Page 32 of Path of the Dark
Elias’s expression darkened as if Ryana’s silence damned her further. Turning his back on her he moved away. He then disappeared down a side street, the shadows swallowing him.
Ryana sank against the wall, her legs trembling.
She should be relieved. Elias hadn’t tried to kill her. But what he’d done instead had completely disarmed her. There was no good denying it. She ached for him. The tender skin between her thighs throbbed and need pulsed in the cradle of her hips.
Her body knew what it wanted, even if her mind was convinced otherwise.
Glancing around, Ryana wondered if anyone had heard them. She was aware that she’d cried out. Yet the street was as quiet and deserted as it had been before Elias had pushed her up against the wall.
Ryana’s gaze shifted to the alleyway where Elias had disappeared.
Well, that’s it,she thought as both relief and disappointment swamped her.I’ve seen the last of him.
Elias was enraged with himself on two counts.
The first was that he’d kissed the witch in the first place after learning her secret. The second was that he’d not just given his instincts free rein and plowed her against the wall.
His groin ached now, making it uncomfortable to walk. He’d kept off The King’s Way, intending to travel up to the palace through back stairwells. However, now that he was out of sight of Ryana, he felt like a prize dolt.
The woman tells you she strangled Saul, and you react by sticking your tongue down her throat.
Elias stopped, halfway up the staircase he was climbing, and muttered an oath.
Ryana had drawn his attention from their first meeting, and tonight he’d been unable to stay away from her. He’d drunk and diced at three different taverns before returning toThe Black Boar. It had taken a while, but eventually she’d emerged.
And during the entire walk back, all he’d been able to think about was kissing her. Learning about Saul should have ended that desire, yet instead it had released the beast in him. It had taken every ounce of will he had to step back from her, to feign disgust, and to walk away.
Letting out another curse, Elias dragged a hand over his face.
His self-control hung by a thread. When Ryana was near, he forgot about his purpose here in The Royal City, about the promises he’d made. He’d hoped to use her to his own ends, but the woman had turned the tables on him. He needed to keep away from her.
Time was passing and Ninia was still alive. He had to do something about that.
Ryana reached the House of Light and Darkness and let herself inside. It was late, just a few hours till dawn, and the corridors and stairwells of the building were empty. Reaching her chamber, Ryana crossed to where the window shutters still hung open. The sleeping city tumbled down the hillside beneath her. The sky was overcast, clouds drifting across the silver face of the moon.
Closing the shutters, Ryana shifted over to her sleeping pallet and sank down on it. A low fire still glowed in the hearth, illuminating her chamber in a soft light. In daylight, the room was austere and cell-like, but firelight gentled it.
With a groan, Ryana lay back on the pallet and stared up at the rafters.
The walk up to the House hadn’t eased her frustration, hadn’t cooled her blood. She still longed for Elias.
Lust had a way of chasing away good sense. It had been years since Ryana had felt so reckless. Elias freed something in her that she’d suppressed for too long. Yet she knew what the consequences could be of giving into it. Hadn’t Gael made her feel the same way once? Time had faded many of her memories of her first love. However, Ryana couldn’t remember feeling quite as desperate as she had tonight.
She reached up to her neck, her fingers exploring the tender spot where he’d bitten her. Breathing quickening, she let herself remember how he’d kissed her and the way he’d ground his hips against hers. His touch had set her on fire.
When Elias had pulled away, she’d felt as if she could die from want.
Stop this.Ryana squeezed her eyes shut. Reliving the encounter wasn’t helping.
She tried to relax her body, willed her limbs to sink into the coverlet. She was exhausted, but sleep wouldn’t visit her now; her nerves were stretched taut, her senses still too alert.
She’d done the right thing in telling Elias about his brother, Ryana reassured herself. She needed to distance herself from the Prince of Anthor and everything he represented. It was a folly that would only end badly for her. She wouldn’t be used and abandoned again. She wouldn’t throw herself into the abyss.
Aye, she’d done well to push Elias away. But that didn’t give her solace as she lay alone upon her bed.
