Page 215 of A Touch of Poison
“Look.” She spread the book on my desk and pointed. “Look!”
I craned over the book. “Your research. You found a reference.”
“Not just that.” She fanned her face, cheeks pink. “We’ve been working from a coded version up until now, right? And potentially a coded version translated from the High Valens.”
I nodded, reading over the passage. Only a brief mention of the Circle of Ash in relation to a King of Death. Not promising.
“And—and whoever wrote that note translated it as ring or circle of ash, yes?”
“Yes.”
She pointed again at the page, eyes wide. “‘Coronam cineris.’ Don’t you see? This is one of the books from that special pile—you said they were from ‘Granny’s house.’”
“Oh.” I checked the cover. “They’re old books.” I still felt a step behind, but her excitement kindled in me along with the fact I’d never seen her so flustered.
“Old,oldbooks. What if this is the original? Or at least closer to the original than the book in Riverton Palace?” She tripped over her words like she wasn’t filtering them, like she was just speaking her mind for once.
“Which would mean? I’m not following your line of thought.”
“Coronam cineris.” She said it again like it should explain everything. “I checked against your book of High Valens, and it’s the same as Latium.Coronamcould mean ring, wreath, diadem, garland. The writer of the note originally translated it as ring or circle. Butcoronaalso meanscrown.”
I straightened. “A crown that could end the king and queen’s Sleep. That makes a lot of sense.” My mind raced over the possibilities. Were there references we’d missed because we’d been looking for the wrong thing?
“That’s not all. Whoever did the original translation from the book in Riverton’s library did a bloody awful job—or maybe they were just trying to keep things vague in case the message was intercepted.” She shrugged. “Either way, they wroteash. We thought that meant the tree or its wood. But that would befraxinusin High Valens.”
“Whereascinismeans ash, as in left behind after a fire.”
She grabbed my sleeve and shook me. “Exactly.Coronam Cinerismeans Crown of Ashes.”
I sat on the edge of the desk, staring ahead. “Fuck.”
The room spun.
I had to tell Braea when she woke. This would ease her bad mood over Sepher and Zita’s wedding.
We had an original reference, and a potential lead with the King of Death. “Kat. You’re a genius.” I pushed myself to my feet, chest full. “My beautiful fucking genius.”
Her eyes widened and that pink tone on her cheeks deepened to the one I adored.
I couldn’t help myself. I grabbed her, kissed her, worshipped her with my lips until she made a little moan of want that set me alight. She clutched my shirt and arched against me, tongue tangling with mine. My shadows burst around her, tugging at her gown, pulling her as close as possible.
With a sweep of my arm, the papers scattered from my desk, books thudded to the floor, and I replaced them with the thing that mattered most.
Katherine.MyKatherine.
Biting her lip in a way that drove blood to my cock, she glanced at the door. Brynan had gone for a break, but beyond his office the door to the hallway stood open, and guards waited just outside. “Someone might see.”
“Do you care?” I kissed the column of her throat and nipped at her pulse, drawing a gasp from her. “It’s not like you’re married anymore.”
Her fingers threaded into my hair, scraping over my scalp deliciously. “I’m not sure I do.”
“Good.Good.” I slid the gown off her shoulders and trailed kisses down to her chest. My cock twitched at the sight of her—the perfect, overflowing handfuls of her breasts, the brown nipples tight and pointed and begging for attention.
When I slid my arm around her waist and pulled her close, she arched back for me, and I could resist no longer. I sucked first one into my mouth, then the other, humming my approval when she moaned.
How had I waited so long to have this? As soon as she’d forgiven me and made it clear that she did in fact want me, that should’ve been the end of denial and the start of this.
She watched me, lower lip caught between her teeth, eyes dark with desire. She wanted me. Shelovedme.
