Page 103 of Fortress of Ambrose
“It’ll be safe in there,” she says, emerging from the room where the diadem is. “I’ve been kept prisoner in there, there’s no other way in.”
“Very good.” Fighting a grimace, I apply the salve Abby gave me and sit down on the bed. To my relief, after some time, the throbbing pain subsides.
She disappears into the bathroom, and I hear shower water running.I should leave.I hesitate. If all that toushana use doesn’t buy me a moment with her, a chance to sit next to her and just breathe her in, I’m done for. I lie back on the bed, tempting fate, and glare at my hands.What did we just do?My fingers are bruising, purple at their tips. A jittery feeling like drinking too much coffee buzzes beneath my skin, and I can’t be still. I see glowing flames on the backs of my eyelids and the memories that prompted them: despicable things from my past I want to forget. Haunted, I promptly open my eyes.
Quell emerges from the bathroom in a towel, and I sit up. “How did it feel?”
“Like my blood was made of rage.”
She sits beside me, her hand on the bed inches from my leg. “When I used to do it, it felt like gorging myself on a delicious meal.”
“It was freeing in a way,” I say. “I had all these memories come to me. Things from the past.”
“Hartsboro.”
“For the first time it felt like I coulddosomething with that pain.” It felt like chipping away at the bottom of an iceberg. “Thank you, by the way.”
Her fingers walk across the blanket to mine. I pull back from her touch, waiting for my magic to react. But it doesn’t. Part of me hesitates to be relieved. The other part burns with a need to drown in Quell for the next few hours.
“When you keep it fed, it’s easier to quell.” She grins.
Here goes nothing.I take her hand in mine fully, running my fingers across her palm. Waiting. But no cold thrashes in my body, as if the magic living in me is fast asleep. I can’t even feel it. I scoot closer to her, too scared to breathe. Too scared to believe this is real.
She knots my shirt around her fingers, pulling me closer.
“Quell, we have to be careful.”
“I know.” She leans so close her breath warms my lips. “But it’s safer now than it’s ever been.”
The smell of her awakens an ache I am barely holding at bay. Something stronger than magic lurches in me.
Love her as if time doesn’t exist.
As if she is the only thing in the world.
I trail her neck with gentle breaths, still worried this is too good to be true. She smells like sunshine, a salty breeze, and wet sand. The cold in my bones still slumbers. I bury my face in her curls, letting her crisp sea spray fragrance raise the hairs on my skin.
I stare at her perfect lips, desperate to share my love with her and feel hers in return. “If I could give in to what I’m feeling right now…”
She tugs hard on my jaw. “Then what?”
“You’d be peeling me off you tonight.”
She leans into me, and I cradle her head in my hand, bringing her mouth a breath away from mine. Close enough to curl her long brown hair around my fingers and feel her lips against my fingertips. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
She parts her mouth. I trace her jaw with a gentle touch, then down her neck. She moves closer and brushes her lips against mine. Our mouths melt into each other in a kiss. She slopes her arms over my shoulders, and I lay her gently onto the bed. Everything about her is perfect. My hands rove her calves, savoring the physique of her muscles, then her thighs, which are softer than silk.
My heart feels like it could burst out of my chest.
What if it wasn’t enough? What if I give in now and my toushana becomes agitated and I can’t pull away from her fast enough?
I lay my head on her stomach. “I can’t, Quell.”
She runs her fingers through my hair. “It feels so nice to be close to you this way.”
If she only knew how I’ve longed to hold her like this. I plant a kissbeside her navel, caressing the skin there. She hugs me tighter, pretzeling her legs around me. I plant more kisses on her fingertips.
Until she’s fast asleep.
