessly, sapping her remaining energy. The small spark of hope dissipated in her solitude.

All is lost, her mind teased her.They will all die. It will be for nothing. You are no one. You are nothing. You will never prevail.

The taunts were relentless, and she could not silence them, even when she covered her face with her hands and groaned into her palms. Harper stumbled to the bed chamber and toppled upon the covers, fully dressed, to drown herself in slumber and silence the insipid voices that prophesied doom.

66

HARPER

Her dreams were filled with Dimitrius and that tension between them melting—in her slumber, it had not been a mistake and there was no end to it. She could take what she wanted—and she did, indulging in finding a release with him, consequences be damned. Because he was right. They were in grave danger, and death danced with them each day—but that did not mean they should shy away from taking risks. No, if anything, they ought to burn all the brighter and take that light and pleasure where they could—whilst they had the chance. And so, she sank willingly into that realm of sleep that offered her deepest desires and asked for no price in return save the regret of waking to find it untrue.

Wake Harper did, with her hand between her legs wishing and half imagining it was his—Dimitri’s—and her core swollen with desire. She sighed lazily, caught in the haze between sleep and waking for a moment as the disappointment of the fading dream mingled with the crescendo of reality. She lay upon her back, still wrapped in that thin, floating dress, with the covers smudged beneath her.

There was movement by the door. A rustle. Her attention snapped to it—to him. Dimitrius. Appearing as though she had summoned him from nowhere. He stood in the open archway staring open-mouthed at her—and looking utterly predatory. He wore his usual dark attire, though the top buttons of his shirt were undone, leaving the strong lines of his neck on show. One arm bulged, holding a wad of shimmering fabrics. His dark eyes—made darker by the dim lights—speared her to the bed, and his nostrils flared as though he could scent the pleasure upon her. Could he? A shiver, not at all unpleasant, curled through her. His free hand flexed.

“I heard a cry. I worried you were… My mistake. I see you are not in any danger at all,” he said, that low voice of his curling something deep within her core. His eyes still fixed upon that hand between her legs. She pulled it away and his gaze tracked the movement.

“Only from you,” she admitted. Because it was the truth. She was in no physical danger from him—but her mind was. Her heart was. It fluttered as she sat up on the bed, her legs within the folds of shimmering material that felt altogether too much as they slid across her sensitive skin.

His brows plunged into a frown. He dumped the bundle of fabric upon the chair before crossing the room. He towered over her, gripping her chin in his forefinger and thumb and tilting her face up. The violent intensity of the promise in his eyes consumed her. “You areneverin danger from me. I would burn the world before I let harm come to you.”

She had to know—and desire made her bold. She slid from the bed and stood, never mind that she still had to look up to meet the fire in his eyes. It made her braver to stand before him. “You said it was a mistake—what happened between us. I need to know if you believe that. Give me your honest answer.”

“Of course not. I told you—I regret nothing. I will take as much as you are prepared to give me, Harper. I would takeeverything. But I will not take one kiss more than you wish.” His thumb, still at her jaw, lifted, and he rubbed the pad of it across her lower lip. Her tongue darted out to taste it, swirling across the tip, and he shuddered, his eyes sliding out of focus for a second.

In the next moment, he seized her head with both hands, his palms at either side of her jaw and his fingers reaching around into her hairline. She gasped at the closeness, at his heat, at the throb beating like a drum deep inside her. Their breaths mingled as he bared his teeth at her, his eyes wild and bright, their lips almost touching.

“You want honesty, Harper? I have never felt this for anyone before. You are intoxicating. I am addicted to you. Youconsumeme. You are the very air I breathe, and I want you to fill my lungs so I drown upon you. Never has someone put me in such danger before—and never have I tolerated having such a vulnerability. You are my weakness, Harper. I would die to keep you safe—and that terrifies me more than anything else. I respect what you want—what you choose—but what I want? If we are to die, I want to die having known what it feels like to bury myself in you, to wring every ounce of pleasure from you, to have you cry my name as you come. I would die knowing we had flown into the sun and perished in one glorious destruction.Thatis the honest truth of what I want, Harper.”

She had stopped breathing. His words broke something within her, because every one of them speared right into her heart. She wanted that too—she just did not dare to reach for it.Didshe dare? Could she? No matter what was to come, no matter what happened out there in the darkening world, all she had control over was what happened in that moment. Right there. In that room. With him. Nothing else was guaranteed. Ifthey were to die from the peril they were in, she could know some pleasure and some escape at his hands before the end came.

That sealed her decision. Death be damned. She would have him. And she had never been as sure of anything in her life. Harper surged up to fuse their lips together. Dimitri groaned into her lips, but pulled away, those hands cupping her cheeks now holding her back. Uncertainty fluttered within her—not hers, but his. Did he not want it too?

“I need to ask you, Harper—do you desire this? Truly? Because this cannot just be a kiss. You do not know how hard I work to restrain myself. To walk in on you with your beautiful hand between your legs in the very place I long to bury myself… You may want a kiss and nothing more, but my self-control will not endure so far today, and I respect you far too much than to throw caution to the wind. I will remove myself, if I must, to respect your wishes. But this is not—cannot—be just a kiss for me. Not one. I will take them all and everything besides.”

Pleasant warmth curled within her core, a tingle shooting through her at his promises. She spread her palm upon his chest, breathing him in, that intoxicating citrus and musk scent of his that primed her body for pleasure and sent lust stroking down her spine. “I want them all. I want you. I want this. I wanteverything, Dimitrius.”

He gave it to her, surging forward to capture her lips. The kiss swallowed her gasp at his eagerness before he pulled away to pepper more along the hard line of her jaw and utter words that sent her even weaker at the knees. “Then allow me to worship you like the goddess you are, because to me, you are the coming of the sun and you banish all the dark despair from the depths of my soul when I am with you. Please let me?”

“…Yes.”

67

HARPER

He kissed down the column of her neck, cradling her skull in his palm, and pulled down the fabric of her dress draping across her shoulders so he could continue the trail across her collarbone. Her hands raked through his hair as the fabric fell, pooling at her feet. She was naked underneath. This wasn’t fair. She had to even the odds. This was twice now that she found herself bared before him— and she would have reciprocation.

Pulling his mouth up to hers, Harper teased his lips open, and Dimitri yielded to her, those sharp teeth of his grazing her tongue as she explored him with her mouth and her hands. She tugged his shirt open, teasing apart the buttons one by one—until his hands met her in the middle, having started at the bottom, and off that shirt came to join her dress.

Pulling back momentarily to admire his honed body, she ran her hands up the hard planes of his abdomen, across his chest, and over his broad shoulders. Dark ink stained his torso in a glorious swirl of shadow that shifted as she watched—writhing around the muscles of his shoulders, chest, and arms as though they had a life of their own. She dragged her fingers over him inwonder, and he shuddered, leaning into her touch as she wound her fingers up his neck, through his hair, and pulled him to her mouth once more.

Now, she dared to go lower. Her hands dipped to Dimitri’s waist, tracing over his navel—and continued until they found the satisfying warmth in his breeches. She cupped her hand there, squeezing against the growing hardness, and he gritted his teeth against her lips momentarily.

“Careful, huntress. Not so fast.” Dimitri captured her wanton hands and slid his fingers up her arms as he drew both to hang loosely around his neck. “Let me. I need to touch you. Please.” The need in his voice undid her.

“I’m right here. Touch me.” Her daring sent a thrill through her that shivered with every pound of her wanting heart.

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