Page 186 of Of Blood and Banes
And I can’t move away.
I can’tlookaway.
He doesn’t rush. He doesn’t pummel me straight into the mattress hard enough for my eyes to flutter closed. To be sore the next morning. He rocks into me gently, with each push and withdrawal deliberate and intimate.
All the times before, we chased the highs. Climbing each step with fury and haste, minds centered only on the pleasure that shocked our entire nervous system. But this is something different.
Instead, we settle into something deep and slow. Quiet. Controlled and gentle. Something I can’t quite comprehend. We focus on sharing breaths, touching like if we let go, it will break something within us. I’m lost. But not lost in myself and fleshly pleasure.
I’m lost inhim.
I touch his face, my fingertips skimming his stubbled cheek, as if we own every second in the world at this moment. As if there’s nothing else in the kingdom but him and I.
The times before felt like flying. But this? This feels the opposite.
It feels like falling.
I stretch forward, brushing my lips against his. We kiss, slow and easy. I hold onto him, settling into the intimacy.
When he finally breaks away from my lips, his dark lashes flutter, and his breath rasps out, “Katerina.”
My name, without taunt, sends a chill up my spine. I speak onto his lips, “Come undone for me. Show me who you really are, for tonight I am yours.”
He laces his fingers into mine and holds onto me with a need that breathes security. His forehead tilts down to rest against mine, his eyes fluttering. Those carved muscles tense, and he slides his hips flush against mine, unraveling before me. Something between a soft moan and whimper slips off his beautiful lips. He can’t help squeezing his eyes shut.
We hang there in the silence for a long moment, filled only with our pounding hearts and heavy breaths. When he opens his eyes again, he kisses me. Slowly, easily. I loop my arms around his neck, locking him to me.
For the rest of the night, we take our time. Each climax he unleashes in me is unhurried, gentle, and purposeful. Until I finally pull him into me, holding his head to my heart racing for him in my naked chest. His weight is comfortably heavy on meas I rake my fingers through his hair, until both of us fall fast asleep.
CHAPTER 59
GOOD
Darian is gone when I wake in the morning, but next to the bed is a cluster of pennyroyal flowers.Odd, considering he mentioned he was barren.I pluck one of the petals off, examining it with distant uncertainty, before I drop it.
The realization of our intimate moment last night hits me over the head, as if someone struck me with a rock. I can’t get his eyes out of my head. That deep, forest green. A swarm of warmth, with the depth of all the things buried in his past. Yet, he brought it to the surface in a single, vulnerable moment. The same moment I felt myself slipping into, replaying it over and over in my mind.
It was supposed to just be…sex.
I start hyperventilating, raking my fingers through my hair with trembling hands and attempting to calm myself. Pulling in long breaths through my nose, I can’t seem to calm my racing heart.Fuck.
He looked…at me.
I shake my head, my eyes shifting back down to the ground. This all feels too scary. Too hard. Now I feel an even heavierresponsibility, holding on to something more fragile. More tender.
Oh, Gods.Whydid he look at me like that?
A knock sounds at my door, and I rush to pull clothes onto my body. “One moment!”
As soon as I slip a shirt over myself, slide into pants, and pull on my gloves, I flatten my hair and open the door to find Archie. His brilliant smile would usually lighten the anxiety in my chest. But this time, it’s not enough.
His joy fades as he recognizes the truth of my state before looking me up and down. “What’s wrong?”
I shake my head and lean against the doorframe, attempting to look more casual than I feel. Bruises discolor his face, his lip still swollen from yesterday. “Are you alright? Have you seen any healers yet?”
“Pfft, I don’t need healers. There are soldiers and citizens who suffered far greater injuries. I look worse than I am. Except…” he flicks his tongue between a new gap in his teeth at the back of his mouth, “that asshole knocked out one of my teeth.”
He pauses. Then tilts his head sideways to glance into the room behind me and flicks his brown eyes back to me. “You sure you’re alright? You seem…off?”
