Page 12 of The Poison Within

I continued to sit in silence and wait for his monologue to run its course. I angled my head to look at the flames.

“I would’ve told you sooner, but I panicked when I started getting what I thought were the symptoms of my family disease. I didn’t want to burden you with any of it. However, it appears to have been a false alarm.”

I struggled to make sense of his words.

“That’s why”—I heard him swallow—“I’m telling you now. I can’t go on like before because that’s not enough for me anymore.”

My head jerked up. “What?” I croaked. My heart hammered in my throat, fast enough to give me apoplexy.

“I want more from you Käyru.” He paused. “I love you.”

At last, I let our eyes meet. I took in the tenderness shining in his grey gaze and the way he chewed on his bottom lip.

My vision blurred.

Somehow he found his way onto my lap. “Käyru?”

Dazed, I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my forehead against his. Only then did he relax into my body. We stayed like that for a time. His scent and the feel of his warm weight against me brought me instant comfort.

“I loved you from the first time I saw you. You must’ve guessed that,” I whispered and cleared my throat. “I thought you came here to end things between us.”

He pulled away, a deep blush creeping up his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Käyru. Please forgive me my cowardice. I haven’t acted myself lately. Or perhaps I’ve been myself more than I care to admit.” He grimaced. “At first, after that awful crisis at the inn, I thought that was it. I started putting my affairs in order. I’d always worried I would end up like my father, coughing up chunks of my lungs and suffocating in my own blood before the age of forty. It took him a week to die, you know, and he fought for every breath. I’d sooner take a blade to my wrists than go that way… but then I got better. In fact, I haven’t been so well in years.”

I pressed little circles on his back, trying to soothe him, but I didn’t interrupt. I sensed he hadn’t finished.

He looked away. “I regret the way I treated you the last time we met, Käyru. I felt ashamed at the memory of vomiting in your arms that night. And you seemed…reserved. I assumed… Well, nobody likes a sickling.”

I gawped at him, gobsmacked by the sheer ridiculousness of this statement. He’d thought me repulsed by his indisposition?

“My behaviour that day only mirrored your own, Elly.” I gave a laugh choked with relief. “I tried, err… acting dignified in the face of rejection.”

His lips curled up as he framed my face with his delicate hands. “You’re always dignified, Inspector.”

Shame and remorse at going behind his back and duping him into doing something he might not have chosen for himself nagged at me again. But damn, I didn’t regret anything considering the outcome. I thought about confessing my actions, but the dread of his potential outrage and rejection stifled me. Perhaps another day.

“Your stony reception just now also threw me a little. ‘Thank you, my lord’,” he mocked, lowering his voice in an imitation of mine. The accent wasn’t half bad.

I snorted.

A thawing sensation tingled through me. “Are you poking fun at me, Elly? Misbehaving? I think that might get you in trouble.” I narrowed my eyes and forced his chin up with my index finger. I didn’t miss the way his pupils dilated in response. “Or perhaps that’s what you’re after?”

He smiled, rubbing against me. “Hmm. I missed trouble.”

My cock responded with an immediate stir. I ran my hands down his shoulders and back, grabbing his round behind.

Gods, it meant everything to have him close to me again.

“Elly. My Elly.”

The kiss he gave me—sweet, urgent and hopeful—set my veins ablaze.

He licked down my jawline and nipped at my throat, and I couldn’t hold back the deep hum of contentment rising in my chest. At that point, my new plan for the evening crystallised in my mind. It came down to one thing only: bringing Elly more pleasure than ever before. I assumed his approval based on the bulge in his trousers.

But doubts gnawed at me still.

“What are we going to do, Elly? How is this going to work?”

“Shhh. We’ll make it work.” His fingers were already unbuttoning my shirt.

“The world will not like it.” I hoisted him in the air the way that always made him breathless and needy. With my precious cargo, I made my way towards the bed.

“Well, we’ll have to pay it as little heed as possible,” he panted in my ear.

“I hope it will repay the favour.” The mattress bounced under him when I threw him on it. Arching my brow, I gestured for him to undress. And stared in awe, watching him strip.

“I don’t care. Not anymore. Life is so fragile. I intend to wring it for every drop of happiness from now on.”

Light-headed, I huffed a laugh. “My Elly…fearless.”

“Determined, more like it. Even the Count of Radvadur has his monsters, Käyru.”

I bit back a smile. “And sometimes that’s a blessing.”

I grabbed both of his wrists, immobilising them above his head. His pulse raced under my thumbs.

As I lowered myself to capture his lips, I thanked the gods the widow Peyes was hard of hearing.

~To be continued~