Page 68 of Queen of Ever

Chapter 27

Tarian

Imogenopenedthedooron a plain but well-furnished room, which was more than I’d expected for an underground hideout.The floor was a kind of polished stone, the bed a fourposter, draped with tapered blue curtains, and I was satisfied to see it clothed in velvet.At least they’d kept her prisoner in relative comfort.

‘Sit,’ she said, leading me to an armchair.‘I’ll run the bath.They have plumbing and everything,’ she called over her shoulder as she slipped through a door to an adjoining room.I frowned at the comment.Clearly, this rebel cell had been established here for some time if they hadplumbing.What exactly were their objectives?Sometimes groups like this wound up with dreams too big for reality and thought they could overthrow one of the courts.Up until this point, I hadn’t thought this was one of that variety.I’d thought they were just the type of group that wanted to lash out and cause chaos, as evident by the attacks they’d staged, which had been messy and ill-conceived.The exception being in their kidnapping of Imogen.But if they called themselves a court and had a queen to boot, perhaps they were of the more idealistic and therefore dangerous sort.Lesser fae rebellions always ended one way.If they were deluding themselves in thinking otherwise, then I didn’t like to think what their intentions were for Imogen, and I definitely didn’t like the idea of her getting caught up in their fantasies.

After several minutes, Imogen reappeared, and I watched her greedily as she sifted through drawers in dressers.I couldn’t stop looking at her.I wanted to imprint her image in my mind, keep it there in perfect condition for me to see when I closed my eyes.There was this razor-edge of fear gnawing on me, fear that my time with her was finite.It made me tense as I sat in my chair.

She straightened with a frustrated huff, closing the drawer she’d been rummaging through in the bedside table.‘I can’t find anything that will fit you.’

I laughed, finally realising what she’d been about.‘I didn’t expect that you would.’

‘You can’t just get back into your dirty clothes after a bath.’

I rose from my chair, going to her.‘I had no plans for getting dressed again.Don’t worry about me, Imogen.Sit.’

She twisted her mouth but did as she was told, dropping onto the bed.I knelt before her and carefully removed each of her shoes.Ran my hands up her calves, enjoying the way her legs looked in the supple leather pants, caressing the backs of her thighs.She threaded her fingers through my hair as I gazed up at her.It felt like looking up at the night sky, looking at her.The wonder and whirl of it.The spray of glittering stars.And here I was at her feet, like she was the altar at which I would eternally kneel.At which I wouldgladlykneel.I was almost giddy with the rush of it, of touching her, of having her safe with me.I’d been terrified that something would happen to her when she was taken.That terror still fluttered beneath my skin, in my chest.

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’she asked, running the backs of her fingers over my cheek.‘You look so lost.Like you’re afraid I’m going to disappear again.’

‘I keep getting these glimpses of what happy could be with you,’ I murmured, the words getting stuck in my throat.‘And then you’re snatched away.’

‘I’m safe here,’ she said resolutely.‘We’re safe here.I promise.I trust them.’

‘You trust more liberally than I like.’

‘Which is a good thing, or I might still be running from you.’

‘Haven’t you learnt by now that running doesn’t mean you get away?’

I slid my hands higher up her legs, gently parting them so I could be closer as I turned my head, pressed a kiss to her palm, her wrist.Lifted her shirt.She raised her arms, letting me slip it off her, and I left it discarded on the floor.I kissed the smooth skin below her naval and listened to her breath stutter.‘You promise I’m not about to find any injuries?It would be better to pre-warn me.’

She huffed a soft laugh.‘I’m aware.You don’t have to keep asking.I promise you won’t find anything else.’

I slowly kissed my way up her stomach and when I reached her bra, she bent down and tilted my mouth to hers.My fingers found the clasp at her back, unhooking it, following the straps off her shoulders, down her arms, moving to caress the curves of her breasts, savouring the sound she made against my mouth as I traced the tightened peaks of them.

I drew back, dropping my hand to the buttons of her pants.‘I like these,’ I said, unfastening them.‘I don’t like that anyone else saw you in them though.’

‘Why not?’Her eyes were so dark, lids hooded as she watched me pull down the zip.

‘They’re very tight.It’s too easy to imagine what your bare legs look like.’

‘No one has been imaging what my bare legs look like,’ she protested as I drew the pants down her hips.

‘I was.’

She bit her lip through a smile, leaned back on her elbows as I freed her legs and let the leather join the rest of her clothes on the floor.‘Well, you’re a fiend.’

‘A fiend who wants the image of you like this all to myself.’I paused to take her in, devouring the way she looked up at me through her lashes, one leg hitched up on the mattress and a wicked gleam in her eyes, like she was doing something she shouldn’t.

‘You’re the one who’s covered in muck.Why am I the one almost naked?’She pushed herself up, took hold of my shirt.‘Take this off.’I did as I was told, and she ran her hands up my stomach, over my arms, before rising to her feet.‘Come on.’

I watched her walk into the adjoining room in nothing but her underwear, my gaze running down the planes of her back, clinging to the sway of her hips, before discarding my pants and following her.She was already below the waterline, swirling her fingers through the sudsy water as she watched me through the steam.

I lowered myself into the tub, sinking below the milky waterline, the heat easing the tension I’d been carrying since she’d been taken.I watched her as she drifted towards me, ran fingers up the slippery skin of her legs, feeling almost wary of her and the way terror had eaten me up when she’d been taken.Wary of what I would have done to get her back if the rebels hadn’t been willing to give her up.Wary of that aching warmth that filled my chest when I looked at her.

‘What’s wrong?’she asked, hands sliding up my arms.

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