Page 156 of The Stolen Throne
The darkness around us parts to reveal our very concerned friends. “What the—”
“I’m under control,” Reven cuts Vos off. “Give us a second.”
Then the darkness hides us again.
Before I can comment, as if compelled, he lifts my hand and follows the path of bluish veins under the skin of my wrist with his lips. An unfurling of sensation that I’ve been holding back hits with the first brush of contact, then claws through me the longer this goes on.
We’re cocooned in his darkness. I don’t know what to do with myself, but the need, the heat that his touch is building needs somewhere to go.
All from such a simple caress.
Different from the kiss we shared in the water garden. Different because of the relief…and the buildup. A longing. A need for the connection between us. A compulsion.
Does he feel this as intensely as I do?
A whimper escapes me.
“Hells,” he mutters as he lifts his head, his expression descending to both darkness and flame at the same time. “I’ve thought of this a thousand times, and I thought I had to stay away—”
Me, too.
I don’t know which of us moves first. Maybe both of us at the same time, but his mouth is on mine again, and all that relief that I’m not the only one feeling this burns up in a flash fire of need that I’ve been holding back for ages. Anguish and bliss all rolled together.
And through it all, I feel Reven. Only Reven.
His mouth, his hands, are everywhere, and so are mine. And thank goodness for the dark shielding us from the others now, because something inside me—some deeply held fear that what I feel for Reven is so much more than what he does for me—releases in a waterfall of relief.
I’m shaking and I don’t care, because a small part of me thought I’d never get this with him again. That knowledge, that possible future, gives my responses, the way I touch him back, an edge. Like I’m trying to absorb every single second, to memorize this for when it ends. The scent of his skin, the feel of his muscles bunching under my hands, the way he shudders when I press my lips to the side of his neck.
“Meren?” Horus’s voice finally breaks through, calling out in the night.
Hells.
Reven and I both come up for air, but we don’t let the others in. Not yet.
I can see in his eyes that he’s not going to put those walls back up again. Not entirely.
“What changed?” I have to know.
He’s still breathing hard. “I felt you arrive in the dominion, and suddenly…I could breathe again.”
Okay. So why did he wait to come find me? And what was with that dramatic entrance?
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “But then his Shadows rioted. They wanted to get to you, too, and I couldn’t hold them back.”
“Uh…that doesn’t sound good—” He puts a finger to my lips, and I quiet under his touch.
“They stopped fighting the second we had you.” He shakes his head like he doesn’t quite believe it. “They just vanished. I can’t hear them right now. Not at all.”
We stare at each other, and I know we’re thinking the same thing. “It has to be my curse.”
He shakes his head. “We don’t know for sure what it is about you or what you’re doing to stop them from killing us both. But I’m done shutting you out. I’ll just have to be…”
“Careful.” I curl my hands into his shirt. “We’ll be careful.”
His hands cover mine like he’ll detach me from him, but he doesn’t. “I’m serious, Meren. If I have to shadow away, let me.”
I sigh. “Fine. But for the scribes, I’m tired of being alone in this—”
