Page 122 of This Monster of Mine

“Your night vision is surprisingly poor,” the hand’s owner informed her before letting go.

Clutching her chest, Sarai glowered. “Kadra, light a candle! You almost took ten years off my life!”

How long had he been sitting there? She hadn’t heard anyone coming downstairs, and she’d been crying against the door. Which meant he must have been here all along. The dark closed around them, concealing her scars and swollen eyes. Her air filled with wine and the clean scent of his soap, warm skin and velvety fabric under her fingers.

She was also sitting on his lap.

“I’m sorry.” She stumbled off him, almost falling over a side table. “Goodnight.”

“Come back.” The quiet order seemed to caress her. He extended a hand into the suddenly electric space between them.

A heartbeat. Two. Her breath came fast. In the quiet of his tablinum, as the world slumbered beyond Kadra’s tower, all boundaries seemed to vanish. Her restraint broke. Reaching out in the dark, she took his palm in hers.

Between one breath and the next, his arm wrapped across her shoulders. Another fit into the crook of her knees, pulling her on top of him. He threaded a rough hand through her hair and drew her head onto his shoulder.

“Breathe,” he ordered.

Without thinking, she did just that.

“Good.” His lips teased her forehead. “Slowly now.”

The tension drained from her immediately. Turning into his neck, she sighed at his warmth, exhaling so slowly she felt like she was floating. His thighs tensed under her. He held himself rigidly as if he didn’t know what to do now. Perhaps he didn’t. She didn’t even know why he’d done it.

“I don’t usually break down every few seconds,” she whispered into his skin.

“I know.” His arms tightened around her.

A lock loosened from her ragged braid, and he brushed it aside, the gesture seemingly cursory. She wondered if it was purposeful—if they were both waiting for the other to say something first. In the weak moonlightshafting through the curtains, he was as pristine as ever—dark hair grazing his neck, robes unwrinkled. But he looked exhausted. The hollows under his cheekbones were more pronounced and there was a weary tension to his stubbled jaw.

He tilted his head toward her. “Cassandane mentioned that she made you an offer some time ago.”

“She did,” Sarai murmured. “It was a good offer. She said you had me in dangerous waters.”

Kadra’s gaze shuttered. “And?”

“She isn’t wrong.”

“I see,” he said in that same resigned, too-soft voice. “Will you be leaving tonight.” It was a statement.

Throwing caution to the wind, she brought her hands to rest on his chest. “I won’t.”

Kadra blinked, and she had the extraordinary pleasure of seeing him momentarily thrown. His shoulders relaxed in slow increments as though he still couldn’t believe that she wasn’t fleeing.

“Why not?”

“Like I told Cassandane, it’s a character flaw.” She managed a small smile. “I can’t predict how tomorrow’s trial will go, but I’ll give it everything.”

“If nothing works, throw this on me.” Sliding a finger under her chin, he tilted her head up, eyes locking with hers. “I’ll shield you.”

Her eyes burned at his sincerity.You don’t even know that they’re readying to dethrone you.This wasn’t a simple bit of public censure. They’d destroy him.

“I’d rather have Aelius’s head,” she muttered. “I’d Probe the truth right out of him.”

Something flashed in his eyes. “You may have a chance.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of all this? The violence, the games.”

“At times.”

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