Page 133 of Commanding Flame and Shield
August smiled, mirroring my own, and then pressed his lips to mine again. “You’re cold,” he whispered. I had, indeed, began to shiver as the water chilled, my skin all pruny. I hadn’t cared, as long as he was there. “Alec showed me how to warm the bed. I’ll get it nice and toasty for you.” I nodded in gratitude, our foreheads still connected.
I wore only August’s discarded t-shirt, and a lace pair of black underwear when his eyes found me crossing the threshold. Devoured me, actually, that gaze lingering on my bare legs and sending that tension spinning in my belly. Only the sound of the suction in the tub broke the silence between us. The watery light of Grayshell’s early dawn was beginning to creep in around the border of my heavy red drapes.
August, perched atop my bed, threw back the resplendent burgundy and gold comforter, and patted the spot next to him, expression soft. I crossed the room on shaky legs, and all but collapsed beside him. I curled onto my side, allowing my muscles to melt into the mattress. Allowing my mind to soak up…silence. It was so strange, that ringing hollowness. His breath hitched, and then warm fingers stroked the hair off my face, pulling it back away from my neck. Somehow, it felt as though we had done this so many times before—countless times before—his touch familiar, and scent like mountains wrapping around me. He hoisted the overturned blanket onto us and slid down to spoon around my body. Heat raged through me, and I sighed, leaning into his warmth and hard muscles, curved around my backside. Legs and arms skin to skin, a dream long since forgotten. He pressed kisses to my temple, my cheek, the hollow of my neck, the sensitive skin where my neck and shoulder met, behind my ear. All the while, his hand pulled across my belly, squeezing my hip, wandering in a lazy trail up my torso. Teasingly, he softly stroked my nipple, peaked through the t-shirt, and I moaned. Torture, this waiting, this taunting.
“August,” I breathed. “Please.”
He chuckled against my neck, sending goosebumps down my flesh. “You too, huh?” I wrapped my fingers in his, pressing him harder against my chest. “Ally, when I take you, you’ll have seen every single part of me, and there won’t be an inch of you I haven’t explored myself. I want to let you see everything…before you give me…anything.”
I nearly growled, and he laughed again. “That’s…not fair,” I breathed. “I want to devour you, to take my time when Iseeyou. When I see all of you.”
“The feeling is mutual, then.” August slid our hands down across my belly. Lower. Need ate at me, my body arching into him, willing him to touch me, a tightness spiraling to a torturous tension in my core.
“August, with everything going on. I don’t know when—”
His fingers teased along the edge of my panty line, and my breath caught entirely. I felt him smile beside my neck, felt his breath hitch as my own did, before he whispered in my ear, “I can be patient.” He nipped at my lobe, and I groaned, but released his hand. August laughed softly against me again. His fingers lingered for a moment, he took a heaving breath against me, and wrapped that arm around my chest, gripping my shoulder, pulling me against him. He nuzzled into my neck, kissing and breathing in deeply.
“Cruel man,” I breathed, as sleep pulled at me. His amusement rumbled through my ribs. August covered my neck in kisses, leaving a trail of summer in his wake.
“I love you, Alvara.”
My eyes burned, and I pulled his hand up to my lips to cover his warm, calloused palm in kisses.
“I love you, August.”
His breathy sigh, and flex of muscles around me, was the last thing I registered.
FIFTY-THREE
LEMONS
ALVARA
When consciousness found me again, the bed was anticlimactically cold, and mid-day light streamed in through the open windows. I breathed in the lingering scent of August against my bed, stretching out for a body that was no longer there. Paper crinkled under my fingers, and it took me a moment to realize my mind was still silent.
Shit.
I sat up, wincing against the headache pounding like war drums against my skull. Blinking, my fingers trembled around the note left in bed beside me.
Gone to get breakfast. I’ll be back soon. Merry Christmas Eve, my love.
Shit, shit, shit.I pulled up my arm, to look at the brand there.11.04
The bastard hadbrandedme. Like cattle.The lives I valued were all snuffed out like chattel by those you are sworn to defend.I recoiled from the memory of those words, sincere, sharp, and meant to sting. They did. Who had Adrastos lost, what had he endured, to make him crave power so violently?
I swore, and my breath came in a forced gasp.Ten hourshad gone by since that surreal meal, powerless, with an enemy in his war tent. Nevertheless, no ember kindled in my veins. What had they given me? What would we do against such a thing, if they weaponized it properly? That had to be the plan. And what advantage was Adrastos surely giving himself while my strength lay in the balance—while my gifts remained disabled, and our defenses were down. I growled and slammed my palms against my eyes, as though I could rub the pain away. And God, that complete silence...
How many times had I wished for a reprieve from the voices, from the connection to the hierarchy, from the chatter of minds and prayers? And yet...it left me feeling intensely naked. Hollow.
I rose and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. It was the battle of wills between me and my combat boots, perched on the edge of the bed, that August bore witness to. I finally finished yanking the damn thing on when he chuckled from the doorway, snapping my attention to him.
“Need a hand?” He grinned at me over a tray of steaming food—scrambled eggs, roast potatoes, pastries—and two cups of hot coffee. Lord, I loved Grayshell. The smell made my mouth water. I supposed one quiet meal wouldn’t hurt. Another moment pretending August and I could be normal—an everyday man, and ordinary woman, who finally admitted their love for each other. I did my best to return his smile, but when his eyes narrowed, I knew it hadn’t reached my own. Hadn’t convinced him. “What is it?”
“Still nothing.” I tapped my finger against my temple.
“Ahh...that. Perhaps...we’ll make the most of it?” He set the tray down on the bed beside me and grazed my cheek with the back of his hand, trailing a finger down my neck as he leaned down to steal a kiss. My heart quickened, breath hitching, but August peeled us apart before I could lose my mind. “Your visions might be AWOL, but I promise I have plenty of thoughts I’m dying to make reality,” August said coyly, before running his tongue over his lower lip. I laughed, my thighs squeezing together, even as he pulled away to retrieve the coffees.
“If I have the time to enjoy you, when this comes back online,” another tap of my temple, “believe me. I will dive right in.”
