Page 40 of Of Blood and Fire
He hesitated, his gaze flicking between me and Damon for a second, then he accepted the inevitable and motioned abruptly to the flames still holding him in place. I peeled the front of them away, allowing him space to walk forward; he did so, straight into the sphere. Like Prince Damon, he was gone between one heartbeat and the next.
“Will they really be deposited in the badlands?” I asked.
“Yes, but the slip that could have taken them on to Zephrine has already been dismantled.” He sheathed his sword, moved toward the sphere, and deactivated it. As the rainbow colors faded and the magic dissipated, he turned and strode toward me. “I need to confront my parent, but it pales in comparison to my need for my wife.”
The desire I’d briefly glimpsed in his eyes only minutes ago was now a pyre that set me alight, but I could not let it get the better of common sense. I scrambled out the other side of the bed and flung up a hand.
“We need to talk before anything else happens.”
“Can’t we talk after sex? You have no idea?—”
“And you,” I exploded, “have no idea what I’ve been through.”
He stopped abruptly. “Bryn?—”
“Don’t ‘Bryn’ me in that tone,” I growled. “You left me, Damon. You leftme, without explanation, without any idea if you intended to come back or not.”
“That is not entirely true, because this thing we share—” He angrily stabbed at his chest with a stiffened finger. “This bond that binds us is far stronger than mere words, be they spoken or written on a page. You’ve always known I would return; any thought to the contrary was fear speaking.”
“Are we talking about the bond that is so fucking strong, you couldn’t even share what you were planning?”
“And I told youwhy.”
“Oh, I understand not saying anything when you first arrived. I even understand not saying anything after the wedding, or when it became obvious that we did share something special. But—” I flicked the band on my arm. “Given this thing protected me from mental intrusions, why couldn’t you have shared your plan? Why couldn’t you have, at the very least, left some sort of explanatory note the day you disappeared?”
“Because there was no time?—”
“You spentdaysplanning the journey, creating the sphere, and plotting your moves with whoever was on the other end of the scribe tablet saying it was dangerous. Don’t fucking tell me there was no time, Damon, because that’s a damn lie.”
His eyes flashed, and his anger roiled through the air, through me. I might well have stabbed him right through the heart with that accusation. “I haveneverlied?—”
“You’ve never told me the truth, either. Not the whole truth.”
He swore, unbelted his sword, and threw it on the ground, then stalked around the bed. I retreated from his fury, only to come to an abrupt halt when my back hit the wall.
“Bryn,” he growled, an odd, dangerous, but oh-so-sexy light in his eyes, “I have loved you from the minute I met you, but my mother and my sistershadto come first, even if that meant risking the one thing that finally gave my fucking life meaning.”
He stopped barely a foot away from me and placed his hands on either side of my head, effectively pinning me in place. Anger radiated from every pore, its heat washing across my skin, drying my throat and making my heart race.
Though not in fear, damn it.
“You weren’there, Damon,” I whispered, my gaze searching his, silently begging him to understand. “You weren’t here when my world was blown apart and everyone I cared about—everyone I loved—was simply gone. I was alone, and frightened, and forced to take on a role I wasn’t ready for. I needed you, and you weren’t here.”
“And don’t you think I know all that?” His growl was both furious and anguished. “Don’t you think I felt everything you were feeling? You touched the sphere in grief and damn near exploded my mind with your pain. I ached to help, but I couldn’t abandon my family. Not even for you.”
I hesitated, torn between wanting to maintain the rage and giving in to the need to lose myself in the warmth and security of his arms. To once again explore the body I’d ached for in the long nights of anguish that lay behind me.
“And are they safe? Is anywhere safe from your father’s retribution?”
“They’re in Angola. Blood witches might be a fading dynasty these days, even on that holy island, but the old spells are maintained. There is no force that my father can bring to bear that would breach its defenses.” His lips seemed so much closer even though he hadn’t moved. I licked mine, and his gaze dropped, following the movement. The intensity and heat burning the air between us was now so damn fierce, pinpricks of sweat were dotting my skin. “Mydefenses, on the other hand, never had a chance of withstanding the force of nature that is my wife.”
And with that, he kissed me.
Not softly, not gently, but fiercely. Forcefully.Desperately.
The determination to talk had no hope against the strength of need.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my length against his, anger lost to wanting. Our tongues twined, danced, and tasted, our hearts beat together in desperate rhythm, and the desire burning between us now was so fierce I felt incandescent.
