Page 85 of Sands of Atonement

I wanted him to suffocate me until I couldn’t breathe anything but his scent.

Ezra had never paid this close attention to me. His scrutiny made me want to hide inside a hole just so that he could find me again and give me the same look he was giving me right now. I melted in his gaze, and I hated myself for it.

Not much had changed in the last few years.

I was still the hopeless girl he accused me of being.

Chapter 22

Ezra

“You’re coming with me. Don’t fight. It’ll only make it worse.”

Eshe’s body molded against mine outside my chamber in the Atrove, and it took everything in me not to take her, right here, right now. The fact that I allowed myself a moment to feel her body and press her against me was too far. Responsible and controlled Ezra would be enraged, but I couldn’t hear him inside my head. My desire for Eshe had been so long repressed, and now she melted in the palm of my hand.

I sensed a wild beast within me that wanted to tear into her.

Her skin was soft and pliable with mine. She would never admit it, but she wanted me, too. I could see it in her gray eyes that drooped with desire, and the way her breath hitched every time I inched closer to her full lips.

“You’re delusional if you think I’d willingly follow you,” she retorted.

I didn’t give her a response before I turned her around with her arms twisted in a hold with mine, picking her up like she was a basket of bread.

“Ezra!” Eshe shrieked, jamming her knees into my legs. “Put me down!” Her attempt at making her voice sound firm and threatening was comical.

“You just said that you wouldn’t follow me. What am I supposed to do?” I carried her, kicking in my arms, down the tunnel to where I was meeting with Amr. Just because I found an escaped captive didn’t mean I could slack on my duties as their leader. They all knew who was here. The long-lost Princess of Zyriah. Did they care who she was? No.

“Ezra!” She writhed.

No, I couldn’t have her shouting that here. I swung her onto her feet and leaned forward. “Be quiet.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Or?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

Her eyes looked to the side, and she crossed her arms. “Fine. But why are you keeping me here? Why did you take me from Kavid?”

“I already told you. You’re just not very good at listening.” I started to walk again, hand on her elbow. “So that’s not my problem.”

I swear I could almost hear an eye roll coming from her.

“Careful. I’m going to start thinking you’re obsessed with me, Ezra.”

I halted in my steps and faced her again, pulling her even closer. From this viewpoint, she had to look up at me, and I liked that.

“You wish. I have plenty to be obsessed with, and unfortunately for you, you’re not on that list. I have women who are begging for me, pleading for the slightest of my attention. Women that are—how should I put it—much more well-behaved than you.”

And just like that, Eshe rolled her eyes. “Listen closely, Ezra. I’m not like one of your women, and I’m not Safina.”

“No, you’re right. You’re not. You are nothing like her. She listens to me. In fact, she loves it.”

“Then why don’t you make her your wife?”

“I can’t. I lead the Atrove, which is against our laws. Just because I’m the Qahl of Tehara does not entitle me to be above our laws. We’re the law above laws. And I lead by example.”

Why were we even discussing this?

Her brow twitched. “Would you, if you could?”