Page 106 of Rage of Her Ravens

Thank the elements.He loosed a long breath.My brothers, too?

All fine,I answered.

What attacked us?

Trolls.

“Trolls?” he blurted aloud, looking around the room as if they could fit in our bed. “Where are they?”

Gone.I pushed back his shoulders when he tried to fly out of bed.

His mouth fell open.You used your siren’s call on trolls?

I nodded.They went back into the mountains.

You will never cease to amaze me, my beautiful, powerful mate.He cupped my face in his hands, kissing me again, deeply, passionately. Then he stopped kissing me and made a strange gagging sound.

I froze in fear. Was he sick again?

He leaned back, looking at me as if I’d sprouted wings before plugging his nose. “Elements, what is that smell?”

I slapped a hand over my mouth when laughter bubbled up in my throat. “It’s the medicine they put on your head.”

“Gah. It’s awful.” His cheeks flushed ten shades of red. “How can you kiss me?”

“I care more about the fact that you’re alive than your smell.” Besides, I guess I’d grown used to my mate smelling like an overturned outhouse.

He grabbed my arms, gently easing me off him. “I need a bath.” He stumbled out of bed.

I thought about alerting the servants and Nikkos’s brothers that he was alive and well, but selfish as I was, I wanted Nikkos all to myself for a short while longer. I followed after him, steadying him with a hand on his arm. “Maybe you should sit first.” I led him toward the small dining table by the hearth. It didn’t smell as bad at the table, the hearth’s smoke chasing away most of the stench. Streaks of moonlight cut through the gossamer curtains, revealing a silver platter of savory and sweet tarts on the table that had been left for the green witch.

My stomach grumbled, and before I knew it, Nikkos and I were both stuffing our faces with crumbly tarts and downing goblets of wine. After we were both feeling a little stronger, we went into the bathing room to clean him. Nikkos added more kindling to the hearth and lit the candles hanging from the walls and the chandelier dangling overhead, bathing the dark room in a soft, yellow glow. The large tub still held my used bath water from this evening. I’d driven the servants out of my chamber earlier so I could cry into the tub by myself, and they hadn’t been back to empty it.

“Ahh,” he said, smiling down at the tub. He snatched a lavender petal from the water, rubbing it between his fingers. “Perfect.”

I admit I’d gone overboard with the lavender. It was the best I could do to drive away the stench of sickness that permeated the rooms.

“It might be cold, though,” I said as I helped him out of his putrid clothes.

He hit the water with a blast of fire. “Not for long.”

I threw the clothes directly into the hearth, and he set it ablaze. I knew there wasn’t enough soap in all of Delfi to wash the stench out of the fabric.

I sat on a bench beside the tub and thoroughly scrubbed his hair with lots of soap and gently ran a wet sponge over his wings while marveling that my Nikkos had survived. I could hardly believe our good fortune when just hours ago I’d thought I had lost him forever.

I poured him a tall goblet of water, and he cleaned out his mouth and scrubbed his teeth with charcoal, mint leaves, and a small scrub brush. By the time we’d finished cleaning him, his gorgeous, hard body glistened beneath the candlelight, and he smelled like a lavender plant, a far cry from overturned, moldy outhouse. He finally stood, and I handed him a fresh towel, unable to take my gaze away from his long appendage jutting toward me like a spear. I gasped and then laughed when he shook out his wings, spraying water everywhere.

He flew out of the tub, knocking the breath from my lungs when he swept me into his arms and kissed me passionately, deeply. He tasted like sweet mint, his roving hands setting fire to my blood. I ran my hands through his wet hair, across his damp wings, finally settling on his warm chest and the fiercely beating heart beneath.

My Nikkos was alive and well. He would live to spend another day, hopefully a lifetime, in my arms.

I gasped when he slipped off my nightdress, my nipples pebbling in the cool air. I instantly warmed, melting into his hard body pressed against mine. He deepened the kiss and hoisted me into his arms, pressing my back against the wall. Groaning into his mouth, I wrapped my legs around his waist, his silky shaft gliding across my slick sex until I thought I’d go mad from the torture.

Take me, Nikkos,I pleaded through thought.Please take me.

I already have you, my love.His deep, dark voice echoed in my skull as he feasted on my neck.You are mine, forever.

His predatory growl reverberated the marrow of my bones. Digging his hands into my bottom, he lifted my hips to his, then slid into me in one swift thrust. He captured my cry with his mouth as he fully impaled me, thrusting into me over and over until I completely lost myself in the moment, surrendering to the inferno that consumed us.

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