Page 95 of Destroyer

And then he stumbled, his foot catching on a stool, and it snapped her back to a semblance of reality.

Fen looked so debauched in the lamplight, his chest heaving, shirt half-untucked, hair hanging over one eye, lips parted. His expression was so hungry, so lustful that she had to look away for fear of losing herself again.

Because this wasn’t her, was it? It had to be the artifact. She’d never felt like this, never been so undone.

And surely, this wasn’t Fen. Fen slept across the bed, fully clothed. Fen apologized for touching her, after making her want him so badly it was almost all she could think about other than the artifact.

He had made it clear he didn’t want her.

The golden light had sent them both into some kind of frenzy.

“This isn’t real,” said Ru. “You don’t want this. You don’t want me.” She gave him one last look and ran for the door to the stairs.

Taller and faster, he got there at the same time she did.

As she wrenched open the door, Fen caught it with his broad palm and slammed it shut, placing himself between Ru and escape; she was backed against the door, Fen’s arms braced on either side of her, fencing her in.

She opened her mouth to protest, but he pressed his thumb to her lips before she could speak.

“Ruellian Delara,” he said in a low, slow voice, “that will be the last time you ever accuse me of not wanting you.”

Her defiance melted as he took her face in his hands, kissing her slow, luxurious. She felt herself weakening, succumbing to him, and obligingly he took control. His kisses grew deeper, hungrier; his hands more purposeful.

Her thoughts fled completely, leaving her alone in a dream with Fen. That telltale heat spiked in her belly, caught in her throat, and as it spread through her veins she realized… it wasn’t the artifact.

She couldfeelthe stone’s touch, thrumming gold and lovely in the back of her mind, but the restless hunger that demanded Fen, that urged her to kiss him, touch him, pull him closer… It was all Fen’s doing.

“Tell me if you want me to stop,” he breathed as he pressed hot kisses down her neck.

Ru made a sound of frustration. “If you stop I’ll—”

He chuckled against her throat, one hand reaching under her skirts, inching upward ever so slowly. His knuckles grazed her bare thigh. “You’ll what?”

Her response was a small gasp as Fen’s knee bent upward, pressing between her legs. His fingers traced tiny circles on the delicate skin of her thigh, his other hand pulling on her jacket until it hung open. Her thin chemise and his shirt were the only barriers between them, between the heat of their skin.

Pleasure blossomed deep within her, sharp and demanding.

The memory of a dream came to her suddenly, Fen leaning over her in bed, his fingers curling around her underclothes.Is this what you want?

She wanted this.

“Fen,” she said, a plea and a prayer.

With one hand he cupped Ru’s ass, pulling her roughly forward until she was pressed against the hard length of him, and with the other hand, he brushed his thumb feather-light across her nipple.

The sound she made would have made her want to melt into the floor with embarrassment at any other time, but not like this, not when it made Fen moan her name into her neck. She was shaking with need, desperate, pleading.

His mouth wasn’t enough. His hands weren’t enough.

“Fen,” she begged.

“You are…” he breathed, hot against her ear. “I can’t control myself with you.”

“Yes,” she said nonsensically, pulling him in for another kiss, arching her back against the door, her hips rocking into him as molten pleasure rose up from the base of her spine.

“No,” he said, breaking the kiss. “I mean, if we keep— I won’t be able to—”

“I’m perfectly…” she said, punctuating her words with nips along his neck, “able to decide…” she bit his earlobe, eliciting yet another deep moan from Fen, “what I want, for myself. And I want you.”

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